Introduction

It is commonly said that electronic communications and the Internet make the world a smaller place. But the world began shrinking long before the invention of the Internet, the computer or the microchip. Advances in communication began to diminish the size of the world in 1851 when the first undersea communications cable was laid between Britain and France.

The Web is very well named! - It's fascinating and intricate, and liable to engulf the unwary in lots of detail, overtime, and frustration. It is also a major method of electronic communications.

This special report only addresses practical aspects of electronic communications and electronic on-line publications. Many good articles and books on electronic communications, web-design, and layout, are available.

Why does your client want an on-line
publication and electronic communications?

Does the client want to reduce production costs, communicate more rapidly, create a Web presence, reach more people? Does your client simply like the idea of publishing on the Web?

Although this seems almost a trivial question, it will have a profound influence on the design of your on-line publication and your client's expectations for it. Consider two plausible extremes: 1) Your client is being forced into electronic production by her client or manager, or by a feeling of having to keep up with the Jones'. So, you may have to plan and design around severe obstacles, such as a lack of skilled assistance, no place to "hang" the publication (that is, no related Web site for your piece of on-line information), and a restrictive budget that limits your ability to design and manage your site. 2) Or your client is a Web addict, and you are faced with demands for glitz that are unrealistic for your budget and unsuitable for your audience.

What computer capabilities does your audience have?

Once you understand your audiences' interests and needs in the content of a Web site, consider their needs as consumers of electronic goods:

• Consider how familiar the audience is with the Internet and the Web. Although almost everyone seems to use e-mail, some professions are more inclined to Internet familiarity than others. For example, geneticists and geophysicists tend to use the Internet heavily in their day-to-day work. They belong to on-line bulletin boards and use web-based data banks as integral parts of their research resources. However, field biologists and program administrators tend to use the Internet in a more limited way -- although this too is changing rapidly. Frequency of Internet use has a significant impact on the complexity, tools, and on-line design that the readers will expect and accept.
  
• Consider what equipment your audience has; that is, the power of their computers and the type of on-line connection. An audience living in Puget Sound, home of Microsoft and other electronic/software-based business, is more likely to have access to high-end computers, sophisticated phone systems, and high-speed modems and servers, than an audience living in a rural, agricultural area.

What delivery method will you choose?

Web pages are one way to deliver information, but they may not be the most efficient way. Is a "push" or a "pull" delivery the best for your needs, or a combination?

• Push: E-mail is the ultimate method of "pushing." It's almost like delivering a hardcopy to a user's door. E-mail offers two options; you may include the information (for example, a newsletter) in the text of the e-mail, or as a file in a word-processing program. The text e-mail information is easy to create and quick to download, but the formatting vagaries of different e-mail software programs limit the author to a very plainly formatted document.

  Two conditions are necessary for sending the information as an attached file: 1) the recipients all have the same word-processing software and; 2) the recipients have a file-friendly e-mail environment, using a program such as Outlook, for instance, in which a file is automatically enabled when the recipient clicks on an attachment. Informal newsletters using e-mail are already being circulated within business Intranets. However, because of e-mail software incompatibilities and file transfer problems, this is a poor choice for Internet communications outside of a highly structured environment.

  One further problem with e-mail: if the list of recipients is large, your mailbox may end up flooded with "undeliverable mail" messages. You can expect at least a 5 to 10% e-mail return rate with each mailing. For larger lists (over 25) it is usually most practical to use a listserv -- particularly an automated one, to which readers self-subscribe. A listserv is an extremely practical and low-maintenance method of contact. One caution about listservs: Be sure to set your "permissions" option so that only authorized people (meaning you, and not all your recipients) can send e-mail through the list. Otherwise, readers may reply to the listserv rather than to you personally, starting an avalanche of mail and complaints. Be sure also that you include information on how to subscribe in each message to your readers, and that you clearly state your policies of protecting (or not!) the privacy of the addresses.

• Pull: If a publication is a site on the Web, the reader must "pull" it onto the screen. The Web offers a wide array of formatting options, interactivity, opportunities to accumulate statistics, and ways of including graphics. However, your potential readers need to know where you are — otherwise, the Web is a good place to find out whether trees make a noise if they fall unattended.

• Combination: Most Web publications rely on both push and pull, by sending out e-mail notification when new information is on-line. This is an effective way of reaching readers, and has the added bonus of allowing the publisher to establish a subscription service. Many organizations have their own internal general delivery lists; if you can announce your publication on this list, even if only one time, you've reached a wide potential audience with only one message. E-mailing lists can also be purchased, just as they can for traditional mail. An on-line newsletter, uses a combination of push and pull. The newsletter is published in HTML, allowing it to include handsome graphics and long (ish) articles, but readers can sign up for an e-mail notification of each publication, and summarizes the contents (and reminds them of the URL!). In this case, the subscription is free and readers are promised that the list will not be used for any other purposes. Remember that subscription-list privacy is an important issue.

• Snail mail: If you are publishing something that already has a postal mailing list, consider leveraging that list when the publication is put on-line. For the first few publications, send out postcards to everyone on the list, giving the URL and urging them to look and send us feedback. Once those readers subscribe to the e-mail listserv, you can abandon the postcards.

How will readers know you're there?

On-line registration with a search engine is absolutely necessary for Web sites. On-line registration services help you get listed in the search engines and on linkage Web sites. There are a variety of services available. At this time, the most basic service is usually free. When you pay more money, the services promise more extravagant advertising, claiming to ensure that you are listed first in response to a search engine query or promising to feature your site or page in their own Web notification e-mail. The "basic" level of registration seems to be effective for the purposes of most Web sites. Be sure to include keyword and description meta tags on your top-level pages at a minimum. The keyword tag will be invisible to readers, but will be scanned by search engines. The description tag will appear in search engine returns and will tell readers what to expect from your site.

By conducting keyword searches on the major search engines, you'll find sites, databases, listserves and usenet groups that share the interests in your publication. E-mail the content owners, and include your URL, short and long descriptions of your site (if the sites you are interested in carry "links" pages that list sites and their topics) and other information that is relevant -- like your bona fides, frequency of publication, and so on.

Finally, don't forget the importance of paper! If you've been mailing out hardcopy publications, send out postcards to your subscription list giving the URL of your Web site and reminding them to sign up for an e-mail notification or subscription. Include your URL and e-mail on business cards, letterhead, brochures, and so on -- and, of course, in your e-mail signature line.

What will your publication look like?

There are a few specific considerations for the format, style, structure, and maintenance of a Web site:

• Format: The most widely used formats for a Web publication are HTML and PDF.
  • An HTML document loads quickly, is universally accessible (if you don't get fancy with your coding), and displays well on-line. It is also extremely easy to edit. Every word can be read by a full-text Web search engine, and there is quite a bit of flexibility for even the most basic document. For the casual reader, the disadvantages of HTML lie in printing the Web page. Lines and tables may break strangely, and the on-line color in backgrounds and links may not show up, even on color printers.

  • A PDF file shows on a computer screen as a "picture" of the document, exactly as the document is formatted. It is viewed through the Adobe Acrobat ^TM reader. It permits hyperlinks, but cannot be searched by many engines (although tools do exist that create text files that are hidden to the reader, but that can be searched on-line). PDF is one of the least expensive and quickest production methods: once you have your document formatted in the word-processing system, conversion to .PDF is a keystroke away. PDF is an excellent choice for documents that are published in both hard copy and electronically. Some readers, however, may feel that the additional software (the reader is free, and is a small program) and download step required to access PDF documents imposes an extra burden on the reader in terms of load time and browser availability. Compatibility problems exist, too, especially for international publications; we've found that readers cannot always access the PDF document, although they do have a PDF reader.

  • Other options are to scan the document and place it on-line as a graphic, to create HTML pages from a database, and to send it as a fax (faxing is a common method of transmitting newsletters). The document as a graphic is fast, easy, and inexpensive, but the file is liable to be so large that readers can't or won't access it; resolution of the graphic can be problematic, given the variances in monitor capabilities; many people surf with their graphics turned off; and the search engines will not find the text. Pages generated through a database are a good idea--this certainly creates an almost endlessly flexible document--but this also requires more technical skill to establish and, possibly, more time and expense to maintain. Finally, newsletters can be faxed. Faxing permits a very structured format, but the newsletter will need to be short and readers won't have an on-line archive (presumably--otherwise it would make more sense to publish on-line in the first place).

  Style: Electronic publication had a huge influence on the writing style. People read more slowly on-line, and seem to tire more quickly. Therefore, consider short, highly condensed write-ups (350-500 words is a good on-line length for a "long" write-up on a single topic). Because people tend to scan on-line information, shorter sentences and "visual aids" like bullets and bold fonts increase readability and retention. Make sure the title of the article, AND the title in the HTML tags, give the reader a good sense of the information they will get from the write-up -- don't forget it is the title that you put into the HTML tags that search engines present in response to a keyword search. A result that says "Cell Suicide - ER News 10/97" is a lot more likely to bring a reader to a page than "ER News Article 1."

  Take advantage of on-line capabilities to provide links to related information on other pages or at other sites. Two things to be aware of when linking: when you're linking to your own information, don't chop pages up too much. On the whole, people would rather scroll (for a few screens, at least) than link, and they would certainly rather scroll for a couple of screens than link to a series of pages with one or two paragraphs -- especially if they want to print the information. When linking off your site, pay attention to "leakage" - remember that when you send someone off your page, they may not return.

  Structure and maintenance: An issue of concern early in going electronic is whether you maintain back issues on your Web site or replace each issue with the newest edition. In some cases, a Web site functions as a "database" of information for the client, and information must be maintained. A Web site or page on a particular topic may attract links from other Web sites, in which case it may be a useful service to maintain the page. Before you decide whether to keep old issues, consider the limits your server has on memory allocations and the cost of additional memory. Consider also how you will access and change your files. At electronic communications it is possible to have immediate access to all on-line files on a large-capacity server; this makes production extremely efficient, allows the webmaster to maintain several years worth of issues, and permits quick fixing of any mistakes. Whatever you decide to do, DON'T FORGET TO MAKE BACKUP COPIES. Of course, there's nothing like learning the hard way for driving this particular lesson home.

The way in which you build your Web site will affect the effort and costs of maintenance. Think carefully about your file structure. Don't end up with a jumble of files in the top-level folder. Name folders according to issue date, and stay consistent when naming the files and the subfolders. An experienced Web designer can help you to structure (or restructure) your site to cut down on production and management time. One of the most useful, easiest, and least heeded web management tools is a stringent file-naming convention. With this you can develop a ready-made template for the publication that requires minimal editing. This considerably reduces both the production time and the room for linkage error. It also make it easy for someone who may be filling in to understand the layout and to trouble-shoot problems.

How will you measure success?

Like Mt. Everest, the Web claims its victims "because it is there." If your client does not have a specific goal or audience in mind, the fact that the publication is "available to everyone" will not help suddenly make it popular. As trite as this seems, it is remarkable how many people venture onto the Web in the expectation of finding a wealth of hidden audiences. Unless the role of sacrificial goat appeals to you, find out what your client wants to achieve, and how that success is going to be measured. Is the publication to be a marketing tool for a Web site or product? Is it a way to make information on a particular topic available?

Whatever the purpose, how will you know if the publication is succeeding? Will readership statistics tell the story, or will reader responses, or increased hits on the target Web site, or an increase in sales? Will you take a general poll, and will that be over e-mail or on paper? Will you embed responses in the publication itself?

There are two basic measurements: reader feedback and user sessions. Reader feedback is usually obtained by e-mail and telephone. There are also e-mail survey software programs for possible use as an annual e-mail survey delivered to all the readers on the listserv. A caution, though, about requesting responses by e-mail, either as a poll or an embedded response form: before your leap into these waters, consider what you will do with the answers. Responding to readers can become a large and unexpected cost.

The second measure is "user sessions"—NOT "hits." User sessions are an approximate measure of one person's complete tour of a site; hits are a way of counting how many times a page is accessed. One user session may be the equivalent of 12 hits, if the reader goes to every page. Statistics reports can tell you -- in approximate numbers -- the domain names of the readers, so that you know the approximate percentages of readers from domains such as educational institutions, private businesses/commercial servers, and government organizations. Statistics can also tell you the days and times people read the publication, how long they spend reading an issue, what percentage of the total sessions are generated by Web Crawlers and other automated devices, and so on. Now, readership statistics are excellent for measuring trends, but they are lousy for measuring absolutes. Use them to see how your readership improves, to get an idea of who is accessing your publication, and to figure out what gets readers to your page. Do NOT fool yourself that these numbers are anything more than trends.

How much will it cost?

In addition to the research and writing costs, consider costs for conversion into the on-line format, software tools (this may include an HTML editor or Adobe Acrobat for .PDF creation, and a graphics software), server and file maintenance time, and the increased amount of time in dealing with e-mail. In general, the costs for writing and editing do not decrease for an on-line publication. The production time is also similar to that for a paper publication, although through the use of templates you can cut layout time considerably. The costs of distribution, printing and mailing paper copies will naturally drop to almost nothing. However, there are ongoing maintenance costs: creating new content and updating old information, moving to a new server, indexing for the search engine, re-registering with search engines, and reporting and maintaining statistics. These costs will vary considerably, depending on the kind of technical support you get in-house or as part of your server package. One estimate suggests that Web site maintenance costs are as much as 80% of the total budget over a 5-year span.

Will you live through it?

The learning curve for on-line publication is steep, and the failures are painfully public. After all, you're Out There. Also, the sensitivities are different. For instance, be especially careful if your articles list people's names, e-mail addresses, or phone numbers: what is acceptable in a limited distribution paper document is quite different from what is safe to do in cyberspace. The way people use on-line publications is different; the rationales for style, format, and content are different; and the expectations of what an on-line publication can achieve may be frighteningly different. The tools are changing rapidly and, for now, appear to be getting more divergent. This adds an extra burden of vigilance and responsiveness to a an on-line author/designer's job.

Then again, where else can you be so creative and flexible? Where else can you redesign at a keystroke, test your audience response, and redesign again and do it basically free of cost and instantaneous, with instant on-line response possible! Plus, far lower priced than traditional marketing and advertising methods! Thanks to electronic communications!

Example of on-line newsletter: Commodity Traders Club News

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