Okay.. Need a sounding board.

I'm looking at ways to build a bit of an extra income since I'll go into retirement in a couple more weeks.

Had kind of a "wild hair" idea this afternoon, and thought I'd toss it out here to see how fast it got shot down.. Or, maybe not.

In this small East TN county we have two newspapers. Both are weekly with one coming out on Thursday, the other on Friday. That pretty much means that anything that happens after Wednesday evening (press time,) doesn't see the light of day for another week.

I'm kicking around the idea of building an online newspaper, that can be updated daily. As it grows (hopefully) I'd add local business ads, non-
commercial want ads, etc.

With a background in radio/TV, I'm pretty sure I can lay the ground work to build a relationship with the local and county law officers, etc., which would keep me "in the know". Maybe a weekly "reward" offered for the top news tip of the week.

Talk among yourselves, then fire away.

Pete

PS: Just bought a new digital camera over the weekend, so I'd be able to add photos too.

Greetings Pete,

I live in Hardee County, Florida. Total population is less than 25,000. We have 1 newspaper. Same thing here. It comes out once a week, on Wednesday, after 4 pm. No online presence offered.

I've talked with the local paper owner about putting up an online paper, because news is always happening.

His response to me was quite amazing. "If people want daily news, they can buy the Times at any convenience store or watch the evening news".

He also believes that not many people in my county, because it is 90% agriculture, have time to go online and look up local news when all they have to do is watch television.

Now I'm not totally convinced he's right, but his comments do leave room to make one think.

If a county only has 1 or 2 newspapers, that only release news once a week, then what's that say about readership.

Is the demographics there? Do you have hard evidence that an online presence is needed? Do the locals really long for online news, at the local level?

I bring this to your attention, because I've gone through many of the startup websites in my county and unfortunately, no interest. Many sites still sitting dormant.

You are going need a good hook to reel in the readers.

Good luck
Woody Quiñones
The Promotional Guy

Pete, it may have possiblities BUT...and it's a big one...why are there TWO weeklies in your area publishing just one day apart? The answer to that question will definitely help your direction and planning or even feasibility decisions.

Here's why I'd look carefully before leaping. If the papers are divided along political lines (and this is often the case when two exist as you describe) you could be opening a can of worms or find yourself on the wrong side of the numbers game. It could also be a factional thing (anything from religion to family squabbles etc) so check it out.

You might like to try something a bit different than is currently offered, if there is potential based on your research. You might try a Thrifty Nickel type of publication or a twice weekly hot sheet of some sort.

Good luck, Pete.

Sandi Bowman

Hey Pete,

Like the others have said I'd take some time to see just what demand there is in your area for an online news site like this, but the good thing is you can test the waters rather inexpensively.

I've been gearing up to do something like this for a while so I've researched all sorts of software solutions and the best two I've found are the content management programs from www.bigmedium.com and Article Live from http://www.interspire.com/articlelive/

Either program can be had for under a few hundred bucks, or you could also use a free program like WordPress to get things going too.

For a great example of someone already doing this in a town in Georgia, take a look at www.cumminghome.com. He's using the Big Medium script and has customized it to suit his needs and it'll be obvious that's he's doing pretty well for himself.

Personally, while I think you can make money by selling advertising on a site like this, I think more money can be made by giving local businesses a free listing or webpage in an online business directory and then offering additional services to them like web design, email marketing or other marketing and business services.

Just my two cents, but i hope this helps!

Steve

Hi Pete,

Thought you'd be a Millionaire by now.

All the Best... Enjoy your Retirement years & Have Fun!

Woody's post on Small town newspapers is generally the way most Small Local publications Think and are...

But with Media backgrounds... And Many years in the Newspaper industry...

We both know that there are All kinds of Local opportunities just waiting to be Tapped...

My Suggestion would be Think and Focus on Niche groups of people & Interests...

Local Boomers... Seniors... Sports... Crime... Life... Business... Hobbies... Real Estate... Finance & Money... Women... Tweens... Golfers... Luxury... etc. etc. Publications well Nichified...

As Woody recommended Do some Good research...

Here's some good FREE Keyword tools to checkout those Local Keyword phrases and see what's Happening...
http://www.keywordworkshop.com/pages/Free-Tools-Listing
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Also Seriously consider Local Blogging...

Many in the Newspaper business Believe Blogs are the Future for the Local Newspaper...

Surprisingly, newspapers haven't Died yet as many Predicted years ago But that Day will come So an Online/Offline Blog & Hotsheet publication started Today could be a Great Future business investment...

Especially as the Green World keeps on Growing!

Here's an Excellent way to Brainstorm & Think Local and other newspaper Ideas...

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/barnako...news_blog.html
http://www.placeblogger.com/

http://www.topix.net/
Over 360,000 topics...
http://www.topix.net/dir

Read over 6000 newspapers online @ ThePaperboy.com, the web's leading online newspaper directory. Search by country, title, state or city...
http://www.thepaperboy.com/

That's my Story so Hopefully a few will Take some Action...

Phil

[Ankesh]

Pete - here is an idea for you.

Have a local version of digg.com

Where people can post their own news and links. And you can sell the ads.

No journalizing work. No writers needed. Less overhead for you.

But starting such a website will require some investment as you'll have to hire a programmer to get it done. Its not something that you'll be able to setup on your own.

(Maybe I can help you there. I know a programmer who is looking for freelance work and is from a developing country. Or you could also try rentacoder.com or some other site like that.)

[MMacGillivray]

Hi, Pete - I know of another rural county in PA where there are two local online newspapers (I think they are online versions of local publications). They do have an obituary section - but they do nothing whatsoever with marriages and births. I would think this would bring loads of out of area traffic to an online newspaper - especially if there were pics. I don't know if there is an online newspaper which offers this???

There are various options you can consider to manage the site - from Cornell's Athenagold to the ones mentioned - or even Joomla. It depends on your budget

While I think about it, the newspapers I mentioned above supplement their content by importing newsfeeds from online news services, so there is an element of current national and international news and business information. Current local weather as well - plus, no doubt, a good sports section.

You'll be busy

Best
Margaret

[GordonJ]

Hey Pete,

My weekly newspaper is heavy on LOCAL stories, lots of pics. The NEWS is stale, but they try to put a local spin on it somehow.

It too comes out on Friday with a close date of Thursday AM.

What I might be interested in would be a local UPDATE for the weekend...cancellations, are ball games rained out? ...

Is there an event going on that the newspaper didn't cover very well?

AND...on Monday or Tuesday, I'd like to see a capsule report...that would actually beat the weekly paper.
Especially my local sports teams. In the weekly I'll see one or two pics of the ball game.

ONLINE, you could let people post pics of all the events.

It would have LOTS of pics...and as someone suggested, if you allow postings...sort of like a throwback to the eShowcase days...then Granny C in FL could download pics of Chip sliding into home plate.

With that being said Pete...how much of your retirement TIME are willing to spend on making something like this happen? And advertising revenue usually comes AFTER numbers...it might be hard to sell ads for a new untested idea.

With the weekly paper, advertisers KNOW how many eyeballs they get.

It all comes down to how you want to spend your time. MY opinion is that you have a lot more VALUE to offer with a lot less time involved with a higher profit potential as a ____________ (shoot me an email Pete [email protected]

And I 'll give you a retirement idea that will keep you fishing and hunting 6 days a week. OK?

Gordon Jay Alexander

Pete,

I lived in a small central Florida (Sebring, FL) town for a short while and i
remember I tended to read their newspaper i guess for the same reasons
i read big city ones--random violence, scandals, and real estate ads.

Here's a great newspaper makin' money makin' how to article I really liked.

Pay attention to the five letter word he says is now the key money making technique for any upstart newspaper.

As proof he gives an example of how another central Florida newspaper did it.

The article is geared more toward people with a journalistic bent so seems you'll probably like it.

I liked Ankesh's idea and you may get around the programming idea by starting a local wiki I believe there is open source code for it.

This will allow the community to update the NEWS so you won't have to.

Here's some other newspaper makin sites:Links to journalism resources like Poynter which I absolutely love.

Pete,

Thanks for asking.

A few things...

Thing # 1: Why retire?

Seems to me, when people retire they give up their current purpose and shortly perish. The youngest Aged people I've seen are those who do Not retire but keep on working. Such as 82 year youngs looking younger and having more energy and get up and go than 65 year olds who've retired.

I've never seen a bird die in mid flight.

Retirement is a cultural thing. Like The Island in The Island or whatever it was called in Logan's Run, you get the idea.

Thing # 2: Why ask us?

There is little to no cost. And when there is little to lose and much to gain by trying, then try.

So jump right in and give it a whirl. You just might find General is bunk but Niche is where it's at. Or you might find General is the bomb. Or the whole thing should be classified under FUBAR.

Just know, publications require committment. Long term. Do you have it?

Michael Ross