In my previous article titled "Using your website to increase print and online advertising revenues", I wrote that very few publishers of small and medium-sized publications are satisfied with the marriage of their print and online products. And that if I were to articulate it for them, the main question they share is "How can I use our website to increase both my print circulation and advertising revenues?" This article discusses the first half of this question and explains...
The lifeblood of almost every non-daily newspaper and magazine is still print advertising sales. While some might believe that web advertising is a close second, in general, this is not the case. Granted, the trend is slowly moving in that direction, especially with daily papers, but most small and medium-sized non-daily publishers still haven’t found the silver bullet — that thing that allows them to get comparable revenue from their web advertising. Yes, monetizing...
Rarely do I use daily newspapers as model for how a small or medium sized weekly community newspaper should approach a problem or solution. Because not only are the dailies on a different business model, the gap is so huge they're practically on a different planet. One exception to this is the concept of auto-renew subscriptions. These are subscriptions that don't expire, similar to a Netflix subscription that automatically renews (charges) each month, until the subscriber...
Many newspaper publishers struggle with their websites. It seems that most in the industry, magazines included, are looking for a way to "fix" what feels like the slow death of newspapers. But are newspapers really dying, or just in transition? Lions Light Corporation specializes in providing small and medium sized publications with full featured turn-key websites, generally for $150+ per month. After speaking with well over a thousand publishers over the years, I can attest...
Objectivity is the hallmark of a quality publisher. It's also one of the first disciplines sacrificed by publishers when evaluating their children's suitability for taking over the family's newspaper. More than any other decision the choice of a successor demands ruthless honesty. Whether you call it the "folly of fondness" or the "fog of war" an ego driven succession decision can create a disaster for both family and fortune. Through many years of consulting publishers I've...
