Notes from the Second Annual Online Journalism Review Conference
USC Annenberg School of Communication
Los Anegeles, California
March 30, 2007

From blogging to business  

New processes are being created out of journalism based on three basics of

journalism > economic models > a new movement

Requires a journalist to learn new skills because tools of trade have changed as they wear more hats to grow their business. Skills needed include:

• Freelancing
  
• Invoicing
  
• Market research

Prepare for growth from the beginning:

• Secure names -- .org .com .net no matter where you start (it'll save you $$ later)
  
• Keep your books clean to make growth easier
  
• Incorporate

Ongoing debate - what is journalism today?

The blogger vs the traditional journalist: there isn't an answer to this debate. Journalism (in the traditional sense) is always best when there's human contact (phone, in person interviews, etc) Credibility is better built with use of author images. (real person behind the writing). Today, readers are also reporters through the use of comments, etc.

Niche markets keep expanding new opportunities online for new communities and new products (hyper regional news as an example) Passion carries you as momentum builds until you can earn money from your site. This is a process that usually takes two years.

Non-profits should consider enlisting people for specific projects - for instance video journals or local interviews to expand their reach and their resources.

Moving from sole blogger to staff:

• Define boundaries
  
• Constant need to feed your audience (Slashdot has max 4 hours between stories)
  
• Define how much you want to manage your staff
  
• Using an editorial sense for how you manage your company can be very helpful in making decisions for you (advertising, ethics, what's appropriate, etc)

Email newsletters remain important.

The email user is not dead--contrary to popular opinion. Make sure it's sent out regularly in response to the content on your site. Volume of stories also brings volume of readers so fresh content means more eyeballs. Don't be afraid of the nugget of information instead of the big story as frequency and fresh information is actually more important to building traffic and readership to a site.

• Stick to purpose
  
• Personality and voices through the website
• Humanize the site (this includes using images of authors)

[Noted above: as this was being discussed it occurred to me we could make an effort to have more regular columnists. Jeff Huber publishes a bi-weekly column. We should encourage more ePM people to step forward with regular columns. For instance, a weekly tip from investigates like: what is an associated domain?]

Search Engine Optimizing

Quite a bit about helping out search engines with how you handle <title> tags and using titles in the urls (dash not underscore preferred). Any alt tags for photographs should include a description for the blind who have "readers" The importance of <H1> tags as they get priority from google. "Link bait" is a necessity for a site to get found.

RSS feeds are critical today

• Useit.com - usability guru
  
• Webmasterworld
  
• Fm

Social Networking

Who is your audience?

Your site should be designed for their use. Develop a clear sense of mission and purpose. Consider classifieds revenue based on what might be appropriate for your site.

Anonymity online

An open debate (pros and cons - for a heated discussion) How does a citizen journalist establish credibility? Anon comments generate more comments but using real names generates better-behaved members. Some tools for maintaining anonymity online are:

• Openid.com
  
• Claimid.com
  
• PO Box and private registration

Think about your online reputation and how you can aggregate people around their shared interests. Be prepared to spin off satellite websites to accommodate different demographics.

DMCA - have a clearly published site policy with clear contact info of a designated party to contact (register this with icann) to avoid an isp cutting off service. More info on dmca at chillingeffects.com

Provide opportunities to extend the reach of your website. (For ePluribus Media, in addition ot the purple mothership Journal site, there is our community site here, the timelines project, podcasts) Profile pages can be useful on certain kinds of sites. Consider networking with groups with similar missions. Interviews and contributing to other people's media can help visibility.

• Del.icio.us - social book marking using categories

How to sell your website (advertising)

Make sure you design a site with ads in mind
Identifiable origins of your readers add value to content. High value content can drive funding. Global nature of medium - your advertisers can be anywhere.

Target readers and your market. Some marketting resources:

• Surveymonkey.com - online survey service
  
• Phpadsnew.com - new open source advertising

Looking for tech help? Try elance.com or craigslist

Adsense works best when coupled with product reviews or discussions of products
Fundraisers, commerce, ad revenue, services are revenue streams (Thinkgeek.com is actually the big money maker for Slashdot). If you're getting more professional then you're selling ads.

Advertising resources:

• Adbrite
  
• Adsense
  
• Blinksale.com - online invoicing
  
• Paypal

Generating revenue

"Sponsored opinions" for open community discussions (new at Slashdot) are being used as "beyond banners" advertising. Relationship of advertiser to the opinion or discussion isn't hidden but out in the open. (See their "Opinion Center" in the left hand side bar--it's advertiser provided content)

Thin line - the boundary of paid content vs selling out. Disclaimers, ethics discussion requires a clear purpose. Being transparent in advertising is important to maintain credibility. I think Slashdot could be a little more clear the advertiser is providing content but then their audience is very savvy and knows what's up.)

Strategize approaches for your web presence.

Advertising for free for others (a la yellow pages model, free listings vs ads - paid advertising can expand out of free listings.) [Note: it was at this point I wondered about the idea of "services" as mentioned in the introductory remarks above.]

• CPC providers
  
• Google ad sense
  
• Linksharing
  
• Commission junction
  
• Blogads
  
• eCPM - cost per thousand can go up if you take ads off

This source was recommended for exploring the new tools available for online journalism. (Could those of you with more technical experience expalin the benefits to the non-tech such as myself?)

• sourceforge.net - open source developer

Advertising is changing.

Even professionals are getting away from the old ad agency model (except big companies like Microsoft, Pepsi, etc) Small outfits CAN access professional resources for advertising needs. No need to rely solely on amateur video, photography, etc. Find quality programming - no excuse not to. Interruptive model vs search model vs product placement (interruptive is over). Sharing revenue. - When do you partner? Think about it.

Demographics - knowing your market:

• Google analytics
  
• Fm
  
• Compete.com
  
• Quantcast.com

If you're getting money through affiliates, look at what/where/how and expand on that. "Best of..." and awards issues tend to drive site traffic and visibility.