Multiple media: More is better

Back in September when we conducted a reader survey for our web site, www. plantengineering.com, one of the more anticipated results was the breakdown of preferred media for reading Plant Engineering magazine (print, web site, or both).

By Len O'Neal June 1, 1999

Back in September when we conducted a reader survey for our web site, www. plantengineering.com, one of the more anticipated results was the breakdown of preferred media for reading Plant Engineering magazine (print, web site, or both). Why? Well, simply put, this additional medium allows us to offer you more than just an online version of Plant Engineering magazine.

Before we jumped on this opportunity, however, we wanted to know if you were willing and prepared to embrace it. According to the survey, 47% of those who responded indicated their preference for the print media, while another 45% indicated a desire to use both media. Even though the “both” statistic was (happily) higher than expected, the numbers indicated the need for a two-fold plan. First, we needed to better support the interests of those readers already using both electronic and print media; and second, we wanted to lure the “print-only” readers to the web site to prove to them that more truly is better.

For starters

If you are one of those readers who prefers both media, you may be aware of some of our initial attempts to meet these goals. Almost a year ago — yes, even before the survey — we began the “Product Focus,” which offers additional information as it relates to a specific product or technology covered in an article in each issue of Plant Engineering magazine. In January of this year, we introduced two more magazine supplements on the web site: A monthly opinion poll, which is used to gauge your reaction to issues raised by Editor Rick Dunn in his editorial; and the monthly “Ask the Expert” feature, which provides readers the opportunity to share what they know or learn what they don’t from an author of one our monthly feature stories.

If, however, you are one of those readers who hesitates to venture online, you may not be aware of these offerings because we have been slow in our efforts to call attention to them on the pages of Plant Engineering magazine. Expect this to change in the coming months, as we will be incorporating some identifiable “red flags” within the magazine that will signal to readers the availability of additional content on Plant Engineering Online . In addition, you’ll only need to remember one simple URL to find the latest online-only content, as it relates to magazine-based content: www.plantengineering.com/online.

You want more?

More than just attention-getters are planned to better serve you. We have also begun to use the web site for extended coverage of certain articles, specifically, those which just can’t fit in the print issue or are better suited for retrieving online. And starting this month, we are introducing the monthly online exclusive, an article you’ll find only at Plant Engineering Online .

So the next time you sit down to read Plant Engineering magazine, remember that more of what you like is just a click away.