Online men?s lifestyle site Art of Manliness significantly increased its traffic from tablets and the amount of time these users spend on the site by introducing a new browser-based site that offers an application-like experience for iPad users.

The new site uses HTML5 technology to offer an interactive, touch experience optimized for iPads. Since launching the iPad site in mid July, Art of Manliness has seen its iPad traffic increase more than 300 percent, with iPad users visiting nine pages per visit as opposed to the 2.2 pages they visited prior to the revamp.

"Through our partnership with Onswipe, we are able to offer our iPad audience a unique and fantastic experience that is similar to flipping through a hardcopy magazine, but with touch features that make it even more engaging," said Brett McKay, publisher of Art of Manliness.

"As part of our mobile strategy, it is a priority that we make content compelling and readable on touch-enabled devices," he said.

"Since leveraging Onswipe's platform, we've seen phenomenal engagement and growth, which confirms that users are demanding a different, more attractive and entertaining experience when consuming information on tablet devices."

A different experience
Users can swipe, touch and otherwise engage with the articles and images on the page. Additionally, when iPad users go to the site, they can now experience all the content loaded at once so they do not have to wait for each individual page to load.

?The iPad is a much more engaging device and Art of Manliness wanted to take advantage of that,? said Jason Baptiste, CEO and co-founder of Onswipe, New York. ?You can make content a more engaging, app-like touch experience on the Web.

?We call it the Angry Birds effect,? he said. ?People enjoy playing the game because you can throw birds against a wall ? it shows that people respond to touch, they find it more engaging.

?There is also real focus on imagery to make it a more magazine-like experience.?

The results suggest that tablet users are looking for touch-optimized content on their devices that can be accessed through a browser as opposed to an app.

Between August and September, the amount of time spent on the site doubled, with users now averaging six minutes on the site per visit, as opposed to three minutes prior to the relaunch.

Additionally, Art of Manliness reports that total traffic from iPad users has increased significantly.

Monetization opportunities
The results also open up greater potential monetization opportunities for Art of Manliness to deliver ads to iPad users since there are more of them now and they are spending more time on the site.

?Advertising in broken on the Web,? Mr. Baptiste said.

?On the tablet, you can make content and ads very similar,? he said. ?The ads can be beautiful, print-like experiences that perform better for advertisers.

?It is not about mobile, it is about touch, which is much different.?

Onswipe takes the content from a publishing platform and unifies it to work on its platform. The platform is used by small and large publishers as well as online niche publishers such as Art of Manliness. Other clients include Cycle World and Black Book.

?The real sweet spot for us are digital pure plays who are probably using WordPress and are influential in a specific vertical,? Mr. Baptiste said. ?That?s where we see the future of publishing.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York