Website Analysis

  

 
 

Looking at "That's Life's" website, it looks very secondary to the magazine itself, instead of a coinciding media product. It seems that its main purpose is for and to be able to submit their own stories, or subscribe to the magazine. I couldn't find much, if any, website exclusive content and thought that the look of the website itself was not very appealing. The design features a lot of white space, which in my opinion could be used better for content, or at least to add colour and strengthen the branding of the site. 

  

 

 
 

When looking at the linked pages, I again found a lack of content. It mainly focuses on where and how to buy the physical magazine, with a few previews of the weeks content and a look at the covers of that and previous weeks. This lack of content may be due to the fact that "That's Life" does not have a very internet savvy reader base, and therefore does not need a very sophisticated website. Their media pack does not mention social media or the website much as it relies mainly on selling physical copies of the magazine instead of a cross-media network of "That's Life" content. 

 
 

 

 
 

"Take a Break's" website was slightly more up to date than "That's Life's", with notably less white space because of the "TV Choice Awards" banner that surrounds it, and also a stronger sense of branding throughout the website. The site has more links to different pages as well and a variety of content, including; lifestyle, puzzles, bingo and competitions. It also features content that seems to be exclusive to the website, like content about mental health and sponsored content about home decoration.  
 

 
 

 

 
 

The magazine appeals to women aged 25-51 (Bauer Media), which means that among their younger readers, a lot of them will use social media and want to access online content as well as reading the print magazine. This is represented in how much more interactive the website is than that of "That's Life". The bottom of the page has links to their Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages, on which they have a combination of 100,000 followers. The website also has previews of the latest issues and ways to submit your own story. 

 
 

 

 
 

I then chose to look at "Closer" magazine, another of Bauer media's magazines that focuses on celebrity and real-life content. It seems to have the same format as "Take a Break's", but the content is quite different. You can tell that Closer has a younger audience, that are more interested in fashion, beauty and lifestyle as well as celebrity, TV and real-life stories. 

 
 

 

 
 

The real-life tab offers both stories from real news events, such as stories from those in Afghanistan and the perspectives of women on the death of Sarah Everard, and also opinion pieces on reality TV shows and social events. This is unique from the other two websites, as it offers a wide range of online exclusive content, which is relevant to the brand. I feel that "Closer's" website is the only one of the three worth visiting for fans of the magazine, because it could be a standalone piece of media as well as the website that goes along with the magazine.