Community-based entrepreneurs would do better, I think, if they figured out how to provide added (unique) value to their sites. Since most community sites are content-starved, this may not be an impossible challenge.

And it seems to me that the two potential main downsides of trying to target for engaged local readers fall into two areas: 1) Communities acting as points of destination where there’s a higher percentage of business catering to tourism, for example, or 2) Out-of-Area site visitors, such as former residents, who have a specific interest in the community. Both of which have imperfect but workable solutions.

Mostly those solutions would involve the use of page redirects based on a combination of IP address lookups, cookies, and reader registration. Tourists looking for lodging or events, for example, are guided through visitor-specific site content with appropriate advertising as a visitor vertical. None of the site content needs to be locked down necessarily, it’s just that the navigational controls are different and arguably more useful to the visitor.

The second potential pitfall, that of out-of-area residents, also presents a possible opportunity. Say, for example, you’re getting page hits from a former local high school student who is now in the military and stationed in Beirut, or a former local bank branch manager now with a firm in Singapore. In both situations, any editor with an ounce of curiosity is probably going to wonder “what’s up with that?” And come to the conclusion that local readers might wonder too.

I think the biggest barrier is ego. Just as print publishers have inflated their #’s, online publishers want to have big #’s in part to compare against inflated #’s. Over time, smart marketers will realize that more engaged (i.e., greater time spent) consumers are more receptive to advertising and will use that metric over sheer tonnage.

Having said that, converting a higher percentage of the drive-by traffic is something most of us can improve upon.

The anecdotal data suggests that you, as a Google News reader, don’t spend as much time with the local news site as a reader who has bookmarked it, types its URL directly to check the headlines, or who subscribes to its e-mail newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter feed.

So, if the local news site isn’t in Google News yet, I’m suggesting that site can find more readers who will spend greater time with through other avenues than trying to get into Google News.

Most online news start-ups are very small, under-funded and strapped for time. Go for the juiciest, low-hanging fruit first. Look *first* for people who will make a commitment to the site and its community – not to people who will drive-by for individual stories via Google News.

Pekka Pekkala
Specialized Journalism program, USC Annenberg

Saying you don’t want “drive-by” readers from search is like a retailer saying they don’t want to offer specials to get customers in the door. If you can’t convert a reasonable amount of readers who arrive via a search engine from drive-by visitors to returnees, the problem may not be Google News, but how you’ve designed your Web site — more specifically, whether your article pages have been created in such a way as to compel a 1st-time visitor to do something else.

Google News only results in a small share of our traffic (2%) and most of that (80%) from returning visitors, according to Google Analytics.

But if someone is searching for news on Half Moon Bay, California, I’m glad Coastsider is on that results page.

Comment spam is not an issue on Coastsider. I don’t permit registrations from places like Chine, Russia, and Eastern Europe. Also, no one can post without a real name and pre-approval, so I not only get zero comment spam, I have zero spam attempts. This is probably not a viable alternative for vertical sites with national and international audiences, but I believe it’s essential if you serve a smaller community.

Bottom line: I’m glad I’m in Google News, but it’s not necessary to succeed in community news.