By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor
As companies - particularly those providing solutions to ecommerce sites, information publishers and service providers - typically race to launch new products or upgrades around industry tradeshows in the spring and fall leaving the summer and winter for their clients to actually implement their offerings.
For Website Magazine in particular, this provides a continuous cycle of extreme busyness followed by a catch-up period followed by extreme busyness and the cycle continues. Of course there is no rest for the weary, so Website Magazine typically spends its summer starting new content-focused projects that keep readers like you informed and engaged.
Last year it was Web 100, which named the top brands on the Internet and included household names like AT&T, Chase, The Food Network and 97 others. This summer, Associate Editors Allison Howen and Derek Schou are reviving Application Magazine, as data from Nielsen shows mobile apps account for 89 percent of consumers' mobile media time. This clearly means Internet professionals need more information about applications, and our associate editors are up for the task.
There isn't enough room to include all of Editor-In-Chief Peter Prestipino's projects (and I'm not just brown-nosing), but be sure to check out his baby (err...our most recent digital project) webmag.co, which highlights content that our readers can't get enough of like infographics, videos and events.
Prestipino also launched InternetRating.net, which allows Web workers like you to rate other websites' design and even submit their own. We think you'll have fun critiquing others' sites, but also learn a lot in the process. As if that weren't enough, he's nearly finished with his third book, which I'm excited to provide feedback and plenty of props on.
As for me, I'm preparing for Natural Products Expo East taking place in Baltimore in September and interviewing top brands regarding their social media strategies to provide an hour-long presentation on the popular topic. Attendees will be surprised to find out how much global enterprises are struggling with the same issues regarding social as they are (lack of organic reach, lack of conversion, etc.). Personally, I'm thrilled to get the opportunity to improve on my first presentation at the Natural Products Expo West last March. On the side, I'm growing a human being inside me (I win) and formally strategizing and implementing how to get some of the most well-known names in new media to more regularly contribute to Website Magazine (make sure to check out Prestipino's article on Outreach SEO in this issue).
As a group, Website Magazine's editorial team (and our design, subscription and sales colleagues, of course) is always looking for new ways to capitalize on the growing Web. We encourage you to use your "summer lull," or whenever that time is for you, to reflect on what's working, what isn't and what could be done to increase engagement, retention, sales and even personal growth. Even if your company doesn't follow the same patterns as we do (for example retailers experience the exact opposite cycle), the lesson can be learned that there is never such a thing as a lull if you play your cards right. Ideas can range from updating a homepage to focusing on gathering client or customer reviews to finding interns to create quality content for your blog to finally taking Google+ serious - the list is endless.
If you have some downtime (we won't judge you if you say you do), tweet us @WebsiteMagazine using the hashtag #WhatLull to let us know how you plan on maximizing a typically slow season for your company. We'd love to hear about the projects you're working on to achieve greater Web success.