Web Strategy and Development News

Missouri State Magazine site launched

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This week the University launched a new site for the Missouri State Magazine that correlates with the printed magazine that is sent to friends and alumni of Missouri State. This was a collaborative project between Web and New Media, Publications and the Alumni Association.

Magazine Homepage Magazine Story

Some of the features include:

  • This new site is meant to correlate to the printed Magazine but with extra content that is exclusive to the web site; examples include multimedia features such as photo slideshows and videos. This is a standalone site and design that will only be used for the Magazine.
  • The home page includes three featured stories that rotate at the top of the page, as well as ‘Featured Online Exclusives’ that contain extra content only available on the site.
  • There is a Table of Contents page that shows users all of the stories for the current edition of the magazine. There is also an archives page that allows users to access previous editions of the magazine and the stories therein.
  • The site is running in WordPress. There were also two new WordPress plugins designed specifically for this site that are now also being used on the regular Missouri State blogs – an MSU Calendar widget that allows users to pull in events from the Master Calendar, and an Inline Media Tool plugin that allows us to embed Flickr photo slideshows, YouTube videos, and audio files or videos from iTunes U anywhere within a story.
  • The design was done by Lindsay Winchester, in coordination with Publication’s printed Magazine design.
  • The coding of the site was done by student Matt Seigel, with oversight by Chad Killingsworth and Brad Mitchell.
  • The site will be updated in correlation with new editions of the printed Magazine being published.

Tips from “Stop the Presses” Webinar Series

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Last week, several Web and New Media staff attended a webinar series called “Stop the Presses” from Higher Ed Experts. These webinars presented three real-world examples of online publications:

Here are some key takeaways from the sessions:

  • Web elements need to be considered up front, and wrapped in an assignment whenever possible. Each story should be thought of as a content package, with hooks such as multimedia, blogs, and connections to other relevant content included at all times along with the text.
  • Use content feeds to automatically leverage our stories through syndication to department, school or other web sites.
  • Photo galleries are the most popular content on many digital publications; the story goes around the photos rather than the other way around.
  • Send out an email newsletter every time a new issue is published online to drive traffic to your online publication.
  • The identity and mission of the publication stays the same when moving your publication online; the only change is the new format and the alterations that come with it.  Consider explaining to your long-time readers in advance of the shift to online publications. You’ll have more success retaining their readership.
  • Online and print publications don’t have to be laid out in the same manner. Online each story is independent and can be considered the cover story. Electronic publications can (and should) do things that cannot be done in print, such as slideshows, video, blogs, etc.