Find out more about the event, which includes speakers from CACI, comScore, Incisive Media and RBI.

At one of AOP’s events earlier this year, one of the speakers said that publishers are sitting on a ‘goldmine’ of data, which may be the most powerful in the entire media eco system – is this true in your view, and if so, why?

I couldn’t agree more. In my mind the key is the volume of transactions a publisher does with their clients and the information that can be linked across these individual interactions.

Think about the platforms publishers now have available to them – web and mobile of course, but also print and face-to-face and the volume of transactions and interactions these generate.

A series of transactions might be around registration for an event, purchase of a subscription or a web visit but in each case we are capturing and processing hugely valuable information about the audience.

If information about these transactions can be linked in a meaningful way and patterns of behaviour analysed across them, then we can begin to build up a very powerful insight into our customers’ profiles and their needs.

But the trouble with most goldmines is that while the shiny stuff at the bottom is incredibly valuable it can be pretty tricky to get at. The analogy holds true. All too often the publisher’s data is inaccessible or disjointed.

And it’s no good holding the data if you can’t be sure you have the permissions or right to use it. So to be able to take advantage of these significant opportunities publishers are going to need to rethink their processes, rebuild their systems and in some cases apply a bit of technical wizardry before they see some of the benefits.

To summarise, what would you say are the main areas publishers are or should be making money from data?

Cross-sell and upsell are incredibly important. Cost of customer acquisition is often high so it’s essential to make the most of them once you have them. If a client has registered for an email newsletter then use the data to sell them a place at a related conference. Similarly if you’ve got some good demographic profiles on your web users then source some high-value content and data for specific audience segments and sell a premium access.

Given that digital throws up such a wealth of data, how can we separate the wheat from the chaff, finding and utilising data that is really valuable and can bring financial return?

There is so much data out there it can be easy to get swamped or simply end up with analysis paralysis. It’s not good enough to simply ‘warehouse’ billions of transactions in the hope that you can find some way of ‘extracting’ the value.

In most cases the raw data is pretty worthless. It always amazes me how many times I am presented with web stat reports containing hundreds of individual data points and dozens of graphs most of which are pretty to look at but ultimately pointless.

As with any data it’s about how you join the dots to create something meaningful.

At Abacus we talk about actionable intelligence. For example, if you can isolate consistent activity patterns amongst groups of demographically similar users then you can feed this information into your product development thinking.

For example, if all the chief execs in your audience spend a lot of their time looking at salary surveys you’ve got a pretty good idea of the type of functionality or content that’s most likely to appeal to them.

Which publishers, in your view, are currently successfully monetising and making the best use of their user data?

Sadly I think the publishing sector is way behind the curve in this area. I often argue that publishers should start to think and behave far more like Tesco. Retailers really understand the value of collecting data about customers via their loyalty cards and then using the information they’ve gathered to tailor offers and benefits to suit the individual customers.

In the web sphere think of the elegant effectiveness of Amazon’s ‘you bought this, so you might like this’ approach to see a demonstration of how publishers should be thinking.

The good news is that publishers are finally waking up to the possibilities and at Abacus we’re getting very high levels of interest in some of the audience development tools we’ve been working on.

What are the legal issues publishers need to be aware of in this area?

Of course there are significant legal and compliance issues around opt-ins and data protection to be considered. But while these shouldn’t be understated, I think it’s even more important to consider the sensitivities of your audience.

You only need to look at Facebook’s recent tribulations to see how much damage can be inflicted on a strong brand when it gets it wrong.

However, I believe that audiences will volunteer phenomenal amounts of data and accept responsible data mining providing the outcome adds value for them – look at LinkedIn. Clients won’t tolerate indiscriminate spamming but they will accept data sensitively used to create products mapped exactly to their needs.

Ian is speaking at AOP's next event, Driving Revenue through Data, on 8 September -
Book your place online now // more information on the event.

Ian Eckert, Director at Abacus e-Media is speaking at AOP’s Driving Revenue through Data Forum on 8 September. Other speakers at the Forum include senior members of Incisive Media, CACI, comScore and Mardev-DM2.

This year’s Forum, which will include case studies and in-depth analysis, will look at how both B2B and B2C publishers can leverage user data to reap significant financial reward.
 
Ian Eckert is a Project Director at Abacus e-Media working with many leading publishers in the industry including UBM, Centaur Media and TSL.

Prior to his second stint at Abacus, Ian ran the online business for TSL Education, the UK’s leading educational publisher.  As Internet Director he developed the 2009 AOP award-winning TES Connect site that links teachers from across the UK through an innovative Web 2.0 platform.  He has also worked as a main board director for CMP Information in a digital development role and before that for a number of regional press including Portsmouth Publishing and Printing.  He is currently Visiting Fellow in Online Journalism at Trinity and All Saints, University of Leeds.

See here for Ian's views on the 'data goldmine' & actionable intelligence.

For more details on the event and to register please visit

http://www.ukaop.org.uk/events/drivingrevenuethroughdataevent.obyx

We look forward to seeing you there!

i-Talent allows housing providers to manage the recruitment process end-to-end – from  the decision to fill a vacancy right through to making the appointment with a full online application process and candidate tracking.

iTalent is based on Abacus’ market-leading public sector recruitment product – Recruit v5 -and uses the same Software as a Service (SaaS) architecture to provide cost-effective rollout across a wide customer base.

i-Talent is web-based and enables housing providers to take a systematic approach to tracking applications, shortlisting and completing the necessary pre-employment checks. It reduces staff time taken to process jobs and applications, and it supports advanced equality and diversity monitoring and reporting throughout the recruitment process. i-Talent also allows users to monitor the effectiveness of their advertising spend. The system is entirely free to use and will be supported by the ConsultCIH team.

From the autumn, additional i-Talent PLUS modules will be introduced to help providers enhance identification and development of in-house staff talent, and to involve and engage their tenants in skills development and employment.

Speaking at the launch Trevor Barratt, CEO of Ocean Media Group, said: “Through Inside Housing and the website (www.insidehousing.co.uk ) we already offer the leading and most cost-effective recruitment advertising platform in the sector. Now with i-Talent's cutting-edge technology we are giving housing providers the opportunity to make their recruitment activity even more efficient and effective - critically important in the current economic climate.” He went on “We see i-Talent as yet another way that Inside Housing can support the housing sector.”

Richard Clark, Executive Chair of ConsultCIH said, “The i-Talent partnership between ConsultCIH ,Ocean Media Group and Abacus has been a very productive relationship for all of us. It has enabled us to introduce a new human resources product into the housing sector quickly and with high impact. The support from Abacus has gone beyond technical competence and has contributed problem solving and innovative ideas throughout.”

The initiative has been strongly welcomed in the sector.

Gary Clark, Operations Director at Roseberry Housing Association said, “This is an exciting new approach to recruitment; not only will this system make our recruitment processes a lot more efficient but it is also free, which I think represents excellent value for money. We are looking forward to the opportunity of using this system and testing it in the new environment.”

 

The app – called Collectors News and available for download, free of charge, at the iTunes store -  covers the twelve most popular areas of collecting, from Art & Photography, to Wine, Whisky & Spirits. The app delivers breaking news throughout the day, together with interviews from industry experts. 

Paul Fraser Collectibles was started in April 2009 with the aim of providing daily news on high-end (over £1,000) collectibles across all the major collecting areas on a global basis.  During the last year, the company has built up a strong database of collectors and is able to offer them interesting and unique investment quality collectibles with impeccable provenance.

Paul Fraser: “There are believed to be two hundred million collectors worldwide and this number will double in the next thirty years as people increasingly regard collectibles as a profitable alternative investment opportunity.”

Delivering daily news to worldwide collectors is an ideal iPhone app – we can keep people up to date with constantly changing stories, without overloading them with information.  And if they do want more information, they simply visit our web site. I believe that we are the only company in our sector offering this type of service.

Having previously worked with Abacus e-Media on the development of a web site using the company’s content management system, Webvision, they were the “obvious choice to create the iPhone app for us.” Information is quickly and easily put onto the web site using Webvision, with readers in 185 countries, which in turn is then used to select and deliver the news stories for the Collectors News iPhone app.    

Early reaction to the new iPhone app has been encouraging and Paul Fraser believes that there is considerable scope to extend its functionality, over time, to enable collectors to see stock for sale, and to make purchases. “Patterns with the collectibles sector to embrace new technology have increased exponentially. Collectors don’t want to miss the news on upcoming sales or recent auction results, and the new Collectors News iPhone App delivers exactly this.”

London Office

Abacus e-Media
14-16 Regent Street
London
SW1Y 4PH

Tel: +44 (0)20 7766 9810
Fax: +44 (0)20 7766 9811
 
Directions

Portsmouth Office

 
Abacus e-Media
4 Boyd Building
The Admirals
Gunwharf Quays
Portsmouth
PO1 3AG

Tel: +44 (0)23 92 893 600
Fax: +44 (0)23 92 295 9188

Directions

Our Client Support Contact details have not changed:

Tel: +44 (0)845 130 4110

Email: support@abacusemedia.com

 

We look forward to welcoming you to our new offices some time soon.

Barry McIlheney, chief executive of the PPA, said: “The PPA Awards are the pinnacle of the magazine industry calendar and tonight’s event was no exception, providing a showcase for the phenomenal talent within the UK magazine sector.

“With a greater number of entries than last year our congratulations go to all those who made it to the shortlist. However, special praise must be reserved for the winners who stood out from an exceptional crowd.”

Special acknowledgement goes to:

Designer Of The Year (Business Media) sponsored by Circdata
Violetta Boxill & Cecilia Lindgren, The Architectural Review, emap

Writer Of The Year (Business Media) sponsored by Informa
Sarah Richardson, Building, UBM Built Environment

Columnist Of The Year (Business Media) sponsored by CDS Global
Ruth Mortimer, Marketing Week, Centaur Media

Business Web Service Of The Year sponsored by YUDU Media
TES Connect (TES.co.uk), TSL Education

Editor Of The Year (Business Media) sponsored by Polestar UK Print
Stuart Macdonald, Inside Housing, Ocean Media Group

Business Media Brand Of The Year sponsored by Quadrant Subscription Services
Health Service Journal, emap inform

See the full list of 2010 winners

The latest innovation from Ocean Media is the development of the new whitebook.co.uk website incorporating a comprehensive and powerful event industry search engine. With more than 400 categories and over 14,000 individual listings, whitebook.co.uk has already been very well received by the event industry.

The White Book print directory has been the industry leader for over 27 years covering a wide range of event production suppliers, from event access and security to concert and corporate event organisers. The overhaul of whitebook.co.uk provides quick access to suppliers using the integration of Autonomy's IDOL intelligent search solution. Companies, Agents, Artistes and Attractions across the industry can take advantage of Premier, Platinum, Gold and free packages to showcase their products and services. The most prestigious packages include full page branding, embedded video, pictures and attachments.

Designed and developed by Abacus e-Media, whitebook.co.uk, is based on Webvision v3 and Marketplace Directories, with the Autonomy IDOL platform being used to index and retrieve relevant records. Search criteria can then be filtered so user experience is straight forward and intuitive when navigating through such high volumes of data. 

The sites benefit from the initial investment EMAP Inform made into the Webvision product and other technologies like Autonomy for enterprise search and relating content, and will incorporate the new Abacus built paywall technology.

The Webvision v3 platform approach allows media businesses to deploy professional, feature rich websites, with all the economies of scale you would expect from a template approach. The system flexibility and non-technical UI increases editorial creativity and productivity whilst reducing a traditional reliance on technically skilled staff.

The full list of sites that have re-launched on the Webvision v3 platform are:

• Professional Beauty
• Retail Jeweller
• Heating and Ventilation News
• Refrigeration and Air Conditioning
• Materials Recycling Week
• Architectural Review
• Lighting

The judges commented:

The propertyweek.com team's mission in the judging year was twofold: to transform the site's brand, look and content focus, and to establish it as the leading community site for property professionals. By overhauling the look and feel of the site, they radically changed the behaviour of its audience, from consumers of content to an engaged and interactive community.
Judges' Comments: “Investment in editorial and analysis alongside R&D set off their creativity. They demonstrated an appetite for experimentation in a difficult year.”

www.propertyweek.com is one of three main brands in the Built Environment portfolio powered by Webvision v3 and recently redesigned and relaunched by Abacus e-Media - click to see the new look www.building.co.uk and www.bdonline.co.uk too.

Well done to Emap and TSL for being short listed in a number of categories, including the highly prestigious Digital Publisher of the Year (Business) - better luck next year!

Click here to see all the winners in 2010 and photos of the night

http://www.ukaop.org.uk/news/2010aopawardwinners2131.html

This year’s event (the 3rd of its kind), organised by Incisive Media, is focusing on ‘embracing the digital age to drive revenues and growth’ – and as a Platinum Sponsor, Abacus is playing a very active role.

Ian Eckert, a director of Abacus e-Media (and formerly an award-winning journalist and online publisher) is part of the expert panel of speakers at this year’s Forum. He’ll be giving a presentation entitled “Building a cost-effective online publishing platform”. Ian will be looking at how the economics of online publishing are shifting, how the value of content can be realised, and the organisational and technological requirements to support these new publishing challenges. Case studies will be used to illustrate his talk.

Abacus is also taking part in the networking area where we’ll be on hand to talk about your own online publishing needs.

And to whet your appetite even more, there’s a networking drinks reception overlooking the River Thames.

This is an event not be missed. For more information and to register your place please visit www.epublishing-forum.com.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Participating agencies can use a web-based self-service system to upload digital assets including video and audio files  and have the opportunity to respond to comments on their work. The site currently includes details for the 100 leading strategic creative agencies.

Pitch combines functionality from Webvision v3 platform and our Marketplace directory product together with integrated video streaming from Vyoo. To ensure the quality and validity of the feedback the site is only available to existing Marketing Week subscribers so the system also incorporates Abacus's latest content access and paywall technology linked directly to Centaur's customer database.

The site is edited by former Marketing Week deputy editor Sonoo Singh and also includes news, commentary and analysis on the sector as well as the influential Agency Reputation survey.

Publisher Declan Gough says he already has plans in place to expand the service to include digital, integrated and media agencies with sites for PR and research agencies to follow.

“We chose the Abacus solution because it utilises standard products already implemented across the business and puts them to work in an innovative and creative way. We worked particularly closely with the Abacus creative team to get exactly the right look and feel for this acutely design-conscious audience.  We are very excited about the launch of Pitch and look forward to rolling the concept out across other sectors of the Centaur portfolio.”

Abacus is exhibiting at this major conference for the publishing industry, organised by the Periodical Publishers Association. A core theme for the event will be how publishers can position themselves to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by an economy coming out of recession.

Streamed into individual sessions for B2B and B2C publishers, the event is expected to attract more than 400 delegates for sessions covering paid content models, social networks in marketing and the impact of the iPhone.

Further details at www.publishing2010.com

We look forward to seeing you there.

Some have argued that this debate has a distinct feel of traditional print publishers circling the wagons in a forlorn attempt to stop the advance of the web’s so-called freeconomists — those who believe unfettered access to high quality content is the inalienable right of all web users.

Arguments on the other side of the debate are scarcely more measured, with the likes of Rupert Murdoch and his acolytes routinely talking of content kleptomaniacs, digital vampires and parasites.

But behind all this hyperbole there are some stark economic facts. Much of the print publishing industry is seeing ad revenues haemorrhage. In the US, 11 print media companies from Advertising Age’s Top 100 filed for bankruptcy in 2009, a list that included iconic names such as Chicago Sun-Times. This is in part due to the extraordinary economic conditions currently prevailing. But the consequences of the credit crunch alone cannot explain the seismic shift that publishers are struggling to control.

Rupert Murdoch’s hypothesis is that publishers were ‘asleep’ and made a huge mistake in giving everything away for free online only to find that the hoped-for advertising revenues that were to finance this largess failed to materialise. In the meantime, quality content providers became devalued and ended up fighting in the gutter for the scraps of online ad revenue not already hoovered up by the search giants. And this is not sustainable. Or in Murdoch’s words: “There is not enough advertising in the world to go around to make all the [publishing] websites profitable”.

One thing seems certain. Print publishing’s display and classified ad revenues are unlikely to bounce back to pre-recession levels regardless of the delivery medium. So there has to be an alternative model that can fund the costly business of producing quality content.

Of course it’s a generalisation to assume that all publishers have been giving their content away for free up to this point. In the B2B markets in which Abacus specialise, we’ve always had clients such as Thomson Reuters who’ve been able to charge for high-quality editorial content. But the key to charging is the uniqueness or proprietary nature of the content or service being provided.

So the recent announcement from the Financial Times that it expects content revenue (including print subscriptions and online access fees) to exceed print advertising revenues for the first time this year is no great surprise in a market where up-to-date, accurate and trusted information is at a premium.

But not all publishers share the FT or Thomson’s advantage of operating in a market where there is such an explicit link between the quality of the content being supplied and the potential incremental profits to be made by the content consumers.

Other publications will have a tougher job to do, but one by one they will have to follow the specialist’s example and start to erect barriers around their most valuable property. But in some ways putting up the paywall will be the easy part. Next, publishers are going to have to work very hard to convince users to part with their cash — a tough ask unless the would-be subscriber can be convinced there is an immediate and tangible benefit. Not easy with so much free content available.

And in an age where audience generation lies as much in the hands of the search engines, content aggregators and social networks as it does with the content owners, how can the competing priorities of product marketing and revenue generation be reconciled?

In most cases there will remain a need to promote sampling and more often than not take an incremental approach to the development of the relationship with the user. Such a model might see a certain proportion of content left completely ungated. Access to further content might depend on registration while some other material might only be available to paying subscribers.

Outside of a subscription regime there might be certain premium content or services that requires an additional one-off payment. Meanwhile, access to individual articles in an archive might be subject to a micropayment or a pay-as-you-go system. Another example, such as the one Abacus recently developed for Building and Property Week, might see the user’s level of ‘free’ access being metered to a certain number of transactions in a month before they are required to sign up for a product.

And just as the models to be implemented will be mixed and various it’s equally likely that any model adopted now will need to change — not least as the publisher monitors and responds to user demand.

So any Content Management System and associated access module needs to meet the following requirements:

• Access controls should be highly flexible — ideally incorporating a rules-based system that can be adapted over time particularly as new content areas or functionality comes on stream
• There should be support for incremental access regimes including provision for usage metering
• The access regime should be controlled and maintained by the publication’s audience acquisition team. And they should be able to change and evolve the model at speed without the need for technical redevelopment
• The system must be able to integrate with existing print fulfilment facilities to ensure a single customer view and a joined-up user experience
• There should be close integration with the transaction engine to ensure that the system can offer a wide range of payment options from micropayments to direct debit support

All of these considerations came into play when leading B2B publisher Emap Inform decided in Autumn 2009 to move its entire online portfolio, including titles such as Nursing Times and Drapers, to a subscription-based model.

Jeff Leslie is Digital Development Director responsible for the roll-out of pay walls across the Emap Inform portfolio. He believes a combination factors is essential to success. “We need to ensure that our system can be adapted to suit the exact market circumstances of any product.

“And we need to be able to adjust the access policies over time, through devices like teasers and free trials, to ensure the optimum balance between attracting new users and potential subscribers and converting these prospects into paying customers.

“The ability to do this efficiently and without the need for constant technical redevelopment is fundamental to Emap's strategy and the number one requirement for our platform. That’s why we’ve invested in Webvision”, says Leslie.

This article originally appeared on the ukaop website.

MEED.com offers three access levels to visitors: free, registered and subscription, the latter being offered as part of a bundled package including a weekly magazine. Registered users can access a selection of subscription stories (Editor’s Choice) on the site to get a flavour of the benefits of subscribing.

In addition to the new paywall, the site developed by Abacus e-Media for MEED also features Autonomy IDOL for intelligent, context-based search and related content, and Dispatch for the management and distribution of email newsletters.

MEED has a highly-regarded status in the marketplace, having been providing business intelligence on the Middle East since 1957. The web site and associated magazine delivers news, exclusive in-depth features, comprehensive data and analysis and market leading special reports, as well as the latest tender and contract awards. The MEED model provides an excellent illustration of EMAP’s view that readers will be willing to pay for quality content and value-added services which are highly targeted towards their specific interests.

The even more eagle-eyed or technically curious of you might have noticed that this is done with HTML, not Flash replacement.

This has been achieved by using the @font-face CSS command, that allows us to specify a web font in the font stack. Just the same as always, but now we don’t have to hope that the end user has the font on their machine. Web fonts can be downloaded and rendered by the browser. But type foundries have not released licensed fonts, like Meta, before. If you put a normal Web Font onto your server as a downloadable file, then anybody can easily re-use it – fine for free fonts – but not OK for licensed fonts.

However, thanks to the folks at TypeKit we can now get around that problem. Type foundries such as FontFont have allowed their fonts to be served through some clever JavaScript that makes it nigh on impossible for the font file to be used on any other, but the licensed site.

So we thought we’d give it a go on our site (so far just the headings and sub-headings) and see how it performs.

If you can’t see it try a shift-refresh, or you may be using a browser that does not support the @font-face, such as Firefox 3.0 or lower or Google Chrome.

Find out more about how TypeKit works.

This concise, early morning two-hour seminar, co-hosted by Abacus e-Media and Madgex, shows how organisations with strong brands and engaged communities can implement tools to introduce new online revenue models that give rapid ROI, as well as cutting costs through the streamlining of production and editorial processes.

With industry case studies led by David Archer - Managing Director, Scottish Television; we are welcoming directors and senior decision makers who have responsibility for maximising the effectiveness and profitability of their brand and digital communities via their online presence.

We ask you to enjoy the breakfast, enjoy the facilities and take away some ideas for your teams to implement at this short, informative, evidence-based event held at the Law Society’s Hall Chancery Lane from 9-11am on 20 January 2010.

• More information about this free event.
• If you would like to attend you can book here.
• Find out more about Madgex - www.madgex.com

The site, which is due to go live in mid-2010, will include an online stamp shop, stamp auctions together with stamp-related investment opportunities. It will focus on providing worldwide collectors and investors visiting the site with better navigation and usability, together with powerful new search facilities.

Keith Heddle at Stanley Gibbons said of the winning proposal: “The depth and breadth of your experience and proposal clinched it”

Jody Willis, Head of Design at Abacus: “We are very excited by this opportunity to work with Stanley Gibbons, they have a long history and are the leading authority in the world of philately. We are looking forward to creating an easy to use e-commerce site, which we hope will make Stanley Gibbons a leader in the digital environment as well as off line.”

Inside Housing scooped the award against tough competition from UBMi’s Property Week and World Architecture News. Abacus e-Media are proud to have designed and built both of these flagship sites and we congratulate their success.

This was the official commentary from the IBP:

Website of the Year Award

As continued advances in technology make on-line information sources a valuable partner to the more traditional newspapers and business magazines, the judges of the Website category found all the entries this year had made significant improvements in the delivery of their news content. Over all use of colour, formatting and effective navigation impressed the judges. The nominations in the category were shortlisted, in the final session, on the basis of the delivery of the news content and writing for the web, within the parameters of this new and fast developing media.

Inside Housing combines good writing for the web with a page format making maximum use of screen width. The multi-column layout is compact and site navigation is straightforward, clear and logical. The site appropriately prioritises user involvement by featuring the forum and blogs prominently on the home page. Solid web writing throughout and clear headings and sub-heads enable the user to skim or to discover a wealth of relevant content.

Property Week provides a bright and colourful website that is content and feature-rich. News stories provide good examples of writing for the web with short paragraphs written in a clear, uncluttered style. The use of colour accents and images add interest to the pages. This is an interesting and visually appealing website with many positive features.

World Architecture News is a boldly designed and visually strong website which makes powerful use of colour combinations to attract and create impact. Clean and uncluttered content pages add a sense of calm and the page structure is rational and elegant. Extensive font replacement gives the site a strong visual identity appropriate to its readership.

NOMINATIONS:

• Inside Housing – Winner
• Property Week
• World Architecture News

EMAP’s recent announcement that all the 19 magazines in its Inform business division, including Drapers, Nursing Times and Construction News, are to stop providing free access to content has been enabled by a software solution from Abacus e-Media. Building a paywall which will enable EMAP to start charging for access to its magazine web sites (within an overall subscription package) has been provided by Abacus e-Media as part of its Webvision digital publishing solution. The first paywall-based title, Meed, which provides business intelligence relating to the Middle East, launched in September and ten more titles began their roll out on 13 November, starting with the successful launch of Retail Week. 

“We’ve had a free-to-air approach with our (websites) in the last 12 months and our view is that B2B success is based on distinctiveness – and a highly targeted audience, they will pay for that content,” Gilbertson told paidContent:UK. “So we're moving all our sites to a subscription based model.”

David Gilbertson, CEO talking to paidContent:UK (1 November, 2009)

EMAP’s view is that its readers will be willing to pay for quality content and value-added services which are highly targeted towards their particular industry. The Webvision-based solution, which integrates tightly with CDS Global for managing print circulation of the respective magazines, allows EMAP to deliver its content via web, email, data services, print and mobile apps, as part of a single subscription.

Fund Strategy,   Money Marketing and  Mortgage Strategy were successfully launched on the same day by Abacus e-Media.

The sites, which have been designed and built by Abacus, all sit on the Webvision 3 publishing platform.

This weekend (22nd Nov 2009) we will be handing over our Regent Street offices to the MooTools developers, who will be hosting a hackathon (Geek talk for developing in a small amount of time). Developers from all over Europe will be attending  and they will be busy working away at MooTools 2.0, the search engine, and the awesome MooShell.

Find out more information about the event. Follow the event live http://twitter.com/mootools

We use MooTools on a lot of our websites. MooTools is a leading JavaScript framework used extensively around the world.

The new site also incorporates Abacus e-Media’s Dispatch (email broadcasting tool), together with Madgex for up to the minute jobs and Autonomy IDOL for intelligent, context-sensitive search facilities.

Integration of Autonomy into the new site is of particular importance for this EMAP site because of the amount of information stored. The extensive archive dates back to 1993, and Autonomy provides the ability for users to quickly and easily search and retrieve specific items. Webvision v3’s powerful capability to back-tag stories enables their accurate placement around the site.
The site has an active blogging community, and provides the ability for users to subscribe to downloadable supplements on a variety of RSS topics.
Robin Latchem, Digital Editor, LGC:

“Since our relaunch in mid-May, we have seen a strong correlation between using the Webvision CMS and a boost in our traffic generally, which has been sustained since then. Undoubtedly the improved navigation has helped, but we have also seen a significant increase in traffic generated by Google and other search engines. On the site itself, searching our rich archive of 140,000 articles dating back to our first web presence in 1992 - hitherto impossible - has been transformed.

I have worked on more than a dozen content management systems over the years and, while none is perfect, Webvision is one of the best I've used. It is extremely quick in getting stories online and making them an enriched experience with images, links and linked files.”

In addition to sweeping the board at this year’s AOP Awards -  winning best B2B site and best online publisher for TSL - the site has been named runner-up in the employment category of the Webby Awards.

The Webbys are the leading international award honouring excellence on the Internet – the new media equivalent of the Oscars. Established in 1996 during the Web's infancy, the awards are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities.

TES Connect was one of only five nominees worldwide in its category. Overall the awards attracted 10,000 entries.

TES Connect is the number one site for teaching jobs from all across the country.  With over 500,000 registered users, it is the UK’s leading online recruitment platform for schools and colleges looking to find new quality teaching and support staff.  Visitors to the jobs section can browse by position, subject, workplace and by location and build customised email or SMS job alerts. The site has an established and thriving community element, with around 10 million page accesses each month to its Forums and UGC based Resources sections.

TES Connect is powered by Webvision v3 and Jobs Marketplace.

 

 

The bold design of the site complements the visual nature of the film and video industries, whilst providing smooth, fast and flexible handling of images, galleries and the extensive film clips which can be found on the site. 

In addition to Webvision v3, Abacus has also incorporated its Dispatch product (an email broadcasting tool), Autonomy IDOL for intelligent, context-sensitive search and Madgex for the latest industry jobs.

The new site offers news, jobs, an events diary and the opportunity for users to subscribe to daily email news alerts. In contrast to the old site in which it could be difficult to find the right information, this new one has a much stronger design complemented by powerful navigation and improved usability. In particular, the design of the site provides much better handling of images, galleries and extensive film clips.

In addition to the Webvision v3 platform, Abacus has also integrated its email broadcasting product, Dispatch, together with Madgex for the jobs board and Autonomy IDOL, to provide intelligent, context-sensitive search facilities.

In his new role at Abacus he is responsible for working with the company’s publishing clients on the development of their business models and the ongoing development of the Webvision digital publishing platform. Ian rejoins Abacus from TSL Education where he held the post of Internet Director. Prior to that he was Digital Development Director at CMPi.

The site, designed and built by Abacus e-Media, is aimed at professionals working across a broad spectrum of disciplines from retail, products and packaging to graphics, interiors, exhibitions and digital. The website offers innovative and exciting ways for this internationally-based community to interact.

Based on the Abacus Webvision v3 digital publishing platform, the relaunched site enables visitors to easily sign for up for breaking news bulletins and free job email alerts of relevant vacancies as soon as they come onto the market.  Subscribers to Design Week magazine are also entitled to free access to the online archives, stretching back over fifteen years. 

The new site also offers a completely overhauled user experience with easier navigation, more news, additional channels, extra comment and increased interactivity together with a much-expanded jobs section.

Design Week has been the magazine of choice for over 35,000 design professionals throughout the world for twenty years.

The new site also features Autonomy IDOL for intelligent contextual search and Madgex for up-to-the minute jobs.  Abacus e-Media’s Dispatch module has been integrated within the overall solution to handle the creation, management and distribution of the wide range of Nursing Times email newsletters covering such specialities as primary care, mental health and infection control.

A key aim for the new site was to ensure that content was much better organised to cater for the very different needs of the different nursing profiles.
As part of this objective, the design of the site features an innovative ‘double-decker navigation’ which helps visitors to pursue their own particular areas of interest faster and more easily.  The overall format of the web site is much more flexible – a feature which is delivered by the templates within Webvision v3 - allowing Nursing Times to publish clinical research articles alongside the news stories and features.

Interaction between Nursing Times editorial staff and their readers is being actively encouraged by the growing use of user generated content, such as blogs and forums.

The new site features easier navigation, more powerful search functionality, an extensive Jobs section and a wealth of new content broken down into News, Opinion and Features. The Data section includes details of industry research, statistics and trends to help www.nma.co.uk visitors gain valuable information for their interactive media and marketing businesses.  This section of the site will be further developed with the addition of tools to help visitors analyse the data to meet their own needs.  In addition, in the forthcoming months, blogging from the editorial team and selected industry figures, integrated Twitter feeds and video content, will all be incorporated into the new site. 

Abacus e-Media's designers have sought to strengthen the NMA brand by enchaining the colour palette and increasing the prominence of the well-known and well-established logo.  The new scrolling Flash graphic at the top of the page is designed to reflect the magazines personality and editorial opinion

TES Connect wins Best Business Website

TES Connect, from TSL Education, won the Best Business website at the AOP Awards on 2nd June 2009. The web site was designed, developed and implemented by Abacus e-Media and powered by our Webvision digital publishing platform. The site was praised for effective use of social networking. The judges commented:

“A vibrant and optimistic site which empowers its users. With high quality UGC at its heart, TES Connect has harnessed the power of the community in a slick and professional way, and is clearly respected and valued by its users. With fantastic design and usability, it has enabled teachers to make a beneficial impact on the lives of their peers.”

TSL Education wins best Digital Publisher – Business

TSL Education also won the digital publisher award for its online services to teachers.

The judges commented in their citation that:

“TSL is delivering value to its audience through shared knowledge and a clear grasp of the digital space. The site provides not just a viable business model, but a personal experience to its users.  In this they have achieved exactly what they set out to do.”

Also nominated:

Congratulations to all our clients who were shortlisted this year.

Editorial Team, Business

• Retail Week - Emap
• TES Connect Editorial Team - TES Education
• Building.co.uk - UBM Built Environment

Digital Ad Sales Team

• BD Online and Building.co.uk - UBM

Digital Commercial Individual

• Martin Hurn - UBM Built Environment
  

Website - Business

• Building.co.uk - UBM

The new site is based on Abacus e-Media's market leading digital publishing platform, Webvision v3, together with the Dispatch module which manages the design, creation and distribution of daily and weekly email news bulletins for www.research-live.com. In addition to news, the site uses Webvision to provide new formats of content, such as multimedia, blogs and forums as well as providing a more flexible design layout.

Research chose Abacus e-Media because of the company's in-depth publishing expertise and ability to bring many years experience to the development of the new site.

Jennifer Sproul, Sales & Marketing Director, Research: 

"Webvision will be the principal editorial system used for all the content on the Research site.  It is very easy to use, and allows us to quickly and easily create new content and new sections.  It is also very good at supporting workflow processes in terms of the development and management of content."

"From the point of view of our users, the new site will enable them to enjoy a completely new way of interacting not only with their peers but also with Research journalists."

"Abacus has been fantastic through the project.  They have been fast to respond to our queries and extremely helpful."

Research is published by the Market Research Society (MRS), the world's largest professional association representing providers and users of market research and business intelligence, and operating a Code of Conduct to which all members must comply.

One of the construction industry’s most authoritative titles – EMAP-owned New Civil Engineer – has launched its new web site, which has been designed and built by Abacus e-Media. 

Based on the company’s Webvision digital publishing solution, Abacus has also integrated Autonomy’s IDOL  product to provide intelligent contextual search and retrieval capabilities, and Madgex for comprehensive job opportunities.

The latest version of Webvision (v3) ensures that the new NCE site can be quickly and easily changed to allow the content to be presented in a variety of different and flexible formats. 

Abacus’ Dispatch product handles the management and distribution of emails, including the range of newsletters to which readers can subscribe – including daily news, plus a number of market specific updates such as Water, Transport, Energy  and Geotechnical. 

Part of EMAP Inform, NCE has a circulation of 55,523 for the printed magazine.  The web site attracts more than 45,000 unique visitors each month, and has over 250,000 page impressions.

Designed and built by Abacus e-Media, the new web site for Construction News has gone live.  The new site is based on Abacus e-Media's Webvision v3 digital publishing platform, which amongst other features delivers up to the minute news and hot topics.  The striking design of the site - in 'JCB yellow' - also incorporates Abacus' Dispatch product for managing and distributing email alerts and newsletters, which subscribers can choose to receive based on different regions of the country or specific topics.

Autonomy's IDOL product has been integrated into the site to provide powerful, intelligent contextual search and retrieval capabilities for unstructured information, with Madgex delivering the latest industry job opportunities. 

For the first time in 20 years, the FIPP World Magazine Congress is returning to London (www.fipplondon09.com).  Featuring first-class speakers, expert panels and 1000 delegates from around the globe, the Congress will celebrate the 'Magic of Magazines' and demonstrate how in challenging economic times, magazines offer an unrivalled path to engaged consumers.

The FIPP World Magazine Congress is the largest and most high profile magazine event in the world. Bringing together magazine publishers and business media providers from across the globe, the biennial Congress has taken place in many different locations over the years, including Beijing, China (2007), New York, USA (2005), Paris, France (2003), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina (2001) and Hamburg, Germany (1999).

Hosted and managed for the International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP) by the UK Periodical Publishers Association (PPA), the 37th FIPP World Magazine Congress will take place on Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th May 2009 at the historic riverside venue of Old Billingsgate in the heart of the City of London. It will be preceded by an Opening Reception at Kensington Palace on the evening of Monday 4th May, sponsored by UPM, and concluded by a Gala Evening at the newly opened Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, West London, on Wednesday 6th May, sponsored by DHL.

The conference agenda contains some of the world's biggest media names, giving their own personal insights at this must-attend event. In addition, the 2009 Congress will incorporate a 54-stand commercial exhibition, providing the opportunity for delegates to learn about new products, developments and opportunities in a highly-charged business environment.

As part of our ongoing commitment and partnership with the PPA, Abacus e-Media is exhibiting at this major industry event.  Come and visit us on Stand 24 to learn more about our unique CMS platform Webvision v3, and our design and integration expertise.  Let us help you make the right digital investments in today's challenging marketplace.  We look forward to welcoming you to our stand at FIPP 09.  This is an experience not to be missed!

Emap-owned Drapers has launched a striking new web site, which has been designed and built by Abacus e-Media.  The new site, powered by the company's multichannel CMS, Webvision v3, is the first of several Emap websites which will be redeveloped by Abacus. 

Containing a wealth of constantly updated news, views, trends and interviews, the site incorporates powerful and intelligent search functionality using Autonomy's world-leading software (IDOL v7), which has been integrated into the overall solution.  Job feeds are provided by Madgex, and again these have been seamlessly integrated into the website's functionality by Abacus.

User involvement in the new site is being encouraged with blogs and a community section integrating Drapers' Facebook user group and Twitter feed, plus the opportunity to subscribe to regular email newsletters with content which is specific to different sectors of the industry. 

The design produced by Abacus features a contemporary modern approach, allowing the use of bold graphics, full-length images, video, and picture galleries so Drapers track the new catwalk trends from all the leading industry fashion shows. 

The challenge for the design team at Abacus was how to improve the usability and overall user experience of what had become a somewhat outdated UI for a product which is widely regarded within the recruitment industry as being technically excellent and feature rich. A key criterion for the redesign was the need for a consistent visual language, and a simpler menu structure.

Abacus e-Media designer, Caroline Mckelvey commented:

“When I first saw Adapt I was completely new to recruitment software and felt overwhelmed by the amount of functionality. This made me the ideal new client test case! My first task was to go through user training so that I could fully understand the needs of the customer and appreciate how they would be using the software on a day-to-day basis.

“Once I fully understood what Adapt could do, I could then begin to develop a user-centric interface. I started by defining a menu structure based around the user’s tasks, and then built on the concept of a home page for each main area with the aim of giving focus to the tasks and allowing functionality to be split into easily manageable and navigable areas.”

The design team at Abacus worked closely with the technical team at Bond – meeting weekly – to ensure that all the ideas for the revised design could be incorporated into Adapt.

The final design has been extremely well received by Bond, their sales team and most importantly their customers. Tim Richards, managing director, Bond International Software:

“The new Adapt user interface is smart, modern, clean and very intuitive. It looks and feels like a website, so the user immediately feels confident exploring the pages as they have a familiar feel to them. Adapt was always a strong product, but now users have a much nicer environment in which to work, which in turn ensures that they use the full capabilities of the system and get the maximum benefit from it.”

About Bond International Software PLC

Abacus is a subsidiary of Bond International Software PLC, the world’s premier provider of staffing software to recruitment consultancies and corporations, with offices in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, the USA and Canada.

Clients from such leading publishers as Thomson Reuters, Macmillan, UBM and Ocean Media enjoyed bacon butties and a three course lunch and – of course – a demonstration of all the new features in Webvision v3, which include:

• Xstandard XHTML WYSIWYG editor on board – Xstandard is the leading standards-compliant plug-in WYSIWYG editor for desktop applications and browser-based content management systems (IE/Firefox/Safari/Opera).
• a simplified user interface for optimised content creation and editing
• extensive support for user generated content for forums, blogging and user interaction
• UK Framewwrk templates – optional page templates developed for cost-effective rebranding.
• an innovative new drag and drop SPIN technology which gives users the ability to change site navigation and page elements ‘on the fly’

Acquired by Wilmington Business Information (formerly Wilmington Media) at the end of 2006, Press Gazette has recently gone through a complete rebranding exercise, which has also seen the re-launch of the print publication as a monthly instead of weekly title. The new web site is now the primary source of information delivery and sharing for journalists, incorporating breaking news, blogs and discussion strands, whilst the print publication plays a more supportive, complementary role, providing the space for in-depth analysis and commentary on major themes affecting the profession.

Traffic on the web site has increased considerably since its launch, attracted by the many new features, including the journalist blog aggregation service.

The new site was based on Abacus’ Webvision product, which provides a robust platform for both online and print media, and integrates easily with other specialist third party applications. The solution for Press Gazette also includes a number of other Abacus-developed modules for such activities as advertising management (Advision), email distribution (Dispatch), image processing (AIPS) and a survey and voting software facility.

Graeme used the work undertaken for two of Abacus’ clients – BD (previously called Building Design) and IFR (International Financing Review) – to illustrate both the issues which need to be considered, and Abacus’ approach to the design challenges.

BDonline

BD is the UK’s best read weekly magazine for architects. It provides insight into the people, issues and stories affecting the industry, as well as being a showcase for the latest architectural projects.  It has a unique, vibrant and buzzy standalone brand.

The web site redesign was undertaken to coincide with a print relaunch and branding shift, which included a change of name from Building Design to BD. It was recognised that the magazine had a design conscious audience, and that vibrant imagery was key to showcasing the various building projects depicted in BD. The website needed to offer much more than weekly content online by developing a strong community look and feel.

A principal challenge for the design team at Abacus was the close link between the print and web site redesign. The projects were being run in parallel, which meant that the web site designer had to work very closely with the editorial team and the magazine designers to ensure that the web site used the same visual language as the print product. As is the case in many projects of this kind, the print redesign kept evolving – and the web site design had to reflect these changes. The web site design also needed to allow space for the editorial team to reflect the brand’s individual personality.

Creating initial impact: the logo and masthead

In the print design, a strong new logo and masthead, using vibrant colours, have a strong and immediate impact. In the web design, the same look and feel for the logo and masthead is employed. However, a large part of the key ‘real estate’ of the home page was given over to creating a deep masthead – for even more online impact. This was complemented by a three panel style to reflect the brand personality, and space for an advertising leaderboard.

Showcasing imagery

One of the main design challenges was to ensure that the dynamic story pages worked equally well with and without images, and that visitors to the site could be given a taste of the showcase projects without increasing download times. Not surprisingly BD’s architectural audience want to view large images as well as detailed plans – but they don’t want to wait to see them!

IFR – International Financing Review

IFR is a world leading financial publication, containing financial data, analysis and commentary. Its premium content is used by financial institutions, corporate and senior investment bankers.

Group wide branding

In common with BD, the plan to redesign the print magazine prompted the redesign of the web site. But in contrast to BD, IFR was part of a much bigger strategic project, driven at group level. Five magazines were to be redesigned at the same time with the aim of creating a consistent design approach across all the titles. The re-use of print content on the web was fundamental to their strategy; this would be handled by inputting content into a CMS (content management system) and then outputting for both print and web simultaneously.

As with BD, Abacus worked closely with the print design team at IFR, but in the case of this client, the redesign of the online version of IFR also needed to provide a blueprint for a number of related titles. This meant that the requirements of the other titles always had to be considered, as well as the need for ‘across the board’ consistency. This was achieved by using similar graphic styles for each of the titles and the same visual language, whilst retaining their individuality.

Tackling data presentation and mining

Abacus’ web designers needed to get to grips with financial terminology to ensure that the navigation could help users find specialist topics quickly and easily, together with links to other relevant material, and that the powerful research tools incorporated into the site could be use to mine information. Restricted access for premium content was a further challenge as it was important not to reveal too much content on the index pages. With very few images, the design needed to rely heavily on the skilful use of typography and tabulated data.

Drawing conclusions

Despite their very different appearances, purposes and audiences, both sites have proved very successful in their marketplaces, and have grown to become strong online brands.

Although there are a myriad of different design issues and challenges in both sites, there are two clear reasons for their success, which are equally applicable throughout the publishing sector.

The first reason is the early involvement of the web team in the redesign process. This meant that the print and web designers could work simultaneously, refining the design and the approach as necessary, whilst at the same time working closely with the editorial team to ensure that the final product met their needs. Although print and web designers have different skills, it is impossible to underestimate the importance of the two disciplines working together.

And the second reason is that web designers need to have an in-depth understanding of the business objectives, the content and the brand’s goals to accurately portray these in an online environment. Without these, the site will run the risk of being a vacuous, haphazard collection of information, which has neither value nor presence – and which can only devalue an organisation’s brand.

The company’s previous system had proved unreliable in the face of high volumes of traffic, and there was also a requirement for additional functionality, such as the ability to carry out ad hoc surveys and email campaigns.

The Abacus system handles the administration and set up of individual registration questionnaires. This was based on Abacus’ Inform product, which allows non-technical users to set up complex questionnaires, which can then be delivered into web sites through HTML templates. This system provided the facility to set up unique URLs which can be sent to the readership, allowing them to register online by completing the necessary application forms.

One of the challenges for the system was the requirement that it could quickly and efficiently handle high levels of ‘bursty’ traffic. Following a marketing campaign, for example, it is not unusual for the site to have to manage new registrations at the rate of one every two seconds. The design of the system, using flexible templates widely utilised by Abacus for other publishing clients, was a core element in ensuring the ability of the system to handle this type of traffic. The templates run with a minimum of interaction with the underlying database, thus guaranteeing a fast response with a minimum of system overhead. This in turns allows maximum throughput.

Inform is a flexible e-forms package, which allows non-technical users to set up and analyse web-based forms, survey and questionnaires. It allows administrators to create anything from the simplest of feedback forms through to highly sophisticated multi-page surveys. Workflow can be attached to any form, thus allowing administrators to allocate different tasks to different staff. All data submitted on the forms is collected in the Inform database, which can then be analysed in real time using a range of standard reports.