The Athens Banner-Herald is shifting its marketing approach to embrace the increasing role of the Internet in journalism.
The newsroom at the Athens Banner-Herald needs to be geared around the online publication, http://onlineathens.com, according to Melissa Hanna, executive editor of the Athens Banner-Herald.
“Newspapers should treat online and print equally,” said Hanna.
As of May 2008, the Athens Banner-Herald reported its total market reach as being 84 percent of the Athens area, yet it is a loss in readership and a decrease in circulation compared to previous years, according to Hanna. The publication’s retail trading zone includes Athens-Clarke, Oconee, Madison, Jackson and Barrow counties.
Web site traffic will be an important dimension of the business now and in the future for this local paper.
“We need to capitalize on online hits to survive,” said Hanna. “We need to provide news online that consumers can’t get at other Web sites.”
Like other newspapers across the country, the Athens Banner-Herald is attempting to decide how much journalistic effort should be invested in both the print and the online publications. However, print remains crucial to business, according to Robyn Green, Director of Digital Innovation at the Athens Banner-Herald.
“Print is still what pays the bills,” said Green. “It’s true everywhere.”
In conjunction with the traditional print version of a newspaper, the online version can be a more dynamic product, according to Green.
“Our ultimate goal is to get a message to our readers,” said Green. “We have to find a way to make online just as valuable as print.”
The online publication has the potential to be updated constantly with more recent news than the print publication. More fresh content and interactivity will make the Athens Banner-Herald’s Web site successful, according to Hanna.
Onlineathens.com allows registered users to comment on articles posted on the Web site. Stories posted on the Web site sometimes receive up to 250 comments in just an hour, which is very good compared to other newspapers, Green said.
“Dialogue and discussion drives site traffic,” said Green.
Keeping in step with Internet social trends is also important at the Athens Banner-Herald. The online department wants to attract new, youthful readers with access to their site from popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, according to Green.
There are some problems with keeping page viewers on the site long enough to provide an audience to advertisers.
A large share of the site traffic is not significant enough in terms of time spent on the site. Users who view Onlineathens.com but leave the page without ever clicking a link amount to 16 percent of the site’s total traffic, according to Green. This is an indicator that users are only skimming the headlines before moving on to other Internet distractions.
A high percentage of superficial site traffic looks bad to advertisers, but advertisers may be part of the problem. Less than one percent of users of Onlineathens.com click on ads displayed on its pages, according to Green.
Another problem is determining the demographics of users of the Athens Banner-Herald’s online publication. The online department can track users’ internet service provider numbers, but not much else.
“You can’t pinpoint who you’re delivering to with the online product,” said Green.
To resolve some of these issues, Green believes that the Athens Banner-Herald’s journalistic responsibility is a priority.
“Quality content is what it’s all about,” said Green.
Other solutions include redesigning the Web site with a more modern and attractive layout and providing video to be available to registered users. However, only some topics merit news coverage in video format for the Athens Banner-Herald. Football is the one of the few topics that brings siginificant traffic, according to Hanna.
Because of the tough condition of the economy, the Athens Banner-Herald is struggling to financially sustain forward action in the business as far as digital innovations go. Even the editing team in the newsroom is understaffed, according to Scott Morrissey, Publisher of the Athens Banner-Herald.
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New lead: A new marketing strategy could help boost online readership at The Athens Banner-Herald.
ReplyDeleteAnother source we agreed on was to get a source that is outside of the newspaper business. Maybe a student or a regular newspaper reader.
I thought the story was really strong. The sources were good, which helped with the credibility of the story. I also thought the story flowed really well. The only thing I really suggested was to maybe move paragraph 21 closer to paragraph 15 to help clarify what the paper is doing to help get people to the web sites.
Patrick -- good information here. You definitely need to rework the lead and follow it up immediately with the Hanna quote.
ReplyDeleteNo need to refer to "http" with the website. That's assumed.
I worry that the story lacks focus. You bounce from online traffic to online advertising to online video. I know your focus here is monetizing the site -- but make that a little clearer. You say they want more traffic, but note that few people click on ads. There's something missing here.
Very abrupt ending. I'd prefer to end on a quote. The Green quote about "Quality Content" would be the perfect conclusion.