Regional Internet media: Part 1. Where to start

In 2007, my friend and I decided to open our online newspaper. Neither he nor I were journalists, they never worked in the media, we didn’t have any specific experience, so everything was done by trial and error.

Based on my own experience, the mistakes made and the solutions found, I will try to talk about how to make a regional media, what should be the regional media, about the market of regional Internet advertising and so on. But it, of course, if today's post will interest someone in the slightest degree.

Just want to say that our path is one of many, probably you can act differently and ... well, in general, you understand.

I will not give a link to the site itself (at least for now), because there is no special need for this, I will tell only a little about the current state of affairs.
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At the time of opening the site in the region (1.5 million inhabitants, 450 thousand in the regional center) there were two online media (hereinafter referred to as “the media”) that deserved attention and were popular. Now we ... did not overtake any of them in attendance. One was approached and overtook him several times by the end of the month, but the other, as it was going ahead of everyone, is going. Now the proportion of attendance between us somewhere 7: 3: 2 . The daily number of hosts is about 2 thousand.

It may seem that this is not so much, but there are two key points that allow me to give advice and consider our experience successful:
1. They really know about the site, they visit it, give links on the Internet (even from the Habraeffect, somehow they got it), offline reprints from it skip in various places.
2. The site has advertising and it brings income.

By the way, let marketers forgive me, but the first one is automatically transformed into the second, unless, of course, advertisers are scared off by anything. At least, this impression is created.

So, you decided to create your own media on the Internet ...

Concept

My newspaper is ...

Continue the phrase. This will be the concept. You will put it in the “About the project” section, you will start your commercial offers with it, copy it to where the site description is required, and so on.

We missed the concept. Twice. The first time we wanted to make such a fashionable web 2.0 project that users themselves would fill. Fail. Not at all. Firstly, for a modern web 2.0 project a significant audience is needed, a kind of critical mass, and secondly, as it turned out, there are few people who want to write to the site. Now we have a monthly contest where everyone can send their article, as well as have the opportunity to add news to the site on their own, but these articles can be counted on fingers. In short, the web 2.0 did not roll. Half a year the site was idle.

Then we decided to position ourselves as a youth newspaper, but we did not succeed in any particular youth. Here, however, the departure from the concept was painless and as a result we came to a simple online newspaper with some interactive component. Later, any additions were added to the site, but more on that in another part.

So think carefully about whether you need an unusual concept. We have all three leading media have a banal concept of "newspaper about the life of the city / region" - this is the best option for a regional project.

civil position

If you are doing a project with which you want to change the world - this is commendable; do as your heart dictates. If you want to make money, then the choice of the position of the media will have to be rational. Initially it is better to take a neutral position. Less cheap "sensations", more interesting reports. The leader of the Russian electronic media, Gazeta.Ru, is fairly neutral.

Even if you do not like this or that organization and it seems to you that all its members are thieves and rogues, it is better not to pour mud on them. If you want justice, write the truth, which would be supported by reliable sources, otherwise you will have a bad reputation very quickly.

And, keep in mind, the majority of wealthy people have quite warm relations with the authorities, so they are unlikely to want to see their advertisements alongside provocative materials.

Technical implementation

If we reject the exotic options, such as media in a social network, we can talk about two options - a ready system or self-written. We have samopisnaya, someone works on WordPress. It is not important and it is hardly worth writing about it here. But in any case, you have to either be an adequate programmer, or simply know the chosen CMS well. This becomes especially important when you decide to add other services to the news on the site.

Need to be better than competitors

This is logical, because in order for a person to change his habit he must either find something qualitatively better, or the habit should get him very tired.

It is unlikely that immediately you will be able to become better than others due to the quality of news. Therefore, if you do not have the opportunity to hire professionals, then at first the emphasis should be placed not on filling the site, but on usability and functionality. When we started, we decided to make an electronic media that would differ from the competitors from the point of view of the site.

While the two leading media outlets worked (and are still working) in the Lenta.Ru format, with the main news, headings, etc ... We made the interface different - the main news goes just in chronological order. On one of the media there were no comments, on the other comments were on the forum, we also have tree-like comments like on Habré. Nobody else had tags as well. In short, although in fact we did not succeed in web 2.0, we adopted its attributes.

So if you want to make your own media, then focus on the sites of popular federal media and high-quality Internet projects.

An interesting moment. Almost all popular regional sites are hung with ads. You will not have advertising at first. This is also a significant plus for your newspaper in the eyes of readers. But, I just want to note, in advance, provide where you will put the advertisement. More on this in the following sections.

Organizational issues

Like any business, this one also requires at least some legal registration. PI, LLC and so on. If you have your own company, then there is no problem. And if not? In principle, in our experience I can say that until a certain point there will be no advertising, and therefore I would not recommend starting everything with the opening of an LLC. Work as a PI - the same, but it is subjective.

Alternatively, look for familiar businessmen who could enter into a contract for you for the first time. It is technically possible to work as a cash without registration (and legally it is impossible), but the more serious the advertiser, the less chance he will want to work that way. After registering a company, outsource your accounting to an accounting department - the first advertiser will most likely pay you back.

A media license can also be issued for an individual, but it is not necessary to issue it. Since In this area, everything is constantly changing, I will not agitate for or against the license, I can only say that it does not bother us.

At this point I will finish the first part, there will be more specifics.

The approximate content of the following parts, if they are:
Part 2. Filling the site with news. Where to get, how to write, about what to tell.
Part 3. Sale of advertising. Banners, custom articles, prices, possible customers.
Part 4. Promotion of the Internet newspaper. Getting started, development.
Part 5. What can be attached to the Internet newspaper. Add-ons, etc.