Magazine Website Analysis
Cosmopolitan:
§ Has social book marking tools: My Yahoo and XML at bottom of home page
§ Has a “Bedroom blog”, “Joe Hottie’s Dating blog”, “30-Day blogs”, “Celeb Gossip blog”and “The Making of a Cosmo Girl blog”with Email, print, RSS, save to daily Cosmo, and share at top and bottom of article. Can “post a comment” to the blog but you need to sign in to do so.
§ Features “Cosmo Celebrity TV” where every day you can watch a new video about celebrity gossip.
§ Can sign up to get Cosmo newsletters e-mailed to you.
§ Has “Cosmo Community” where you can engage in posts on a message board and create your own profile, but need to sign in.
§ Can download wallpapers, free e cards, contests, and play games.
§ Feature sponsored links on each page as well as ads and subscription offers
§ Have a form for readers to fill out with their input on the website
§ Search engine at top of page
In terms of set up and availability, all of the social and participatory media features are easily accessible from each page you go on. Cosmo puts links on each page for certain blogs, message boards, etc that fit with the material in the department you are in. For readers of the online magazine it is very valuable because it saves them the time of having to search all the pages to find the features. For the advertisers, it is valuable because they feature sponsored links, ads, and subscription offers for their magazine and others on each page which may encourage readers to purchase their products or visit their websites. As for the publisher and editorial staff, the interaction that the many media features offer their readers is beneficial because the pages and features are easy to navigate which will keep both their readers and advertisers happy.
Fashion
§ Has “Web exclusives” sidebar on home page listing all of the web features
§ Has videos for fashion and beauty
§ Has 7 blogs to choose from: “Talk is Chic”, “The Styled West”, “Fashion File insider”, “Beyond The Hills”, “The Fashionable Life”, “Fashion Lovelies”, and “Fashion’s Sundance Diary”. Don’t have to sign in to post, but it is a moderated forum, so post must be approved before posted.
§ Can get free newsletters e mailed to your inbox daily
§ Only features “send to a friend”, “print”, or “comment” options with each article
§ Has contests you can enter online and a shop finder to find local stores.
§ Contains links to other websites, Ads, and subscription offers
§ Search engine at top of page
This magazine is not set up as well as Cosmo in terms of Web 2.0 features. While they have many participatory media options, they do not have any social book marking tools. I think that this lack of book marking tools takes away from the rest of the web 2.0 features and weakens its overall appeal. While it is still attractive to readers for the easy navigation around the site and quick access to web features on the home page, they do not take into account that the readers may want to bookmark the articles to read later. This may also take away from advertisers who would want a web 2.0 magazine to have all of the basics. However, they do feature ads, web links, and subscription offers to their magazine on all of their pages, which would be attractive to advertisers. Potential advertisers would also find value in the fact that they offer a shop finder, which locates stores they feature in their magazine for readers. I think that the editorial staff and publisher would benefit more from both readers and potential advertisers if they added more participatory features.
Macleans
§ Has search and advanced search option at top of page
§ Has “National Affairs”, “Culture”, and “Education” blogs easily accessible at top and bottom of page
§ Has RSS feature and logo for each blog
§ Also features RSS and logo at top of page for magazine link
§ Has photo, audio, and video multimedia functions easily accessible at top and bottom of page
§ Has forums at top and bottom of page
§ Ads are placed on top and right side of page, do not pop up like other mags
§ Features a job finder section
§ Has a scholarship database
§ Has a comments section
§ Has subscriber services at top of page, easy to find, can read back issues
§ At bottom of each article has print, email and write a letter to the editor options
§ Share options at end of each article: Digg this, del.icio.us, share on facebook, Stumble it, Seed Newsvine, and Technorati links with recognizable icons.
I think that Macleans is the most advanced web 2.0 magazine of the three. The readers will love the clean set up of all of the pages and easy access to all of their features. Macleans also features the most sharing and bookmaking tools, which is important to a lot of readers. The only thing that may make it better is if they placed these tools under the headline as well as at the bottom of the article. Advertisers will see the value of all of their web features, and want to place ads with them. The only thing advertisers may not like is that the ads are neatly arranged only at the top and right side of the page, and they may want to have huge pop up ads or larger adds to grab reader’s attention. In terms of keeping the readers happy though I believe that the editors and publisher have arranged the layout nicely for the readers the way the ads are placed.
