Anniversary Special Alert Blog for StageMagazineOnline.com - What's Happening in Theater The Week of March 17, 2008

Friends,

Happy First Anniversary To StageMagazineOnline.com!

Thank you for joining us over this past year… and what a year it's been. Successes, improving site statistics, struggles, the site under attack, and more.

And through all of it we have come to rely on your support… so BEFORE I share our Celebration Contest with you and ask you to comment on how we've been doing, let me take you through some thoughts (I hope you'll read ALL of what we have here!):

1) What if StageMagazineOnline Didn't Exist? Would You Care? Would Anyone Notice We Stopped?

What if we weren't here helping to sell your empty seats or providing reviews that both theaters and individuals need? If you say in your mind, "so what?" then we should stop now, close shop, stop spending all the time we put into this on a daily basis. I'll just take my personal investment in time, dollars, and staffing, take the losses the government allows, and move to other things that continue to call me and would pay much greater returns.

But theater is my passion.

And doing a great job for all of our Members and Member Theaters is the pride of success shared by everyone working here.

I chuckle when people wonder how much I'm making from this site: did you know that start-up costs are depreciated over a 15-year period? None of the cost to design the site, none of the first mailings, ads, staff time, etc. can be recognized as an expense until it can cover some of the income over a 15-year period. Ouch!

So think about it: what do we mean to you and to our Theater Community… more on that below.

We love hearing how much we've helped theaters. Or provided the FIRST review a theater ever received. Or one of our interviews touched someone. Or a review helped get the phonelines ringing before opening night.

Theaters continue to join us. We're thrilled that within our first year so many theaters have "taken a chance" on us. Big theaters; small theaters; professional, university, community, high school, summer, and youth theaters. The access we provide is open to all theaters, and the results that Google and other search engines are providing is even way past the results I had envisioned.

To know that THIS blog will be indexed by Google within 30 minutes (and for some of our blogs, articles, and reviews in as little as EIGHT minutes) is amazing. These outstanding results are because we're all here together: NO theater by itself could generate the impact online that all of us together can produce.

2) Statistics from Google Analytics prove that our materials are being accessed in greater and greater numbers!

Over the past 30 days, 51.96% of our reviews have been found by way of the search engines; 26.08% by referring sites (that's when theaters are focused enough to post our review link on their sites… which is the BEST thing to do); 21.93% of the readership comes directly to the site since people know we have reviews to read; and .03% come from other means.

The most seen reviews over the past 30 days include: Titanic, The Musical at The Ritz Theatre in Haddon Township; Villanova's production of Baby; Arthur Miller's play, The Visit, at The Walnut Street Theatre; Brothers-in-Law at Act II Playhouse in Ambler; Yeoman of the Guard by Thespis; Black Gold at InterAct; Ethel Waters at Hedgerow Theatre.

It's interesting to note that some shows were after their run and some were very EARLY in their run… learn from other theaters and see what they do to publicize their productions and you'll quickly see that those who aggressively USE the reviews we produce get the best feedback (viewership) and sell the most seats.

It's also interesting to see where people are coming from… Google search is clearly number one; coming directly to the site (meaning they put in our URL) is 2nd; being referred by StageMagazineOnline.com (the main site) is 3rd; digg.com (a social bookmarking site where our Andrew has been posting information about you) is 4th; and Facebook (the top Social Networking site that we are pursuing) is 5th… and that came after a GREAT deal of effort on our part.

And over the past 12 months, more than 100,000 views have happened to our blogs (and we should note that almost NO views of our blog sites took place during the first 3 months) with over 9,000 this past month alone.

3) And yes, there have been some struggles too!

There are always growing pains when starting something new.

Some people want the site up and fully operational the instant you begin. Other who don't like change want to go back to what was there before, even though that has ceased publishing for many reasons (including lack of financial support from people using it). And others seem to feel that if it isn't exactly as THEY want it, those creating something new must be fool-hearty, ignorant, or just plain headed down the wrong road.

A couple of times over the past 12 months we've been taken down by vandals. We, our advisors, and our ISP are doing everything we can to prevent that, but "the tall tree catches the wind first." So, we know that the more people know we are here, the more attention we draw and the more the loonies in the woods come out to tear us down.

If we're a valuable resource for you and you want us to help sell your empty seats, provide reviews, publish your blogs and articles, list your productions and call board notices, post your talent file profiles, provide a record of Legends in Theater, we'll keep working hard every day to see that we stay online as close to 100% of the time as is humanly possible.

4) What's on the Horizon? What are we working on?

Clear to us, and powerful in the statistics, is the power and focus brought by Social Marketing sites like Facebook and Digg. We will increase our efforts on your behalf in those area.

I see our "front door" coming through Facebook… perhaps not exclusively, but we sure will have a very strong presence there. There are two major schools-of-thought: Build your own website in the middle of a field and work to attract people to it OR Build your website in the middle of a huge traffic flow and work to divert even a small fraction of the people to you. It's THIS way that I forsee is the smarter of the two, thus our shifting focus. And along with that, we'll have much better photo posting and tagging, private messaging, "the wall" of messages, and a greater sense of belonging to a place where lots of other people already are in community.

Are you using social marketing to promote your theater? We are using it extensively on your behalf and you should see what we are doing. Please Click Here To See The StageMagazineOnline.com Page on Facebook and Become a "Fan"!

5) Thanks to our staff!

Before I share the details of our video contest with you, let me thank our staff. Many of you have gotten to know Kate (our Member Advocate) and Maribeth, our Manager of Reviewers. Both work long hours for us while raising their families. If you've had the pleasure of working closely with either one, you already know what a joy that is.

And to Andrew, Tina, Victoria, Bill, Judy, Anthony, and Cheryl - thanks so much for the support on behalf of our Members.

And ALL of our Reviewers, especially our most active Reviewers including Amy Lewis, Ryan Bunch, Arnie Finkel, Gary Labowitz, and Tom Lamphere. Their reviews are read thousands of times, sent by theaters and individuals to their friends, and have helped to sell those empty seats… and that is most gratifying.

6) Anniversary Contest Announced!

The First Annual StageMagazineOnline.com YouTube Video Contest has JUST been announced. Andrew is heading this up, so click here to view all the details:

StageMagazineOnline.com YouTube Video Contest Is LIVE!

Prizes worth more than $2,000.00 have been announced.

Become a star OR make your favorite THEATER the star. This will be fun!

7) Suggestions for Improvements!

We really DO want to hear from you. Tell us what we can do to make StageMagazineOnline.com better. Don't hold back with your thoughts - we can take it.

So… if YOU want us to continue, let us hear from you.

We have a special email address set up for all your comments. Write Your Suggestions For Improvement For StageMagazineOnline.com Here!

Send us your Testimonials, too!

We want to promote all the thoughts you have of what we've done to help you. Please send us your testimonials, and be sure to include your name, website (if you have one) and theater affiliation, if you're writing from a theater.

We want to let the world know that you are here, so we'll promote you through all your testimonial comments.

Here's a special email address set up for all your testimonials. Write Your Testimonials For StageMagazineOnline.com Here!

Many Thanks!

Thanks for all your support. We'll continue to support our Theaters and Individuals who love Theater… if you want us to. Let us hear from you, ok?

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Productions Opening This Week:
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Ritz Theatre Company presents The Importance of Being Earnest, opening Thursday March 20th. See our article AND the video Here!

Road Company Theatre Group presents Wait Until Dark, opening Friday March 21st.

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Auditions Coming Up:
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Nothing listed this week.

Please remember: Theaters publish their own information on our site, so if any are missing, please be sure your person in charge of your StageMagazineOnline.com membership updates everything right away. And these can appear for up to 60 days BEFORE an audition, so check the site often!

We do realize, however, that many theaters are now cast for the season and will begin again in the spring for next year. Full information is on our site.

If You Need Some Help Publishing Your Theater Information On Our Site, Please Contact Kate Now!

NB: Always be sure to check with the theater AFTER their auditions if you REALLY want to be in that show. Who knows… maybe they didn't cast the very part that you want!

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Classes, Camps, and Collaborations:
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Actors NET of Bucks County will be offering Playing Shakespeare, a 10 week class between March 8- April 11, 2008

Special Note To Theaters: Did you even KNOW that we have a category for Classes, Camps, and Collaborations? Many theaters asked for a section like this, so I had our designers create it months ago, but it is VERY under used. So… be sure to list all of your Classes, Camps, Play Writing, Seminars, Workshops, etc in this section (which you'll find right along with the sections on Call Board and Productions).

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Job Postings:
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Act II Playhouse is looking for a Part Time House Manager.

The Drama Group is looking for Part Time Directors.

Dramateurs, Inc at the Barn Playhouse is looking for Part Time 2009 Season Directors.

Langhorne Players is looking for Part Time Directors.

Narberth Community Theatre is looking for a Part Time Director.

Rose Valley Chorus and Orchestra has Technical positions open, particularly sound positions.

Sketch Club Players is looking for Part Time Directors, Lighting Techs, and Sounds Techs.

Village Productions is looking for Part Time Instructors/Interns, and Technical/Production staff.

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Read A Good Review Lately?:
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We're still looking for interested, interesting people who want to review for us! Join our terrific Reviewers and expand your theater world and ours!

(Please remember that this is NOT the complete information. You need to log into your membership area on StageMagazineOnline.com to see everything!)

Also, if you are NOT yet a member of StageMagazineOnline.com and want to join or have your theater join:

1. Click Here To Go To The Main Site

2. On the lower left side click on "Visitors, Click Here To Tour The Site"

3. Indicate if you are there as an individual or representing a theater

4. Read the information and join us! It's very simple to do and all the details are there!

Enjoy the information on the site, and now go see a show!

Charlie Seymour Jr
StageMagazineOnline.com
Charlie@StageMagazineOnline.com
Click Here To See The StageMagazineOnline.com Facebook PAGE and all of our Reviews and our Articles/Blogs!

PS: To see how to view all Current Productions:

Click Here To Learn About Current Productions on our Theaters Page!