Contact AQUA advertisers online

For readers of consumer magazines - like Newsweek or People - ads are annoying obstacles to enjoying the content. Here's an example: If you read Newsweek magazine, you may or may not be interested in buying a car or switching from Coke to Pepsi. The magazine pages asking you to do so are just visual static. But if you're reading a trade or enthusiasts' magazine such as Fine Gardening (I'll use myself as an example) it follows that you're interested in plants and the tools needed to create a garden. So the ads for special varieties of hydrangea by mail order and that hard-to-find edging tool are just as useful to me as is the article on how to care for a newly planted flowering shrub.

AQUA is a trade publication, and we know that readers are as interested in our advertisements as they are in editorial content. In the past, we provided reader service cards and assigned circle numbers for every company or product in the magazine. Most of you have used the card to request more information from one of our advertisers - whether it's a vinyl-liner manufacturer, a software company or a hot tub vendor. It can be a little tedious.

Starting with this issue, you'll notice the cards and the circle numbers are gone. In their place is a new online system, designed by our busy and talented Web department, that allows you to see all of the issue's advertisers, find out basic information about each company if you wish (brand names, product categories, contact details), and then request information from any of them. All this in a few clicks of the mouse. It saves time (yours and ours), paper and mailing expenses. You can also request information from companies that don't happen to be in a current issue by going to the online Buyers' Guide.

It's just one more of the really cool features at www.aquamagazine.com. Give it a try and let me know what you think!