Alan Mutter explains how just looking at unique visitors or page views for your Web content isn’t enough. It might be enough, he says, to show your advertisers how many views their ads are getting, but it’s not enough if you’re trying to figure out how much money you might make selling your content.
Category: Online news
Google has posted a video on YouTube that outlines some best practices for publishers who are trying to perform better on Google News. If you haven’t checked to see if you’re showing up on Google News, you might want to. The search engine sends more than a billion clicks a year to news sites. If you’re already on Google News, then you might want to check out this video with some tips on how to perform better. And don’t worry, despite the insider terms and tech speak, there is some simple, easy-to-use advice in there.
In a Q&A with an online digital marketing journal, BusinessWeek’s John Byrne elaborates on some of the company’s user engagement efforts, many of which would carry over well to community newspapers. He talks about how BusinessWeek leverages readers’ knowledge in creative ways from crowdsourcing questions to guest columns.
Check out this article in PaidContent. It surveys some newspapers who are charging for online content, including the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen. Here’s a quote: “The newspapers tend to be located in smaller, often rural markets; online-only subscriptions are typically priced at a substantial discount to the print edition (in general, about 75 percent of what the print product costs); where numbers are available, the number of online subscribers is still a tiny percentage of their print counterparts (less than 5 percent); and many of these papers say they began charging not so much to make money online, but rather to protect sales of their print editions.”
In less than a year, M.E. Sprengelmeyer has gone from being the Washington correspondent at the Rocky Mountain News — covering everything from 9/11 to the war in Iraq — to owning a community newspaper in a small New Mexico town. He writes about his experience on the Save the News blog, and about his optimism about the state of community journalism. “Think of a community newspaper as a bronze statue in the town square,” he writes. “Everybody in town can look up and see that it’s there.”
Successful managers are always looking for ideas. And sometimes, they find great ideas in articles – or from people – that they don’t always agree with. That’s why I want you to read Steve Outing’s piece on making online profits. There may be some things that don’t apply to you; there may be things you don’t think you can do right now; and there may be a few things you just disagree with you. But Steve gives 12 ideas, and I’ll bet that there are one or two that will work for you. It’s worth checking out.
A what, you ask? My newspaper needs a Facebook strategy? Yes, you do. And the fact that you do is symptomatic of the changes that are engulfing today’s community journalism. This article will take only a few minutes to read, but it overviews the issue, including some ideas on monetizing your Facebook presence.
A story in the NYT looks at how many are starting their day online, which could mean an even further decrease in the amount of time people have to read the paper in the morning. “It used to be you woke up, went to the bathroom, maybe brushed your teeth and picked up the newspaper,” Naomi S. Baron, a professor at American University told the NYT. “But what we do first now has changed dramatically.” The story uses Web traffic patterns and anecdotal accounts to discuss the phenomenon, which is likely already affecting how many consume their news.
During the last few months, we’ve seen more and more newspapers make plans to begin charging for online content — despite the lack of success most have had with paywalls. You may be considering the same thing. But before you do, take five minutes to read Michelle McLellan’s blog. She asks five questions that any newspaper should ask before it erects a paywall. This one’s worth your time.
The CUNY Graduate School of Journalism has been looking at new models for online news lately, and speaking with online news operations all over the country. In doing so, they’ve provided a great list of ways people are monetizing online content. There is a great deal of information in here, and anyone with a website should check it out.