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
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:
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:
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.
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.