When Jim Brady’s job changed from editor to business manager, his perspective on Internet ad placement changed.
“When I was editor, I wanted the content separate from ads (and) ads where nobody sees them,” he said. "Shockingly, advertisers are not interested in ads on the pages where nobody sees them."
Brady, president of digital strategy at Washington, D.C. based Allbritton Communications Co., made his remarks Jan. 30 before a crowd of about 100 journalists and developers in Toronto at Innovate News, a conference organized by the Canadian Association of Journalists.
Despite massive job cuts at major media organizations, Allbritton actually plans to hire about 50 editorial staff, Brady said, focusing on news affecting metropolitan Washington.
Brady, former online editor at the Washington Post, tried to address concerns that some online ads are too intrusive for users who just want to read editorial copy.
One of the major challenges in placing ads online, is it’s not like selling print ads.
“Because a lot of ads run in rotations, a lot of advertisers don't see the ads they bought,” he said, which is different from a client who could turn to page A5 and see his or her ad.
Innovate News featured speakers from the Toronto Star, Rogers Communications Inc., University of British Columbia, Shiny Agency, Idea Couture and the New York Times. The topics ranged from the effect of social networking on news sites, using Facebook to find information and analyzing Web readership.
Mike Sukmanowsky, manager of digital analytics at Rogers Digital Media, said journalists can influence three things:
*the growth of readership
*the loyalty of individual readers; and
*how readers engage with others.
“Every single incremental page view is more money,” Sukmanowsky said. If you write stories for an online publication, he says you should ask three questions:
*How often you are commented on?
*How often you are printed?
*How often your articles are sent to a friend?
There are several ways Web analytics teams measure performance, including:
*Unique visitors
*The total number of visitors
*Page views; and
*Impressions of ads served to visitors.
“Interaction metrics go much deeper than page views,” he said. “They can indicate rising stories before they come to fruition. Sometimes poor home page placement is the reason it doesn't get more attention.”
You can influence the performance metrics of your stories by changing what and how you write, he said. The words you use in the story will affects its performance in searches especially the words used in the headline and deck.
He added your “notoriety,” or the consistency of your writing, can motivate readers to look for your stories in the future.
Most online news sites are not developed well for breaking news, said Alan McLean
interface engineer at the New York Times. McLean compared his newspaper’s coverage of federal election campaigns in (mid-term) 2002, 2004 and 2008.
In the past, he said, “We weren't telling stories online in a meaningful way, were just using the Web as a delivery medium.”
But in the 2008 election campaign, the New York Times developed an election information page, with lots of information organized so readers could easily find what they want.
At Innovate News, speakers at a panel discussion noted people entering the work force now look for information differently.
“Young people want it the way they want it, where they want it, how they want it,” he said. “They won't appreciate it if you try to package it for them.”
He added his organization is working on ways of getting news to wireless users.
“Anyone who's not developing mobile strategies should probably not be in a senior leadership position at a media company.”
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