About two months ago, Vogue was falling behind its competitors. But not anymore.

In mid-August, Vogue relaunched its website to amplify the tone of the magazine and extend it to those who are more web-savvy. Websites allow quicker release to readers, more volume per category and everything that digital media supports, such as high resolution photos, videos, GIFs and more. This glossy makeover was necessary.

Vogue is aspirational, and now Vogue.com resonates that as well.

The past several years of magazine publishing have been a period of rapid innovation. Led by the recession beginning in 2008, fashion magazines have shifted their primary means of reaching their target audiences from print to online journalism.

To me, gathering my fashion news from magazines’ websites is always a guarantee of the most immediate, up-to-date information. No limits, no release date and the stories are published, posted and shared widely. I love the look and feel of a magazine, but the Web offers so many extensive tools and different points of view that it’s hard not to welcome it with open arms.

Websites have to be relevant; they must reflect current issues in a way that’s digestible. Like Vogue and Vogue.com, the “Web edition” must be consistent and emphasize the same tone, but that doesn’t mean the two must be identical in what’s published.

Before Vogue.com was reborn, Cosmopolitan.com rebranded its online presence and took the lead among its magazine competitors. Alie Martell, managing editor of Cosmopolitan.com, said in a Magazine Department Speaker Series forum Sept. 30 that after its relaunch in August, the website doubled its traffic and had 30 million unique visits.

Martell emphasized the importance of a strong online presence. Now, Cosmopolitan.com posts 40 to 50 stories per day and is syndicated with other Hearst publications. This change attracts new readers and, most importantly, creates a whole new target of people to share stories on social media.

“We publish (online) stories that readers can take something away from. We want them to read and immediately share it with their friends,” Martell said during the lecture. “If something works well, we’ll do it in every possible way.”

The Internet is quick and efficient. Online journalists can report on stories the second they become news and can update those stories whenever necessary. There are no word or page limits, so the opportunities for information are endless.

“If print interviews four women, it may only have room to include three in the article because of word counts,” Martell said last Tuesday. “The great thing about online is that we can include that fourth interview. It fits.”

Another favorable aspect of Web is that magazines can extend themselves further as brands because — let’s face it — everyone is online. They can attract greater attention and traffic to themselves by appealing to readers in more than one way. Branching out of the norm and doing it well is critical.

The most obvious advantage of an online presence is the appearance of a magazine’s site on a mobile phone. Readers are on the go and grabbing content from sites during their commutes, on their breaks, during meetings and more.

The platform of a magazine’s website must be aesthetically pleasing. No one wants to read from an ugly website. It’s distracting. It takes away from the work elsewhere on the site. Looking good on mobile is key.

Though the voice and mission statement of magazines have remained the same from print to web, time, technology and the demand for the latest news as it happens have continued to shape the ever-changing industry. The fashion industry has embraced this progression and created new ways of catering to readers everywhere and anywhere they may be.

Zoe Malliaros is a sophomore advertising major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at [email protected].

Published on October 6, 2014 at 12:01 am