Re: digital magazines

**"* G* <d*@gmail.com>**

>>We're in the process of redoing our Web site and we are exploring  adding
a digital version of our magazine on the site:
http://www.indianalivinggreen.com.

I originally let this one go because I was super busy but having hit the
deadline, I'm a trifle more relaxed. :-)  Here's my .02
There are several important questions here beyond the nature of your
software.  The answer to your question is that you're considering a form of
flash, in either a page-turner or a full flash implementation.  As other
members have noted, these can be problematic in operation.  Google doesn't
read flash so if you're using a page turner - you're ok.  If you're using a
full implementation, you won't get any search engine rankings for the
content.

But the software isn't the main question.  And I tread into this area
knowing there are some very experienced magazine folks on this list (far
more than myself) who obviously are thinking about this kind of question.
 But fear to tread..angels... etc.

The main question is *why* are you putting a magazine online?

It strikes me that a print magazine has strengths that do not translate to
the electronic world and the Net has strengths that are different than
magazines.  Trying to force fit one into the other is a recipe (imho) for
having something that doesn't work for either medium in either direction.

Remember that the Net is simply another distribution medium.  It isn't magic
- it has its limitations and its strengths.

Let me give you some numbers that might illustrate this point.   I'm doing
my year end stat roundups and setting priorities for next year's work - it's
encouraging and a tad humbling at the same time.   I collect data using
Google Analytics and the data below is from Visitors>Benchmarking.    I
compare my site performance with other sites of similar size both in
gardening and across the board.  The data here is from the general category
(non-gardening)

The benchmark for onsite-time (the length of time the average visitor stays
on the average site in my size category) is 2  minutes, 47 seconds.  This is
similar for gardening sites as well as general sites.   This will vary
depending on the size and nature of your site  (I note that blogs fall into
a different range of performance and these numbers do not relate to them)

The average number of page views across the board is 4.7

Average bounce rates are in the 48% range.  That measures the number of
people who enter via a specific page and leave by the same page.

So we can summarize by saying that almost half of your visitors are going to
see one page - the average will read 4.7 pages and will spend 2 minutes, 47
seconds on the site.

We also know from research that the way that Net readers read data is
different than off-line.   Max page length is now around 350-450 words (and
dropping).  Layouts (both for the site and for the page) are vastly
different and should be structured in very different ways.   The magazine
folks here will have their own data re layouts and effectiveness for readers
and can speak to those.

Bottom line - readers use the Net for different things than they use
magazines.   Each distribution model has different strengths.

I wouldn't ask how - I'd ask why.  And I'd be asking questions about the
fundamental nature of the information you want to distribute and how you see
yourselves working in the info-sharing world.

But I will tell you that if you try to force-fit an offline model into an
online-world, you're just wasting your time and resources.  It isn't about
the software, after all you *can* do anything.  it's about what your
objectives are.

Doug

-- 
Doug Green
Editor-in-Chief
SGF Publishing  www.simplegiftsfarm.com
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