SEM Quarterly Print Magazine?
Shortly after finishing reading Rand’s comments on yet another inaccurate lame ass article about SEM written by someone who has no clue, I found this in my inbox:
Greetings,
My name is Boris Mordkovich. I hope you don’t mind me contacting you via email, but I wanted to share some exciting news that might be applicable to you and your blog. Our company has just launched the first print magazine dedicated to solely covering SEM - Search Marketing Standard. It’s a quarterly publication, about 40 pages large (for starters), with a subscribers base of over 15,000+.
Our debut issue will be coming out in May and we have already launched our website - http://www.searchmarketingstandard.com. We’re very excited about this venture, as we feel that a magazine in our industry is long overdue and we’re pleased to be the first ones to do it.
I would truly appreciate it if you could mention the magazine in your blog. I think that your readers would be interested in it and it would certainly mean a lot to us.
In case you need more information, we had a press release come out today: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/1/prweb337487.htm
You can also contact me with any questions or comments regarding this.
p.s. I invite you to sign up for a 1-year subscription at no charge on our website.
Warmest Regards,
Boris Mordkovich
One of Rand’s main points in the piece I mentioned above was the fact that the "new" article wasn’t worthy because it was talking about something that was already close to a month old in the SEO/SEM world. And I think that’s a valid point. We work in an industry where important information is disseminated in a matter of minutes. And the lifespan of the discussions/debates generated from that information is usually less than a week.
That being the case, I can’t help but wonder how someone could come to the conclusion that a quarterly SEM print publication would be something worth pursuing?
From their press release:
"Search Marketing Standard" is expected to set a benchmark in the industry by offering a cohesive collection of timely advice and reporting breaking trends for online business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals who market themselves on search engines such as Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft Search (MSN), Searchfeed, MIVA (FindWhat), ePilot, Kanoodle, Enhance Interactive, Search123, Mamma, and many others.
What on earth could you put in a print magazine that comes out every three months that would be considered "timely advice" or "reporting on breaking trends?"
And what about advertisers? I have no idea what the rates would be, but I can’t imagine a scenario where you could charge enough to cover the cost of printing and mailing 15,000 copies to non-paid subscribers. I would think that in order for the idea to fly, you would need to convince advertisers to pull some money away from all the online advertising they currently do.
So what am I missing? Is a quarterly print publication something you would pay for?
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20 Responses to “ SEM Quarterly Print Magazine? ”
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Can’t imagine that it would be timely, might serve as personal interest fodder. I saw it mentioned earlier today on WPN and thought that as a niche mag it might work but they’re going to need to find a hook fast if they want industry insiders to subscribe.
If I were to write that magazine I’d go after the advertising agency market. The same guy’s who would love to ignore search and hope it goes away, but realize they are starting to lose account dollars to search marketing and beter do something quick. These are the same folks who read internetretailer.com for news and tips.
Stranger yet, they don’t even request information that would make it possible to sell targeted advertising. All they ask for is your mailing address, phone number and email. Seems very odd.
I think Graywolf’s got it nailed. The advertising agency market, and their large corporate clients, are already several years behind. What difference does another quarter make?
Check out their rates per single issue (for advertisers): $200-$4500. Who in their right minds would pay to advertise in it?
I can see it now…
Gee… I can’t wait for my first free issue.
It’s not the first time I’ve heard the “first print magazine on SEO” thing. I think SEO Today was supposed to do that too, and it never materialized that way.
-d
Robert and Graywolf has it nailed, as well. There are, unfortunately, some of their target audience (large corporates and ad agencies) that are still behind the times–and a quarterly would server them just fine.
I hope that the content on their website will not be updated on a quarterly basis but perhaps on a daily basis (or more often than that).
boser, you’re as big a cynic as i am, so you know damn well that this isn’t going to be sold to old-core, independent seo types. hell no, this is going to go STRAIGHT to the receptionists coffee table in advertising shops, sem firms, and corporate marketing offices.
maybe the new guy at FTD will be their cover girl for the first issue.
The editor has an answer.
First thing that came to mind was a remark you made last night on the radio show, something like: “average lifespan of an SEM story is less than a week”.
I think this magazine would also be targeted more towards the small business owner who wants to learn more about SEO. There are a lot of those people out there you know.
>DigitalGhost Says:
>The editor has an answer.
“We will be targeting anyone who is advertising with search engines including webmasters, any business owners who advertise with search engines, marketing executives and SEM consultants.”
Yep, receptionists coffee table in advertising shops, sem firms, and corporate marketing offices.
My dog signed up to get a free copy. I’ll let you kow if it passes freely
It could be a big hit in places without decent Internet access…Antartica maybe?
Simply ridiculous…. Definitely aimed at people totally new to the field who are dumb enough to buy everything they’re sold. Even if they published some sort of analytical articles as opposed to pure news based stuff - quarterly is definitely too long a period - who’d want to read NOW abotu somrting that was the buzz in October? - heck that’s even before the Jagger updates!
I received a copy of another magazine called WebSiteServices “The Magazine for Website Success� about 2 months ago.
I think they are trying to do the same thing. They say “Website Services Magazine will help website owners develop, design, maintain and promote their online endeavor more efficiently and effectively – that’s our mission.�
The magazine is filled with advertisements from 7search.com (as it is their magazine) and old articles on topics such as, How to Optimize Press Releases.
You know Greg I have to disagree with you on this one. What you say is correct on a level that you are accustomed to, but “basics” that come from high level discussions between people like you and others (I won’t say me cause I don’t want to sound cocky here) are the basis for the next year’s worth of trends and successful tactics in SEM and SEO in particular.
I feel that we should actually be trying to ensure that those of us “in the know” are the ones getting printed in these types of publications. We can defend changes that have occurred since the article was written; sometimes even having to bite the bullet and say we were wrong. People like Barry and Rand and Todd (etc…) should write these articles that do make it onto advertising company coffee tables, in order to ensure we get the deserved respect our skillzz entitle us to.
I think sometimes people forget that SEM is arguably still just a blip on most marketing radar screens. These types of publications and various industry associations may combine to be a small voice, but that voice is pretty big when compared to the whole. ..and very important in helping establish our legitimacy.
So I do think that quarterly articles, written by the right people, can be effective.
Hmmm… funny, but even before I read this… I was one of his 15,000 people that signed up for free copies for a year. Well I’m still an SEO newbie. I haven’t known the main players until I’ve been listening to SEORockstars. Which I consider is the best way to learn new information up-to-date, very quickly. Maybe it would have been better if he emailed you to right articles for his magazine.
Isn’t it even more interesting that the masterminds behind this cutting-edge magazine didn’t consult with somebody in our industry prior to putting out such a literary masterpiece? One of us could have saved this company a whole bunch of money and wasted time. SEE YOU DO NEED US! (-: