Archive for the ‘Month Highlights’ Category

August 2015 Highlights

Monday, August 3rd, 2015

EY_August-Highlights_2015We may be entering the dog days of summer, but there’s no slacking at PeKu. We have been busy updating our editorial calendar in order to provide content that is even more refined.  Refinement is something that I mention frequently in this column, which begs the question, “Why do you refine your content so often?”

Our eleven publications have one commonality- they are targeted at the female audience. Beyond that I always am seeking ways to make our publications more connected. So, each month as we work on the editorial calendar, we look for ways to create bonds between the publications. This month we created several new connections.

  • Think Tasty– Rather than highlighting an ingredient for a couple weeks, we now are aligning our recipes with the celebration of the week at Holidays Helper. Consider it two-stop planning: First, go to Holidays Helper for your party inspiration. Then, go to Think Tasty to find recipes for the big event.
  • Little Bit of Green– Each week we highlight a gardening region and what currently can be done for gardens there. To offer more ideas to our readers, we are highlighting one ornamental and one edible plant for that region. In one week you can discover a new plant you should be growing and make sure you are providing all the care your plants need.
  • Here Comes a Bride– Looking at our monthly schedule, it seemed that we needed to devote more time to accessories and beauty for the bride and her party. To do this we eliminated the bridal tips column. However, fear not! Most of those tips will now be infused within our other articles.

Yes, this August is filled with 100% original content, as always. Plus, there will be some new topics covered. Let us know if there are other topics you’d love to see. We’d be glad to consider other ideas.

July 2015 Highlights

Monday, July 6th, 2015

July-Highlights_2015When I posted my first column in June, there were no changes to report, which felt quite odd to me. This month we are back to the usual pace here at PeKu. There are many new and exciting things happening!

  • PeKu celebrated its 7th birthday last Wednesday. While it wasn’t noted with great fanfare, it still is quite remarkable. I find it hard to believe that I’ve been overseeing the growth of my company for this long.
  • Although there was no cake and ice cream to mark the date, we did continue with our tradition of giving back in honor of PeKu’s birthday. For the fourth year, we gave a scholarship to a graduating senior in my hometown. The senior we honored plans to study marine biology and Spanish at Eckerd College. We wish her all the best!

To further intertwine our Fine Living publications, we made a few changes.

  •  Parched No More- We eliminated our regional wines column and are dedicating one column a week to bars, breweries, distilleries, and wineries to visit in our featured destination at Good Life Review.
  • Parched No More- We also created a quick column called Friday Fun that will highlight interesting and quirky ideas for home bartenders.
  • Good Life Review- We eliminated our Destination Detour, so that we could focus on the month’s selected destination even more. In place of that column, we have added a Travel Info piece, which will cover topics, such as how to get there, how to get around within the city, and more.

We also reshaped our sections.

  • After much thought, we are suspending publishing on My Fitness Tunes. Without videos or step-by-step photos to instruct our readers on exercise routines, it felt like we weren’t as relevant as we could be.
  • With only ‘Bout Green remaining as a Healthy Living publication, we decided to group it within our Home & Garden section. This will be a good fit, as many of our columns focus on eco-friendly ideas for the home.

Yes, July is off to a busy start! I look forward to seeing what changes the rest of the summer brings.

What’s Different Here?

Monday, June 1st, 2015

EY_June-Highlights_2015My home contains a blended family, our own little version of the Brady Bunch. I have two children, and my husband has two children, which makes us a family of six. As there are other sets of parents and our oldest is in college, most of the time we have only one teen in the family nest. So, every night as I walk the stairs to our bedroom, my mind, on some subconscious level, checks the box that she is home and in bed.

I describe it as being at a subconscious level because I truly am not thinking about whether or not she’s bed; I’m usually thinking about the next day’s schedule or whether the dishwasher needed to be run. The reason that I’m aware of this checking is that when she isn’t home and in bed, I have this moment of something’s wrong. If she’s spending the night at a friend’s, I have this quick moment of thinking about where she is and know everything is fine.

You might be wondering what does this odd/interesting evening ritual have to do with PeKu? The connection is that I had a similar occurrence this morning. As I was thinking about the new features for PeKu this month, I realized that there aren’t any. My mind thought, That can’t possibly be.

So, I looked at all of May’s projects and the June calendar. Yes, we did work on new things over the past 31 days, but they’re all behind the scenes kind of items, and they aren’t even behind the scenes that affect our readers’ experiences. They make PeKu run better and help organize our team more efficiently.

June is starting off quietly, which isn’t a bad thing; it’s just different.

What’s New in April?

Monday, April 6th, 2015

EY_April-Highlights_2015Here in New Hampshire, something new is the reappearance of sidewalks, shrubs, and yard decor. Yes, our snow is finally melting, and signs of spring are appearing. In our yard we don’t have any flowers blooming yet, but the songbirds have returned to the window outside of my office. Our chickens’ pen looks much larger, now that they have space to run instead of mounds of snow. So, while it may not be a typical April, after our snowy winter, it feels great.

At PeKu there are new things happening on a couple of our publications.

  1. Good Life Review is further embracing our female audience. Rather than writing about four generic arts experiences and four active adventures in our monthly destination, we are viewing travel from a few of the styles in which our readers travel- family vacation, romantic travel, girls’ trip, and budget travels. Within each of these styles we will share suggestions for lodging, arts destinations, and active daytrips in which you might want to partake. So, whether you and your best friend want to head to Paris or you’re thinking of seeing Vienna with your partner, we will have ideas to inspire.
  2. Feathers Fins and Fur has restructured its editorial calendar. We still will highlight favorite breeds of cats, dogs, fish, and more. As these animals are more akin to family than pets for so many of us, we also have decided to start writing about the products you’ll love for your feathered, furry, or finned friend. From food products to toys to homemade treatments for Fido, we’ve got you covered. Plus, we also have added a weekly column to highlight topics related to fostering and rescued pets.

Be sure to visit these two publications and let us know what you think. We’d love some feedback, as we aim to inspire, inform, and engage our audience.

What’s New in March 2015?

Monday, March 2nd, 2015

EY_March-HighlightsAs I thought about changes at PeKu that are happening this month, there were many that came to mind. The stage of the change varies. One has been put in place, another should arrive mid-month, others are under way for launch in April, and others are simply ideas being tossed around in my mind like balls in a lottery drawing. It seems that change at PeKu is perpetual.

Having said all of that, I am not ready to share most of those changes.  There is so much fluidity that some of the ideas may morph and others may not come to be. While I could share my visions, I don’t like to offer ideas unless I’m sure they’ll come to pass. It’s similar to how I feel about parenting. I don’t make promises that I can’t keep.

So, what is definitely happening this month at PeKu?

  • Think Tasty is changing the organization of the recipes that we share. Rather than working with a monthly theme, such as desserts, we are now working on a biweekly ingredient theme. That starts today with the theme of noodles.
  • We are working on a redesign of our newsletters. We are changing the look of our newsletters, reformatting the registration process, and creating new landing pages. I look forward to their unveiling in the near future.

As I mentioned, there are many other PeKu projects in the work; they just aren’t ready to be shared yet.  As soon as they are, I’ll be sure to write about it here.

 

Fully Aligned- Almost There!

Monday, February 2nd, 2015

rsz_peku_logo_displays_1_2As I was thinking about this column, it occurred to me that it is fitting that the alignment of PeKu is completed in February. February is the start of competition season for winter cheer squads. I was a cheerleader in high school, and now my younger daughter is also.  So, just like her squad needs to be precise with all jumps lifting at the same moment and all arms at the same height during, so, too, will all PeKu websites be precise.

We started on this journey in July of last year. We redesigned PeKu corporate to give it a crisper, cleaner look.  Once that was done, we made the decision to give all of PeKu’s properties the same look and feel. Yes, each still has its own theme and special flourishes, but the generic layout and color scheme of all twelve publications and the corporate site are the same.

What I like most about this is that when you travel from publication to publication, it is more obvious that they are related. We’ve had a link to the corporate site in the header of each site for years, but this black and white color scheme, along with the PeKu logo shouts, “We are PeKu!”

Now that I’ve explained my thoughts on this alignment, I’ll share a little data. Currently eleven of our twelve publications have the new look. Only Feathers Fins and Fur remains. It should be live with the new look no later than February 13th.

The countdown is on. . .PeKu is almost fully aligned!

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