Colin Holland is now editing MCU DesignLine, expanding his remit as the guru of all things embedded at EE Times.  In another move, EE Times Group has appointed Ron Wilson as Director of Content/Media. Ron is returning to set the editorial direction for the various properties within EE Times Group including Embedded Systems Design Magazine, Embedded.com, the global Embedded Systems Conferences and all custom events, as well as leading EE Times Group’s global growth strategy for the Embedded System Conferences.

It’s great to see EE Times Group picking and making best use of great talent from around the world to produce the best possible editorial, and I hope that Ron will be able to provide a boost to exhibition side of Embedded Live in the UK, which has attracted a disappointing number of exhibitors to date.

Tags: Editors, EE Times, UK, USA

EE Times Group has launched their new EE Times (US) website, which now includes all the division’s different publications (Embedded.com, for example, previously wasn’t part of the EETimes.com site). Apart from some minor teething troubles – the heavily-promoted links to the tour of the new site didn’t work – the site is definitely a very impressive resource, and I think that the design will grow on me (I’m not a huge fan of the mix of rounded and right-angled corners on the home page).

European marketing professionals must ask, “Will a great EETImes.com mean I don’t need to do local marketing?” I certainly don’t think that this is the case. If we forget the hugely important factor of local language, I still believe that local websites will dominate the majority of online reading for engineers in Europe – at least for the time being. Habit, promotion through print publications and local content are all going to ensure strong traffic to local sites.

In the long term, however, I’m sure EE Times Group will try to grab more and more traffic from Europe, as well as the globe’s other continents. EE Times has the benefit of scale: the 21 topics within “Design” and 17 product categories is more than any European editorial team has been able to pull together (elektroniknet.de, for example, has 11 categories that span both design and products). Only time will tell whether the ability to produce highly specific content will be sufficient to attract European engineers’ eyeballs away from local sites.

Tags: EE Times, Online, USA

David Morrison has joined the Power Systems Design editorial team, and will be writing a regular column covering Recruitment and Career Development that will be published in PSDE as well as the North America and China editions. David is well known in the power field, working as editor and publisher of How2Power.com. He previously held the role of Editor-in-Chief of Power Electronics Technology (PET).

I think this is a great move for the Power Systems Design family of titles, strengthening the existing roster of well-known regular contributors (Dr. Ray Ridley of Ridley Engineering and Ash Sharma of IMS Research). It may also give us an insight into the future of the media in our sector: it’s easy to see how the industry may end up with a small number of publications that are able to assemble large teams of contributors, whilst these journalists are also entrepreneurial publishers, running their own online publications to both generate income and also to establish their expert credentials.

Tags: Digital Magazines and Print Publications, Editors, Europe, Online, PSDE, USA

It’s great to see that really good editors are in demand. Colin Holland, who has shared his coverage between the US and European EE Times titles, has been snapped up full time by EE Times Group (the American publisher). I understand that Phil Ling will be named as Colin’s replacement as Embedded Editor for EE Times Europe.

Both these editors have outstanding knowledge of the embedded industry, and it’s great to see demand for such high-quality talent from EE Times (on both sides of the Atlantic). I’d like to wish them both the best of luck in their new roles. If any more details are forthcoming in the official announcement, I’ll cover them here on Napier News.

Tags: Editors, EE Times, USA

The Marketing Law website does a great job of highlighting the issues of running international marketing campaigns based on parody. Although parody is protected in countries such as France, Germany, Australia and the USA, the UK Government has chosen not to exempt it from copyright law in the UK. The site warns that “marketeers need to take care when using parody, caricature or pastiche in advertising, packaging or branding in the UK”. We are not amused!

Tags: Advertising, France, Germany, Misc Marketing, UK, USA

Most readers of Napier News will have heard of the recent FTC guidelines concerning disclosure of paid-for product promotions online. Here’s a great article explaining the FTC guidelines (free registration required).

Tags: Misc Marketing, Online, UK, USA

I’ve written in the past about the fact that our industry charges much higher CPMs than you’d see elsewhere. I feel comfortable that this is justified by high-quality editorial written by experts that attracts a very specific niche audience. Despite this, the publications that do invest in great editors aren’t making a fortune. In fact we risk losing a lot of great content from our industry because the current business models can’t support all the great editors that work in electronics.

Current CPMs vary considerably. Let’s say that they run from €20 to €100. At this level advertisers can struggle to justify the investment, whilst publishers can only just pay the bills. Things are just about in balance, with publishers only able to cut prices if there is a huge increase in page views.

Then Opencores.org send me their media pack. OK, I completely accept that the Open Cores website has a very specific audience. Visitors to the site include include a higher proportion of students than magazine sites as well as engineers who are attractive to a relatively small group of advertisers (including the notoriously stingy EDA sector). But the rates for the site are crazy! Prices drop to €0.46 per thousand (you have to buy a sponsorship for a month, and the CPM is calculated based on the average impressions per month). About one hundredth of the rates you might get from a typical magazine site!

In reality I don’t expect Open Cores to change the pricing of “mainstream” sites. But if other user-generated content sites enter the market with very low rates, then publishers are going to find their CPMs under extreme pressure.

Tags: Advertising, Editors, Electronics, Online, Sweden, USA

Elektor and Circuit Cellar have announced a “strategic partnership”, which, in plain language is an acquisition of Circuit Cellar by the publisher of Elektor. This is a great move by Elektor making it the primary “hobbyist” publisher on both sides of the Atlantic.

Although the editorial in both publications is apparently targeted towards hobbyists, it’s very clear that a large proportion of the readership of the titles is professional engineers who love the tips, tricks and circuit ideas. Elektor is now twice as big as it was in 2006, with impressive annual sales of €10 million, a result of strong organic growth as well as this acquision.

Tags: Digital Magazines and Print Publications, Elektor, USA

Huson International Media, who impressively claim to be “the World’s largest independent representative of technology medea” has opened an office in Munich, Germany. The company already has offices in the UK as well as on the East and West Coast of the USA.

The new German office will be headed by industry heavyweight Christian Hoelscher, who previously was CMP-WEKA Director of International Sales,

Tags: CMP, EPE, ESE, Germany, Misc Marketing, UK, USA, Weka

ED Europe is a purely digital publication. So does this mean print is dead?

Absolutely not. In my opinion print publications will never be redundant. We humans read for many reasons such as pleasure, education, information-gathering and business requirements and for many people there is considerable enjoyment in reading a well-written, well-designed magazine or newspaper that is traditionally printed. There is also for some a desire to own well-produced books that perhaps form part of a personal collection.

I see no future print scenario that will emulate Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451. ….now there’s a book worth owning.

From a B2B information perspective I think traditional print and electronic media can co-exist. The only proviso I would mention is that free circulation B2B print publications face sharply escalating costs on paper, printing and postage and therefore it is financially logical that B2B media companies will increasingly use electronic media to reach existing and new audiences

What are the benefits your readers see from a magazine that is delivered digitally?

Convenient delivery to their computer desktop, easy storage for reference purposes, easy to print if required. Individual pages or the whole thing can be emailed to colleagues, customers, etc.

ED Europe is delivered only as a PDF, whereas most other titles have some online system with animated pages and an option to download a PDF. Why haven’t you offered an online reader?

Unlike many PDF-delivered publications that are really print publications that have been adapted for, or in some cases just shoved onto, computer screens, ED Europe was specifically designed for PDF delivery. This provides numerous advantages for recipients. It opens in a landscape format that fits computer screens. Readers do not have to zoom in to read it or scroll around the page trying to find the story they want. Reader navigation throughout the publication is quick and easy and because of some very smart compression techniques we can produce a 26-page edition with lots of colour graphics that goes out typically as a 3meg file.

Let’s not forget here that ED Europe was created back in 2005 so it’s not unreasonable to call it a pioneering success in digital B2B media terms. It has during that time won three major awards in the USA.

On the subject of Flash-related animations in digital publications Penton Media is fully aware of these and plans to make full use of them.

Can you explain the difference between writing for a print publication and writing for a purely digital title?

In the case of ED Europe, there really is no difference. Because of the way it is designed we can run short news stories, full-length technical features and opinion columns in exactly the same way as a traditional print publication.

Now ask me that question relative to writing directly online and that’s a very different journalistic proposition. Penton Media editors now write directly to websites and the way headlines and other related information is written has to be within certain parameters that suit web journalism.

So we now see a complete Penton Media portfolio where editors write for traditional print, digital and online media

ED Europe launched an HTML email newsletter. Why didn’t you simply create a shorter PDF magazine to cover the news? What are the advantages of the HTML delivery?

Three reasons for that. ED Europe’s NewsLine newsletters provide readers with a fast, convenient, easily absorbed information service. For Penton Media it has created an additional revenue source while also doing the valuable job of driving traffic to our websites.

You have been one of the pioneers of online video in the European electronics industry. Do you see video continuing to grow as a medium in our industry?

Penton Media are committed to online video in a big way and yes I do see the use of video as a B2B communication tool expanding. Penton Media has an Engineering TV department that works in conjunction with publications and editors to produce very high quality professional standard coverage. For me and many of my editorial, colleagues at Penton one of the major video innovations has been the way in which we report on exhibitions. To be able to shoot a three-minute interview with somebody that has been deeply involved in the development of new products and technology and have them explain it directly to our design engineering audiences has to be one of the most immediate and informative ways of communicating complex information.

In addition to our editorially created video coverage Penton Media is now looking at hosting vendor videos on our websites. Conceptually, these are videos produced by companies that want to promote their products and as such can considered as being a modern high-tech form of advertising. Penton Media will be hosting these videos for a fee and the number of weeks/months the video will appear for will depend on the level of fee paid.

What is the one thing you’d like to change about the way companies do PR in the electronics industry?

Generally speaking the successful PR executives and PR agencies do a pretty good job of presenting and distributing information to the media.

But while we are on the subject of PR agencies I will just release one particular bee-from-my-bonnet. PR agencies in a bid to do the best for their clients will often promote the use of editorial columns to publicise the client. And why not? Its a powerful form of promotion that contains that all important credibility ingredient called editorial integrity; although sometimes I wonder, and call me a tad cynical here if you wish, if the real attraction is more to do with the fact that editorial coverage is free.

Without going into a full scale, force 10 rant here let me put the point simply. There are agencies with foresight that appreciate magazines do need advertising income if they are to stay in business. Sadly, there are others that will soak up all the editorial support they can without thinking that in the long-term publications are a business and understandably need to turn a profit or otherwise face closure; a situation that benefits no publicity agencies.

If an industry feels there is a value to having B2B media circulating in its sector then it needs to consider supporting that media with advertising.

And let’s get one thing straight; I am certainly not talking here about a pay-to-play editorial approach. Clearly, that would ultimately denigrate the content of any journal and would not serve the interests of either readers or advertisers. What I am saying is that all industry clients and their agencies should recognise that in the long-term maintaining independent, well written and well produced business media is in everyone’s interests.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time, when you’re not writing about electronics?

Wining and dining with family and friends, travelling in Spain, playing classical Spanish guitar (badly)

What’s your favourite gadget?

A corkscrew

Tags: Advertising, Awards, CIE, Clients, Digital Magazines, Digital Magazines and Print Publications, ED Europe, Editors, EiN, Electronics, Email, EPE, ESC, ESE, Europe, Interviews, Newsletters, Online, Penton, Spain, USA, Video

Although not the first title to have 100% digital circulation (Electronic Design Europe has been digital-only for some years), the decision by Reed to switch EDN Europe to all-digital distribution will have a major impact on the European electronics media.

It’s disappointing to see Reed make such major cutbacks at a time when the industry appears to be recovering, but at least EDN Europe has escaped the fate of EPN France. Reed has also taken a realistic look at advertising rates, slashing them by two thirds, although the title will charge a premium for rich media and video content in the advert.

Of course the cut in advertising price is initially demanded because the circulation will, at first, fall dramatically (the digital circulation is currently only around 11K), but Reed confidently predict the circulation will more than double by the end of 2010. The good news is that Reed will continue to invest in high-quality circulation, promising that they will retain a BPA audit.

If Reed can create a business model that provides a significantly lower cost-per-thousand than print titles – and they certainly should do as the cost of digital distribution is so much less than printing and posting a hard copy – the move to digital circulation could be a success.

Tags: Advertising, EDN Europe, Electronics, EPN, EPN France, ESC, Europe, France, Reed, USA, Video

Users of the Google Webmaster Tools may have noticed that the page rank information has disappeared in the latest release. As Susan Moskwa of Google explains on a support thread:

We’ve been telling people for a long time that they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true. We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it. 

Susan refers readers to more information that reveals that there are over 200 different “signals” that can affect how a site is crawled, indexed and ranked. In fact Google started discussing omitting PageRank from the tools in 2007 (who says the Internet moves fast?). PageRank was often over-emphasised by SEO professionals because it was a nice, easy number that could be presented to a client, so this move is a clear indication from Google that it really isn’t the key metric. For more information, have a look at a great post by Derek Powazek about SEO myths (thanks to TWIG for the link).

Tags: ESE, google, Online, USA