I love magazines. I love the look and the feel. I know that in most cases I can find the same information online, but the experience is not the same.

With that said, let me also say that I stopped reading magazines for a while. The price kept getting higher for less and less information. Instead of more content the ads were taking over.

This is a result of a cycle. Less people read the mags and revenue falls–so the mags increase the advertising which brings in less revenue from individual ads as the readership lowers–so the magazine sells more ads with less content until the end finally comes and the magazine goes under. How is that for a run-on sentence?

At times, especially now with the economy so uncertain, it seems like this is an unbreakable cycle. Blogs and news sites run stories about the troubles of the print media. People like Rupert Murdoch talk about the shift and suggest charging for online content that was once free. It is the start of a whole new cycle.

Well, I have an idea, and it involves everyone’s favorite price point, free. I put forth that the new paradigm of print is free. For free, people will accept more ads and less content. For free, more people will subscribe to magazines previously abandoned. More eyeballs means that the mags can charge a higher premium for the advertising content. A whole new cycle breaks the old.

Now, before you bolt from this blog calling me an idiot, let me give you some background on how I came up with this idea. It comes from the most frugal person I know, my better half, Effie.

Effie is the type of shopper that spends hours each week searching out deals, coupons, and offers. She sets out strategies, which she calls scenarios, and then hits the stores. It is not uncommon for her to come back from CVS pharmacy with up to $50 worth of stuff paying between pocket change to a couple of dollars out of pocket. She can hit the grocery stores and come home with $100 worth of stuff for around $25. She regularly makes Target and Wal Mart her bitch.

She does great in store, that is for sure, but on top of that, she has learned to find deals online as well. She is always getting free stuff in the mail, everything from free samples to actual product to–get ready for it, magazine subscriptions.

We get Forbes, Muscle and Fitness, O, Rachel Ray, Town and Country, Sports Illustrated, Good housekeeping, and more, all free. What I have noticed is that I don’t mind reading these mags, higher ads and lower content, when I don’t pay for them.

Now, sometimes these subscriptions are just introductory and a short run, sometimes it is a full year, but it is nice reading mags again.

This is where my thought comes from. My eyes are valuable, not just to me, but to those advertisers. If a mag goes under, so does all of that advertising real estate. I won’t even begin to say that I have the logistics of how this shift can work, but I still think it can be worked out to a winning situation.

The thing is, I don’t think anyone wants to work it out. The people on top of these industries have always looked for the money. The idea of a shift of this magnitude is scary for them. I mean, the subs we get do eventually end and the purchase forms eventually come. But think differently for a minute. How many people like to separate their reading from the internet and the computer screen? How many still prefer a book or magazine to a screen? How many people love FREE?

By offering the subscriptions for free, the sub rate would probably jump by double or triple or more. This is where the ad revenue picks up. No longer do the mags have to look to subscription purchases to make it, those extra eyes are like gold!

Some mags already do this. Most cities have local mags that are totally ad supported. Imagine that on a national scale. There are many more eyeballs on the national scale, every one an advertiser target. Of course, some changes would have to be made to the format and such, and more space would go to the ads. Maybe the mags would have to go bi-monthly, whatever. But still, FREE speaks to people.

Well, that is just my take. It works locally, it works for broadcast TV. The numbers are there for free. The numbers have eyes that can lead to greater advertising revenue. The print media world does not have to go under.

It would be a shift, but some shifts are a good thing. Still, the probability of this shift is unlikely, unfortunately,

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Print Media, Magazines, Subscriptions, new ideas, advertisers, paradigm, change, shift, periodicals, online, media

Photo Credit: Obamaganda - Army of Change by Surface to Air

Get mad at me for saying this, but I truly hope things keep going in the direction B.O.’s Presidency has gone so far. The biggest point to me in this story by Brad O’Leary is the evident buyers remorse among the young. The same young Americans that were the engine behind Obama’s victory. Hey, finally change I can believe in.

Maybe there is hope yet.

I still have one question to ask those that still support this President. This question is not for those that think they are now free of having to worry about their house and car payments. This question is for those that have half a brain. This question has not been answered credibly as of yet.

The question is:

If one of the reasons you hated George Bush was his over spending and ruining of the economy, which led to you electing B.O. on a platform of change, how do you justify B.O. and his gang of miscreants doing more of the same and calling it change?

That is my main question, but there are more. Such as, what is up with B.O. breaking his own rules by appointing tax cheats, lobbyists, and old Clinton cronies as his cabinet and to other high ranking positions?

Come on, you can say he did not know about the tax problems of several of his appointees, but hell, are you not the same B.O. supporters that were all over the supposed under-vetting of Sara Palin? Where was Obama’s vetting crew on this? He had to know the world would be watching his every move. Or maybe he thought the media lovefest that got him elected would go on forever.

That would mean he is not all that wise.

And don’t get me started on the Birth Certificate. I was not one of those that put all that much stock in this eligibility story, but then it struck me, John Mccain was vetted due to his birth in Panama. Why wasn’t B.O. given the same scrutiny? It is just a birth certificate. Hell, the average warehouse worker gets vetted more thoroughly than this.

My question is, if he has nothing to hide, why the hell doesn’t he just put the questions to rest? Remember, he is the President, he works for us. We do have the right to have these questions answered.

Now, go check out Brad O’Leary’s story below.

Cheers,
Eban

Brad o’Leary: Report Card:Obama’s 1st 30 Days

Yep, that is correct. I just checked my stats to see how the roundups have been performing. Well, here is a breakdown.

Searches:

Google is not indexing the news roundups. It is shuffling the roundup posts off to the Google no man’s land. This is probably because the titles I use are actually from the sites I am referencing. I did add my own commentary to the posts, but still, I was getting the good old Google content slap. This is not good for my traffic.

My original content posts and single news stories still get very good play in Google, however. Some of my posts from a couple of months back still get very good traffic from searches.

Readers:

Of all the daily traffic I get to the site, only 10% or less were reading the news roundups. My actual, content rich, posts are still getting all of the attention.

Hey, what is a blog without readers? This of course is linked to the Google slap on the posts in question as most of my traffic comes from the searches.

Subscribers:

Here things are a bit more murky. I have no direct feedback on the roundup posts, so I have no real data on whether the blog subscribers like the posts or not. If you are a subscriber and like the posts, let me know.

As of now, I am dropping the roundups from the rotation and getting back to my regular posting style. This is mainly because I need to get more current posts into the Google indexing. Plus, it is more fun, and believe it or not, less work, to do regular posts.

Another factor is that regular posts have legs. They are not as time sensitive. I mean, think about it, the news roundup is relevant for a day or two, then it is literally “old news.”

On a side note, for those out there wishing to make money from blogging, new media, online marketing, in other words, the way I make money, you need to keep testing your approaches and evaluate what is working and what is not. Experimenting and testing is the way you enhance your chances of success.

I used the word failure in this blog. The blog is not a failure, just that type of post. By testing and evaluating, I now know that I need to drop the roundups. It may be a cliche, but the way to success is paved with failure, as long as you use the failure to learn and make your project stronger.

Now, back to work!

Cheers,

Eban

P.S. Just to keep up with the recent theme, here is a blue TIT (I know, not what you expected, eh? )

______________

Photo Credits

Surprise? Horror? by karynsig

Blue Tit by Dave F