Aiming to become more advertiser-friendly, Cosmogirl.com is hoping its redesigned site will result in a boost from 300,000 unique visitors per month to nearly half a million.
Cosmogirl.com recently announced an agreement with Alloy Inc. to redesign and host Cosmogirl.com. The new site went live yesterday.
Among the improvements is fresher content, said Rich Wilkie, general manager at Cosmogirl.com.
“With the old site, we would change probably once a month,” he said. “[Now] we can change this on a daily basis. The advertising on the site was not an area of emphasis. With Alloy, it will be.”
Hearst Interactive Group, which owns Cosmogirl, previously handled the site, which had been up for two years.
The new site also will employ larger ad units.
“Instead of running banners and buttons, we will run interactive marketing units that are much larger and more dynamic than standard media,” said Samantha Skey, vice president, sales and marketing at Alloy, New York.
Also under the deal, Alloy will provide advertising and marketing services for Cosmogirl.com.
The partners will provide advertisers with online newsletters, pages in CosmoGIRL and Alloy catalogs, retail events, online sponsorships and advertorial integration.
“What this means to advertisers is that they will be able to come to Alloy and CosmoGIRL for online marketing,” she said. “Together they reach teen girls who are everything in spirit from milquetoast to super sexy.
“CosmoGIRL reaches the innovative and adventuresome girls who are ahead of the curve, while Alloy is represented by real teen girls who are tech savvy and smart.”
Alloy's database includes more than 7 million teens, while CosmoGIRL's circulation is 750,000.
Initial advertisers on the site include Cover Girl, Cotton Inc., AT&T, Playtex and Evian. Advertisers will be able to purchase names generated through their campaigns.
The site, described as “community focused” with “tons of celebrities,” will reflect the magazine, Skey said. It includes opportunities for girls to take quizzes covering wide-ranging topics as well as to vote on such things as whether they like 'N Sync's new CD.
“It's a place to hang out and find out what other girls are talking about, and it's unabashedly boy-crazy,” she said.
“We know how to drive an acquisition. Alloy has converted millions of dollars of sales online. We know how to get kids to take an action online,” Skey said. “You get the trendsetters to adopt your product, and you get the trend-followers to drive your business since there are many more trend-followers than there are trendsetters.”
