The launch of local print and online sections will continue throughout 2010, said Janey Robinson, NY Times president and CEO during the last earnings call. “Local coverage will complement our national and international reporting. We are planning expanded reports in other key markets across the country.” So far, the NYT has seen its expanded San Francisco local section challenged by the WSJ, which has also been beefing up New York metro coverage. The NYT’s other local dedicated coverage includes Chicago and an online hyperlocal effort called The Local.  More…

Local publishers take note and get your e-reader strategies in motion: The seismic societal shift to usage of e-readers may have been launched by the iPad. An study by Greg Harmon of ItzBelden reports 31% of the population plans to buy an e-reader by March 2010, up from 7 to 15% just a few months ago, before Steve Job’s January announcement. Read More »

Ron Curley, head of interactive of the Las Vegas Sun gives a great description about how important home page design is in driving traffic.  From a “truly beautiful” home page that tanked traffic, to the one that “looked like poop” but had all the links, to the final hybrid model, that still generated traffic increases. In this blog, he finally answers the age old question, does good design perform poorly? More…

The internet has created tough challenges for businesses trying to manage what is being said about them on Yelp, Twitter and other review sites. Enter Marchex, which has developed a  “reputation management” tool that media can resell to  SMB’s, that allows them to monitor online mentions.

SMB’s consider word-of-mouth to be the source of 50% of their new business, but are frustrated by the increased importance of review sites and the internet.

“Twitter, blogs, yelp, every SMB has to deal with,” says Mathew Berk, Executive Vice President of Product Engineering at Marchex.

“The reality is that SMB’s feel victimized, sites do everything for the consumer and nothing for the businesses.” He noted that a business with multiple locations has a nearly impossible task in trying to monitoring dozens of online mentions without special software. Read More »

The internet has created tough challenges for businesses trying to manage what is being said about them on Yelp, Twitter and other review sites. Enter Marchex, which has developed a  “reputation management” tool that media can resell to  SMB’s, that allows them to monitor online mentions.

SMB’s consider word-of-mouth to be the source of 50% of their new business, but are frustrated by the increased importance of review sites and the internet.

“Twitter, blogs, yelp, every SMB has to deal with,” says Mathew Berk, Executive Vice President of Product Engineering at Marchex.

“The reality is that SMB’s feel victimized, sites do everything for the consumer and nothing for the businesses.” He noted that a business with multiple locations has a nearly impossible task in trying to monitoring dozens of online mentions without special software. Read More »

Yellow page directory companies  are far ahead of other media types in transforming their companies and converting their sales forces.  In particular, yellowbook.com is on track to almost double 2009 online sales to $400 million in 2010.  At Borrell Associates Local Online Advertising conference, Patrick Marshall, Chief New Media officer, gave his keys to success:

1. Convert the entire sales force to integrated print/online sales. With hundreds of sales people, “starting over” with online only sales people was not an option; the strategy  works (as others have pointed out, separate staff often integrate, but integrated staffs rarely segregate). Read More »

Ever wonder what pure play subscription sites know  that local media sites can learn as they begin to charge for access?  The new Subscription and Membership Site Benchmark  Report, released by Anne Holland  yields some insights. The study surveyed 302 paid subscription sites, from monsters like Match.com to  the clientele of membergate.com, whose sites include a large number of very small (less than $50,000 a year) one or two-person companies. Local media sites who are members of SIPA were included, but not “shovelware…sites with identical content to print editions.. except archives”.  Ouch. Here’s a summary of key take-aways:

1. No Free trials without a credit card
Don’t do it. The WSJ.com proved this in earlier studies but for local
media considering paid, get the credit card with the first
registration.

Read More »