Paywall=More or Less $$ for Newspapers

Paywall=More or Less $$ for Newspapers

Can Newspaper/Media websites put up a Paywall and make more money than they are currently making?

Paywall = No or limited content for public consumption. A paid subscription is required.

Newspapers have always struggled with monetizing websites.

Truths that can't be ignored:

1) Newspapers have never made enough money in subscriptions/sales to even offset the costs of the materials and postage let alone pay for staff or make a profit.

2) Profit is made from advertising.....enough said.

Moral=If this philosophy didn't even work in the papers hay day, when they were the only game in town, it's safe to assume that this won't miraculously be the financial answer of the future.

3) As a consumer...once I have become accustomed to getting something for free, most likely I will never pay for it.

Exception= If something is truly unique and desirable and I can't get it anywhere else for free I will pay for it.....but I have to really want it desperately.

So, if these statements are in fact truths, one could ask "why would anyone with business savvy even consider this"? Answer = Because newspapers are not leaders they are followers. Once they see one example of something working for another paper they automatically assume it can be replicated for their business. This is a huge and dastardly mistake.

Metro and Community papers each need an independent online strategy for the future. Relying on your neighbor is not a strategy for success.

There is one example of a news organization that is currently utilizing a paywall successfully today, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). You may have heard this as an argument before because it's the only good example pro-paywallers are using.

Let's break down why this may work for WSJ. The WSJ has a niche audience that comes to them for specific content. The content in the WSJ can't easily be found elsewhere. Therefore their subscribers more than happy to pay for high quality content.
I'd like to emphasize.....HIGH QUALITY CONTENT.

Let's bread down why this would not then work for the average community newspaper. Many are relying heavily on AP news to populate their print and online content. AP is not unique or niche enough to warrant local subscribers to pay for it. Simply put if the content provided is generic and available for free elsewhere who will buy it from you? A Paywall will send your current users elsewhere, traffic will decrease, and advertising will disappear. Once the traffic is lost it will be almost impossible to regain. If you think advertising revenue online is low now... just wait until your traffic disappears.

Okay so what can be done? Here's a better strategy, higher smart motivated, non-traditional print personal who can move your company forward. Operate as a traditional business by investing in new technology, training staff and producing a quality product. Many newspapers are blaming "giving away" content as the common denominator for their demise. Maybe they need to be looking at what they are producing, how they can improve it and then how can they sell it. A sales strategy, whether increasing advertising or making money by charging for content is not be only answer.

Newspaper executives need to take a hard look at their product and ask themselves....
"Would you buy this rag?"

Where have you been.....

.."how do you know where to go if you don't know where you've been?"

If you don't know your websites statistics or analytical data then listen up!!!!

Improving website performance is key for any business who wishes to grow. But how do you measure this success? Do you have a protocol established for reviewing or analyzing this data?

If you have a webmaster or you are paying a consultant to manage your website, they better be able to answer those questions. And if they are not sharing this data with you, you should be questioning them about it.

There are FREE applications that provide you code to put on your websites to track and capture all this data, like Google Analytics. According to an article from Six Revisions, Five Favorite Web Applications For Designers, Google Analytics was one of the best analytical tools out there regardless of price.

I have seen firsthand the ease of use and the breadth of information these analytical applications can provide.

Example: Who cares how many visitors come to your site if they only stay a few seconds? Is that enough time for them to really understand what you offer? So, knowing the time that the average visitor spends on your site can help you determine whether or not your homepage is really grabbing the attention of your visitors. If they aren't staying long enough chances are they are missing whatever it is that makes you special and therefore you are missing the opportunity to grab a new user/customer.

Your first step in understanding all of this is to set up a Google account for yourself, or ask your IT professional to help you. You will need to put this code on and begin capturing this data for about 60 days. After the 60 day time period you can access this data and export it very easily, even to a pdf pretty instantaneously. Trust me I've done it...you can too.

I recommend doing this asap. Then look at the who, what, where and when on your site and begin to make some strategic decisions about how your site is operating currently, what is it providing and where is their growth potential. Making those decisions can be tough, this is when a good consultant, and there out there can help you create a plan. Trust me you need a plan.

Growing your online presence doesn't always mean spending money. We'll get to that later in other blogs. Over the next week or so I'll be evaluating each of these Five Favorite Web Applications and filling you on how and if you can use them to grow your business.

"Advertising = Clicks"

It's generally an accepted principle that in order to have a successful business you must advertise. Of course advertising increased brand awareness and hopefully, depending on how good it is, it actually helps you sell products/services. "Everyone" knows this but it's truly hard to measure the value of brand awareness. Interactive, including mobile and web advertising seems complicated and there are many buzzwords generated about "clicks", "hits", "impressions etc...
The real question, which is obviously debatable is what is the value of the seeing the message online?
I read an article published on OutSellInc by Chuck Richard, Vice President & Lead Analyst for the website entitled "Click Rate Trend A blessing in Disguise" (article not available to public, must be member). This article brings up some good discussion points about the power measurement and how we are selling it to advertisers.

I think we really need to get away from the idea that we can somehow explain to our advertisers how effective their online campaigns with a simple CTR (click through rate). Print advertising has for a long time been able to get away with simply giving it's circulation and readers gender, income and age as a value proposition...so why is it that advertisers expect more for their online campaigns? Is it something we are doing wrong?