In an open letter to the readers of PC Magazine, the editor-in-chief, Lance Ulanoff, announced that after January 2009, PC Magazine would no longer be available as a print magazine, and would solely available online. Not only is this a major move for Ziff Davis Media, the publisher of PC Magazine, but it also creates a precedent for the traditional publishing industry.

More importantly for Internet marketers, it also underscores a possible threat – the threat of more traditional publishers going online to compete with niche information publishers.

In his letter to readers, Mr Ulanoff emphasised that going online would carry various benefits. But he also admitted the brutal reality behind the move: Ziff Davis could no longer afford to keep printing and delivering the print version of PC Magazine.

With print ad revenues declining across the world, I wonder: is Ziff Davis the first of many more major publishers to pull their print magazines and go solely online?

It’s possible. I used to be a major newspaper and magazine reader but in the last few years I’ve tended towards reading online publications. Not just those that are only available online (although they do dominate my reading these days) but also those with print versions. I simply find the ‘live’ nature of online publications - along with their interactivity and rich media features - more appealing than their traditional, print brethren.

(That and the fact that I spend so much time online of course…)

I think print magazines still have certain advantages. Whatever the ‘portability’ of a digital publication (a benefit mentioned by Lance Ulanoff), a magazine is typically easier to hold, carry and read than even the smallest laptop PC or ebook reader.

And a glossy, photo-rich magazine - e.g. one devoted to design, architecture, food, etc - still looks better than most websites.

But, like anything, people will only continue buying a product if it continues giving them value. Those ‘people’ include advertisers buying ad space, as well as readers buying information. Whether flowing from a failure to deliver value to advertisers or readers or both, if a publisher can no longer afford to produce its material in printed form, then it may have no choice but to go 100 percent digital.

Okay, so that’s the message for traditional publishers. Now for the message for Internet marketers: be prepared for an even more competitive environment.

If and when traditional publishers start devoting their FULL attention to the digital medium… and fully harnessing their strengths - the research and writing skills of their journalists and the sales ability of their ad sales staff – the information publishing game will get that much tougher.

And although I’m quietly optimistic that most traditional publishers lack the savvy of the typical online info-publishing entrepreneur, I don’t think we can expect them to give up without a fight.

Also, even if you don’t see anyone threatening your niche… we are, as Rich Schefren puts it, in an Attention Age, where everyone is competing for everyone else’s attention. So even if no traditional publishers are likely to compete with your blog, ebook, newsletter, etc… they will still compete for your prospects’ attention.

P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about the Attention Age, check out Rich Schefren’s free report, The Attention Age Doctrine here.

Source: Lance Ulanoff, “PC Magazine Goes 100% Digital”, PCMag.com, November 19, 2008

A new chart from MarketingSherpa indicates that people and companies blog for many reasons. All blogs, however, would do well to apply MarketingSherpa’s three tips for crafting a blog for maximum impact:

1. Provide genuine, heartfelt content
2. Update regularly
3. Be focused

Here’s my take. When it comes to providing genuine, heartfelt content… leave the “corporate speak” for company brochures and annual reports. (Actually leave it out altogether). The best blogs seem to have a somewhat personal, informal tone.

Updating regularly means… regularly blogging. Now, this can certainly be a challenge for large corporates and individual marketers alike. I’m currently working with a large company to establish a weekly blog. The challenge we face is being able to select a topic, get it written, have it reviewed and approved by a gaggle of ’stakeholders’ - marketing, legal, public relations, etc - each and every week. Trust me, it’s like herding cats and I honestly don’t think it’s going to happen without everyone being absolutely dedicated and committed to the task.

For the typical Internet marketer, the challenge is finding the time to blog when there’s so much else to do. Should you spend an hour on your blog… or write some articles… or contact potential JV partners… or develop that new product?

My feeling is that unless you can update your blog at least once per week, it’s not worth doing. You’re better off focusing on other activities that you can commit yourself to doing well.

Having said that, blogging once per week is really not ideal in terms of getting frequently visited by the search engines, attracting backward links and traffic, and inspiring reader interactivity, among other things. It’s probably fine if you are already a “name”, but if you view blogging as a means to becoming a “name” you really want to be blogging several times per week. We started Kikabink News - which is both a blog and a newsletter - a few months ago and, while I’m delighted with its performance so far, we have a long, long way to go in terms of achieving our goals.

Bottom line: if you don’t have the time or interest to devote to blogging, don’t bother with it. Don’t waste time setting up a blog you never update. (Trust me, I have one of those, and it’s not doing much for our business). And, by the way, you CAN be successful without a blog. The key is to choose one or two core strategies for achieving your business aims and doing them extremely well.

Finally, when it comes to “focus”, the idea here is to stay on topic, and ideally choose a topic that others are not covering as well or in the same way as you. There are tons of blogs covering various topics… how are you going to stand out and keep - indeed, increase – your readership? Usually by having something different and interesting to say.

Source: MarketingSherpa, “New Chart: Craft Your Blog for Maximum Impact: 3 Absolutes to Make it a Must-Read”, MarketingSherpa, September 2, 2008

Here’s the kind of counter-intuitive discovery that I just love hearing about… because it just goes to show that what YOU (or I) think… may be far removed from what our target market thinks…

Let me tell you about Bev and Rob Clement…

Bev and Rob run a successful ghostwriting business called Ghostwriters International. Ghostwriters International gets most of its clients through the search engines, and for at least one of their targeted keywords, ranks at No.3 in Google.

Doing a little competitive intelligence, Bev and Rob decided to take a look at the websites of their first and second ranked competitors, along with those of the ghostwriters ranked below them. Interestingly, all of these sites: (1) offered significantly cheaper prices, and (2) were blog based websites.

Out of interest, Bev and Rob surveyed clients who had come to them via searching on the keyword in question and asked them why they had chosen Ghostwriters International over the other sites. Remember - these were clients who had no previous knowledge of Bev or Rob.

Overwhelmingly, the answer was the same. These clients had chosen Bev and Rob’s service because their site was… NOT A BLOG.

What? They chose Ghostwriters International because… their site wasn’t a blog? Am I being serious?

I am.

As many will know, blog based websites are much more “search engine friendly” than traditional, static HTML websites. For instance,  whenever you add content by posting to a blog, you effectively tell the search engines, including a range of blog-specific search engines, to visit and index your website (giving you more opportunities to increase your search engine rankings). Blogs also faciliate interactivity and back-links more easily than static websites. On top of that, blogs are typically much more easy to set up than traditional websites.

So it’s no surprise that Bev and Rob’s competitors were using blogging software to power their websites. But was this turning customers away?

When Bev and Rob delved a bit further to understand why their clients had been turned OFF the other sites because they were blog-based, they came across a startling finding: their clients associated blogs with “hobby” websites, not serious, professional websites.

In other words, because the Ghostwriters International website was a traditional website it gave the impression that Bev and Rob’s business was much more professional.

Interesting, huh? It just goes to show, once again, that each market is different and will respond to different triggers. In this particular case, a blog-based website was a turnoff for clients looking for professional ghostwriters. Or at least the clients who chose Ghostwriters International - it’s not clear whether Bev and Rob were attracting more clients than the other sites, just that a major reason why their clients came to them was that the other sites used blogs. It is interesting that Bev and Rob charged significantly more than the other sites, so they may well have been attracting higher paying customers. Whatever the case, Bev and Rob aren’t complaining - their business is booming!

Oh, just as an aside, there’s no reason why a blog need look like a blog. With some slick design and creative style sheet work, you can make a blog look as “traditional” or “corporate” as you want. However, many people tend to use blogs precisely because they aren’t web designers or don’t want (or can’t afford) to hire a designer - they can, instead, use one of the many free blog templates available. However, this, again, just may undermine the professionalism of their service and in turn, send customers away.

Click here for more information about Ghostwriters International.