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Advertising sales lessons from independent local news sites

Best practices for advertising sales for digital local news startups are outlined in a new Michele Mclellan report commissioned by the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at CUNY.

She interviewed 22 local digital news publishers of various-size operations, including LION member Denise Civiletti of Riverhead Local. The report offers advice on how to hire advertising sales reps and how to pay them.

Nieman Lab has a summary of the report here, leading with the idea that "one of the best things a news startup can do for its financial health" is to hire a "professional ad person."


LION member spotlight: LymeLine.com

"Don’t even consider getting into this business unless you have an overriding passion for local news – do it because you love local news, not because you’re going to get rich."

That's some of the advice offered by LION member Olwen Logan, publisher of LymeLine.com in Connecticut, and a newer sister site, ValleyNewsNow.com.

One of the oldest continuously operated independent local news sites is explained in this week's LION member Q&A.


How an Ohio local news site is diversifying its business model

Nieman Lab takes a look at Richland Source, an Ohio local news site run by LION member Jay Allred.

"The Source is not yet profitable, but it is on track to generate over $500,000 in revenue this year — up from last year and ahead of projections. The site has nine full-time employees, two part-timers, and a small network of freelancers. It averages between 85,000 and 100,000 unique visitors per month ...."

Nieman's feature on the site spotlights Allred's attempts to diversify revenue with a clothing line and smart marketing partnerships.

"We want to have advertising streams that are unique and not tied to banner ads, but that allow our advertisers to reach people in creative ways," Allred.


A (profitable?) local news website without advertising?

"People like a website without advertising," but is it really possible to build a profitable digital news model that kills advertising in the quest for a good user experience?

Nieman Lab looks at the Salt Lake Tribune's experiment with charging readers $10 a month in exchange for ad-free browsing.

Mathew Ingram takes a provocative stance in Fortune, arguing that "advertising isn't the solution to the media's problems -- it is the problem."

"The combination of publishers’ desperation to generate more revenue and the rise of programmatic and other tools has created a kind of perfect storm," he writes. "The result is a web filled with useless and annoying banner ads, popups, pop-unders, page takeovers, un-killable auto-play videos and other monstrosities—including the use of literally hundreds of tracking agents, cookies, super-cookies and other invasive tools."


Who's making money and who isn't in local online news

If you somehow missed the results of Michelle Mclellan's big survey on how much revenue is being generated by independent local news sites, and how many of them are "sustainable," "profitable" or however you want to measure it, Nieman Lab has a roundup and analysis.

"Revenue numbers are sometimes hard to come by in this space, so I was grateful that these local sites were willing to share their information, if only in broad ranges. Some of the higher-revenue sites are ones that get a decent amount of attention — the New Haven Independent, Baristanet, VTDigger, Technically Philly. But there are also some who don’t get much notice outside of their local readership," Joshua Benton writes.


Journalism built on community engagement and collaboration

RJI fellow Kelsey Proud of St. Louis Public Radio has published "a political framework for newsrooms to connect with niche communities."

Denise Clay explores how the media and nonprofit organizations can work together.

And in New Jersey, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation emphasizes collaboration in funding a new Center for Investigative Reporting project.


New independent Charlotte site finds a large, local audience

A digital news startup in Charlotte, North Carolina, is targeting 18-44-year-olds with "content (that) focuses on the latest restaurant openings, quirky artist profiles, neighborhood development plans, news on tech-oriented startups, and community-oriented features."

Charlotte Agenda's audience has been strong out of the gate - nearly 100,000 monthly unique visitors - but its revenue strategy eschews programmatic advertising.

Check out the full story at Street Fight.


The mobile web sucks, and it's going to get worse

"... The web browsers on phones are terrible. They are an abomination of bad user experience, poor performance, and overall disdain for the open web that kicked off the modern tech revolution." 

"The overall state of the mobile web is so bad that tech companies have convinced media companies to publish on alternative platforms designed for better performance on phones."

The Verge has a blunt look at the control Apple and other big players have over the mobile web experience, and sees no improvement unless more competition can happen.


Tools and Tips: Advertising and Revenue

NEWSLETTERS: Tips for improving your email newsletter.

AD-FREE EXPERIMENT: The Salt Lake Tribune is offering to eliminate all of its ads for readers who want to pay $10 a month.

PAYWALL HIKE: The Boston Globe is increasing prices on its paywall.

NONPROFIT: How Grist has been able to flourish as a nonprofit news site.

INDIE SPORTS: How a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review sports columnist gave it all up to be his own boss, and is making it.

TRACKING: It's time to rethink things when dozens of trackers load every time a reader accesses a page on your news site. Why aren't more news sites concerned about the privacy of readers?

KNIGHT CHALLENGE: The Knight Foundation has announced winners of its elections-oriented News Challenge. Projects include those aimed at making voting easier and election data clearer.

NATIVE ADS: How the Daily Beast uses data to inform its native advertising strategy. And what you should know about sponsored content and SEO.

RESTAURANTS: Online food ordering is poised to overtake picking up the phone to contact your local restaurant.

PLATFORMS: Publishers are warily embracing deals with Facebook, Apple and others. Scott Barnett argues that local news publishers should "take back control of their brand" and steer clear of the big platform push to sign up publishers. John Robinson argues that, if the people are at Facebook and other social platforms, news sites should be also.

SEO: Five ways to use what consumers want to boost your SEO strategy. A study finds consumer search preference depends heavily on the type of business.

PODCASTING: Small podcasters are having trouble finding new listeners and monetizing the product.

AD TECH: Advertising technology is killing the online experience, Felix Salmon argues.

OPEN BUSINESS MODELS: A Kickstarter campaign is looking at open business models for media.

BAD BOTS: When bad bots attack your news site. What digital publishers need to know.

MOBILE: Google's mobilegeddon was a big deal after all. Google and their clients who didn't prepare for mobile face an uphill struggle.

AD BLOCKERS: Digital advertisers play a cat and mouse game with ad blocking technology.


Tools and Tips: Journalism and Technology

.NEWS DOMAINS: You can now buy .news domain names.

FACEBOOK VIDEO: Facebook has enriched its publisher dashboard for managing video content on the platform.

MOBILE: Seven tips for building a mobile-first, multi-platform newsroom.

LINKING: Why don't the New York Times and other organizations link out to sources more oftenSteve Buttry has a detailed post about how important linking is to digital news publishing and how newspapers continue to practice "backward thinking" about it.

EMPATHY: The empathy machine: virtual reality, neuroscience, race and journalism.

J-SCHOOLS: Some courses that journalism schools should teach.

ANALYTICS: Trends in newsroom analytics: audience development and the newsroom.

AP VIDEO: The Associated Press has added thousands of archival news videos to YouTube.

COMMENTS: When the Internet's moderators are anything but.

BREAKING NEWS: The New York Times finds readers want a better digital experience for breaking news.

INSTAGRAM: Instagram debuts a web search tool that can help publishers find user-generated content.

WATER SITE: A new niche news site in California will tackle the state's water crisis.


Industry News

JOA COLLAPSE: Soon after the expiration of its historic small-town JOA, the daily newspapers in Charleston, South Carolina merged, and a reduction in local journalism seems inevitable. Meanwhile, another Digital First Media property with a JOA, the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah, is the subject of swirling sale rumors. And CJR asks, is Detroit next?

PHILLY: Philadelphia is a millennial boom town whose audience fragmentation is affecting all media.

THE WIRE?: Is the media becoming a wire service?

DIVERSITY: Why aren't there more minority journalists? In Los Angeles, how KPCC grew its Latino listenership while trying to keep its traditional audience.

HYPERLOCAL APP: Blockfeed is taking another stab at geo-aggregation of local news.

AMAZON LOCAL: Amazon has expanded its home services product to 15 more cities. The company is now bigger than Walmart.

VIDEO: Why the Wall Street Journal still focuses on video, but has shifted away from dreams of TV-style live broadcasting.

BUY BUTTON: Facebook is considering a "buy" button. Google is already testing one.

INSTAGRAM: Instagram will open its platform to all advertisers this fall.


Is Your LION Publishers Membership Up for Renewal?
 
For many of our LION Publishers members, it's time to renew! Your membership includes participation in the LION Publishers Den on Facebook, networking and support from fellow LION publishers, our new newsletter, discounted rates on media liability and directors and officers insurance and more. 

Plus, being a member gives you access to a members-only rate to the LION Summit – a savings of up to $175 compared to the non-member rate. If your membership is due for renewal, please go to www.lionpublishers.com/members/dues to submit your payment. Those who opt for multi-year membership save, and easy, secure payment options are available via credit card or through Paypal. (Not sure when your membership expires? You can look it up easily on LIONPublishers.com.)

Thanks to our current members who have already renewed!
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