Product (and website) Names Matter

I always thought it would be a blast to be the guy who got to name cars: Impala, Chevelle, Sunbird, Cordoba (of the fine Corinthian leather infamy). The folks at Strategic Name Development (kind of prosaic, given what they do, don't you think?) offer this research factoid:
Names starting with the letters X and Z suggest innovation, complexity and masculinity. For example, XBox, XTerra, XM Radio, Xeon processors.
Further, they say, consumers perceive product names that begin with B, C and S as classic. Close behind those letters on the classic connotation scale are T, L, R, and D. Think Bentley, Cadillac, Rolex.
I like this kind of information because it makes me think about how we name our websites. Usually they are as prosaic as the name of the company who gave us this research. But prosaic names don't always make good brand names. And after all, aren't we in the brand business?

Online Advertising Continues to Bolster Newspapers

From our friends at the Center for Media Research comes this gem: Preliminary estimates from the Newspaper Association of America show that advertising expenditures for newspaper websites increased by 21.1 percent to $773 million in the third quarter versus the same period a year ago. This is the fourteenth consecutive quarter of double digit growth for online newspaper advertising since 2004. Newspaper website advertising now accounts for 7.1 percent of total newspaper ad spending, compared to 5.4 percent in last year's third quarter.
Now, that is the kind of news an eMedia professional can get excited about.

Preview Pane readers are higher than we thought

Sent to me from our eNewsletter engine, Real Magnet, some revealing stats that challenge the value placed on open rates. Only under certain circumstances will an email viewed in a preview pane register as an "open." So, chew on this: 52 percent of B2B email newsletter readers say they always use the preview pane. A further 17 percent say they frequently use the preview pane to read email.
It follows that if we are reporting open rates of 23%, we can effectively add to our opens some 50% of those delivered, as well. More views, whether in an opened email or one viewed in a preview pane means more value for our advertisers and sponsors.
How about you? Take my poll.

Print Advertising Drives Web Traffic

A new study by the Magzine Publishers of America indicates that traditional print advertising are the best way besides eNewsletters to drive traffic to a website. Some key findings:

--Magazine ads had a major impact on building web traffic, with a lift of more than 40% over the control group, on average
--Magazine ads generated web traffic at each stage of the purchase funnel, especially purchase intent
--Including a URL address in magazine ads significantly increased web visits. When the URL was included, the percent change in visits tripled

eNewsletter Dos and Don'ts

eNewsletters serve three purposes:
--Reinforce your brand relationship with your magazine readers in an interactive medium
--Drive traffic to your website
--Generate incremental revenue for your group

If you are not accomplishing at least two of the three, you need to seriously consider the viability of your eNewsletter as it currently exists, whether it is worth it to refocus your editorial in a new direction, or whether you should abandon the medium and concentrate your efforts in another area.

Do:
Link all content somewhere, preferably to your own website (rule number 2).
Don’t:
Include articles that are self-contained in your eNewsletter unless they relate to the newsletter itself, as in, “This week’s XYZ eNews features a new content section on technology.”

Do:
Keep news items short—two-to-three sentences max—and offer readers a click here to read more or read more link that takes them to the entire story you have posted to your website.
Don’t
give them the entire story in the lead. Tease them and entice them to click thru.

Do:
Keep columns and commentary to the same length as articles and link them back to your posted column on your website.
Don’t
write multiple paragraphs under your byline as commentary without jumping the story to your website. Also, I recommend you do not lead your eNewsletter with your column. Since it is an eNewsletter, lead with news. Instead, run your column as another section after your first news content section. If you feel your column is strong enough to lead your eNewsletter and run in its entirety, we can explore the viability of taking it out of the eNewsletter, repackaging it as an opinion blog and giving it a dedicated mail date.

Do:
Link photos to the same article on your website to which the accompanying news item links.
Exception is your photo that accompanies your column or commentary. That should link to your email address.
Don’t
run photos that do not link anywhere. Readers expect them to be clickable.

Do:
Ask for feedback, prominently and often; especially in commentary.
Don’t
ignore the feedback when it comes. Include some of it in future issues as a follow-up on the original story. This generates additional click-thru activity and keeps the issue simmering.

Do:
Include a reader poll in every issue. Does not need to be more than 1 question long, but the format is always multiple choice (that includes “yes, no, maybe”). Why am I harping on this? Polls are a cheap and easy way to get into your readers heads, find out what they think, what bothers them, what they are doing. They also give you instant intelligence that you can use for editorial content development across all media platforms: online, print, in-person.
--Further, consider taking four weeks of poll results and creating a Pulse department in your print magazine that consolidates those results with a little analysis. This is a perfect example of using each medium to their best advantage and leveraging content across multiple platforms.
Don’t
think it is difficult to do. Your WebDev team will help you.

Do:
Study your article click thru patterns. Knowing which topics resonate with your readers helps you choose articles they will like to read.
Don’t
be afraid to jettison a topic that is not generating click thrus. You are doing your readers a favor.