Sunday, November 11, 2007

Cinderella LIVE

Now our magazines are LIVE streaming! Yes, even online newspaper can be done instanteously! Check out Cinderella LIVE where content now get updated on a regular basis! Regular updated content is now push to users once they include our widget codes on their blogs or social networking profiles. They can even leave LIVE comments on the magazine pages itself! Continue to watch out for Cinderella LIVE with many new functions like video streaming coming up!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

To Merchants : eMagazines vs Print

PRINT ADs

1. Flat visuals and lengthy descriptions
2. HIGH Colour-proofing & Printing costs
3. Impossible to make changes after published
4. Only through surveys
5. Writes in to advertisers
6. Through speculation or auditing
7. Send in Survey form
8. Turns on Internet to type in URL
9. Encourage readers to go to retail
10. Needs to contact each country’s sales office

E-ZINES Ads / E-CATALOGUE

1. Better representation of product through multimedia and interactivity
2. LOW flash production costs
3. Changes are possible after published
4. Collects Reader’s Behavioral Data
5. Collects Reader’s comment & feedback through built in forums
6. Accurate number on eyeballs
7. Able to poll on the product
8. Hyperlinks to merchant’s website for more info
9. Instant Sales through payment gateway
10. Easier Coordinated International Campaign

1. Merchants can now have a more effective representation of their products, services and business through audios, videos, animations and interactivity! Using such multimedia, instructions can be clearer and with the right background music, it enhances the buying mood. TV commercials can be re-featured on this new media so as to fully maximize video production costs.

2. When merchants decide to print catalogues for their products, they spent a high cost in printing. Even if they place an ad in traditional magazine, they need to do colour proofing and meet the printing deadline.

3. If merchant realized that they made an error somewhere after the ad is sent for printing, there is no way of changing it anymore and someone has to bear that risk and cost! For e-publishing, the changes can always be made and re-uploaded again. The cost for change is definitely lower.

4. Ads in e-zines can be programmed to follow Reader’s interest. For example, if the reader is only interested in sports, only sports ads will appear. We can also collect information as in how long a period they spent reading the ad and what are the items clicked on that ad. Thus advertisers are able to evaluate their marketing approach.

5. Through the ad in e-zines, readers can also leave a comment through a built in forum for other readers and merchants to know.

6. For traditional magazine, it is difficult to know the exact number of issues printed, the exact number placed at the newsstand, the exact number bought off the shelves and the exact number of eyeballs that actually rested on the merchants ad. Even so, for how long did that eye stop on that ad page? They probably can only do this through costly auditing and surveys. Through an e-zine, we can track all of the above easily. How many issues were downloaded, opened and the time the reader spent on the ad. Above all, it is accurate.

7. A polling/voting script can be added on an ad page which readers can vote on their favourite product within the brand. This information is useful for the merchant to plan on their production.

8. Ads can be linked to corporate website so as to generate immediate results by a simple click. For instance, you win a game on the ad, click to claim your prize. After clicking, the reader reached the merchant’s homepage where he can print a voucher to claim the prize or key in his details and address for the merchant to mail it to him. Several mechanics can be built around the ad. This is far easier than snail mailing information or to copy down the website address.

9. E-shopping can now be merged together with an ad. A payment gateway can be built around the ad page for immediate sale. Readers see what they like, click on it to buy. This works on impulse buying. For traditional magazines, readers will still need to travel to the retail shop to purchase the product.

10. With the technology, ads can reach a wider regional audience at a shorter time span. This allows you to better coordinate a plan for a regional marketing campaign. This is also a one time cost compared to placing ads in each country through their individual sales office.

To Website Publishers : eMagazines vs Websites

WEBSITES

1. Maze-like Content layout
2. Messy and limited banners
3. Fixed URL
4. Dependant on Search Engine & Marketing
5. No Access during downtime
6. Needs Internet Connection
7. Pull marketing

E-ZINES

1. Organized & Familiar Layout in Content
2. Neatly placed detailed ads
3. Unlimited URLs
4. Leverage on popular websites
5. Always Accessible
6. Always Executable file
7. Push marketing

1. Ever noticed that while navigating through a website, the “back” button is a commonly used button. Click for “video” then “back” then click “picture” for closer look then “back” again. And also after some time, you noticed you do not know where you are and have to restart back at “home”. This is one of the reasons why a “sitemap” is created for the users. They know that it will get complicated sometimes using a hierarchy type layout. Many are very familiar with the magazine style layout, and integrating with the ezine technology, readers can understand content when the videos and pictures are all within the page and choose which topic to go to first.

2. The banner placements on some sites are very cluttered and messy. The flashing images on the banners are also very distracting, all fighting for attention, thus lowering the eyeball value. Even if someone is interested, with its small size, it is difficult to squeeze in enough information for the readers. On an ezine, advertisers are neatly placed on their own page, they get a whole page to themselves and can better showcase their services or products before users click on the link.

3. All websites are on a fixed URL or buys up a few URLs to link them all to one. However by compiling their content into an ezine, they can put their content on other’s site. And there is no limit on how many URLs they want to be on. This is different from banner links as the publisher can also choose not to have a URL at all! In this case, it can apply to anyone who has interesting content to share.

4. Being a fixed URL, websites have to use “Come to me” methods. They have to make known to everyone their URL in order for them to share their contents. They are also reliant on Search Engine and keywords for their traffic. They have to do intensive marketing to make their website known. By being an ezine, they can leverage on the traffic of a few already popular websites. In exchange, they can do a revenue share with that website or calculate whether it is viable to simply pay for a space on that site since they save on their marketing dollars.

5. Since the ezines are in more than 1 location, even when 1 site goes down, you can still get them from other e-newsstands.

6. There’s a choice of downloading the exe file or read online. So even if you have no internet access, you can still execute and read your favourite content on your system.

7. Websites have to pull readers to their websites to read their content. On onezine.com where we put all contents together, readers from 1 title will also download the other titles as well. One title can leverage on the popularity of the other titles. It is pushed to the readers to choose. For instance, there is 100,000 readers from a popular title about music, your current title only have 20,000 readers about fashion. By placing the titles next to each other, easily half the readers that are reading about music will also like to read about fashion. Therefore, the fashion title will increase from 20,000 to 70,000 readers!

To Publishers : eMagazine vs Traditional Magazine

TRADITIONAL MAGAZINES

1. Flat visuals; no music or video
2. HIGH printing costs
3. HIGH distribution costs
4. Distribution proportionate to Printing & Logistic Cost
5. Number of issue limited to printing cost
6. Local Newsstands Presence
7. Off newsstand to be recycled
8. Only through Subscription
9. Takes up HIGH cost physical storage space
10. Inaccurate Market Results

E-ZINES

1. Integration of audio, video, animations etc
2. LOW flash production costs
3. LOW hosting costs
4. Unlimited & Instant Distribution
5. Unlimited number per issue
6. Online WORLDWIDE Presence
7. Always Downloadable
8. Know who the reader is
9. Takes up LOW cost virtual space
10. Generation of Market Information

1. In terms of contents, the editor can now present more interesting articles through videos or audios. For instance, instead of descriptive interview, readers can simply just watch the interview as body language and the tone plays a major part in an interview. Readers can now better understand what the editor means through interactivity by mix-match fashion styles.

2. High printing cost incur in several areas from having to deliver the files in time for printing. The time it takes for printing and the risk of printing errors or machine breakdowns! Also adding the rising cost of paper. By using virtual paper, non of the above matters.

3. Even after printing, to have it delivered to newsstands takes time and money! Being on the internet, the ezine is instantly published and distributed in a matter of minutes and only at the cost of server space.

4. In traditional printing, your investments = number of distributed points x number of issues at each point. It is also difficult to determine which point has a higher take up rate and also the risk of demand over supply! Losing the sales. Ezines are unlimited in take-up rate and can be distributed to an unlimited number of virtual distribution points instantly through RSS.

5. Ezines are unlimited in supply but printed magazines are tied to the amount of money you have to print the number of issues you need.

6. Even if the ezine can be found at 1 website, the whole world can know about it and still access to it. For local newsstand, people are unwilling to travel an unreasonable distance to pick up a title.

7. When the new issues arrive, the old issues have to give way, stored up for a few months before being recycled. Ever had the experience of missing an old issue and have no way of getting it off the newsstand anymore other than writing in to the publisher to send you one? Even past issues ezines are still accessible online. Simply archiving it.

8. Just simply by having the readers register and log in, we will know who are the people that is picking up the title. For printed magazines, you have to subscribe to the title.

9. Many publishers have boxes of old issues stacked up in their expensive office space. Getting rid of them also cost them time and money. Ezines only takes up server space and multiple virtual locations can be linked to it for access.

10. Through programming, we are able to know the exact number of “pickup” and demographics, right down to which day of the month has the highest pickup! We could build an automatic system to accurately collect all these statistics. Traditional magazines have to rely on tedious audits to claim their distribution rates and readership!