News-stand or download?

It’s a novel idea and one which may help certain niche magazines to ride the recession – a site which allows consumers to download latest copies of various magazines directly onto their desktops.

The site, www.magazinesondemand.co.uk, could well offer an instant, reliable and cheap magazine alternative – one which saves the readership time and the publisher money. Bingo.

There is, of course, the intangible part of the magazine buying and reading process: readers like to feel the product, to browse it, flip through it: to have, in other words, a real, physical experience with the printed product.

This can’t be replicated online. The same reading experience doesn’t come from a download. Well, not for me.

Although, to be fair, during the week I am happy to source my regional, national and trade News online, then indulge in newspapers and magazines at the weekend. When there is time to fully enjoy the reading experience.

It remains, ultimately, about gaining fresh contenton a daily basis, and quickly. Maybe this is where the site will win readers and revenues.

Stop writing sales copy – start giving instead!

Have you worked it out yet?

The true importance and meaning of great content, that is. And let’s be honest here, it’s content which drives the dominates the sales of newspapers, magazines, adverts on blogs…basically, without the substance of content to push sales, forget it.

Great post here confirming this simple and inescapable truth. It is editorial content which continues to push and increase the poularity of certain sites, blogs and online forums as we see the inexorable shift for redership demand further and further onto the online medium. The days of newspapers enjoying the audience attention monopoly are long gone. Forever.

And Dave Clark’s great post on copyblogger.com highlights how to be truly effective as a content provider – whether that be in the form of journalist, feature editor, online marketer, blogger…it all boils down to the same thing. Forget about me, me, me.

The only way to be noticed, effective, positive, and ultimately profitable in the content generation game now is to focus on your reader’s needs and wants. It is all about them, not you. Stop using hackneyed selling techniques – if your website is a poorly-veiled sales-type window shop, get ready for your competitor’s contemporary blog and interactive online presence to blast a significant hole in your sales in the next 12 months.

Content which informs, adds value, solves a problem: this is the best way forward for you if you need to have a commercial presence on the Web. Anything else will be passed by as your potential customers look for solutions and services.

So, on balance, as a content generator – bravo to copyblogger! Fantastic points well made. Forget about you – embrace giving.