TURNING A NEW PAGE IN PUBLISHING.

Associations are putting publications online to meet members' needs for faster, easier access to information. But ensuring that your online and print products are in sync and finding the right balance require finesse.

By now the dire prediction is a familiar refrain: Printed publications are on the verge of extinction. While that position may be extreme, certain trends illustrate that the Web is changing the landscape of content delivery. A study conducted in June 2000 by the Pew Center for The People and The Press, Washington, D.C., indicates that 54 percent of Americans go online--more than twice as many as did four years ago--and an increasing number rely on the Internet for news. This surge in Web traffic--combined with the growing popularity of Palm Pilots and other handled devices that allows users to access information instantly--casts some uncertainty on the future of print publications.

Aware that the Web has become a preferred source of information, many associations have already moved some or all of their publications online, whether it's one or two articles or the complete contents of the magazine or newsletter. As these associations are realizing, many valid questions must be addressed before pursuing online publishing. (See side bar "Testing the Waters Before Taking the Online Plunge.") Among them: Should you make your entire publication available online? What are the financial ramifications? Will you eliminate your print product altogether? What about members who have a predilection for turning pages?

As this article went to press, the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), Washington, D.C., was considering all of these issues as the board weighed the pros and cons of moving the semimonthly newsletter online. "Budget is playing a major role in our discussions," says Audrey Rothstein, CAE, assistant executive director. "The newsletter is consistently identified as the number one member benefit, so the board will weigh this move very care fully." Member surveys focusing on frequency, content, and distribution will also affect the board's final decision.

From flipping to clicking

Online publishing isn't a new venture for CUPA-HR. The association moved its biannual journal online in 1997. Initially, the journal was in a public area of the association's Web site. Last month it was moved behind a password-protected, members-only wall. "Prior to [moving the journal online], we were mailing it to all representatives from each of our 1,700 member institutions and to sub scribers," Rothstein points out. "When we made the journal available online, we limited printed distribution to key representatives and sub scribers only. We added the online component as a result of the budget decisions and the emerging opportunities presented by the Web."

Although the association saves money in mailing and postage costs, unit costs increased significantly because fewer copies are printed. Overall readership for the journal is down, Rothstein says, but CUPA-HR is in the process of repositioning the print journal to boost readership and attract advertisers as well as ensure its profitability. The goal is to attract a larger audience, which will in turn increase advertising revenue, she explains. "We are exploring how to rejuvenate interest and are leaning toward another member survey or focus groups to help us ascertain what we should do." Rothstein attributes the decline in readership to members' initial reluctance to take the extra step of going online, but believes that readers are now more comfortable using the Web.

At the American Diabetes Association (ADA), Alexandria, Virginia, members can access content from all five of the organization's publications online. Health-professional members who receive the two monthly peer reviewed journals, Diabetes and Diabetes Care, get print and online formats for one price and can read the publications in their entirety on the Web. Three or four articles from Diabetes Forecast, the monthly consumer magazine with a circulation of 430,000, are posted online as a marketing teaser.

"ADA was one of the first voluntary health associations to go online (in 1995)--we saw the immediate potential of the Web for marketing publications," explains Publisher Peter Banks. "We weren't initially out to gain a lot of revenue and we're still not. What we're after is low-cost exposure and promotion."

Banks attributes the organization's growth in professional membership in large part to this additional online exposure. "Medical professionals in particular value the Web as a network knowledge base. It's a richer information experience." Bundling print and online publications gives members more information faster. "You have to look at print and online as a package, especially with the professional journals," Banks asserts. "There is always a race to get data out there as fast as possible. The online component has added to what we do in print."

Banks admits that ADA has taken a conservative approach and that the learning process is ongoing. "Things are changing so rapidly that we don't have a stable product line to evaluate yet," he explains. "You have to think of information that can be prepared in ways so it can be repurposed for all types of media. It's been an additional expense, but that's been offset by increased growth in subscribers and members."

And unlike many dot-coms that jumped in without a business plan and are now suffering the repercussions as they go defunct, he continues, "we knew that a business plan mattered, but we weren't sure how to write one for an online publishing business. Whether the bundled approach is correct or will be in the future, I can't say. There are no models."

Custom delivery

Like ADA, many associations have discovered that the Web affords opportunities to provide richer content and offer members more convenient access to information. Kathleen Maloney, director of publications at the Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA), Columbus, says that publishing online allows for greater flexibility and enhanced content without detracting from the print product. The weekly OSBA Report, which contains case decisions from the Ohio Supreme Court and lower courts, went online last year and is e-mailed to members in HTML format to make it is visually appealing. "Our goal is to gradually shift members to electronic and away from print," Maloney explains. "We consider this a transitional step.

"The e-mail publication has enhancements over the print, such as more detailed case opinion summaries, and drives more members to our Web site," she adds. For instance, when a member reviews a summary on the e-mail publication and wants to read the full text of a case decision, he or she clicks on a link to Casemaker, a legal research Web library that serves as a research tool for members. OSBA Report online mirrors the print version--it is sent weekly and includes online access to the same information that appears in print.

The decision to go online was driven by changing member needs--OSBA has many student members, for example, who prefer using the Web rather than textbooks to do research, and lawyers are relying on the Internet for news with greater frequency. But the print publication still exists for those who aren't quite as Web savvy. "We see that eventually the need for the print publication is going to end," Maloney predicts. "We'll monitor that and do what's in the best interest of our members."

That decision also carries financial implications for the association. "There is a potential to save money down the line," she points out. "Print is very expensive--we have 25,000 attorney members who receive the publication. There was some investment to launch the online product, but it's been pretty reasonable."

Costs included marketing expenses to design, launch, and advertise the e mail publication, as well as an ongoing monthly fee to have an outside organization write the case summaries each week. The existing staff launched the new publication in five months--a challenging task, Maloney notes. OSBA invested significant staff time in the publications, technology, and marketing departments in the development and implementation phases.

The cost of change. The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, Arlington, Virginia, also recognized the potential to keep costs down and build stronger content through online publishing. AAPS's two peer reviewed journals originated as online-only publications (one in January 1999 and the other in January 2000), which are part of the association's portal and available to anyone, and the organization also publishes its magazine online in a PDF format. AAPS accepts advertising on its Web site but not specifically for the journals.

"Going online allows us to do more extensive coverage," says Don Hemenway, director, publishing and technology. "We can run an abbreviated version of an interview or story in our magazine, but then provide a link to the full text online. The other good thing that's been a real advantage is that color doesn't cost anything extra, whereas it does with a printed publication."

Another benefit, particularly with technology-related publications, he notes, is that the Web allows for animation and three-dimensional graphics that can't be done in print. "It makes [the content] much more interesting, powerful, and informative," he adds. These advantages spurred AAPS's decision to forego a print product and produce online-only journals. "We can review and publish much faster online. The availability of information is instantaneous--there's a quickness to market. We saw that this would make us more competitive to our members." AAPS competes with other technical, peer-reviewed journals, as well as trade magazines and Web sites for members' attention.

Anticipating members' changing needs and adapting quickly are essential, agrees Robert Silverstein, director of advertising at the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Reston, Virginia, which has online versions of its magazine as well as its 28 peer-reviewed journals. "Converting all of our journals to the online version was a costly and time-consuming project, but it had to be done to maintain our position in the competitive academic publishing market," Silverstein observes. "All of our competitors in the journal market had their print products available online and we had to do the same to meet market demand for this service."

ASCE decided to supplement its print products with online versions about two years ago, which did not affect the print or staff budgets. Costs for support and maintenance on the Web did increase, however. Members can elect to receive the print journals as well as access the publications online, or for the same price members can choose to be online-only subscribers. Silverstein says that so far having the magazine online has not been a threat to the print version, but the association is taking steps to ensure that the print product remains profitable, starting with a redesign to give the magazine a more current look.

"We have been successful in introducing advertorial sections to our print magazine, which have attracted the advertising of several new companies to our magazine," he says. "We are expanding our prospecting process in order to identify and develop advertising business from companies new to our market."

Attracting advertisers

Among the myriad financial considerations an association must address before putting a publication online is the issue of advertising revenue. How do you ensure that revenue sources are shifted to the new medium, and how do you convince advertisers that they will have a captive audience on the Web? Not an easy task, concedes Rothstein.

"We have found that our advertisers have not valued the online exposure as they once did the exposure in the printed version," she admits. "Also, because we limited distribution of our print version substantially, advertising in the print version has dropped." If CUPA-HR puts its newsletter online, Rothstein says she anticipates a negative impact on the association's ability to generate classified advertising in its printed newsletter, currently a significant revenue source.

Although CUPA-HR does not currently accept general display ads for the newsletter, "we're exploring new ways of packaging our advertising opportunities and will offer our advertisers a variety of options, including banner ads associated with the online newsletter," Rothstein says. "While advertisers are somewhat skeptical about the true value of banner ads, they are receptive to effective package arrangements." Overall, she estimates that the savings achieved with the online distribution combined with providing advertisers increased exposure opportunities will net a savings of almost 20 percent.

OSBA is also starting to try to convince advertisers that members are making the shift from print to the Web. "Our advertisers know that a large segment of our members still use the print version," Maloney observes. "We're talking about bundling print and online ad opportunities to continue to bring in revenue." OSBA has allotted space for button ads to offset costs, and now plans to sell them to enhance advertising revenue in the new medium.

In some cases, Web and print advertising opportunities overlap and result in increased revenue, as ASCE discovered. "We have found that the buyers of online advertising have become much more sophisticated over the past 18 months and evaluate advertising opportunities on the Web the same way they evaluate print advertising opportunities," Silverstein points out. "They want specific information about who is visiting the site, where they work, how many unique visitors, and so forth."

Silverstein says he's seen a decline in Web-only display advertising, but a significant increase in Web classified advertising. "We offer Web display advertising as a value-added benefit to our print advertisers-this has actually increased our revenue from our print products," he continues. "We offer bulletin board ads as well as a virtual trade show, which allow advertisers greater exposure on our Web site, but these offers are now primarily used as a deal sweetener for our print advertisers."

ADA took a similar approach, using advertising as a value-added proposition. "I'd love to sell banner ads, but our advertisers don't seem very interested so far," Banks admits. "We haven't tried very hard when it comes to raising revenue through banner ads. I think that will come. Hope fully we haven't shot ourselves in the foot by treating advertising as value added."

Dot debate. CUPA-HR has found success in packaging print and online opportunities related to classified job listings in the newsletter. Rothstein does not anticipate competition for advertising dollars if the newsletter does move to the Web. Beyond advertising considerations, however, CUPA HR is evaluating numerous requests from dot-coms to form online partnerships.

"There was concern about entering into exclusive, joint, or co-branded initiatives that have the effect of endorsing a particular program or service," Rothstein notes. "We are exploring other ways of working with these entities-for instance, providing them with new opportunities to advertise their products and services through an online career center. While we're just starting to map it out, we expect to provide access to job seekers to a wealth of online recruiting services that include resume-posting services, online career fairs, and career assessment services."

Indeed, this is new territory for many organizations that are just beginning to explore partnership opportunities. For some, however, partnering is not an option. "We view dot-coms as our competitors," ASCE's Silverstein says. "There are many cases where people should form partnerships, and this may be unique to the construction industry, but the dot- coms are competing with us for advertising dollars.

"It's a complex relationship," he continues. "They need our association because they advertise with us to drive traffic to their sites." But for ASCE, which disseminates the same information as many similarly focused sites, it comes down to competition for con tent. That's not to say that partner ships are never a good idea, he adds, noting that many associations have formed good working relationships with dot-coms.

Stop the presses?

Whatever the final decision about the most appropriate media vehicle for your publication, it's critical that you explore all avenues, understand members' preferences, and solicit their feedback. "There is a tendency on the part of management to assume that everything should just go up on the Web," observes Robert Mahaffey, president of the Society of National Association Publications (SNAP), Vienna, Virginia, and executive director of communications at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), Washington, D.C. "It's important to get feedback from your membership to determine what best suits their needs. Before an organization takes a knee-jerk response to put everything up on the Web, it's important to look at how that information is going to be valuable and how members are going to use it."

Mahaffey offers the example of NCPSSM, which has 5 million members, most of whom are retired and in their mid-70s. "If we're going to put our magazine on our Web site--even though that demographic is the fastest growing population on the Web--we're going to be missing a significant portion of our member ship," he asserts. "They're just not going there."

Hemenway agrees that member feedback is a must, but acknowledges that it's difficult to please everyone. "In any organization," he believes, "you have people who are used to doing it the old way and will always prefer the old way. And then there is a more general acceptance among others."

AAPS monitors how much time members spend reading the journals online--the average visiting time is 7-10 minutes, a significant amount of time on the Web, Hemenway points out. At OSBA, which also has a survey mechanism, Maloney learned that 89 percent of members have access to the Internet at work or at home or both, and that they are taking advantage of this access with greater frequency.

In addition to soliciting member feedback, assessing your organization's capabilities is crucial to making the transition to the Web a smooth one. Mahaffey cautions associations that magazine content can get lost if it can only be accessed online, but believes it's a good idea for associations to make at least some content available on the Web, "if for no other reason than to develop a branding for your title outside of traditional print."

It takes time, notes Hemenway, for a publication to establish itself in a field. Of AAPS's online-only journals, he recalls: "There were a lot of very high expectations. Next time I'd want to have more realistic expectations about how easy or hard it is to get information on the Web and to get authors to contribute."

"Analyze your staff resources," Maloney advises. "Publications don't end up online magically."

Jane Eisinger is associate editor of ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR WEB ADVERTISING?

Unsure about how readers respond to online advertising? You're not alone. A glance at recent headlines illustrates that the uncertainty is widespread, and changes may be in store. A sampling:

* "NOT A BANNER TIME FOR WEB ADVERTISING," THE WASHINGTON POST, MARCH 9, 2001.

The Internet Advertising Bureau is trying to make banner ads harder to ignore

the trade group set forth a set of seven new voluntary standards for advertisers to use when designing Web advertisements, according to the article. "The new ad formats come at a time when the basic worth of advertising on the Web has come into increasing question," the author states. In response to abysmal click-through rates, IAB released new guidelines that will allow larger "skyscraper" ads--more than three times the size of a typical vertical banner ad. In addition, pop-up ads will be bigger. Industry watchers expect advertisers to sign on to the new sizes quickly, the article notes.

* "LOOKING BEYOND BANNERS TO REVIVE WEB ADVERTISING," THE WALL STREET JOURNAL,

FEBRUARY 26, 2001. A group of Internet companies think new shapes-including the skyscraper and rectangle--can reinvigorate Web advertising. The article indicates that many advertisers have soured on the banner format, and the advantage of the new shapes is that they don't require users to click through to another site. Web publishers and ad agencies hope the new formats will give the Internet a new image in the advertising community as a branding vehicle.

* "WILL ONLINE ADS EVER CLICK?," FAST COMPANY, MARCH 2001. Making online advertising profitable is about good marketing--"the challenge for marketers today is to recognize which kind of customer they are addressing at any one time and then to serve that customer the most appropriate message," the article explains. The Internet ad agency Avenue A, Seattle, developed a system to track sales by following what people do once they click on an ad and end up on an advertiser's site. "This moves advertisers from 'Where are the sites that have the demographics that I'm looking for?' to 'Where are my customers, or where are the prospects who most closely resemble my customers?'" says Diane McCowin, vice president of analytics at Avenue A. The idea behind the approach is that instead of negotiating for space to run an ad on a Web site, advertisers negotiate for customers that fit a certain profile.