Another Digital Catalog Tested and Approved

It’s always nice to see people blabbing about your products and/or services. Here is a new blog post from last week that gives a very favorable review of the National Parts Depot Catalogs that we create online using our latest technology, EdgeClix.

Great Online Catalog
National Parts Depot
Posted by MilesSpeed

Finally a online catalog that is easy to use.

I went on National Parts Depot’s website to check out some parts for my Mustang and I was really pleased with how easy the website was to use. I have looked for parts online before and had really bad luck with some of the other websites out there.

The search function works great. Somehow, on other sites, I can enter “Camaro door” and get NO results! Aside from the great search function, the page views are just like the catalog. You can click and zoom in on any part of the page for more information. The shopping list view is helpful too when keeping track of your favorites.

Check it out for yourself!
NationalPartsDepot.com

Thanks for the recognition, “MilesSpeed” We love free press.

Post via Popular Hot Rodding

EdgeClix and Performance-Based Advertising

Directory publisher Easier to Read recently added value to their Yellow Pages book by putting it online using Dirxion’s look and feel digital directory product, EdgeClix. In doing so, they discovered a host of new marketing opportunities for their existing local business advertisers.

While some publishers choose to simply use our product in its most basic form, which is designed to highlight and give added value to your existing ads just as they are seen in their printed counterparts, others like Easier to Read, see our list of expanded advertising features and cannot wait to seize the opportunity to not only help their advertisers enhance their online presence, but also monetize their new investment.

Cover Banner Advertising

iPick link appears within Popular Categories in the Table of Contents

When clicked the iPick window pops up highlighting your advertiser

Both the Cover Banner and iPick programs were designed so directory publishers could offer their advertisers exciting ways to insert ads at any time of the year. By selling premium placements like these, publishers can guarantee advertisers additional exposure, while also giving them the ability to keep their promotions current.

Easier to Read is just one excellent example of how our customers are using their digital directories to capitalize on the strong relationships they’ve grown with local businesses. Even without large changes to their sales structure, digital directories can be equipped with many of our advertising programs to help generate new, steady, profitable streams of revenue.

Allow your advertisers to use one or many of our exciting, interactive features to get the most activity out of their ads.

More Reason to Socialize

Over a short period of time, sites like Facebook and Twitter have grown from messaging tools between friends into widely adopted means of self-promotion, advertising, and interaction. Most recently, the growing popularity of sharing useful information through these networks has caused a shift in the way the internet is being used, blurring the lines between its informational and social atmosphere.

As of last week that gray area got a little grayer. Microsoft announced that they struck deals with the two social networking giants to start integrating real time search results that will come directly from Twitter and Facebook users but will be listed within the Bing search engine results. Google also announced that they cut a similar deal with Twitter and would soon be launching a whole new search tool called ‘Social Search’. So it appears that now the influence of your tweets and updates will expand beyond just their narrow social circles.

This all came about as increasing amounts of traffic to websites were coming from Facebook and Twitter, taking some potential business away from search engines. The search engines, rather than compete, realized that when people are seeking information they are finding that content is often more relevant when it comes from someone within their sphere of influence online and not a mysterious and complex algorithm. Also, social search is predominantly based on recency because more times than not the most recent information is also the most pertinent.

What does this mean for publishers? There are larger marketing opportunities in growing your online social circle and actively participating within it. This is also important because for the first time these new forms of search are giving you some control over being found.  Instead of solely being bound by the strict rules of search engine optimization and highly competitive keywords, now by making regular use of Twitter and Facebook you are vicariously using search engines to reach an even larger audience. The more social you become with your marketing, the more traffic directed through your links.

ADP Mid-Year Conference

Dirxion recently attended the Association of Directory Publishers Mid-Year Conference in Orlando, FL.  We were proud to be the exclusive sponsor of not only the Golf Tournament, but also a very exciting $10,000 Hole-In-One Giveaway.  The Jack Nicklaus designed New Course is a replica of the Old Course at St. Andrews and proved quite a challenge for even the best of players.

Aside from golf, there were some productive discussions between both vendors and publishers.  In a year when many publishers are challenged by a bad economy and a general decline in print advertising, it was important for publishers to hear new ideas about how they can best serve their advertisers.  Gone are the days when a sales rep can simply sell a print ad once a year to an advertiser and expect a regular healthy renewal.  Yellow Pages publishers have certainly seen the need for multi-platform providers like Dirxion.
There is an ever-increasing focus on being able to provide local search results for advertisers online and this comes at the same time that the publisher needs to be a source of information and leads for their advertisers.  It’s a tall order for many Yellow Pages reps to move from a traditional quick close sale to a consultative relationship.

While the conference featured publishers sharing with publishers, there still seemed to be lack of understanding and adoption of new strategies by the Yellow Pages publishers.  Part of the challenge is that newer techniques for communicating with customers (i.e. blogs and Twitter) simply aren’t being put to use.  Dirxion posted one of only two blogs about the ADP conference and was probably the only company in attendance to send out a tweet about it.

Don’t worry publishers; we are here to help.  The latest version of our digital Yellow and White Pages solution – EdgeClix - makes easy work of social media.  With our directory product, you can become the premier marketing consultant for your Yellow Pages advertisers.  Over 80 Yellow Pages publishers have chosen Dirxion as their choice in online directories and that number continues to grow.  We support the print like no other online provider and continue to add new programs that will help you sell more ads online and in print.

Search Engine Optimization & Your Publication; What is Dirxion Doing?

As a publisher looking to move your printed material to the web, you’ll find that the majority of the digital publishing options out there are fully Flash-based. To most people this may actually sound more than acceptable. Flash content is great as there are hardly any limitations to building interfaces, designing, animating and creating user interaction. It has all the elements that give a site the heightened experience that today’s users are looking for. Flash is used to break all those conventional rules associated with flat, lifeless HTML pages.

But with all of its pros comes one very large con – unlike HTML, Flash content can’t be indexed by search engines. And if people can’t find your content on Google, Bing or Yahoo, it’s up to you to put it directly in front of them. But even with Herculean marketing efforts, your content will never reach its full audience potential.

Dirxion understands that if you want to maximize your reach and circulation, it’s critical that the content of your pages can be properly crawled by spiders for search engines. It’s for that reason we have introduced a Search Engine Optimization method designed specifically for digital publishers. We call it Trax. When you send us files for your new digital publication, we not only convert your data into Flash but also run it through Trax making a search engine friendly format called ASP. ASP is a dynamic code that is first sent to an ASP engine, where the file can be read – line by line – and then returned to indexing spiders and browsers as plain HTML. So it works just like HTML. And with Trax laid, this data will run behind the scenes solely for Google, Bing and Yahoo to crawl and navigate through your pages. But on the front end of your publication, your readers will still have the rich media experience of Flash.

Our SEO efforts, in a nutshell:

–Presenting all of the pages in your directory in a format that can easily be indexed by the search engines. Search engine users can now find your directory by searching for business names, categories, addresses, phones numbers, and more. Not to mention, search engine results open up pages inside of your directory with searched keywords already highlighted!

–Creating dynamic, search engine friendly landing pages that are designed for intuitive the optimal user experience.

–Providing additional ways to share pages from your directory with friends and family.

–Implementing URL strategies to optimize traffic to your site.

–Updating or adding more content when possible.

Our ultimate goal for customers is maintaining the familiar experience of print, while using the web to increase readership and engagement. Marketing is always going to be king, but there is no reason not to have SEO on your side. With the help of Dirxion and Trax, more readers will find your content. That’s already been the case with the customers we’ve converted.  Search engine directed traffic has been increasing drastically. Some publications are currently seeing up to 78% of their traffic coming from search engines.

Contact a sales representative to learn more about how Dirxion can have your publishing put in front of a larger audience now. Call 888.391.0202.

What Marketers Want

Since the introduction of moving type, never has the world of publishing seen so much refinement. Even if that may be a little exaggerated, you’d think it was true by the constantly breaking news and blog reels spinning out of control with stories of new websites, applications and devices that will change the way people read forever.

If you were following the events of the last month, you’d probably think the publishing industry was going to make a complete about face away from paper. It almost seems logical with devices like desktops, laptops, iPhones, smartphones, the kindle and a slew of new tablets and e-readers being introduced what seems like everyday. On the surface, it seems like the publishing industry could start saving the truck loads of money it costs to print and deliver mountains of books, magazines and catalogs to their large audiences. But what many articles aren’t considering is the actual driving forces behind print - advertising.

Subscriptions to magazines aren’t a publisher’s main source of revenue. It’s the advertising inside. Marketers believe that those physical pages of a magazine continue to prove enticing to potential customers in a way that computer text and images cannot. In the same way, catalog publishers keep showing statistics that by paying the price to mail catalogs they are actually helping advertise and drive more sales to their web sites. One study showed that consumers who received catalogs from a retailer spent 28% more on that retailer’s website than those who didn’t receive catalogs.

We believe that print and web are two elements that, when working in harmony, are stronger than the sum of their parts. Why not mail a catalog or magazine to subscribers, but also make yourself available in the same outstanding visual quality on the internet. A digital edition is the perfect medium between a printed magazine or catalog, and a website or e-commerce site. It brings the reader and/or customer that same intuitive look and feel that you spent such resources designing and editing, while providing them with a fully-integrated, media-rich web experience.

It’s finding that right balance between digital and print that’ll maximize your audience and appeal to advertisers like never before.

Flights Go Digital

There is nothing worse than being couped up in a tight airplane seat with nothing to do. If you’re lucky enough to have an in-flight movie, there is a 90% chance it will star the Olsen twins. And your choice in reading materials range between the Airplane Safety Instructions, SkyMall, and … SkyMall. If I buy another ramp or staircase made for dogs, I’m going to have to get a dog.

Finally, there is another option; something never before possible. Airlines have started introducing in-flight wi-fi.  For the ‘low’ price of about $10 for flights under 3 hours long and $13 for longer flights, your laptop or smart phone can surf the web while you are 30,000 feet in the sky. Using cellular towers, this air-to-ground connection can deliver speeds comparable to DSL modems.

For publishers going digital, all this means is that there is yet one more place that your readers will always have access to your work.  It may not seem like a large change but more than anything it is evidence that the world is continuing to adapt into a digital atmosphere. For the first time your audience will have the potential to read your magazine and do their Christmas shopping in your catalogs while they are miles above the ground.

Virgin Airlines, Southwest, United, Delta, and American have all started integrating this technology into select airplanes. It would be nice if the wi-fi feature was complimentary, but in a time where it costs extra money to check your bags that is obviously not likely.

Paying or not, a very recent study shows that 76% of frequent fliers said they’d switch flights in order to have access to wi-fi. This service seems like a no-brainer for people constantly traveling for business, but it will also be glorious for anyone looking for alternative entertainment options.  It’s sad, but I think internet is the only up-charge I could talk myself into paying on an airplane. The ability to read a digital magazine while chatting with friends on Facebook would be justification enough for me to fork out the cash.

Special Magazine Issues Made Even More Special

The New York Times has just published a good article about magazine publishers making some waves with special issues – ESPN’s Body Issue for example, where athletes are featured in mostly nude poses.

Gary Belsky, editor in chief of ESPN The Magazine brings up a great point in the article: “These days, people are skeptical enough about print, or at least wary enough about print, that they’re looking for executions that differentiate print.”

This couldn’t be closer to the truth.

Belsky goes on to say, “Print can’t deliver music, video, but what print can deliver is beautiful, in-depth visuals and journalism that explores subjects in a particular kind of way.”

That’s a HUGE misconception with print. Print can actually deliver more now than ever. By distributing your “print” on paper and online in the same form, like a special issue, it can differentiate your publication and attract more advertisers.

Digital editions not only cost less to publish and distribute, they also allow publishers to up-sell really exciting features to advertisers like music, video, animated ads, rollover windows and hyperlinks. All of these things add an element of “cool” among audiences and allow advertisers to offer more dimensions and in turn, value, to their ad.

“Magazines need to offer these creative alternatives to standard pages,” said Charlie Zakin, vice president for corporate media at Hasbro in response to Hasbro running an ad on the November cover of FamilyFun magazine, the first time FamilyFun would do such an ad. (The cover would be a pocket and contain a pull-out sheet promoting Hasbro’s family-game-night initiative.)

Imagine a digital edition of FamilyFun, where an animated section of the cover would promote and link to a pop-up window, which would contain all of the information found in this fun pull-out sheet, complete with animation, audio or video about the family-game-night initiative. Cool, eh?

I’ll end with this quote from Deborah Mignucci, publisher of Disney FamilyFun:
“Print is not the medium that is in vogue right now, and so we have extra pressure to overdeliver to our advertisers.”

Magazine Publishers, use a digital edition to spring up some new advertising sales. With animated, interactive ad pages you can start overdelivering now.

Groundwork For A Better St. Louis: Dirxion & Habitat for Humanity

Over the course of just a day, a group of unlikely heroes – more familiar with cubicles and keyboards – bared the elements and took their carpentry skills from laughable to workable. As volunteers for the St. Louis branch of Habitat for Humanity, Dirxion employees spent most of their Saturday going back and forth between two of the nearly twenty-five houses being simultaneously developed for a large Habitat for Humanity undertaking in North St. Louis. Some wielded hammers, others installed siding, and a few were building and falling through front porches. No matter what the task, our colleagues were like ants on a log, working together with conviction.

Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit organization, works with local companies and volunteers to eliminate substandard housing in struggling neighborhoods while creating affordable housing for the less fortunate. The program transforms these run-down areas and abandoned properties into beautiful streets and exceptional homes. As a policy, future homeowners of these Habitat houses invest hundreds of hours of their own labor in the way of sweat equity. Alongside volunteers, they happily contribute to the labor of building their own house and the houses of their future neighbors. The organization then finances these homes to them with no-interest loans, and because the bulk of materials and labor are donated, the homeowner’s mortgage payments can be used to build more Habitat for Humanity houses.

The program is something to be proud of. It’s a real win-win situation for the community and a rewarding experience for all those who participate. Nathan Phillips, from Dirxion’s Product Placement Department, said about his experience:

“It was definitely a team effort. There was lots of gravity defying ladder work with hammers and nails. All in all, it was a success and I feel like we accomplished a lot. We showed up to work hard and help make a difference in our community and we saw results! Go Dirxion and go St. Louis!”

Regardless of your level of experience, there are many ways to contribute to the mission of Habitat for Humanity. We encourage you to get in touch with someone at your local branch. Visit Habitat.org.

World Record Baseball Game: 9 Days Away From First Pitch, 11 Days From Last

If you keep up with our blog, as you should, you’d have already learned that Dirxion is one of the lead sponsors of the World Record Baseball Game (website here).  After publishing my last article on this topic, I realized that even if my last post was slightly informative at best, there is still no way it gave enough credit to how absolutely wacky-screw-loose-mad-as-a-hatter-insane playing baseball for 48 hours straight is. A guy with a thesaurus website open on his computer couldn’t find a single word to fully describe this sort of milestone. He’d have to come up with a combination of synonyms for the word “crazy” and just attach them all with hyphens to illustrate his point.

Numbers can do the talking though…
Numbers in terms of innings:
9: The normal number of innings played in a Major League Baseball game.

26: The longest game in number of innings completed in MLB history. The game was played May 1, 1920 between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves. The game ended tied at 1 due to darkness.

92: The number of innings played in the 2007 World Record Baseball Game. Almost four times the Major League record.

In terms of time:
2 hours 54 minutes: The average length of a Major League Baseball game.

8 hours 6 minutes: The longest game, time wise, in MLB history. It was played May 8, 1984 between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago White Sox. The game went 25 innings. It started at 7:30 PM and ended at 1:00 AM due to curfew. The game was tied at 3 after 17 innings. Then the next afternoon the game resumed and went another 8 innings before Chicago finally won 7-6.

32 hours 28 minutes: The length in time the 2007 World Record Baseball Game was played without stopping once, about 4 times as long as the longest MLB game.

48 hours: The amount of time they are trying to play for this year, 6 times the length of the MLB record, and like watching 16 normal games in a row without pausing.

The box score numbers from last year …

Team                      Runs     Hits    Errors
St. Louis Browns     119    144    27
St. Louis Stars         81    103    43

When teams are chalking up digits like that, it means that in a single game you can see more offense than the Cincinnati Reds put up all year, yet still less errors than a Washington Nationals’ home game.

9, 10, 11: The days of October in which the 2009 World Record Baseball game will be played on.

First pitch is October 9th but the game will no doubt be played the 9th, 10th and 11th.  If you are in the St. Louis area, you should try and make it for part of the game. This event is not only happening to break a Guinness World Record, but also to help an admirable cause. All proceeds are going to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center. For more details on how to get free tickets and find out about the events going on around the TR Hughes Ball Park that weekend visit the World Record Baseball Game Website.

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