The decision mid semester to combine each individual features magazine into one had a profound effect on my role as Editor of WINOL Travel and Adventure. In my previous Critical Reflection I outlined the pros and cons of maintaining a magazine in relation to it's navigation and target audience. With my initial struggle to manage and upload content on a regular basis, I supported this decision wholeheartedly.
Near the start of the semester, www.winol.co.uk ranked *1,309,425 globally and *38,579 in the UK [16.10.2013] peaking on Thursday 10th October with *67 page views. This was most likely the result of the weekly WINOL News bulletin aired on the Wednesday prior. Compare this to the end of the semester and we see a steep decline (see graph 2). According to www.alexa.com, however, WINOL's Global Rank has increased to *773,133 and *30,063 in the UK* From my point of view, "Here & Now" has played a specialised role in maintaining this.
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| (1) Number of page views 9th-16th October (Google Analytics). |
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| (2) Number of page views 25th November - 1st December (Google Analytics). |
WINOL’s relaunched “Here & Now” magazine* has worked hard to improve the organisation of Features as a whole, with the
installation of a modernised, user friendly ‘Gabfire Theme’ for WordPress
(which I will have to be familiar with for my fast approaching Final Year
Project). Each market now has its own subcategory, with the main slider situated at the top of the page. Being its most
redeeming feature, this aims to promote some of the websites top highlights. Like
with News, there is constant competition between magazines to get their pieces
mentioned in the ‘barkers’ as they act as the highest form of promotion. You
can see in the image below, both the Paintball package and the
World Travel Market overview have appeared under the slider subcategory of “Events”
and if you scroll over the “Travel” tab further above, invested in the world of adventure are a number of written articles, as well as a couple of video
packages managed, produced and edited by myself*
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| "Here & Now" Magazine |
Week
three and the magazine was host to a competition run by WINOL’s Managing Editor, to
further promote existing content uploaded over the summer. I felt this was highly successful following its previous relaunch, which didn't achieve as higher goal
as I’d expected. The competition, advertised both on the website and via the
magazine’s Twitter feed, brought a great increase in the number of page views,
making it the highest ranking magazine that week. Access to
Fasthosts/Matrixstats showed that it ranked *7650 compared to *7015 for
the main WINOL News site [21.10.2103]* Ideally if the magazine had remained individual, I would have liked to feature a
competition similar to this at the end of each month; followed up by an update of the most recent statistics on my blog.
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| Banner created in Adobe Fireworks. |
Compared to last semester, travel and adventure has been a
lot richer in terms of content. Embarking on a camera training course for the
450/650D Digital SLR has
definitely enhanced the picture-led magazine, capturing higher
resolution images (notably demonstrated in my English Heritage Photojournalism piece). Granted, there were things I could
have improved, such as dedicating a tighter schedule to uploading, but it
benefited me in particular, having an Editor’s only meeting after the Monday
debrief. I feel this invited the opportunity to organise strict deadlines,
meaning the uploading of content was made more efficient. It was also established
that magazine content would be published weekly as opposed to monthly. This worked
a lot better as it meant the site would remain "fresh" and constantly updated.
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| Netley Abbey (English Heritage) |
I would advise anyone planning on undertaking this role
to assemble a team of dedicated contributors to help delegate, as
juggling sub editing, writing, social media management and commissioning
content meant I wasn’t able to work as efficiently as I’d have liked. I was able to commission an
International Politics student from the University of Surrey, an avid blogger, who agreed to contribute one article a fortnight (a goal outlined in my previous review). There was a severe lack of motoring content
this term, of which I would have liked to include a reversioned “Great Transport
Race.” Following this, to spruce
up the original site, I envisioned obtaining some promotional footage from various
travel events around Hampshire; the launch of ‘Lake Fear’ for example. Since I was no longer part of the production team, I was able to manage my time a lot better.
In regards to promotion, I was responsible for producing themed podcasts which allowed me to gain valuable experience within the Radio Studio.
I also edited some short packages for mention in both the “Access Winchester”
and the SUPERWINOL bulletins. “Access Winchester” has been a great aide to both features and the
main WINOL website, due to its light hearted and fluffy nature. Following the
similar conventions of a News Bulletin (except headlines picture-led), it instead reserves
its content for theatre, showbiz and various other gonzo pieces. Scheduled to
be complete on the Wednesday, the team did a great job sourcing stories at such short notice. I do feel, however, there could have been more consistency in uploading.
After the success of filming “Go Ape” last semester, I wanted to include
other video packages within the site. The two uploaded were solely managed,
organised and edited by me (with help filming from colleagues). Both companies
were extremely helpful in their approach to filming on location which really
built my confidence. With Paintballing, we were only allowed to film with Go Pros for minimal disruption to the
game. Everything went pretty smoothly and I was even granted access to the battlefield to take my own pictures. Though I struggled to edit this package, I do feel it helped
planning beforehand as I envisioned something reminiscent of a game
trailer (sequence after sequence). When
it came to Skydiving, however, the package was more
spontaneous. I took to writing the script to the pictures and I used my
radio skills to produce a live discussion as a voiceover. When editing, it's always key to remember that dreaded drop intro.
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| Ambush Paintball, Southampton |
Over the course of the semester, I have undertaken a work placement at a monthly travel magazine in Peterborough called Group Travel World. A highly enriching experience, this gave me a valuable insight into the various production processes of magazine journalism. I assumed the role of Editorial Assistant, with tasks including obtaining images from travel based companies over the phone or via email, whilst researching into or contributing articles. In the Nov/Dec issue I have mentioned a Travel Apps article, a piece on Rail, Coach and Ferry travel and three Accommodation reviews. They introduced me to World Travel Market at the Excel, London (article featured on WINOL) and I was whisked away to Meaux, France on my first ever press trip. My experience in WordPress has helped immensely as I was often given the medial task of uploading content to their website. I am continuing to write editorial for them over the Christmas period.
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| Work Placement |
Though vast improvements have been made towards Search Engine Optimization (SEO) I feel WINOL as a whole would have perhaps benefited if more attention had been paid towards social media and promotion. The steep decline in viewing figures show that better promotion surrounding each live bulletin would have been welcomed, perhaps through other social mediums or most importantly networking sites such as Facebook (which was actively used last semester). The outstanding news coverage has, however, been noticed and awarded, with WINOL receiving BJTC's 'Best TV News Day' as well as being shortlisted for a BBC Innovation Award.
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