Every once in a while, I’ve got to talk business. The business of getting you the goods, the business of what we’re up to, and the business of enriching our community both here in Minnesota and on the World Wide Web. At this point in time, Lavender is available via five platforms: print magazine, online magazine (on the web), online magazine (on the iPad), online magazine (on smartphones like DROID or iPhone), and the www.LavenderMagazine.com website.
As always, Lavender is free.
What may be confusing is what the differences are between the different platforms. Do you want or need to go to multiple places? Do you need to check out the various platforms to get all the information? Is there more than what’s in the magazine that you can pick up on stands? The answer is yes.
Being a free publication, our print page count relies solely on advertising dollars. It’s a business model that works–it’s one of the reasons Lavender’s been around since 1995. But, because of technology, we can expand the page count of our online magazine to accommodate more material. For instance, the last issue–The Wedding Issue–was bulked up to 92 pages in print…but exceeded 120 pages in the online magazine. We use that platform to show additional photos, videos, recipes, and all sorts of pieces that don’t fit in the print issue. The same advertisers are in both, but the ads are enhanced and clickable in the online magazine to be able to get to the websites of the companies that want you to know that they’re there for you. Even better, the online magazine is viewable on any computer by simply going to the top of our website at www.LavenderMagazine.com and clicking on ONLINE MAGAZINE.
Voila.
More Lavender.
The online magazine is also now viewable not only as an iPad Newsstand delivery but also on smartphones like iPhone and DROID. You can set up your iPad in Newsstand to automatically deliver the latest Lavender when it hits the internet–slick. And, if you’re sitting around with time to browse on your smartphone, consider going to our website and clicking the ONLINE MAGAZINE button to scroll through the current issue at your leisure. New and completely for you.
Lastly, the www.LavenderMagazine.com website is where it all aggregates–everything from the print issue, the expanded online magazine, and anything we report and post whenever it strikes our fancy. Reviews and recipes and news and videos and everything that is relevant to the community both here and across the globe. It’s split up into sections for sorting ease, but also it’s clear to see what’s been added to the website most recently by looking at the RECENT POSTS area at the top of the content. The photos in the home page slideshow illustrate new stories as they publish and the fresh content is readily apparent.
We’ve seen great traffic in the recent months. Since we revamped and started using our new website after the New Year, our stats are looking good and people are really starting to engage with Lavender as an online community platform. People are showing ownership of the online calendar by adding events to it and we couldn’t be more pleased. But, keep watching. More will be happening in the upcoming weeks and months to make our free content even more relevant and plentiful.
We can’t wait.
With thanks,
Andy