This is the second in a series of lessons for online editors, which began appearing here in August. Part 3 had its debut in October.

McAdams, an independent consultant based in Toronto and Washington, D.C., advises clients on information design. She was part of the small team that created The Washington Post's first online edition in 1994. More about her is available on her home page.

Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of NewsLink. Lesson 2: Why News Is Old News
How to make online media worth all the expense


By Mindy McAdams
AS LONG AS NEWSPAPERS are putting the same old thing online, they may be missing the boat.

Most newspapers with online editions have so far focused on news. But news is a commodity that online users can find in many places. So if you're putting the news online, it makes sense to ask whether that news is in any way different from the news that dozens of other sources are also putting online. In most cases, the answer is no.

Some newspapers have tried to position their online version as the one information source for their local readers. But a small or medium-size U.S. newspaper cannot hope to compete with The New York Times on international news, The Wall Street Journal on business, or Sports Illustrated on professional sports (and don't forget CNN and ESPN).

Your online users may be in some sense "local," but they have access to an entire world of sources online. Just because they're in your geographical area does not mean they will depend on you for information. There's no proof that there's a market for your traditional print content online, especially with so much redundancy on the Web.

So why not experiment? Try something different.

A Good Fit

What can you offer that people can't get elsewhere? It depends on your publication, its location, and its traditional strengths. Your newspaper may be well-positioned to cover a particular industry, sport, vacation destination, or an entire region (or nation, if you're outside the United States). It may focus on state politics or highlight a corporation with its headquarters in your city.

Some examples:

  • The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune's beautiful (and useful) State Park Guide
  • The Auto Authority, from The Detroit Free Press
  • The Boston Globe's reader-generated weekly NewsQuiz
  • The Christian Science Monitor's Monitor Radio (via RealAudio), including hourly updates
  • The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's comprehensive Olympics site
  • HotWired's weekly Cocktail (not a newspaper, but a nicely done feature with an impressive archive)

At this early stage in the online game, while no newspaper is making a profit from a Web venture, much could be gained from experimentation -- to discover new ways to gain and keep readers -- without making a large investment.

If your budget is tight, why devote staff hours, hardware, and phone lines to putting your news stories online just like everyone else? You could be getting ahead by finding out what will win you a loyal audience.

Don't be fooled by what your readers say they want. People will answer yes to all kinds of things in a poll, and after you produce what they said they wanted, they'll stay away in droves. The only way to find out whether online users will come is to build it. But with the amount of time it takes to plan and execute a Web project, you don't want to waste effort on things that won't bring in eyeballs.

Start Small

Putting the whole newspaper (or most of the paper) online hasn't worked for anyone yet. Your readers will say they want it, but it won't get them coming back day after day. Instead, you could start with one popular section of your paper, or try something that's never been in your paper at all.

When editors start thinking about going online, they're like children at the dessert table: Their eyes are bigger than their stomachs. It's very exciting to talk about creating giant local business directories and events calendars, but then it's time to come back to earth. Count your staff. Count the hours you can put into this.

Before embarking on a big project, break out a part of it that you expect to be popular and build only that part. Roll it out with a lot of fanfare and ask for feedback from the users. In keeping with the advice in my previous column, don't waste this opportunity! Pay close attention to users' complaints about feeling confused, not being able to find what they want, and experiencing thwarted expectations. Users will offer suggestions for ways you can improve the feature. Take them seriously.

Having started small, you're free to completely redesign the feature if users find it unwieldy, or tinker to fix the problems that draw the most criticism. When you've made improvements, trumpet them and invite more comments.

Above all, monitor how much use the feature gets. Make sure, by testing, that this is really something the users will use on a regular basis. If you plan to charge for use, test various fee structures. If you plan to support it with advertising, test some ads. Never assume that a popular free feature will remain popular if you begin charging for it.

At worst, you'll discover that interest is too low or that the project is too labor-intensive to pay off. If that happens, scrap it -- and feel relieved that you didn't waste time building the full-size version.

Beyond the Daily News

Not every successful project demands a gigantic effort. A feature on The Washington Post's Web site that could never be done in the newspaper is Chapter One. Through agreements with publishers, The Post puts the first chapter of a book online and links it to the Post review, allowing users to sample the book before buying it. Users love this feature, and it's drawn advertising from a regional bookstore chain. It's a good fit for a paper that runs a weekly book review section.

What your users really want may surprise you:

  • Ratings of local consumer services, such as banking or food markets;
  • Deeper local political coverage than you've been providing;
  • A live-music calendar for your region;
  • Public forums featuring advice from local experts on education, nutrition, car repairs, or gardening;
  • Discussions of local issues with other users; or
  • Trivia contests on local lore.

It's possible that your users will have no interest in online classified ads unless you build a complex database system to allow detailed searches and automatic notification. The same may be true of a business directory, or it may be that most people would use such a directory only once or twice a year.

Have an open mind. Online is not the same as the newspaper, so stretch your imagination. If an experiment fails, that's all right. Even a failure helps you learn more about your new audience.