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February 2007 - Article: Top mistakes made by new online publishers - By Robert Niles
Perhaps you've heard the horror stories: You can't make any money publishing
online. No one does any original reporting on the Web. The blogosphere is
nothing but egos and spam.
There are two main reasons why people repeat such pessimism:
a) They don't know what they're talking about and frustrated with the Web.
b) They DO know what they are talking about and don't want any new
competition.
In the spirit of holiday giving, we present the top mistakes made by people
in group (a). If you are worried about your future in the print or broadcast
news industry, don't be afraid to envision a future publishing online. Just
beware of the traps that have snared many who have gone before you.
1) Doing it for the money
On the Internet, passion trumps professionalism. Yes, smart, disciplined
online publishers are making money. It's to be expected, with the billions
of dollars advertisers are now spending online every year. But that can't be
the dominant reason you publish. Readers can smell a publisher who is trying
to milk the market and will seek instead someone who publishes for the love
of his or her subject. The Internet offers passionate, knowledgeable sources
on every topic imaginable. You need to be one of them – not just a
journalist with a newspaper buyout package and a business plan.
Over the past year, I've spoken with at least a dozen newspaper-dot-com
executives who've expressed frustration that their organizations are now
playing "catch-up" to amateur niche media due to their company's obsession
with maximizing profits, in part by not funding new projects without
immediate revenue attached. That policy's left too many newspapers with
seemingly "safe" but overly broad, voiceless websites that fail to engage
the reading public, just like their print parents.
2) Casting too broad a net
Pick a topic, whether it be a business, hobby, field or neighborhood, that
you know well and can write about with authority. One of the conceits of the
news industry is that reporters do not need to have specialized training or
knowledge of the topics they cover – they just ask questions and let their
sources provide the information.
Of course, this thinking provides a convenient excuse for newspapers too
cheap to pay for reporters with real world training in their beats. Don't
let it infect your website. Otherwise, your site will read like too many
newspaper stories – poorly informed, unfocused and contrived.
Click through Tom Grubisich's recent analysis of "citizen journalism"
websites for examples of local online news done right... and wrong.
People are ditching newspapers for the Web for a reason, and it ain't the
ease of reading on a computer screen, or even to save 50 cents a day.
Readers crave authoritative voices that can guide them through the
information overload of modern life. You can be that voice. But you have to
know your topic, and stick with it.
3) Not being humble
By this time, Internet readers have learned that communities know more about
a given topic than any single individual does. You might be new to
publishing online, but your audience is not new to reading the Web. They've
grown accustomed to interactivity. Sure, you must present yourself as an
expert – you must *be* an expert to retain any long-term credibility online.
But you must embrace your readers' collective expertise because part of your
new job will be to draw out that superior knowledge that many of your
readers have.
In reporting a story for the Web, the interview process does not end with
publication. When writing a piece, always include an invitation for
knowledgeable readers to add more to the story. Writers who fail to do this
invite suspicion that they are more interested in promoting (and protecting)
their own point of view, instead of allowing their work to compete in the
marketplace of ideas.
4) Taking spam personally
Too many beginning publishers give up on interactivity once the first wave
of spam hits their comment section, e-mail in box or discussion board. Don't
take it personally. Look at spam and trolls the way you look at a flu virus:
a simple, unthinking annoyance that's looking for a receptive host.
Like a traveler going abroad for the first time, too many beginning Web
publishers lack the necessary immunity to the Internet's ills. Immunize
yourself by either installing filtering software or requiring e-mail
verified registration to submit content to your site. If something does slip
through, delete it and forget it. Don't kill the patient to take out the
disease.
5) Telling the world what you are doing... before you actually do it
Okay, this could be filed under mistake #3, above. But "old media" veterans
seem especially vulnerable to this online faux pas. The old media model for
starting a publication required you to raise money to hire a staff, solicit
advertisers and print the book. Online, you don't need any of that. So why
issue the press release before you have something to show?
I'll defer to Markos Moulitsas Zúniga's analysis of Jim VandeHei's new
website:
There's one big lesson I learned in my Silicon Valley dot.com days -- the
more grandiose the talk when launching a venture, the more ill-will it
generates and the more knives come out. Google came out of nowhere to take
over the internet, despite grandiose claims from the likes of Microsoft. We
all saw what happened to the pathetic Pajamas Media, while Daily Kos has
quietly risen into a position of prominence. That's why I'm being low-key in
my projects for next year. They'll be quietly launched. Some will fail, some
might succeed. It's better to let success do the talking than being a
boastful oaf before your project is even off the ground.
Flying a while under the radar also allows you the freedom to try new
things, without the fear of public humiliation.
6) Throwing money at your site
The economics of online publishing support and reward individuals.
Obviously, large businesses can flourish online. But almost without
exception (think Google, Yahoo and even MySpace), they started small,
established themselves before seeking millions in venture capital and built
through strong reader support.
When I talk with people who have had success making money from online
content, I see a common attribute: an independent writer who leads a strong
community that generates hundreds, if not thousands, of pages of
informative, compelling content.
What I don't see is someone who first hired a staff, including editors,
reporters and ad reps. Nor do I see someone with a large marketing budget,
buying advertising in offline media to draw attention to their site. In
fact, when I speak with people who followed that path, I inevitably hear
complaints about how "no one's making money online," and a series of excuses
for why their venture failed.
Make sure you have enough in the bank to support yourself for a few months
while you get the site up and a community going. Increase your chances for
long-term success by denying yourself the extravagances of additional
reporters, editors or a support staff until you understand what you truly
need, and have banked the money to pay for them.
7) Using misleading traffic numbers
Every Web publisher wants to measure his progress. Traffic numbers provide a
real-time measure of your site's popularity, which can later translate into
revenue. But too many rookie publishers (and online advertisers) get a
distorted view of a site's popularity because they don't understand the
vocabulary of online traffic measurement.
a) "Hits:" This statistic is worthless. A "hit" is nothing more than a
request to a Web server for a file. The problem with this statistic is that
a single webpage can include dozens of files: the page itself, plus every
stylesheet, external script, logo, graphic file and photo displayed on the
page. A webmaster can double the "hits" for his site simply by doubling the
number of graphics used on his pages.
b) "Page views:" This statistic is better than "hits," but still easily
manipulated. The trouble with page views is that a huge percentage of
traffic online comes not from human beings, but automated agents. Search
engine spiders, spammers' robots and clipping service agents can account for
more than half the traffic on many websites. If a publisher looks only at
his server logs and does not filter all automated agents from his report, he
is grossly overestimating his site's popularity among actual people.
c) "Unique visits:" This is a better test of a site's traffic. A spider
might view 1,000 pages when it comes to a website, but it will count as only
one visit. The best publishers still filter automated agents from their
unique visitor reports, but even if they do not, this statistic provides the
best "apples-to-apples" metric for comparing website popularity.
Don't rely on server logs to measure the popularity of your site. Install
some tracking service on your site, at the very least Google Analytics
(which is free), to get a real picture of where you are. And educate
potential advertisers about these differences, so that your competition
can't land a sale with their bogus "hit" statistics.
8) Unrealistic goals
Use these lessons to remain sober as you embark on your Web publishing
adventure. Embrace the Web's interactivity and make it a resource to enliven
your reporting and writing. Don't expect to get rich, famous or win awards.
Focus instead on building a relationship with your readers that develops a
useful publication, filled with engaging information that they will not want
to do without. Don't expect any of this to happen overnight, either. Use
realistic traffic numbers to project your ability to earn revenue (or
attract financial backers). Then keep your expenses below that level... or
be willing to admit that your website is a cash-draining hobby.
v
About the Author
Robert Niles is the editor of Online Journalism Review (http://www.ojr.org).
A long-time math and computer geek, Robert turned to journalism after
graduating from Northwestern University and deciding he couldn't stomach
becoming a management consultant. But the lure of marathon coding sessions
proved too strong. Robert soon quit his job writing editorials for a
red-state newspaper, and he began making websites instead.
Homepage: http://www.robertniles.com/
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