I have recently accepted a job as Online Director of the Pine Bluff Commercial, owned by the Stephens Media Group. It's a grand experiment and I'd love to get feedback from those still in the news business -- and those who aren't.
If you were to build a news operation from scratch, published only digitally, what would be the top three things you'd want on it -- that you would pay for? Think local local when considering this challenge.
Also, think of the news Web sites you check regularly: what annoys you? ... And what have you gotten in the habit of looking for daily (a particular blog, maybe? Traffic update, etc.) -- and why?
Much appreciate these and any other feedback/thoughts you are willing to share on how you use news Web sites!
I am glad to hear you got the job AJ. My first piece of advice is going to be this: do not charge visitors to read the web site. That is not a business model that works anymore, and you will have no repeat visitors.
You charge for premium content, but not the news. I mean hell, even the NYT stopped requiring people to login to read the site years ago.
You charge for things like classifieds, real estate, but not for the news.
My second piece of advice is to become very familiar with how to market the site with social media, such as Twitter. Leverage RSS feeds and email newsletters for advertising dollars. Another place to monetize is in the mobile space. The site should have a mobile version, as there is a growing percentage of people hitting sites from an iPhone or BlackBerry.
My third point is that without the site visitors, you are not going to make money. You have to figure out a way to get visitors and keep them on the site and returning regularly. Beyond great SEO, I would say multimedia, video, photos, and user generated content are very important yo bringing people back.