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Case Studies

Case Studies

Case Study: The American Spectator

Back Ground:

In 1967, R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. and friends started a newsprint tabloid called The Alternative, on the campus of Indiana University in response to the influence of Students for a Democratic Society. In 1977, it became The American Spectator, and by 1985, had expanded its offices to Washington, DC where it quickly broadened its national subscriber base.

In 2003, under the direction of seasoned book publisher, Alfred S. Regnery, the magazine underwent a design facelift, marking a new era with a fresh, new look. The American Spectator continues to deliver monthly commentary and analysis its readers crave.

The web presence was also overhauled (www.spectator.org), providing timely content separate and distinct from the magazine. Spectator.org not only offers daily, intelligent reporting, but also features AmSpec Digital, AmSpec Blog and the biweekly On the Prowl e-Newsletter.

Published continuously for nearly 40 years, The American Spectator continues to set the standard for conservative journalism. Sparring toe-to-toe with generations of political leaders and thinkers, the Spectator remains truly valuable and adventurous in thought.

The Problem:

With over 300 authors, 5000 articles in the daily website column and a nationally syndicated monthly magazine, the American Spectator Staff and columnists needed a system that could manage and track their daily articles, put them on the website, make them searchable and allow subscribers to have access to proprietary content. With the redesign of the print magazine, the website also needed a design overhaul. Finally, the Spectator needed a way to allow advertisers to advertise in a controlled manner on the website as they do in the magazine and they needed to be able to sell products on their website. The original website was completely static and required manual updating by a webmaster. Furthermore, it had no dynamic features, so subscribers could not log in and access the magazine and archives, visitors could not subscribe online, there were no archives, and the time required to keep the static content up to date was inefficient.

Also, with over one million hits per day average and extremely dynamic content, the Spectator needed an extremely robust and secure application and database environment that could handle their regular load and in some cases up to 10 times their regular load.

Solution:

BIS Global redesigned the Spectator website to give it a fresh modern look while keeping the original Spectator logo. In redesigning the site we made room for advertising, ecommerce, online subscriptions, and a subscriber login.

Next we integrated a custom content management system so that spectator staff and columnists could add content to the website in real time with no technical website expertise. Spectator columnists and staff simply log into a secure web portal to add website content. They now have access to daily articles, columnists, magazine content, and blogs. Furthermore, content added by Spectator columnists and staff is automatically archived and searchable.

BIS Global also worked with the Spectator's fulfillment department to create a secure link between the Spectator's Subscriber and Accounting System and the Spectator Website database, so that now, visitors can securely subscribe online and gain real time access to the magazine content digitally right away. In order to do this efficiently and securely, BIS Global had to set up a secure custom link with the fulfillment department in New York so that subscriber data is synchronized in real time.

We also integrated a custom solution that allows spectator advertising staff to add and manage advertisements on the website. Spectator advertising staff can add advertisements, view detailed statistics on hits, clicks and purchases and bill clients from the ad management system.

BIS Global also integrated a newsletter managed feature using our QueueMailer Software and Dedicated Mailing server to allow Spectator staff to correspond with subscribers and members in real-time via email.

In addition, we integrated the Spectator website with our Secure Shopper Software to allow them to sell products securely on their website. Now, they have a secure shopping cart that is seamlessly integrated with their website so they can sell other products online.

Finally, we architected and implemented a custom server environment consisting of application servers and database servers in a load balanced environment to ensure security and availability for the Spectator website.

Products/Solutions Used:

• Graphic Design
• Database Administration
• Custom Application Development
• Network Support
• Secure Shopper
• Dedicated Hosting