We survey our readers periodically to find out what they think about our editorial coverage in the magazine and on the website. Our most-recent survey indicated that some visitors to ChemicalProcessing.com aren’t that aware of some content that only appears online.
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In particular, we asked “How familiar are you with the following web-exclusive content?” We were pleased to find most are aware of this material, particularly Industry News, the Comical Processing cartoon, and the Ask the Experts Forum. However, the results showed that three offerings — the Chemical Reaction blog, our monthly poll question and our webinars — remained under the radar for too many people despite being shown on our homepage. Many site visitors don’t enter through the homepage but likely use a link they find in one of our eNewsletters or social media channels to go directly to a specific webpage. So, in the future, we’ll work on highlighting web-exclusive content on our internal pages as well.
In the meantime, here’s a little more information on what you may have been missing.
Chemical Reaction Blog
The direct link is chemicalprocessing.com/blogs/chemical-reaction but you can also find the blog via the hamburger navigation menu — click on Columns & Blogs. If you’re not sure what the hamburger navigation menu is, read a previous column of mine (see: “Check Out Site Upgrades, Top Content on Chemical Processing.”).
One of the intentions of the Chemical Reaction blog is to stay on topic enough to make sense for the Chemical Processing audience but stray just enough to hopefully spark inspiration. For example, some recent blogs dealt with the kilogram being the butt of intergalactic jokes, the Bank of England’s quest to feature the picture of a scientist on currency, and how wildfires ignited research. We also wrote about the loss of our good friend Dr. Sam Mannan, the late director of the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center.
Monthly Poll
Found on the homepage, our monthly poll has a permanent spot under the Editor’s Take section along the left side of the screen. We also include it in every CP Weekly eNewsletter, which is delivered on Fridays. (You can sign up for our eNewsletters here.)
We've probed a lot of areas through the years in our monthly single-question poll. We pose some questions to allow readers to offer their opinions on important issues. Others enable respondents to compare the situation at their facility with sites elsewhere. For instance, this month’s article “Predictive Maintenance Efforts Boast Uneven Success,” cites the results of our recent poll on the topic, and may give you an idea of how your plant stacks up.
All help us gain a better understanding of our audience so we can tailor our editorial content to best suit your needs. We've learned many things. For example, only 23% of respondents noted that their site very effectively controls the use of removable electronic media. And limited advancement opportunity is the number one issue responsible for turnover of engineers at chemical facilities. If you’d like to see the results of these past polls, you can access the archive directly via ChemicalProcessing.com/poll-questions.
Webinars
A link to our webinars appears on the hamburger navigation menu. We also feature it on the home page under the “Don’t Miss These Online Exclusives” section just under the Featured Story. Additionally, “Webinar Alerts” can inform you to upcoming events; sign up for them via this link.
Once again this year, we’ve put together a roster of free webinars aimed at helping you make your plant as efficient, safe, environmentally friendly and economically competitive as possible.
Additionally, we are continuing the Process Safety Webinar series for 2019 in honor of Dr. Mannan, who was the original catalyst behind the series, and in collaboration with the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center.
Here’s a rundown of the 2019 lineup (all webinars take place at 2 p.m. ET):
• February 20 — Process Safety: Improving the Design of Procedures
• April 11 — Process Safety: Due Diligence in Process Safety
• April 18 — Vacuum Solutions: Tackling Typical Chemical Applications
• May 15 — Combustible Dust Round Table - First in the 2019 Series
• June 6 — Process Safety: Human Factors
• June 26 — State of Chemical Industry - Mid Year Update
• September 25 — Avoid Surprises During OSHA Audits
• October 23 — Compressed Air
• November 7 — Combustible Dust Round Table - Second in the 2019 Series
You can register for any or all of the above webinars here.
We’re stepping up our efforts to ensure you’re aware of the full range of our online-only content and can easily find this material.
