Like many papers that have shuttered operations in the past several months, the Dothan Eagle will most likely join them in the next decade. The industry blames several factors for the decline of the newspaper, but the main reason they are failing is quite surprising. But before we bury the Eagle, let’s look closer at why it and the industry as a whole is suffering. Let’s also look at what, if anything, can be done about it.
The main reason organizations like the Dothan Eagle are dying is because they have forgotten what business they are in. For some reason they think their product is the newspaper, but it isn’t. Their product is the news. Not advertising, not classifieds, not papers, just the news; and unfortunately for them people are no longer interested in consuming the news via printed newspapers. After all, why would someone want to pay for the news when they can get it from the Eagle’s own website or RickeyStokesNews.com for free? Also, why would someone want to read about what happened yesterday in the paper when they can find out what is going on right now via the Internet? The cycle time required for the newspaper business model is just too long for the present day.
Another reason the Eagle will die is that advertisers will increasingly move their ad dollars from the print media to the Internet. A banner ad on a website can be much, much less expensive than a print ad in a newspaper.
As a business owner, why would I pay hundreds of dollars to put an unnoticeable ad in the paper for one day when I can place an even better looking ad on the web for a month?
Probably what has done the most damage recently has been the rise of sites such as craigslist, where users can post their classified ads for free. That is taking a huge revenue stream from the newspapers and is the straw that is breaking the camel’s back for many papers at the moment.
Taking all this into account, can organizations like the Dothan Eagle be saved? Well…yes and no. Yes, the organizations can be saved but most likely the newspaper will have to go. The organization will have to come to grips with reality and admit that the paper only has a limited amount of profitable life left. At some point they will have to jettison the paper or risk going down with it.
The Eagle must also look to news sites that are growing. Not that they have to copy another site verbatim, they just need to emulate what others have proven will work in the digital age and at the same time find their own niche.
I don’t claim to be an expert in reporting the news, but here are a few ideas I think the Eagle should consider adopting:
- Don’t delete any news article on the website, ever! Those old articles bring traffic via search engines and from other websites that link to them. The more viewers you have the more impressions your advertisers get. The more impressions your advertisers get, the more money you make. Any questions?
- Make sure your most viewed, most commented, and most e-mailed articles are noted prominently on the site’s homepage. This will generate even more views, comments, and e-mails for those articles. The more those articles are viewed, the more impressions your advertisers get. The more impressions you advertisers get, the more money you make.
- Replace the text version of the real estate transfers with mapped versions. People love maps. As an aside: I’ve approached a few real estate companies about helping them get something like that this set up, but to no avail. I guess that means I’ll have to write a post about real estate companies one day.
- Replace the text versions of the divorce records with mapped versions. People love maps. My wife would sign on every day just to see who is getting a divorce in our neighborhood.
- Place links in the articles to things the articles are about. People love rich content on the web and links provide that. If you are writing about Bobby Bright, for instance, make his name a hyperlink that will open a new browser window and take the user to Bobby’s website. Note: I usually advise against giving someone an excuse to leave your site, especially if you are trying to capture leads or sell something. But in this case the only way the site will succeed is to provide quality content.
- When an article is written about an event that took place, put a small Google map on the page that shows where the event took place. Not everyone knows where the 500 block of Cumbie Road is located in Wicksburg, for instance.
- Encourage user feedback. Make it extremely easy for users to comment on articles. Make the user registration form as short as possible. When users make comments they will come back again and again to see what someone else had to say about their viewpoint. More page views = more ad impressions = more money.
- Go to where your readers are. Set up pages on all major social sites so more people are funneled to your content. Participate in local message boards.
- Create a section for user submitted news. This is content supplied by readers that the Eagle doesn’t have to work hard to produce or pay for.
- Pay close attention to analytic data. Remove pages or sections that don’t generate interest. Keep an eye on how your users navigate your site. Perform A/B split testing to discover better ways to encourage user engagement such as e-mail forwarding, commenting, etc.
I could probably go on, but I think this post is too long already. And in case you didn’t notice, all but three of those suggestions have to do with providing better content. You see, the root of all the problems with newspaper companies isn’t revenue. In fact, I’ll be so bold as to say that newspaper companies don’t have a revenue problem, they have a content problem. If they provide better content then their revenue situation should correct itself.
I’d love to hear what everyone else thinks. Am I off base or do you see the Eagle being in business in 2019?