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newspapers

A More Realistic View of Publishing on the iPad?

by Mark Nagurski

We’ve looked at a variety of iPad demos recently and while the potential is exciting, the reality of what publishers produce may be a little more pedestrian.

Ducth paper De Telegraaf released the video above which suggests they plan to repurpose their website for the iPad. This makes some sense and if probably more realistic for many publishers in a time of restricted budgets and staff cuts.

That said, simply bringing video, audio and animated graphics into a magazine/newspaper format could make for an interesting product.

Personally, I think that there’s enormous potential for independent publishers and businesses to put these new tools to use – banishing staid catalogues and boring whitepapers.

What do you think?

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Journalists as Course Tutors: Ideas from the NY Times and Copyblogger

by Mark Nagurski

The New York Times has recently announced that a number of their journalists will be acting as teaching staff for the paper’s online adult education courses.

Readers can pay from $125 to study for a week under their favourite columnists – discussing topics like the changing lives of women or the finest Californian vintages.

I love this idea.

It’s a much-needed new revenue stream and effectively (and sympathetically) leverages the expertise of the columnists and the trust built by the brand.

The Time’s three year old Knowledge Network, also offers courses provided by educational partners like Stanford and NYU’s continuing studies departments – but this would appear to be the first time that high-profile journalists will be directly involved in delivering course content.

Here’s the pitch:

The New York Times Knowledge Network offers a wide range of distinctive adult and continuing education opportunities, including online courses, programs and Webcasts. Some of our programs are offered directly by The Times, while others are presented in collaboration with universities, colleges and other educational institutions.

Students in our online continuing education classes benefit from the expertise and experience provided by the faculty of renowned educational institutions, and from the full resources of The New York Times. Some courses are supplemented by Times articles and multimedia. Others have Times editors or reporters as guest speakers or instructors, sharing their timely insights and informed perspectives.

In areas ranging from art to business, writing to politics, journalism to science, online programs from The New York Times Knowledge Network are as rich and varied as The New York Times itself.

So Teaching Really Does Sellteaching sells logo

Which all sounds a little similar to the business model suggested in Teaching Sells, the online training course from Brian Clark of Copyblogger fame.

The Teaching Sells model suggests that while online publishers may struggle to earn a crust from advertising revenues alone, developing effective online training courses is a solid business model – especially if you can leverage profile and expertise (often of others).

The New York Times has both profile and access to expertise in abundance. But so do many other organisations – and not just in the media.

So …

Should more papers adopt this model?

How could your own business do the same to either (a) generate new revenues or (b) attract interest in your core products and services?

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Why Bitchiness Might Just Trump SEO

by Mark Nagurski

hdr3amBleats

The Mirror Group have unveiled 3am.co.uk – the online counterpart to the Mirror’s popular print gossip column.

As you’d expect, it’s full of celebrity pics and gossip and has a pretty similar tone and feel to sites like TMZ and Perez Hilton (not that I’ve ever visited these sites of course).

So will it work? Too early to tell but here are a few initial thoughts:

  • SEO Free Zone: From quotes given to PaidContent.co.uk, the Mirror Group don’t seem to be overly fussed on Google rankings and such – instead focusing on clearly defined content and growing a loyal readership. Great content and loyal readers make sense but you can still have both and be SEO savvy. Possibly missing a trick here.

  • Quality Content: As is usually the case, the content itself would seem to be the make or break issue. On the plus side, the print version of 3am is likely the most popular gossip column in the country – tasty nuggets of celeb juice mixed in with tonnes of paparazzi pics and a smidgeon of bitchiness. A strong, differentiated voice.

    On the negative side, can they be different enough to compete with the leaders in gossip-land like Perez and TMZ? There’s certainly a bit of a British slant to the content so far (good thing) but there’s not a lot to really separate the site out – as yet – from any number of other gossip blogs.

  • No Hook Up: No RSS feed (bad). No Twitter link (badder – although they do feed headlines to their Twitter account). A ‘register’ link that gives me no discernible reason to register or any idea of what happens when I do (baddest).

    They may not be targeting a particularly techy demographic but such simple steps should be a no brainer. Twitter in particular would seem a natural tool for promoting a little goss.

  • More than ads: One good sign is that the site intends to generate revenues from more than just advertising. Yes, they’ve got display ads but they would also appear to have a little affiliate deal with an online fashion retailer (promoted in a ‘dress like this celeb’ fashion) and of course, their own online bingo site.

No doubt the site will attract and audience and generate revenues. I’d also hazard a guess that the production costs are quite low (as much of the content can be repurposed from the print equivalent or shared with other areas of the paper).

Of course, the ‘ace up the sleeve’ is the ongoing promotion in one of the country’s biggest selling newspapers.

All in? A good effort with clearly defined content at its core. And a good way to kill 10 minutes – for purely research purposes of course.

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