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In last month’s article, we proposed a refine and explore strategy for marketing online in 2007. This month, we’ll begin discussing plans for making search work for your company, industry and audience. Advertising online is a truly fantastic vehicle for engaging your customers but web search engine advertising is not the final say in search. There are increasingly effective and profitable opportunities for site search, particularly when used as a bridge between offline and online, advertising and information.

We’ll start with the magazine industry. Why would the tried-and-true print industry need search when the information is already in the reader’s hands? There are many reasons, but let’s start with three.

Why print and online convergence needs search

1) People are increasingly multi-tasking. In fact, more than 50 million read magazines while online (BIGresearch July 2006 survey). Since multitasking has a big impact on people’s ability to remember information and advertising messages, it only makes sense to back up your print content with the online connection. Most magazine publishers put at least a portion of their printed material on their sites every month. To date, no one seems to be following the most effective methods. More on that later.

2) If you make it easier for your readership to find out more information, they’ll probably renew their subscription easier and for the long-term. More readers means more advertising dollars which leads us to the next point.

3) A major advertising upsell potential exists with connecting print with online. Print inventory is limited; there are only so many pages devoted to advertising in your publication. Plus, advertisers will usually only buy one print ad, so the range of ad products is also finite. But add another component – online advertising - in there, as many publishers have, and you’ve just increased your revenues significantly. If your sales team ever succeeds at selling existing clients bigger, better ads (and who doesn’t employ this sales technique), you know what it can do for your bottom line. It’s almost always cheaper and easier to profit more from existing customers than to acquire new ones.

Who's trying to make it work

Let’s start with some admirable attempts to make this convergence work. Two of favorite tech pubs, PCWorld and PCMag are forerunners in pulling readers into their websites from articles and product reviews.

PCWorld must be one of the pioneers of the print to digital content strategy. Their method involves tagging products, product reviews and “more information” tips with a very specific URL, such as: find.pcworld.com/99227. Unfortunately for us and everyone we talk to about this almost-there idea, we’re not real great at remembering 5-digit codes for every product and review we’re endeavoring to look up on-the-fly.

But let’s test it out. In its February 2007 issue, a point of sale system provider took out a full-color, full-page ad. The contact information section even included a PCWorld URL with a 5-digit code. Typing in this code at PCWorld redirects to the advertiser’s site.

Convergence is just a few keywords away

It’s a great idea to reinforce the affiliation between trusted publisher and your products, but the execution is flawed. While it’s been said that a print ad never goes away until it’s thrown away, today’s consumer looks at ads as teasers, not conversion tools. If a slick layout catches their eye, they’ll to go online to check out the new product or location and it probably won't be immediately. Even though media multitasking is prevalent, no stat can account for all the times we wish we could remember a tip or product but we don't have the printed source material on hand. After all, who carries an archive of magazines around for the just-in-case moment when they might need to find out more about a product or company? No one, we hope.

However, most of us can remember what genre we were reading about at the time some glossy layout caught our eye. And if you can remember the magazine, and you can remember the general product brand, product type or company name, shouldn’t you be able to locate that information quickly and easily, at the publisher’s site? Now we’re onto something. Enter magazine-focused site search.

For years, the likes of AOL and Google have been educating the world to use keywords to locate information, products and services. You’ve probably seen and heard this before, “For more information, go to AOL keyword – X.” Millions of people everyday know that a keyword or two can be tucked away neatly into their short-term memories long enough to go to their computers and input those precious few letters with the promise of fulfilled curiosity.

Similarly, if publishers really want to converge print and online, they too need to use keywords instead of URLs. It’s so much simpler to remember the topic of an ad or article and the magazine itself than an abstract code or a website address. The key is to use site search as the connection between print content and the highly embraced activities of Internet research and buying.

Whether its proprietary content written by your editorial staff or advertisers’ websites, publishers can truly capitalize on search when it’s controllable and thoroughly integrated into their businesses. And all it takes is a few keywords slipped into an ad or article: “www.magazinewebsite.com - keywords: point of sale.” The only recall issue is the topic or product - much easier than: find.pcworld.com/99227, wouldn't you say?

Now your print information can be recalled at anytime, when the consumer is ready to take action on what they read and what ads they viewed in the magazine. Your publication introduced the reader that information initially, and now you can reconnect the reader with the content and products that they need, when they need them.

Controllable site search provides the platform

With controllable search technology like Vortaloptics' vertical search platforms, the point of sale advertiser will also receive a slew of related keywords attached to their search result so that readers hoping to locate that intriguing product will find them, even if their keywords aren’t as explicit as the ad recommended. By providing a tool that is genuinely relevant for the readers, advertisers will receive more targeted responses to their ads.

Lacing editorial content with online teasers will drive readers to your site to learn more, visit the sites of businesses mentioned, and become more familiar with and reliant on your brand. This strategy absolutely works. The more cohesive of an experience that you provide, the more long-term relationships you’ll establish with your readership.

Upsell online ads, upside potential

The upside potential financially is also significant. The keyword service simply becomes an upsell attached to print ad sales. Additionally, it’s a way to increase the number of advertisers by offering an online-only option in highly regarded search results – not just typical display ads. Since the print to online convergence is already being utilized in a less elegant way, educating advertisers will be insignificant but the payoff for them will be very worthwhile: a simpler, always-on method for consumers to remember their ad that will yield more traffic to their actual websites. What advertiser wouldn’t want that?

Make it work and solidify your brand

So publishers: make print to online convergence really work and use keywords to draw in readers to your website where the messages are easily reinforced via easy to access, relevant search results. Topics and brands are easy to remember – URLs and coding systems aren’t. Your magazine website will become an always-on beacon of information – no matter how well a reader’s might serve them.