Newspaper Website - Design and Convergence

Newspaper websites designs are defined by 2 key features - Order and Regularity (of content updates)

Since most of the newspaper websites are dead ringer of their offline version..it comes with a baggage of having the same design/mastheads, editorial, colour schema, culture, language, etc. Order is built into the website design to replicate the above features..Thus like an actual newspaper content spread, you have sections built - Home page, International section, National section, Sports section, etc... Added to it, large quantity of content updates on a regular - if not realtime basis... Looking at the above points, it would seem, on the face of it, that technological impact on newspaper website design would be minimal.

While it is challenging to re-look at design of newspaper website; with the technological advancement and the change in the user behaviour of consuming content online, there are things that can be done without compromising on the publication’s overall vision and user experience.

From business point of view - a newspaper website objectives would be garnering more readers and making them spend more time on their website; and monetisation of the website...

A) Getting more readers:

There would be 3 types of people who would visit a newspaper website:

Existing readers of the print version
Online only readers, and
New readers who are seeking a particular information

For the readers who fall in the first category - it would generally be to get an update on the news they have read earlier in the day (or) to read a news that they had skipped reading earlier. Customization of access to news is the best way to keep these readers coming back. By customization, an user can choose which news he wants to follow, the topics of interest.

For online only readers, customization along-with intuitive design would be ideal. By intuitive design, it would also mean that tracking his news reading habits and highlighting similar news that would be of interest to him/her. For example, if at the time of customization, the user does not choose - Entertainment section... but tracking their web usage, we understand that they have been visiting the entertainment section frequently, then it website should be in a position to analyze the usage pattern and maybe display more entertainment related news in some specific section like “News that might interest you”

New readers are predominantly driven either through search engine results or through getting friends update... Hence the website should have high search and social quotient embedded into the design of the page. Social quotient need not just limit to SNS sharing buttons, but also activity updates on the readers social profile (could have privacy issues hence need to tread carefully)

B) Spending more time on the website

Keeping the readers engaged is a hard task. As users gets to do more and more activities online, the points of exit increases. One simple activity to keep the users on the website is to offer more things for them to do...but this could dilute the core purpose of the newspaper website and soon the website would look like a general interest website. The other thing that can be done is media convergence. Say for example, the newspaper website also offers an online radio that would run in the background. In  an non-intrusive way, the user is also listening to music & or a sports commentary while reading the news. This is replicating the offline scenario of a radio playing in the backdrop while you continue with your routine. Also adding on video format of the news could be helpful in keeping the user engaged on the page

C) Monetisation

While the traditional ways of monetisation is key - advertisement and in some instances subscription... It would be a good idea for the newspaper to explore other avenues of monetisation. Maybe, having ad spots on the online radio mentioned above could be one source, packaging subscription in smaller packages - like 2 bucks for 100 ads free news articles. Since, getting readers to the website is also a type of promotion, sharing revenue with the existing user to bring more readers on the website would be a great way of getting new readers and hence more ad revenue. The model could work similar to Google Adsense... but more in terms of bringing readers through the links that the user would share on his/her social network.

Change is something that newspaper folks are averse to. But the very nature of technology is being adoptive and dynamic...and if any newspaper want to survive for the next 100 years; they need to embrace it and implement it


Image courtesy: http://tiacampbellg324.wordpress.com/2012/02/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Best Indian websites - 2007

Image
Hi, This was an article that appeared in PC World India Nice stuff Santosh ------------------------------------ Technology will dominate the future and the web is clearly one of its greatest manifestations. Forget the dotcom bust that many sceptics will remind you of The Web is going to become our way of life in India . There are enough statistics to point to the rapid growth of the Internet in India – number of connections, e-mail accounts, transaction revenue – all very convincing. But who needs statistics? Just a quick look around will reveal how web is fast replacing traditional brick-n-mortar operations. Be it picking new stocks or new friends, finding a job or a bride, there’s a web way to things that is proving far more effective, and rewarding. Websites today are built with robust understanding of users and available technology. They purposefully pursue fulfilling the needs of their audience but are grounded in strong business reality. And hence, unlike the fairy-tail era gone
Read more

10 Reasons Marketing Strategy should include the Internet

It may seem surprising but many companies, big and small, have yet to develop a rational Internet marketing strategy. Considering the Internet has now been used effectively by marketers since 1994, any organization without a strategy to utilize the Internet for marketing is probably making a big mistake. For any organization that still does not have a meaningful Internet marketing effort we offer 10 Reasons why you should. 1. The Go-To Place for Information Possibly the most important reason why companies need to have an active Internet marketing strategy is because of the transformation that has occurred in how customers seek information. While customers still visit stores, talk to sales representatives, look through magazines, and talk to friends to gather product information, an ever-increasing number of customers turn to the Internet as their primary knowledge source. In particular, they use search engines as their principle portal of knowledge as search sites have become the leadi
Read more

The Disappearance of Gully Cricket: A Reflection on Changing Times

Image
Gully cricket , once an integral part of Indian childhood, is now a fading memory. In the 80’s and early 90s, the streets were more than mere public spaces; they were stages for dreams. A bat, a ball, and a group of eager kids were all that was needed. Stumps were supported by stones, or stones themselves became stumps, or it could be a lamppost, or 3 lines drawn with a piece of brick on a compound wall. If nothing, it would be two hawai chappals that acts as wickets. A twig could be a stand-in for a second bat, and everyone played with a shared spirit. The road in front of anyone's house was open to all—a place where games, conversations, and sometimes even family functions spilled over. The essence of gully cricket was its simplicity and collectiveness. No one really owned anything individually. If one kid had a bat, it became everyone’s bat. The game was not defined by boundaries of ownership or the idea of personal space. Rather, it thrived on the joy of shared resources and ex
Read more