SoGlos Blog

New media pack launched

SoGlos has just unveiled its brand new media pack, packed with essential information about the online magazine, its readership and advertising opportunities.
 
The media pack includes some very useful statistics and an intriguing reader profile – did you know that the typical SoGlos reader shops online two times a week, eats out three times a month or relaxes on one spa day every year, for example?

There’s also some interesting information about how we attract new readers to the online magazine and engage readers through social media, as well as five compelling reasons to choose SoGlos.

Not forgetting pages individually dedicated to display advertising; enhanced venue listings and enhanced event listings.

Plus, there’s also a selection of some of the amazing things our wonderful clients say about SoGlos, which we are particularly delighted with!

Designed and printed by local Cheltenham business Print By Design, the new media pack can be viewed online at soglos.com/advertise or if you’d like a printed copy popped in the post, please just ask.

SoGlos harnesses MailChimp API to develop email newsletter

When we launched SoGlos’s weekly email newsletter almost six years ago, little did we know that 281 issues later it would be such an important addition for the Gloucestershire community – today being the county’s longest running and most popular resource of its kind.

We’re proud to have never missed a single issue, and every week the team work hard to pick the very best events taking place in the county, as well as showcasing the latest reviews, news and guides written by our journalists.

And while we’ve used MailChimp, arguably the world’s greatest email marketing service provider, for several years now, we’re delighted to announce that SoGlos’s custom-built content management system now works in perfect harmony with MailChimp – via its Application Programming Interface.

SoGlos’s developer Simon has been hard at work on the behind-the-scenes project, which now means the team can ditch html formatting and publish newsletters with no technical tinkering – further strengthening SoGlos’s position as the definitive model for arts and entertainment coverage in the UK.

It also frees up the team’s time to bring readers even more exclusive content – and deliver advertisers even better value. Hurray!

SoGlos.com reaches 80,000 monthly readers

Whether its new daily editorial articles published by our journalists, 24/7 tweets from the team, social media sharing of our content or our passion for attending local events of all shapes and sizes, the whole team work hard for every single new SoGlos.com reader – and we’re delighted to announce that our monthly reader levels have just hit a phenomenal 80,000 for the first time.

The new milestone includes seasonal content taking in the tail end of the annual fireworks and bonfire celebrations, our unparalleled Christmas-focused content, as well as our usual selection of entertainment event previews, news, features and reviews.

SoGlos.com’s monthly reader numbers have continued to grow month-on-month since the online magazine launched almost five years ago, as more and more Gloucestershire residents discover the free, easy-to-use resource brimming with editorial content of a national media standard.

What’s more weekly email newsletter subscribers are fast approaching the 19,000 level – as this unique service (having been running for more than 235 issues/weeks, no less!), becomes an invaluable part of even more of our readers’ lives.

The team couldn’t have wished for better news as a pre-Christmas treat, and are already looking forward to pushing our reach ever closer to the 100,000 monthly readers mark in 2012.

Google +1 Button now available on SoGlos.com

As part of its ongoing commitment to improving the online magazine and embracing the latest social media platforms, SoGlos.com is delighted to announce that the Google +1 Button is now available across its extensive content.

So, as well as ‘liking’ event previews via Facebook and ‘tweeting’ articles via Twitter, you’ll now also be able to give articles a virtual high five via Google’s new +1 Button. Why not give it a try on our special Gloucestershire school summer holidays guide?

SoGlos.com is the first publisher in Gloucestershire to offer the new functionality, and we’re sure you’ll agree it makes for a great new addition to the award-winning online magazine.

Gloucestershire cookery school venues added

Having received numerous enquiries about local cooking courses in recent months, the SoGlos.com team is delighted to reveal that Gloucestershire cookery schools can now be found listed in the Gloucestershire Restaurants section directory.

We’ve carefully researched the finest local venues for readers’ convenience, and please don’t forget to send us a cake once you’ve become a dab hand in the kitchen!

Gloucestershire teeth whitening and photo makeover venues added

We’re pleased to announce that SoGlos.com’s carefully-selected directory of county health and beauty venues has now been extended to include both Gloucestershire teeth whitening venues, and a more succinct list of Gloucestershire makeover photoshoot venues – which will be updated on an ongoing basis.

If you haven't already seen it, don't miss the recent review of teeth whitening from All Your Life in Cheltenham - just in time for Christmas!

To request a listing for your Gloucestershire health and beauty venue, please use SoGlos.com’s dedicated request venue listing form.

New-look email newsletter gets thumbs up

The SoGlos.com team is delighted to have issued the first new-look email newsletter this week, with issue 140 going out to in excess of 14,000 discerning subscribers across Gloucestershire and far beyond.

The new style comes as a result of reader feedback and reflects SoGlos.com’s magazine style, with scores of recipients having already emailed to give the new service a thumbs up. ‘Love it, love it, love it!’ being just one of the comments received.

This week also sees the completion of a migration to email service provider MailChimp, selected for its excellent reputation in the industry and now charged with handling SoGlos.com’s weighty subscriber list – which will hopefully top 20,000 by the end of the year.

See SoGlos.com’s newsletter page to become a subscriber for yourself, and don’t miss out on all Gloucestershire has to offer.

SoGlos.com’s venue directory gets an early spring clean

In addition to an array of editorial features, reviews and event previews, SoGlos.com is also home to Gloucestershire’s most popular directory of local arts, entertainment and leisure venues.

While the directory only includes a carefully-selected choice of venues, following feedback received from readers the SoGlos.com team has decided to refine the directory’s offering to an even greater extent – and around a quarter of categories were removed as of today.

Categories removed include groups and clubs which don’t have a fixed venue – and thus can’t be pinpointed on the interactive Gloucestershire map – as well as those which were duplicated across sections.

The Gloucestershire Children & Family section is the one to be impacted most, with its directory now including a more limited, and more useful, choice of Gloucestershire activity centre, Gloucestershire days out, Gloucestershire children's party and Gloucestershire soft play venues.

We hope you’ll agree the old adage ‘less is more’ holds true, and are delighted to offer readers a streamlined directory of places to visit in the county.

SEO-friendly URLs for SoGlos.com venue directory

While SoGlos.com has already set the precedent for all things search engine optimisation, it is with great pleasure that after a huge amount of hard work by our developer Simon Taylor we extend SEO-friendly URLs to SoGlos.com’s carefully-selected venue directory too.

So while you might have once come across the likes of ‘?’, ‘&’ and ‘=’ when bringing up a list of Cheltenham restaurants, Cotswolds attractions or Gloucestershire hotels, URL formats now take the rather lovely format of soglos.com/restaurants/cheltenham/venues,  soglos.com/art-culture/cotswolds/attraction-venues and soglos.com/accommodation/gloucestershire/hotel-venues. And what's more, the thousands of old dynamic URLs have all been redirected to the new format too!

Yes we admit it is all very geeky, but the new system is just one more step towards making SoGlos.com’s bespoke CMS one of the very best in the UK for all things arts, entertainment and leisure - and has significant implications beyond the realm of SEO.

Enjoy, and please don’t hesitate to link to any of SoGlos.com’s brand new venue directory URLs from your own site.

SoGlos.com unveils Gloucestershire widgets

After six months of behind-the-scenes work at SoGlos.com towers, we’re delighted to announce today’s launch of a series of seven brand new interactive web widgets, allowing everyone in the county to celebrate local arts, entertainment and leisure like never before.

Each showing a calendar of upcoming events, widgets are now available for Gloucestershire as a whole, as well as for the county’s six main areas specifically – Cheltenham, the Cotswolds, the Forest of Dean, Gloucester, Stroud and Tewkesbury – and can be embedded on your website, blog or favourite social media site including Facebook, Twitter and iGoogle.

Developed with support from Cheltenham Business Pride (cheltenham.gov.uk/businesspride), all of the widgets are completely free of charge, are simple to use, and are automatically updated by SoGlos.com’s journalists on a continual basis – offering a great way to celebrate all that Gloucestershire has to offer.

To find out more about, and take advantage of one of the new widgets, see SoGlos.com’s widgets page - while you can also see the Gloucestershire widget in action below...