BtoB Media Business - June 2011 - (Page 12)

COVER STORY F ollowing a complete makeover last summer, AgWeb.com has vastly expanded its coverage of the agricultural field and grown its audience. AgWeb.com, which links to 10 websites owned by Farm Journal Media, added coverage in nine channels important to farmers, such as busi- Relaunch ness, commodity prices, crops, livestock, machinery and weather. URL: www.agweb.com Another major ele- Company: Farm Journal Media ment of the relaunch: Average monthly unique a commodity markets visitors: 210,000 resource center with Source: Google Analytics charts, graphs, interactive tables and local grain prices from 5,000-plus grain buyers. “What’s true about the Web is you build an audience in pieces,” said Mitch Rouda, president of e-media, Farm Journal Media. “In a magazine, you get somebody to sign up, and they get the whole thing. [But online] you build your audience by throwing bones in every direction for all different types of potential users.” The site is now running more video programming from the parent company’s television division, such as “AgDay TV,” a 30minute daily program covering the latest news in agricultural markets, and “U.S. Farm Report,” which runs weekly. The site’s discussion boards now include both video and audio posts. The relaunch has boosted traffic. In the January-May period this year, the site attracted 210,000 unique monthly visitors, compared with 140,000 unique visitors during the same period in 2010, according to Google Analytics. —M.S. A AgWeb.com complete website overhaul and new social media campaign has paid off for Healthcare IT News. With a new platform, the publication has built an online community, which in turn helps supply a network of content. Jeff Marion, senior project manager at Med- Web 2.0/IT Tech Media, which owns the brand, said a switch from a proprietary CMS to open-source Drupal URL: has been the biggest www.healthcareitnews.com contributor to recent suc- Company: MedTech Media Average monthly unique cess. “[The open-source visitors: 95,000 technology] makes it Source: Google Analytics very easy for us to take community-driven developments and plug them right into our site,” Marion said. A social media campaign focused on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter has also benefited the website. Jack Beaudoin, CEO of MedTech Media, said the social networks help the site serve as a hub of an online network—not as a standalone platform. “We have a social media coordinator who evangelizes our content and works with our communities to find information they’re looking for and to connect with other members of the community,” Beaudoin said. Healthcare IT News has also built an online community with a blog made up of experts from the industry and multimedia content. “The healthcare IT community is a specifically active community and people are always trying to hear about what other hospitals are doing,” Marion said. —N.L. Healthcare IT News Web 2.0/Trade Officer.com URL: www.officer.com Company: Cygnus Business Media Average monthly unique visitors: 800,000 Source: Omniture C ygnus Business Media’s Officer.com is all about community, a very big community. The site attracts an average of 800,000 monthly unique visitors, according to Omniture. “We organized the site to be like a virtual police department,” said Frank Borelli, Officer.com editor in chief (and a retired police officer). There is the Property Room, where law enforcement products such as the Rhino .357 Magnum Revolver or Wiley X “Black Ops-Zak” sunglasses are featured. Officer.com’s Forums are akin to the locker room at the station house, Borelli said, where police officers can discuss specific aspects of the job with their peers. Officer.com also has areas devoted to specific law enforcement jobs, ranging from forensics to K-9 to counterterrorism. The site also offers training videos. The Squad Room is designed to be a Facebook-like community. Users create a profile and can “friend” other officers. When a user comments anywhere on the site, the newly installed Disqus platform ensures those comments are added to the user’s profile, said Eric Kammerzelt, Cygnus’ VP-technology. Other community-oriented features on Officer.com include the live streaming of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s candlelight vigil in Washington, D.C., which honors officers killed in the line of duty. —S.C. 12 | Media Business | June 2011 | mediabusinessonline.com http://www.AgWeb.com http://www.AgWeb.com http://www.AgWeb.com http://www.AgWeb.com http://www.AgWeb.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com http://www.Officer.com http://www.officer.com http://www.Officer.com http://www.Officer.com http://www.Officer.com http://www.mediabusinessonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BtoB Media Business - June 2011

BtoB Media Business - June 2011
Contents
Upfront
ABM Annual Meeting
Sales & Marketing
M&A
Great Media Sites
Audience Development
Production
Events
People
Benchmarks
Endnote

BtoB Media Business - June 2011