Robert Niles: November 2008 archive
Things to be thankful for: Creative insubordination
November 26, 2008
What kind of journalist can start his or her own news website?The simple answer is "anyone," of course. Fire up Blogger, and you are there. But which journalists will be able to build a site that grows into financial success and stability, one that secures an enduring source of funding, whether it be advertising or non-profit support?
That class of individuals, alas, is much smaller.
Some colleagues and I were talking yesterday about how to identify potential journalist entrepreneurs. The last folks on that list, I said, would be the "team players" whom corporate managers love to put in charge of important new projects.
Whoops.
More...
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Ad networks can help online news start-ups take first step toward profitability
November 19, 2008
Let's continue with the thought that David raised Monday, and talk about first steps toward making a for-profit news website start-up work.Today, I'll be writing about ad-supported news websites, as opposed to subscription-based publications. (We've written about those on OJR before, but they are far rarer to find than ad-supported sites.) Since we're talking start-ups, too, we'll operate under the assumption that you, the publisher, do not have a dedicated ad sales team working for you, pitching your site to potential advertisers.
Let's also stipulate that profitability for a start-up demands publishers to minimize the expense side of the ledger. Initial ad revenue for a news start-up - no matter how well designed - likely will be meager, so going it alone (or with a small partnership) and spending little on development and reporting will help keep expenses manageable. More...
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Add original functionality to original content to build Web traffic
November 12, 2008
OJR long has enjoyed a strong following among newspaper website managers and employees. So don't think that we've forgotten about you when we write about start-ups and independent online news efforts. I think there's much that newspaper-dot-coms can learn from the "little guys," ideas and innovations that they can bring back to their papers in an effort to keep them competitive in their news marketplaces.But let's not forget, either, some of the advantages that newspapers bring to these markets. Over the next couple weeks, we'll be bringing you blog posts from newspaper website editors whom I've asked to share some of their recent successes. If you a newspaper website editor with a story to share, too, please, feel free. You can post to the site directly, or e-mail me and tell me your story so that I can post it to the site.
Before we get to those stories though... a challenge, if you will.
Newspapers often focus on their newsrooms, and even, sometimes, their sales staffs when looking for strengths that they bring to their local markets. But what about their IT departments?
Great content build traffic for a day. If you want to keep that traffic, you must continue to add new great content. But great functionality builds traffic, too. And keeps it for far longer than content does before it needs to be refreshed.
More...
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Online publishers need new heroes in the battle for community relevance
November 7, 2008
Picking up from my piece on Wednesday....The Obama campaign did not build its social network in isolation. In many communities, it built upon an existing "netroots" of progressives that had developed over the past several years. That network, in turn, developed in frustration with both the Bush administration, as well as the new media coverage (or lack thereof) of that administration and its Congressional allies.
Markos Moulitsas, a j-school graduate with a law degree and an Army stint behind him, bootstrapped what might be the most influential of all progressive netroots websites, DailyKos. His new book, "Taking on the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era" offers a blueprint for political activists, one that well complements the Obama strategies I wrote about on Wednesday.
But Moulitsas' book teaches important lessons to would-be journalist entrepreneurs as well. I e-mailed Kos about his book, and point out some of its many lessons, after the jump. More...
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What can news publishers learn from the Obama campaign?
November 5, 2008
Congratulations to everyone who worked late into the nightSuch as, oh, say, building readership for a news website.
What can news publishers learn from the Obama campaign? Lots.
Republicans mocked Obama's experience as a community organizer on the south side of Chicago. But Obama's community organizing skills defined his campaign. I think that the single best piece of political journalism this fall came from Zack Exley at the Huffington Post, with this examination of Barack Obama's volunteer-driven ground campaign.
You can sell a lot more than a presidential campaign this way, too. Even newspapers and websites. More...
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