The news online: How community newspapers can develop a dynamic digital presence

Transcript

1. T E X A S C E N T E R
   FOR COMMUNITY JOURNALISM
   

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9. Let’s See
   Some award-winning
   sites from 

   around the country
   

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10. Aurora Colorado Sentinel
    

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15. Leadville Herald Democrat
    

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18. The Daily Gazette,
    Schenectady NY
    

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22. FOLLOWUP
    to last night’s
    INPUT
    

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23. scorestream
    scorestream.com
    Provide email address
    Receive html code
    Place code on your website
    

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27. SAVE50
    Valid for 2 more days
    enviragallery.com
    

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28. NOVEMBER
    2019
    SURVEY
    

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33. COMMUNITY
    PAPERS
    Survey responses from
    weeklies & small dailies
    

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34. Small Non-Daily

    &
    Small Dailies
    

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35. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    Which best describes your readership?
    *
    *
    

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36. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    Which best describes digital/online presence?
    *
    *
    

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37. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    Which best describes your digital/online presence?
    *
    *
    Let’s key on these two responses
    

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38. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    1
    2
    3
    with a profitable digital presence
    

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39. Sites with
    NO PAY WALL
    * NO PAYWALL = FREE SITES, NO SUBSCRIPTION NEEDED
    

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40. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Free News Sites
    Without charging a subscription for your digital/online site, how do 

    you profit from the site?
    

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41. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Free News Sites
    Which of the following
    generate appreciable
    revenue from your digital/
    online presence?
    (select all the apply to your business)
    

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42. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Free News Sites
    What is your very best revenue generator from your digital/website?
    

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43. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Free News Sites
    How does most of your digital content get online?
    

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44. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Free News Sites thepostsearchlight.com/
    

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45. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Free News Sites greenvilleadvocate.com/
    From Mark Rogers, Greenville (AL) Advocate
    

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46. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Free News Sites mtexpress.com
    

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47. Pam Morris, Idaho Mountain Express
    Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Free News Sites mtexpress.com
    Dear Pam,
    Thanks so much for completing my survey over the weekend. It looks like we’ll have approximately 1,000
    newspapers responding (we’re approaching 800 right now).
    I’m writing to about a dozen of the respondents, based on your survey answers - guessing you might have
    some information that will be helpful to the community papers gathering in Texas in two weeks to discuss
    digital newspapers.
    Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions:
    1. What percentage of your newspaper’s total revenue would you estimate comes from digital sources (ad
    revenue, digital subscriptions, etc)?
    

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48. Dear Pam,
    Thanks so much for completing my survey over the weekend. It looks like we’ll have approximately 1,000 newspapers
    responding (we’re approaching 800 right now).
    I’m writing to about a dozen of the respondents, based on your survey answers - guessing you might have some
    information that will be helpful to the community papers gathering in Texas in two weeks to discuss digital
    newspapers.
    Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions:
    1. What percentage of your newspaper’s total revenue would you estimate comes from digital sources (ad revenue,
    digital subscriptions, etc)?
    Four Percent
    

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49. Dear Pam,
    Thanks so much for completing my survey over the weekend. It looks like we’ll have approximately 1,000 newspapers
    responding (we’re approaching 800 right now).
    I’m writing to about a dozen of the respondents, based on your survey answers - guessing you might have some
    information that will be helpful to the community papers gathering in Texas in two weeks to discuss digital
    newspapers.
    Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions:
    1. What percentage of your newspaper’s total revenue would you estimate comes from digital sources (ad revenue,
    digital subscriptions, etc)?
    Four Percent
    2. How is most of your digital advertising sold (part of a print/digital combo, digital only advertisers, other)?
    Digital Only
    3. How is your newspaper website created (either an application like WordPress, Wix, etc - or a vendor who creates a
    template you use - or something else)? If you know the name of the application or vendor used, please let me know.
    BLOX by Town News
    4. What quick advice would you have for newspapers who want to create a profitable digital presence?
    Don't give up your print publication.
    

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50. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Free News Sites thedanielislandnews.com/
    Suzanne Detar, The Daniel Island News
    

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51. Sites with a
    PAY WALL
    * PAYWALL = There is some type of subscription or fee
    

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57. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Paid News Sites harveycountynow.com
    

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58. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Paid News Sites harveycountynow.com
    Joey Young, Newton Now
    1. We sell a large chunk of our print subscriptions online, but I am not sure if that is ease of an online portal or
    because they want online access. Because you can't get the online without the print, this makes life hard. Digital
    advertising sales account for less than 1 percent of overall advertising revenue, but like I said we use our website to
    generate subscriptions which we do a healthy amount of.
    

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59. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Paid News Sites harveycountynow.com
    Joey Young, Newton Now
    1. We sell a large chunk of our print subscriptions online, but I am not sure if that is ease of an online portal or
    because they want online access. Because you can't get the online without the print, this makes life hard. Digital
    advertising sales account for less than 1 percent of overall advertising revenue, but like I said we use our website to
    generate subscriptions which we do a healthy amount of.
    2. The digital advertising is sold as a combo with print and almost exclusively as such. We have one or two clients
    who only want to advertise on our website and we have allowed it, but generally, don't want to make such deals.
    

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60. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Paid News Sites harveycountynow.com
    Joey Young, Newton Now
    1. We sell a large chunk of our print subscriptions online, but I am not sure if that is ease of an online portal or
    because they want online access. Because you can't get the online without the print, this makes life hard. Digital
    advertising sales account for less than 1 percent of overall advertising revenue, but like I said we use our website to
    generate subscriptions which we do a healthy amount of.
    2. The digital advertising is sold as a combo with print and almost exclusively as such. We have one or two clients
    who only want to advertise on our website and we have allowed it, but generally, don't want to make such deals.
    3. We built our websites on Wordpress almost exclusively. I built Newton Now myself and my partner has helped
    me update and build some of our other sites. They really aren't hard in wordpress with the right theme.
    

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61. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Paid News Sites harveycountynow.com
    Joey Young, Newton Now
    1. We sell a large chunk of our print subscriptions online, but I am not sure if that is ease of an online portal or
    because they want online access. Because you can't get the online without the print, this makes life hard. Digital
    advertising sales account for less than 1 percent of overall advertising revenue, but like I said we use our website to
    generate subscriptions which we do a healthy amount of.
    2. The digital advertising is sold as a combo with print and almost exclusively as such. We have one or two clients
    who only want to advertise on our website and we have allowed it, but generally, don't want to make such deals.
    3. We built our websites on Wordpress almost exclusively. I built Newton Now myself and my partner has helped
    me update and build some of our other sites. They really aren't hard in wordpress with the right theme.
    4. Focus on content. Sell that content and don't worry about the rest of it. If you put good stuff out on your website
    and then push it through social media you will drive traffic to your website. It will be slow at first because people
    don't like hitting a paywall, but I urge you to stick with it despite the few trolls that will be angry about having to
    pay for content. Your content is your money maker and it can generate excitement in your product and drive
    subscriptions if you let it do it's thing.
    Joey Young
    

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62. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Paid News Sites harveycountynow.com
    Advice from Joey Young:
    The best way to sell online is to sell your content. Use social media
    to push stories that are behind a paywall. Not all readers will be
    happy about hitting a paywall, but that is okay. When they want to
    read story after story they eventually buy a subscription. Don't sell
    online only subscriptions unless they are out of state subscribers.
    Make sure they get the weekly print edition as a digest version. This
    is the best way to use the web, in our opinion.
    Joey Young, Newton Now
    

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63. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Paid News Sites pikecountynews.com
    

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64. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Paid News Sites gaffneyledger.com/
    

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65. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Paid News Sites
    We put a lot of extras on our website not found in the print
    edition. Image galleries, videos, breaking news, state and
    national news, etc.
    Cody Sossamon, Gaffney Ledger
    gaffneyledger.com/
    

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66. Non-Daily
    0-20,000 Circulation Circulation
    Daily
    0-15,000 Circulation
    &
    with a profitable digital presence
    Paid News Sites bakercountypress.com
    

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67. The subscriptions we were losing in print the last 5 years we have slowly regained
    either in online or dual subscribers. It has been a way to retain mail subscribers
    who get annoyed with USPS and their inability to deliver papers out of the county
    in a timely fashion. Plus, since we adjusted the price structure on our print/online
    combo we are doing a lot more upselling on the print subscription for local
    readers.
    The other reason we have the website is providing an easy way to connect with
    potential advertisers. Whether placing a classified or looking for display
    advertising information, you can find what you need on the website. Saves some
    time once they contact us because they have a better understanding of what they
    are looking for.
    bakercountypress.com
    Jessica Prevatt, Baker County Press
    

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68. Kentucky
    Publisher
    who has found a niche.
    

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69. greenupbeacon.com
    Greenup Beacon
    

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70. Recorded videos on Facebook
    Greenup Beacon
    15:25 mark
    

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71. Live Sports on Facebook
    Greenup Beacon
    18:15 mark
    

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72. Kevin discusses digital sales
    with
    Ryan Dorhn
    

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73. Getting
    Online
    Some options to get
    your paper online
    

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74. Do It Yourself
    1. WordPress
    2. Wix
    3. Weebly
    4. Others
    5. Drupal
    Newspaper using WordPress:
    pe.com
    

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75. Heather Graham
    Daily Gazette
    The Daily Gazette
    Schenectady, New York
    

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76. Do It Yourself
    1. WordPress
    2. Wix
    3. Weebly
    4. Others
    5. Drupal
    

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77. PDF Pages to Website
    Newspaper using eType: fayettecountyrecord.com
    

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78. HTML Generator
    Newspaper using Muse: yourcommunityshopper.com
    

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79. Content Management System
    Newspaper using TownNews: bgdailynews.com
    

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80. Template-Based System
    Newspaper using Bondware: observer-review.com
    

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81. ADVICE
    from newspaper publishers
    throughout the
    United States
    

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82. ADVICE
    I threw in the Comic Sans … just for fun.
    Don’t do that.
    Ever.
    I mean it.
    From our November survey of newspapers
    

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83. Be sure to keep your site updated. With smaller staffs and a
    faster market, it can be challenging.
    It's really helped us more from out-of-town subscribers, who 

    get their print editions delayed through the mail.
    We place obituaries on the web as soon as we receive them.
    Bundle print advertising with online advertising.
    One price advertising includes in print and online placement.
    Keep content fresh and fix any issues with links etc.
    immediately or people will not come back.

    

    We offer a $7 up-sell for our print ads to be uploaded as a 

    display ad to the web which seems to work well. We also 

    have banner ad pricing that offers exclusive space and a 

    second space that has rotating banner ads.
    ADVICE
    

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84. We put a lot of extras on our website not found in the 

    print edition. Image galleries, videos, breaking news, state 

    and national news, etc.

    

    We work with 12 other newspapers in our region on a digital
    platform that provides kind of a one-stop shop for all regional
    news. It not only displays the headlines, news and photos of
    important stories from our newspaper, but also displays this
    information from their papers, as well. This widget allows us to
    give our advertisers up to 700,000 page views a month instead
    of the 7,000 pages views a month we would get on our own.
    

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85. Take us home,
    Tommy
    Tommy: Let’s find out
    what the group
    can take home
    

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86. Take us home,
    Tommy
    Tommy: Let’s find out
    what the group
    can take home
    

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