Posts from our partners

On the home page of the Real Simple site, there is a section devoted to posts from our partners. It's called "New on the Web."

I think it's interesting that the magazine chooses to display other content from outside the publication so prominently on their website. I know other publications do this, but usually this type of feed is at the bottom of the site and it generally only gives the domain name. I haven't seen very many that display an RSS feed like this. At the bottom of Lemondrop.com they have a blogroll that is essentially the same thing as Real Simple's "New on the Web" section, however, like I said above, it's at the bottom of the site.

A-Z Ingredient Guide

O ingredients 

The A-Z Ingredient Guide is one piece of online exclusive content that seems very valuable to the website. It tells the reader some information about commonly used ingredients and gives recipes that suit these items. Not only are their recipes, but some of the ingredients also have video that accompanies the stories. The videos can range from the proper way to cut an onion to how to zest citrus. There are even quick tips on the best way to store to buy the food.

The best part of this database is that has so many different pieces of information. The content is useful and it's all located in one place. It could take hours to find something like this in such an organized fashion, but Real Simple puts everything together in such a way that is easy to find information quickly and efficiently.

They even have a newsletter that will show you how to find fresh ingredients in your area. They are really trying to put together a site that can work for everyone, no matter where the reader is located.

New Uses for Old Things

I love this part of the website. Real Simple gives readers some ideas for new, practical uses for old things that most people don't know what to do with. This content is always fresh and useful. What I like best about how this is displayed online is that I can see new content everyday and I can also search archived material.

Easter egg new uses

The best part of today's new uses is that it is seasonal and timely. The site always does a good job of incorporating information that is relevant to their existing departments and recurring sections.

Updating the website

 

Inside the Magazine photo

There are some parts of Real Simple's website that seem to never get updated. For example, under the Inside the Magazine tab there is a photograph of a women writing notes. This picture has been the same since I started looking at Real Simple's website back in January. The content changes each month, but nothing ever happens with the art. Frankly, it's boring to come back to a website every week and see the same photo living in the same place for months. The magazine does a good job of maintaining their home page, but a suggestion would be to put that same amount of man power into switching out art throughout the entire site. Every section opening should be treated with the same amount of importance as the home page.

 

Featured story in the clothing section

Another area that doesn't seem to be updated as often is the clothing section. The above feature story has been on this page for at least a month, if not more. I'm not sure if I've ever seen it change. Real Simple's website is made up of many layers. It has so many pages and openers that I know it must be hard to keep up with the workload. Especially since they have a lot of online exclusive stories. However, it's important to readers that information gets updated and changed on a regular basis. I hope that I will begin to see more updates to the site in the next month.

Real Simple Asks

There is a section on the homepage called Real Simple Asks. It posts questions that the magazine poses to readers and has readers respond in a comment box. The questions rotate on the site and answers are displayed for people to look at.

This is a great example of user-generated content that is unique to the website. The interesting part about these questions is that they are archived and people can comment on them for as long as they are searchable. When looking through some of the older questions, it is easy to see that a lot of the comment givers are frequent users of the site. They often comment on more than one question. This shows that their really is a niche for this kind of stuff. People like to talk about themselves and tell their stories to the world.

Readers can also click on the comment givers profile and see what their recent activity on Real Simple has been. Most of the people I looked at primarily stick to the questions section. This type of engaging media is something that can help foster a small audience. 

Contests and Sweepstakes

One tactic that we talked about in class in regards to interaction between a companies audience and their website is using contests. Real Simple is giving away different kits and books in reward for participating in the "The Great Easter Egg Hunt Sweepstakes."

From April 11- April 24 readers can go on realsimple.com to find an easter egg somewhere on the site. There is a clue given everyday to where the egg is, and once you find the egg you can click on it and enter to win one of the four prizes.

 

prizes for winning

This type of involvement with the reader is fun and gets people inside the site. I searched for the egg after reading the clue: The egg is taking a break inside a 20-minute workout. 

And look what I found! I clicked on it and it took me to an entry form. This type of game has a time peg because of Easter. It works well and is a game that gets people trolling around the site everyday.

No Time to Cook App

Real Simple came out with an iPad, iPhone and Android app that is for people who needto create meals during the week in a hurry. It's called No Time to Cook and it was released around December 2010. It was re-released on April 13, 2011 to version 1.0.3

Screenshot of the app on the iPad and iPhone

The reason behind the new launch was because so many people who downloaded the app said that for the $4.99 price tag they expected less ads and more functionality. According to Real Simple this app is supposed to deliver this.

However, after reading comments from users they haven't really since a decrease in the amount of ads. Some even believe that because it's a paid app that it should be ad-free. This is something that I think many app developers are dealing with when it comes to app building. When should ads be used and when should apps be totally ad-free.

On another note, the branding of the application is done very well. It matches the tone and feel of the magazine. The colors and typography are consistent through all of Real Simple's products.

Twitter Presence

 

Twitter account

Real Simple (@Real_Simple) is on Twitter, and it looks like they've been on the site for quite awhile now. The magazine does a great job branding themselves and distinguishing their brand from others. The colors are always consistent, the design is always beautifully done. Nothing is over-the-top or loud.

Right now, Real Simple has 171,804 followers on Twitter and 2, 243 tweets. The amount of tweets compares to what Vox Magazine has at 2, 590 tweets. Real Simple's twitter presence is there. They don't spam people's accounts, but they balance their content promotion with their ability to engage with the community. It's a brilliant plan and by the looks of the tweets it seems to be working.

Tweets with the community.

On top of their magazine twitter presence, Real Simple also holds accounts for their food (@RealSimpleFood) and special offers (@RS_Offers).  The other two accounts don't get as much play as the main twitter account, which is understandable because there won't always be as many food tips or offers for the readers. Overall, I think Real Simple has their Twitter presence down pretty well. At least from what I've seen today.

Simple Stated Blog

The Real Simple blog.

Real Simple has a very active blog presence. Their blog Simply Stated. is updated frequently. It looks like it takes a break on the weekends, but posts are constantly being put up on the site everyday. Usually there are multiple posts in one day. I think it's interesting that the blog goes dead on the weekends though. I'm not sure what the statistics are on the weekend traffic to their blog, but it seems like a big risk to only maintain it Monday-Friday. However, no where on the site does it say it is a daily blog, so maybe they only want it to be a weekday stopping point. 

The posts are spread out at different times throughout the day. This gives readers an incentive to come back and visit the blog more than once a day. It looks like posts will go out as early as 8 a.m. to as late as 7 p.m. I'm sure what the strategy is behind the times, but it works because nothing is going up within minutes of something else. 

Something that  I like about their blog is that when an editor makes a blog post their picture is right next to the title of the post. This brings a human aspect to the blogger. I think seeing the picture of the person who is blogging makes the reader feel more connected to the subject matter and shows that even in the far-off land of New York City that real people are still writing these blog posts and that they still do exist. 

One of the down-falls of the blog is that is doesn't seem like it's promoted enough. I had no idea it was a blog until I clicked on it. On the homepage of Real Simple there is spot where it lives. It only says "Simple Stated. : Daily Tips from our Editors and Experts." I would have been more inclined to click on the link earlier had I known that it was a blog. They should consider making that more clear on the homepage somehow. If they included it in the masthead of the blog title on the homepage, instead of the "Daily Tips from our Editors and Experts" I think it would be much more clear that it's a blog and not just another area on the site that offers daily tips like the "Daily Finds."

 

What the blog looks like on the homepage of Real Simple.

Advertisements

One of the nice things about Real Simple's website is that it doesn't have an overload of ads popping out at you as you scroll through the site. Most of the advertisements live on the right side of the site. They aren't distracting and they don't over power the entire page.

 

Advertisement on the right rail.

Real Simple only has one pop-up ad that appears when you open the site. It occurs when your first visit the home page. It's generally an in-house ad that promotes a subscription to the magazine. The good thing about this is it's easy to close out of the ad quickly. The downside of these types of ads is that they are annoying. I know advertising is what keeps most businesses running next to newsstand sales, but pop-up ads ad nothing to content of the site and discourage readers from wanting to visit more often. Generally, I don't even read what these pop-ups say and especially since this is an in-house ad Real Simple could easily nix the ad to create a better user experience.

Another area with ads is above the navigation bar. This is a hot spot for advertisements. Most of these ads are flash graphics and promote products that Real Simple would write about. 

Advertiement above the navigation.

The last place that I found ads was when they were interspersed throughout galley-like stories. I was flipping through the Daily Finds of "The Best Reusable Bags" and within the story was an ad for Clorox. I've seen ads placed like this before and it's second nature for me to just flip right past it. These types of ads are also annoying, but I know they probably create a good amount of revenue. However, the interesting thing about this ad is that it promotes Real Simple on Twitter and the Clorox product. This sort of advertising technique is a great way to boost sales for the product and drive traffic to Real Simple's Twitter account.

Ad within the story for "The Best Reusable Bags."

Overall, the amount of ads on Real Simple's page is fairly low compared to a lot of the other sites. They don't junk up their page with unnecessary flash graphics that would take away from the feeling a reader gets when reading the magazine or browsing the site.