the newspaper business

This sucks. If I want to read an OrlandoSentinel.com story, I have to register. Once I register I have to agree to be spammed.

If you do not wish to receive any e-mail from OrlandoSentinel.com, you will have to unregister from our service. Please note - if you decide to unregister, there are certain areas on orlandosentinel.com that you will not be able to access. For more information on how to unregister, please visit https://www.orlandosentinel.com/services/site/registration/show-unregister.register

Once you unregister, you will no longer enjoy benefits such as:

• Full access to today’s news, photo galleries, audio clips, videos and multimedia presentations
• Posting capabilities to message boards and other forums for photo, video and audio clip sharing
• E-mail newsletter and breaking news e-mail alert subscription services
• Customizable news pages

For the “Big Game” Sunday, Ottaway Newspaper announces today that they have a great new website that has everything a fan will want.

Uh, why?

The site includes reporting from award-winning reporters from the Cape Cod Times (Hyannis, MA), the Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY), the Pocono Record (Stroudsburg, PA), the Portsmouth Herald (Portsmouth, NH), and The Standard-Times (New Bedford, MA). With reporters in Arizona and throughout the country, newyorkversusnewengland.com provides the very best and most up-to- date news.
At newyorkversusnewengland.com visitors can read blogs from fans of both teams and offer their own thoughts at the Giants’ or Pats’ Boards.
Fans can weigh in on who is the better quarterback or which coach will put together the better game plan by voting in one of the sites many polls and see how they stand with other fans.

No longer will they have to wander the Internet.

Emphasis mine. Wander the internet. Hmmm, I can’t think of a single sports website/blog that might be covering this game from end to end. I can think of fifty!

I think they are after an award with this site. It sure can’t be traffic or revenue.

At least the site I own: SaleEndsSunday.com can be used 52 times every year.

Note to self: Change redirect. done.

Our site is hosted by TownNews.com. Our site is down, so our guy called support and got the recorded message that there were no known issues at this time.

So he held and talked to a person, who said very calmly, “yes, all our sites are down.” (I think that’s almost 2,000 websites.)

Here’s the email they sent.

TownNews.com is experiencing technical difficulties with all of our websites.

At this time there is no ETA for a resolution to the problem.

Our Systems team is working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

More information will be e-mailed to you as it is received.

Thank you

I would have rather gotten an email that said

“HOLY MOTHER OF GOD EVERYTHING IS KERFLOOEY. WTF? BRB ASAP.”

When you hire a guy with a radio background and a love for pushing the envelope when it comes to online, the results are often noticed by other newspapers and trade associations.

Last week Inland Press Association, put bgdailynews.com Daily News Now daily video summary at the top of their list for best ideas in 2007 .

Chris Houchens handles it all. He takes the list of the stories that will appear in today’s issue, writes the copy, gets the graphics, edits and presents it. Congratulations and thanks Chris.
We’re also proud that Chris was selected Marketer of the Year by the local Professional Marketing Association, and is a successful speaker on marketing.

 They are beta with some kind of embellishments to their site. They blow smoke up my flatter me with all kinds of reasons why I am important.

And then drop this nugget.

We’d love to hear your one-of-a-kind voice and we hope you’ll join us, but you will need to register again. Visit the new site here and to re-register simply click on “Become a member”.

Blah. I don’t want to register again, until I WANT to register again and then I will.  ie: when it benefits me and not you.

Using time-lapse photography, Journal Sentinel photographer Tom Lynn offers a day in the life of a game at Lambeau Field. Tom began by stationing a Canon EOS Mark II digital camera, mounted with a 16mm lens, atop the southwest corner of the stadium, encapsulating the entire bowl of the stadium with the field at its core. Powered by an external battery pack, the camera automatically fired every 20 seconds, shooting from 9:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., capturing the stadium as it filled with fans, as the game unfolded, and as the stadium emptied. The entire process captured 1,194 total images, which have been compressed into this two-minute video.

Link 

When it comes to many newspaper’s presence on the web, newspapers are hitching horses to cars.

Here’s the thing that people get wrong about their web presence:

It’s not about building a second version of yourself, your business, or your industry online. It’s about starting fresh with a new platform to reach a new audience.

Lots of discussion in the newspaper world of paid vs. free access to online content.

Here’s what a stock analyst says

If it were up to me, it would be a no-brainer. There are so many venues for obtaining news in today’s world I find it hard to believe that anyone pays for an annual Wall Street Journal Online subscription.

But Paxton Media who owns a number of newspapers in Kentucky including Paducah and Owensboro are just as adamant that charging for online access is the smart thing to do.

We will remain free access for all local news.  Later this year we will even provide open access to archives for our print subscribers. (It’s free for fourteen days to anyone now.)

We are expanding our online presence by adding The Amplifier (http://amplifier.bgdailynews.com) to our site.  The Amplifier has music from local bands, will have more local video, more listings.  We think it’s smart to keeping expanding what we offer to deliver as many eyeballs as possible to the advertisers who see the future of the web.

We’ll give up some revenue, but like the analyst  says, there is more revenue to be made being the dominant local source for news online and in print.

(crossposted)

Part of being a boomer is having to be somewhat prudent with savings/investments. But I found out it doesn’t have to be all charts and financials.

Indulge me, I don’t think I’m steering you wrong. This is about entertainment too.

I watch a daily video blog called Wallstrip.com because I think the actress that does the blog is easy to look at and very talented. (She had a bit part on the Sopranos as Anthony’s teacher.) She’s done commercials for Hallmark, Miller Genuine Draft, Volvo, Earthlink, Netscape, Dunkin’ Donuts, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Infamil, and The Learning Channel.

Lindsay Campbell - remember that name.

Every episode is very good. Lately they have created a couple that are excellent. Today’s is worth taking the few minutes to watch.

Wallstrip.com

If you liked that one, try this one too.

Just add the widget to your site and you have a high quality financial video blog.

Here’s another financial advice video that is free for the asking. Tony Walker’s Hey Money Man discusses ordinary financial advice in a short well produced segment.

Shameless self-promotion (maybe)

BGDailyNews.com employment site, called The Job Network, is now affiliated with Yahoo’s Hot Jobs.

Not too long ago this would have been treason. Yahoo was out to take our employment ads, take our classified ads, and more if they could.

Now, both sides are realizing that cooperation and competition is the best of both worlds.

So if an employer is looking for help, by calling our classified advertising department, the employers ad can appear on The Job Network, and on Yahoo Hot Jobs.

Times are a’changin’ and we’re working hard to keep up.