Since then traffic has increased from 20,000 unique visitors each month to more than 50,000, online recruitment revenues have increased from 4% in 2007 to 20% just eight months after the launch, and the company has achieved its overall online financial targets, even in the face of the current severe economic downturn.
Steve Vickery, a director of Ocean Media: “A key factor in the success of the project was Abacus’ knowledge of the publishing sector. Webvision v3 has been specifically designed for our industry, but perhaps even more importantly, the hands-on, practical publishing experience of their people has proved invaluable in helping our own staff to make the significant cultural changes which a major move to online, from a predominantly print environment, inevitably demands.”
Flexibility for recruitment advertising
The largest revenue stream for Inside Housing is recruitment advertising. Even though the old site carried all the jobs which were listed in the magazine, there was very little flexibility in terms of the offers that could be made to advertisers. All this has changed with the introduction of Webvision v3 and its integration with Autonomy IDOL enterprise search technology. “We now have many more interesting and valuable options to give to our advertisers. Autonomy allows us to present job advertisements contextually against relevant editorial content and this is proving to be a major selling point as it increases response rates, particularly for some of the more senior roles. Online recruitment revenues have grown from 4% to 20%, and we are confident that this is new advertising spend. For the first time, we can now sell packages which bring together different sizes, different positions and a mix and match approach across print and online.”
Looking ahead
Bridal Buyer, another Ocean Media title, has also recently gone live based on Webvision v3. This site reuses the user interface framework page templates, which have been customized for Ocean Media’s publishing business. The site features up to the minute details of new collections and products, a global trade show and events calendar (including Ocean’s British Bridal Exhibition and National Wedding Shows), latest market news, expert industry comment, special offers forums and news alerts Abacus’ Marketplace product is used to manage the company and brand information in the Brands Directory.
“We have developed a very successful working relationship with Abacus. Their understanding of the publishing sector is great for day to day matters, but also ensures that they are very good at proactively suggesting new or different ways that we can do something to help us achieve our overall company strategy and targets.”
