Bogley

stefan · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 4656 Location: somewhere

i believe marc guido is a recently joined member of our forum here ...

Utah Publisher Launches Online Magazine Dedicated to State’s Skiing and Snowboarding

NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Salt Lake City, UT, United States, 07/28/2007 - Utah’s First Tracks!! Online Media has launched UtahSkiAndSnowboard.com, providing valuable insight into the state’s skiing and snowboarding industry to visitors and locals alike.

First Tracks!! Online Media (FTO), publisher of the Internet’s popular First Tracks!! Online Ski Magazine, earlier this month launched its newest electronic offering dedicated to the plethora of skiing and snowboarding opportunities available across Utah. UtahSkiAndSnowboard.com is now online, offering valuable insight into the state’s snow sports industry to visitors and locals alike.

“Utah has the best skiing and riding in the nation, and probably the world,” says Marc Guido, the site’s editor. “Based here in Salt Lake City, we’re uniquely positioned to help spread the word.”

Mr. Guido relocated FTO to Utah in early 2005 from Albany, N.Y. He explains that Utah snow and the proximity of its ski resorts to the city were the two primary influencing factors in that decision. “I grew tired of flying out here all the time, so I pulled up stakes and moved the business,” he says smiling. “Besides, back East you may drive hours to reach the slopes from major population centers. Here, the Wasatch Mountains are on the city’s doorstep. This proximity of world-class skiing to a major population center is replicated nowhere else in the North America.”

Publishing since 1994, First Tracks!! Online Ski Magazine, available online at FirstTracksOnline.com, enjoys over 1 million page hits per month, and serves nearly 200,000 readers monthly each winter. Instead of First Tracks!! Online Ski Magazine’s global focus, however, Mr. Guido believes that there’s a snow sports market hungry for UtahSkiAndSnowboard.com’s state-specific content.

“Even with less than normal snowfall, Utah’s skier visits eclipsed the 4 million mark for the first time ever last winter,” he says, “propelling Utah ahead of Vermont into the position of third most-visited ski state behind Colorado and California. In fact, it was the fourth consecutive record-setting season. Folks are coming to ski Utah more and more each year. We’ll keep readers informed via daily news from the slopes and foster a vibrant community via our online user forums. Snow conditions reports and real-time weather data will let our readers know precisely when to hit the slopes this winter.”

Like First Tracks!! Online Ski Magazine, UtahSkiAndSnowboard.com will be wholly supported by advertisers. Readers always enjoy its content free of charge. An RSS feed is available to keep readers informed via headlines and article summaries, even without visiting the web site daily.

FTO has fully committed itself to publishing in an electronic format, and eschews publishing a printed version. Mr. Guido believes that in an era of increasing market penetration of laptops, smart phones and other portable devices, electronic periodicals will continue to supplant their printed brethren. He also explains that there are numerous advantages that an electronic format provides.

“We have no publishing or distribution costs other than server expenses,” Mr. Guido says, “and that allows us to provide content to our readers free of charge. Furthermore, a print magazine goes to press days or even weeks before it reaches the reader. If something happens today, our readers will know about it today.”

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check out the new site
http://utahskiandsnowboard.com/

and i do think many know of ...
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/

offpiste · Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 147 Location: Pleasant Grove UT

Thanks for the new sites.

ericchile · Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Posts: 327 Location: Midway

Sounds good... but don't we have enough websites that do the same thing? www.skiutahlocals.com and www.skiutah.com...

I hate it when websites say they are for locals but really cater to the out of towners. For example skiutahlocals has plenty of deals listed; if you want to stay for 4-7 days in a resort hotel and rent a car etc.

Heres a tip...

If you want to ski the bird, wait till BYU sells 2 day passes for 60 each. These things sell on ebay for 80+, which I think is wrong. But its the best deal out there.

stefan · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 4656 Location: somewhere

ericchile wrote: Sounds good... but don't we have enough websites that do the same thing? www.skiutahlocals.com and www.skiutah.com...

that depends. take a look at the sites and see if you can see any differences in the content compared with other utah ski sites. also what each persons is looking for in a site is different is different. some prefer focus on certain areas. there's lots of "ski news" out there, but one can be quite selective about what one focuses on, for example.

so the answer is if these sites have their own niche or do a better job for certain people, then nope ... not enough.

i view the web like evolution. survival of the fittest [or those too stubborn to let go :haha: ]

FirstTracks · Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 80 Location: SLC, UT

Thanks for reprinting that press release, Stefan. My apologies that this thread somehow slipped below my radar until now. I've enjoyed UUtah.com for posting trip reports from my summer activities and seeking the collective knowledge of the membership here for backpacking and fishing outings over the summer. I hadn't yet delved far into the ski offerings of these forums, but things look good!

The UtahSkiAndSnowboard.com venture is an experiment, and we'll have to see where it goes. We aren't promoting it heavily so things are starting slowly and will hopefully gain momentum during the winter months. We've been very successful with FirstTracksOnline.com over the past 13 years, but that has a global focus and we decided to narrow it down to a niche local publication in US&S. There's a lot of cross-publication of news stories (i.e., something appearing on FTO that has Utah relevance will be published on US&S), but we're also trying to publish on US&S news that isn't important enough to present to a global audience, but still has interest and relevancy for Utah locals and visitors.

Responding to ericchile, there are admittedly other Utah-specific winter sports websites out there, but I don't believe that they're doing the same thing that we're doing. While we admittedly have set up user forums such as this one here at UUtah.com, our primary focus with US&S (and, for that matter, FTO) is on timely and relevant news and feature content. Regarding the two sites you reference, www.skiutahlocals.com and www.skiutah.com are both owned and operated by Ski Utah, an organization that I do intra-industry contract work for as well, so their efforts are aimed at promoting their member organizations. While we may publish edited versions of many of the press releases that they do, you won't find any of the original content or critical pieces that we include in our offerings.

Thanks for the soapbox,
Marc

ericchile · Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Posts: 327 Location: Midway

FirstTracks wrote: so their efforts are aimed at promoting their member organizations.

Thanks for the update! Hopefully your site will cater to more of what the local is interested in. I feel those other sites are just a cooperate site with a local name in the url spewing the same marketing garbage that you get from Ski Magazine.

FirstTracks · Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 80 Location: SLC, UT

ericchile wrote: FirstTracks wrote: so their efforts are aimed at promoting their member organizations.

Thanks for the update! Hopefully your site will cater to more of what the local is interested in. I feel those other sites are just a cooperate site with a local name in the url spewing the same marketing garbage that you get from Ski Magazine.

That's the objective.