Change is in the air—cyber air to be more precise—and we are experiencing a new wave in how women are consuming their favorite lifestyle magazines.

According to MediaFinder , 369 magazines folded in 2009. The high profile shelter and lifestyle magazines that ceased publication include Country Home, Domino, Metropolitan Home, Gourmet, Southern Accents, O At Home, InStyle Weddings, Modern Bride, Elegant Bride, Cookie, and Cottage Living. House & Garden and Blueprint ended the year prior. Magazine titles come and go every year due to lack of audience interest, but in 2009, publishers couldn’t sustain very popular titles due to a severe decrease in ad revenues, and increasing paper and printing costs. The decrease in ad revenues, the lifeblood of every publication, is due to the economic downturn and the fact that many advertisers are diverting ad dollars to internet sites and blogs where they can better target their potential customers.

The publishing industry as we know it will never return to business-as-usual. It was a bad year, leaving fans of these titles posting and sharing their sense of loss within their online social communities. With 102 million American women online and 84% of them engaging in social media, that’s a lot of unhappy consumers.

Enter the age of the digital magazine!

The internet offers up a new frontier of opportunity. Five major magazine and newspaper publishers—Time Inc, Condé Nast, the Hearst Corporation, Meredith, and the News Corporation—seek to tame the frontier by building an industry-standard platform to present their work on the Web, smart phones, and electronic readers. This consortium is speculating on the future evolution of full-color, high definition e-readers and count on migrating their magazines, books and newspapers to this new technology.

One of the most significant advantages of a digital publications over print publications is that readers experience instant gratification—featured products, people, and resources are automatically linked—one click on a photo or text will the reader them directly to the subject’s website. Likewise, advertisers like how their ads can link readers directly back to them.

Editorial pages aren’t tied to advertising revenues, another distinctive advantage of digital over print. There is room to spread an article over several pages so images can be large—and let’s face it, in a lifestyle magazine, most readers just enjoy looking at the pictures and are only drawn to the text when something catches their attention and interest.

A downside to the digital formatting is that it must be viewed on a monitor, but electronic readers are on the rise and products, such as the new Apple iPad, will allow more portability, thus changing the way users will read and interact with digital magazines. “Women still want to have their glossy magazines, and I am one of them,” says Lea McIntosh, co-founder of Nesting Newbies, a new online shelter magazine. “But we have to face facts. Soon it won’t be cost-effective or eco-minded to produce print magazines any more. Right now we’re in a transition phase—print is phasing out and technology is moving in. Slowly but surely, more of us are embracing and really enjoying the change.”

Here’s a look at some of the independently published women’s magazines that are taking advantage of the transition:

Lonny Magazine (lonnymag.com)
The defunct Domino inspired its former market editor, Michelle Adams, to start Lonny, her digital interpretation of the popular magazine. The mission of Lonny is to show that good design and affordable design can coexist. Each issue features themed market trends, as well as a variety of homes and the people who live in them.

Nesting Newbies, for a home tweet home (nestingnewbies.com)
Nesting Newbies is a refreshing look at cooking, entertaining and decorating aimed at those who are new to nesting. The compelling images and content gravitas attract avid foodies and decorating enthusiasts, too. Chef Lea McIntosh puts a twist on tradition, and her intent is to make entertaining fun. The embedded video clips offer follow-along-how-to advice. The decorating section includes inspirational rooms from top professionals and easy do-it-yourself projects.

Premiere Designers (premieredesigners.com)
This digital magazine launched on March 8, 2010 and focuses on the trends, ideas and features about luxury interior design, architecture and antiques.

Southern Flourish (southernflourish.com)
Southern Flourish magazine is all about home, garden, food, travel, fashion and beauty from a new Southern point of view.

Get Married (getmarried.com)
Get Married sorts through the wedding planning chaos to help busy brides-to-be. There are trends for every taste and scoops on where to shop and save on every little detail. The magazine uses Tag technology (a downloadable app for the mobile phone) throughout for instant access to hidden coupons, videos, and more information about the trends and items they cover.

Utterly Engaged (utterlyengaged.com)
Without sacrificing style, this magazine presents creative alternatives to modern brides who want high-end looks without breaking their budgets. The pages are filled with pictures, details, and tips from talented wedding vendors willing to share their “utterly inspiring and refreshing” ideas.

Nonpareil Magazine (nonpareilmag.com)
Like Utterly Engaged, Nonpareil Magazine is focused on the creative side of weddings. Here the editors seek to deliver hip, stylish, do-it-yourself projects for weddings that are personal and budget friendly.

IZZY Magazine (izzymag.com)
The latest digital wedding magazine release, IZZY showcases the finest in wedding resources, along with real-wedding pictorials. The content includes a mix of articles, from couture wedding fashion to expert essays, covering a variety of wedding topics.

Research Resources:
“Mag Bag: 2009 Round-Up of Magazine Closures,” Erik Sass, December 24, 2009, Media Daily News
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, US Census Bureau, October 2009
2009 Women and Social Media Study by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners
“Publishers Make Plans for Devices Yet to Come,” Richard Pérez-Peña, New York Times, December 8, 2009

(March 17, 2010) Santa Clara, CA – The winter 2010 issue of NestingNewbies magazine reinvents some cooking classics for its readers and creates unique and inspirational culinary masterpieces. This issue includes lots of recipes and entertaining ideas for “nesting newbies,” the site’s target audience: those new to nesting with no clue when it comes to cooking, entertaining, and decorating. Chef Lea McIntosh takes the “old-fashioned” out of classic crockpot cooking and turns out recipes suitable for a formal affaire or a fun night in with friends and family. The magazine features a film clip of Chef Lea sharing her knowledge of cheese and melding it with her decorating and entertaining expertise as she teaches sisters how to create more than just an ordinary cheese platter. Le Bonne Cuisine, a premiere San Francisco Bay Area catering and event company, turns their vision upward and demonstrates how readers can create a unique hanging buffet.

In ‘Crockpot Chic,’ Chef Lea McIntosh invited design icon Christopher Peacock to cook with her in his kitchen showroom in San Francisco, California using nothing but a crockpot and inventive recipes. McIntosh challenged herself to create a high-end party using original recipes for slow-cookers and created eight mouth-watering dishes along with some crowd-pleasing hot beverages. “I wanted to make crockpot cooking chic,” she says. “In every issue of the magazine, I will show newbies how easy it is to cook from scratch, encouraging them to move away from processed fast foods and experiment with fresh combinations of ingredients. Slow-cookers have been making a comeback, so I set out to prove that they are a tool for creating fine cuisine!”

Chef Lea also wants readers to remember that crockpots are not just for food any more; they are great for hot beverages, too. “Hot beverages can be prepared in advance using a crockpot,” she says. “With some fancy toppings and other goodies, this can be a really fun beverage bar for parties.” From cocoa to café latte, Chef Lea’s recipes keep guests warm and satisfied.

‘The Cheese Stands Alone’ adds a twist to serving cheese and encourages newbies to step out of the typical cheese palette. From selecting interesting, appealing and tasty cheeses to creating a display that will be eye-popping, Chef Lea shares a cheese platter that not only satisfies the taste buds, but gives newbies a chance to spread both their culinary and creative wings with the presentation. Embedded in the digital magazine is a film clip featuring Chef Lea McIntosh showing sisters—who rarely entertain—the tricks for assembling an artful and sophisticatedly luscious cheese display.

San Francisco’s Le Bonne Cuisine takes food presentation to higher-ground, literally. The ‘Foodie Peeps’ section in the winter issue showcases their signature Hanging Buffet. Inspired by the Cirque du Soleil acrobats, this buffet, though easy to set up, is acertain indisputable show-stopper. “We were searching for a new way to present a buffet that would not need tables for support,” said Sébastien Sanges, President, Event Designs at Le Bonne Cuisine. Sanges describes how to replicate this unique technique without breaking the bank.

Décor and entertaining go hand in hand in this magazine. From tables to lampshades, “girly-girl” spaces to the “Lekker Home,” the winter 2010 issue of Nesting Newbies shows newbies how they can create an alluring and attractive home that meets their style and budget. Prominent designer Jay Jeffers is this issue’s Iconic Nester, and he shares how he keeps his work fresh and exuberant from project to project.

Go to www.nestingnewbies.com for more information and to link to current and past issues of the magazine.

(February 9, 2010) Santa Clara, CA – The Winter 2010 issue of NestingNewbies.com magazine focuses on reinvention and inspiration. This issue is more than double the size of its premiere issue, including more recipes and inspirational ideas for “nesting newbies,” the site’s target audience of those who are new to nesting and have no clue when it comes to cooking, entertaining, and decorating. Avid foodies and decorating enthusiasts will also enjoy the original ideas being presented by top industry professionals. The “Bluebird Bag of Happiness,” the magazine’s version of a swag bag, debuts in this issue, and one reader will win merchandise valued over $1,500.

“The Nesting Newbies’ concept is an innovative way to communicate original ideas and trends to a previously overlooked group,” says Christopher Peacock, CEO of Christopher Peacock Home.

In the winter issue, Chef Lea McIntosh invited design icon Christopher Peacock to cook with her in his kitchen showroom in San Francisco and invite his friends over afterwards to taste test. McIntosh challenged herself to create a high-end party using original recipes for slow-cookers. “I wanted to make crockpot cooking chic,” she says. “In every issue of the magazine, I will show newbies how easy it is to cook from scratch and encourage them to move away from processed fast foods and experiment with fresh combinations of ingredients. Slow cookers have been making a comeback, so I set out to prove that they are a tool for creating fine cuisine!”

“Everything was amazing,” says Lane Brooks, principal and CEO of The Brooks Group and a guest at the Christopher Peacock party. “I am still dreaming about the food. The Fonduta di Parma was delicious…like eating a luxurious Kir Royal on crisp toast.”

The magazine’s entertaining section is pure inspiration with the editor’s top picks at San Francisco’s Dining By Design event. “Our favorite tables are whimsical, inventive and fun!” says Jodi Murphy, editor-in-chief. “We chose displays with a wow factor and lots of takeaway ideas. There is such a range—vintage French circus, romantic Marrakesh, rustic elegance, and recycled eco-luxe…just to name a few.”

Boston interior designer Jennifer Rowland Clapp shares how to mix vintage pieces with modern pieces for a table that’s an interesting study in contrasts. Rowland-Clapp also introduces readers to Lekker Home, an alluring home store located in Boston’s trendy South End.

Embedded in the digital magazine is a film clip featuring Chef Lea McIntosh showing sisters—who rarely entertain—the tricks to creating an artful and sophisticatedly luscious cheese platter.

Highlights of the decorating section include “girly-girl” spaces—distinctively feminine rooms designed by leading design professionals—some already known throughout the design industry and blogosphere, and others soon-to-be-discovered. Prominent designer Jay Jeffers is the issue’s Iconic Nester, and he shares how he keeps his work fresh and exuberant from project to project.

Inside the winter issue is the debut of the Nesting Newbies’ Bluebird Bag—the magazine’s version of a swag bag. One winner will take home over $1,500 worth of merchandise from Barclay Butera, Bloomingdale’s (Stanford), Calphalon, Inmod.com, SavvyHost.com, DK Designs, Zenatona, Terlato Family Vineyards, Desert Essence and Pamela’s Products. The contest details are in the magazine and at www.nestingnewbies.com. The winner will be announced on March 16, 2010.

The issue was produced in partnership with James Burkart, Burkart Video Productions—who directed, filmed and edited the entertaining- with-cheese segment—and photographers Michael Soo (SooPhotography.com), Natalie Wi (AllureWest.com), Dean Birinyi (DJBphoto.com), and Margot Hartford (MargotHartford.com). For more information, visit the website at www.nestingnewbies.com and the Nesting Newbies Facebook fan page.

Direct Link to Winter 2010 Issue

(January 11, 2010) Santa Clara, CA –DécorMetro.com is a targeted search-find-share site that accesses a vast database of information from the online design community. For consumers who search the Internet for the answers to their design problems and browse blogs for decorating ideas, inspirations, and resources, DécorMetro.com offers a single destination for finding, bookmarking and sharing the most compelling and relevant results. Value-added features in the current release include feeds of the day’s posts from the online design community and the most current home and garden contests and giveaways.

“I’ve been waiting for something like DécorMetro to come along,” says Joseph Hittinger, interior designer and former ASID chapter president. “I tend to use the Internet more and more for my work, especially now that print media is closing so many shelter magazines—Metropolitan Home being the latest casualty— and there’s been an explosion of great content online. Having a tool like DécorMetro saves me lots of time. I can search and discover great inspirations at the precise moment I need them.”

While general search engines are inarguably indispensable tools for searching the Internet, they do not begin to uncover the same content-rich results one can retrieve from a single, niche-oriented site. When it comes to specialty- or lifestyle-specific markets, bigger is not always better. In a general search engine, a site’s popularity and high traffic—not the quality of its content—contributes to its ranking and page position. If a popular site happens to contain the search term, it will come up first in the results, even if it is not the best source for the desired information. Often, high-quality content gets buried deep within a search engine’s multiple pages.

DécorMetro.com accesses a vast library of dynamic information through its robust, custom algorithm that takes advantage of the new wave of technologies that are transforming the social web. At its launch, DécorMetro.com has over 200,000 articles in its database. The database is ever-updating and growing based upon community activity and software—users can find, bookmark, share, and rate their discoveries, as well as submit new content from the décor blogosphere.

For Consumers: DécorMetro.com is the most comprehensive destination for finding home, garden, interior design, and decorating content. More importantly, consumers play an important role in determining the value of search results, so only the best content rises to the top.

For Bloggers: DécorMetro.com is the opportunity for design bloggers to have their voices heard by an exponentially larger audience—a chance to get discovered and to grow their fan base. DécorMetro consumers browse the daily news and can easily retweet favorite posts, and share them on Facebook and other social sites. Even popular blogs will benefit from increased exposure through DécorMetro.com .

For Designers: Potential clients are browsing blogs and the Internet to find resources for and answers to their design problems. Designers who share their knowledge and insights via blogs will be discovered through DécorMetro.com.

For Industry: Industry professionals will discover what the online design community is saying (or not saying) about their goods and services and can engage in community dialogues.

For Journalists: The daily design feed on DécorMetro.com is an effective tool for researching and uncovering the latest buzz and resources for your stories.

The initial BETA release of DécorMetro.com includes:

-  A savvy search function.
-  The ability to rate a search result.
-  Sharing capabilities via email or through other social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.
-  Bookmarking functionality.
-  Daily feed of the most current design-related contests and giveaways.
-  Daily feed of the day’s posts within the online design community.

DécorMetro.com is the second search-find-share site produced by McIntosh & Murphy. OmniBride.com, a savvy search for the online wedding community, was launched in October 2009.

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PRESS RELEASE

January 11, 2010
DécorMetro.com , a Savvy Search-Find-Share Site for Home, Garden, Interior Design & Decorating (BETA Version) – PRINT PDF

(November 16, 2009) Santa Clara, CA –Lea McIntosh and Jodi Murphy have published Nesting Newbies™ Magazine, an online digital shelter magazine for foodies and design enthusiasts who are new to nesting. In the premier fall issue, Kathy Goodman, one of McIntosh and Murphy’s favorite foodie peeps, shares her vision for Thanksgiving desserts and Kirsten McKay, owner of the curious and distinctive shop Brick Monkey, shows how easy and affordable it is to set a Thanksgiving Day table. All instructions, recipes and images are in the magazine with direct links to resources and purchase locations.

Kathy Goodman (Wellrehearsed.com) believes that Thanksgiving is an opportunity to delight friends and family by doing something out of the ordinary. In Caramel Apples, Mini-pies and Fall-tinis, she shares a unique way to end the meal by having guests get up from their seats to make their own gourmet caramel apples, complete with a choice of toppings—M&M’s®, toffee chips, nuts, candy corn, or sprinkles. Using petite lady apples saves room for bite-sized apple or pumpkin pies. Goodman ties the entire theme together with decadent libations—Caramel Apple Martinis and Pumpkin Pie-tinis. Her point is to “if you think outside-of-the-box, the holidays you host will be memorable.”

Murphy, the magazine’s editor, challenged Kirsten McKay to show readers a Thanksgiving table setting that’s stylish and affordable. In Harvest-to-Holiday, McKay took found objects, grocery-store produce, a few special pieces from her store Brick Monkey (BrickMonkeyonline.com) and glass items from a mass-market emporium and turned them into a fresh and fun harvest table. With a few substitutions, she transformed the setting into a perfect Christmas tableau. “Kirsten did a great job at meeting our challenge,” says Jodi Murphy. “Our message is, it’s worth putting in a little effort, especially during the holidays, to set a decorative table for your guests. We wanted to show something different, and we wanted readers to feel that they can easily re-create the setting. Kirsten really made the design accessible…and we love that it goes from Thanksgiving to Christmas so easily.”

Lea McIntosh is the culinary chef for Nesting Newbies Magazine. Her original dishes for Thanksgiving are also featured in the Fall issue. Decorating stories plus links to new products and resources round out the content. The magazine is available for free at www.nestingnewbies.com.

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PRESS RELEASE

November 16, 2009 Stylish and Affordable Entertaining Ideas in Nesting Newbies™ Online Digital Shelter Magazine – PRINT PDF

(November 3, 2009) Santa Clara, CA –Lea McIntosh is the culinary chef behind Nesting Newbies Magazine, an online shelter magazine about cooking, entertaining, and decorating for those who are new to nesting. In the premier Fall 2009 issue, McIntosh presents a variety of original dishes for Thanksgiving, so readers can put their own twist on the traditional holiday. The magazine can be read at www.nestingnewbies.com.

McIntosh is a graduate of the California Culinary Academy of San Francisco, a former private chef and owner of a catering and event company. She also tested and tweaked recipes in Sunset Magazine’s test kitchens. In Nesting Newbies magazine, her goal is to present newbie nesters with delicious culinary recipes they can use for their own entertaining. “So many people love fine cuisine, but they are often intimidated about making something from scratch, especially if there are more than three ingredients,” says McIntosh. “The magazine is upbeat and encouraging—and the recipes fit within the context of a young couple or young family’s lifestyle. I love to teach, and in the magazine I can show readers ways to prepare delicious dishes using fresh ingredients.”

In the Fall issue, McIntosh’s theme is “Thanksgiving to Go,” portable recipes to take to grandmother’s house or to contribute to a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. Her casserole choice, Savory Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding, is an alternative to stuffing; the vegetable, Scotch-Marshmallow-Caramel-Kissed-Yams, incorporates See’s Candies and fresh pineapple in a yam dish they’ll be sure to eat; her Truffle Honey Holiday Baked Brie is an inspired alternative to typical baked brie recipes; and her innovative nut series—Sweet & Spicy Coconuts, Mochaccino Almonds, and Maple-Pumpkin Spiced Pecans—makes the perfect homemade holiday or hostess gift.

The magazine’s Fall Issue also includes creative ideas and inspirations for entertaining and home decorating by Barclay Butera of Barclay Butera Inc., Kirsten McKay of Brick Monkey Home Interiors, Kathy Goodman of Well Rehearsed, and Shelly Amoroso of Amoroso Design. For more, go to www.nestingnewbies.com.

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PRESS RELEASE

November 3, 2009 Chef Lea McIntosh’s Thanksgiving to Go Recipes in Nesting Newbies™ Online Digital Magazine – PRINT PDF

(October 27, 2009) Santa Clara, CA – NestingNewbies.com combines a traditional magazine format with the new social media trend of original online videos and blogs to present a cross-platform experience for “nesting newbies,” the site’s target audience of those who are new to nesting and have no clue when it comes to cooking, entertaining, and decorating. Cooking and decorating enthusiasts will also enjoy the original ideas being presented.

Digital Magazine. Nesting Newbies Magazine aims to inspire readers, making them feel comfortable about home-keeping their way.   The overall message is that cooking, entertaining, and stylish decorating can be easy, fun, and affordable.  Chef Lea McIntosh shares her expertise and original recipes in each issue.  Readers are shown how easy it is to recreate table settings staged by experienced designers.  In the Design Chronicles, iconic nesters give their sage decorating advice and real-home makeovers are covered.  Profiles of favorite foodie peeps and bloggers, plus links to new products and resources round out the content.

Cooking Segments. As a graduate of the California Culinary Academy of San Francisco, a former private chef, and owner of a catering company, Lea McIntosh was surprised at the number of couples and young people who don’t know cooking basics, let alone how to prepare food “from scratch.”

“Many were raised on fast food in always-on-the-go households, so they didn’t learn by cooking together as a family,” says McIntosh.  “I was excited to discover how eager the ‘newbies’ were to get in the kitchen and start cooking.”  McIntosh asks a newbie couple to give her a culinary challenge; then she invites them on set to work with her preparing her recipe solutions.  “It’s unrehearsed and very interactive. I demonstrate basic skills, like cutting an onion or how to hold a knife, and we create the kinds of dishes they’re interested in the most.  I never know what questions they’ll ask or what’s going to happen from one moment to the next.  I think viewers will appreciate the authenticity.”  Each episode also includes a brief segment on setting a table, newbie style, to show viewers creative ways that they can make meal times special.

Blogs. Recipes from the show, tabletop details and behind-the-scenes activities are posted in the blogs.  Recipes can be downloaded in a PDF format and printed.  Viewers can interact by making comments, sharing their ideas, and asking questions.

James Burkart, Burkart Video, directs, films and edits the cooking segments.  Natalie Wi, Allure West Studios, is the set photographer and the magazine’s Photography Editor.  The site is currently sponsored by Calphalon, Dacor, Christopher Peacock Cabinetry, and Bloomingdale’s Stanford.  Contests will be launched on the Nesting Newbies web site at nestingnewbies.com and the Nesting Newbies Facebook fan page.

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McIntosh & Murphy is a dynamic branding company, a partnership between Lea McIntosh and Jodi Murphy.  Their primary focus is in areas that matter most to women.   McIntosh has achieved success in a variety of disciplines, including graphic, website and event design, and is a credentialed chef who graduated from the California Culinary Academy of San Francisco.  Murphy, a marketing specialist and journalist, writes about and develops client marketing programs in luxury, lifestyle and high-tech industries.  NestingNewbies.com is another McIntosh & Murphy creative endeavor.  Future plans include an interconnection with the BotiQs Network™, a series of search-find-share hubs for women’s lifestyle interests.  Current and soon-to-be-released BotiQmarks™ include OmniBride™ (Wedding), DecorMetro™ (Design), BambinoBuzz™ (Mommy), and FitJava ™ (Fitness).  Kurt Rose leads the engineering behind the technology that gives BotiQmarks superior search and dynamic interactive capabilities.  For more information, go to 2mn8.com.

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PRESS RELEASE

October 27, 2009 Nesting Newbies™ New Digital Shelter Magazine and Online Cooking Segments for a Home Tweet Home™ – PRINT PDF

(October 5, 2009) Santa Clara, CA – Only one month after the official launch of OmniBride.com, a targeted search-find-share site for the wedding community, has announced two new daily feeds previously unavailable on any other wedding search engine or web site. The daily Wedding Contests & Giveaways feed searches thousands of wedding blogs everyday so brides and grooms can read and select the contests that interest them most. What’s being talked about? Who’s saying what? What are the latest trends? Users will find the answers to these questions by taking the pulse of the online wedding community through OmniBride.com’s Daily Wedding Buzz.

Company founders call OmniBride.com “a savvy search engine for the wedding social sphere” because it is niche-oriented (wedding and events only), content-rich (over 150,000 articles and growing daily), and graphically- compelling (no extraneous site clutter). OmniBride.com was created so brides and grooms could have a satisfying online experience when it comes to their wedding planning.

The launch of OmniBride.com comes at an opportunistic time when wedding print media’s future is uncertain. “The recent announcement by Condé Nast of the closing of Elegant Bride and Modern Bride shows how important OmniBride.com is as a way for brides to search the vast blogosphere for their wedding planning,” says Lea McIntosh, co-founder.  McIntosh speculates that it’s not just the economy that’s the catalyst for their closings. “More and more brides and grooms are doing their research online and turning to wedding blogs for their inspirations.”

OmniBride.com allows users to search for and find wedding and event-relevant content, and bookmark those that can be used as reference for their own wedding planning.   Users can also rate the value of a search so the community has a collective voice when it comes to the value of the content.  The two new daily feeds are the latest enhancements.  Additional features and functions are in development.

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PRESS RELEASE

September 30, 2009OmniBride.com Adds Daily Feeds for Bridal Contests and Wedding News to its Search-Find-Share Site (BETA Version) - PRINT PDF

(September 9, 2009) Santa Clara, CA – OmniBride.com is a powerful targeted search-find-share site that accesses a comprehensive database of information captured from both professionals and real-people bloggers who are passionate and knowledgeable about the wedding industry.  The proprietary software allows, for the first time, full access to wedding-related content, thus ending the aimless wandering and endless searches in the vast blogosphere and Internet.  Now users have one destination for quickly researching, finding and sharing compelling information, ideas and inspirations for their wedding and event planning.  Value-added features in the current release include feeds of the day’s posts from the online wedding community and the most current wedding-related contests and giveaways.  Additional features and functions are planned for the near future.

“I landed on the beta version of OmniBride the other day and discovered it’s a search site solely devoted to wedding related things. What a cool concept,” says blogger Kelly Gribben. “It’s definitely something the online wedding community can use.”

“The concept grew out of our frustration with trying to find good content on the Internet,” says Lea McIntosh, co-founder. “My partner and I work in and write about the wedding industry and we were tired of using general search engines that usually yield poor results, or wandering aimlessly from one blogroll to another to uncover something we could use.  We envisioned a content-rich site that drew from the entire Internet wedding community.  We were fortunate to link up with technical wizards who were able to engineer our vision into an easy-to-use, graphically vibrant, super savvy site.”

While general search engines are inarguably indispensable tools for searching the Internet, they do not begin to uncover the same content-rich results one can retrieve from a single, niche-oriented site.  When it comes to specialty- or lifestyle-specific markets, bigger is not always better.  In a general search engine, a site’s popularity and high traffic—not the quality of its content—contributes to its ranking and page position.  If a popular site happens to contain the search term, it will come up first in the results, even if it is not the best source for the desired information.  Often, high-quality content gets buried deep within a search engine’s multiple pages.

OmniBride.com accesses a vast library of dynamic information through a robust and fast custom algorithm that takes advantage of the new wave of Web 2.0 technology that is transforming the social web.  At its launch, OmniBride.com has over 140,000 articles in its database.  It is one of the most complete, if not the only, wedding-specialty search-and-share sites on the Internet.  Most compelling is that the database is ever-changing based upon community activity and software—users can find, bookmark, share, and rate their discoveries, as well as submit new content.  An expert voice will highlight wedding trends, favorite blogs, and the latest industry news, as well as stimulate community conversation.

For Brides: OmniBride.com is the most comprehensive destination for researching and planning a wedding or event. More importantly, brides play an important role in determining the value of search results so only the best content rises to the top.

For Bloggers: OmniBride.com is the opportunity for wedding bloggers to let their voices be heard by an exponentially greater audience—it’s a chance to be discovered and grow their fan base.

For Industry: Industry professionals have the opportunity to find out what the wedding blogosphere is saying (or not saying) about their goods and services and engage in community dialogues.

For Journalists: OmniBride.com is an effective tool for researching and uncovering the latest buzz and resources.

The initial BETA release of OmniBride.com includes:

• A savvy search function.
• The ability to rate a search result by clicking “Love it” for a thumbs-up response or “Trash It” for a thumbs-down response.
• Sharing capabilities via email or through other social networking sites, such as Facebook.
• A convenient option to sign-up and/or log-in using Facebook.
• Bookmarking functionality.
• A comments feature.
• An expert voice that highlights popular blogs, trends and information to stimulate community participation.
• Daily feed of the most current wedding-related contests & giveaways.
• Daily feed of the day’s posts in the online wedding community.

Future releases will include increased community functionality and personal planning tools.

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PRESS RELEASE

September 9, 2009OmniBride.com, A Savvy Search‐Find‐Share Site for Brides, Bloggers, and the Wedding Industry (BETA Version) - PRINT PDF

September 30, 2009OmniBride.com Adds Daily Feeds for Bridal Contests and Wedding News to its Search-Find-Share Site (BETA Version) - PRINT PDF