Good data is worth more than a thousand words

Versión en español aquí.

An in-depth analysis of the most popular contents on your website can produce some  surprises and yield some financial benefits.

I was recently advising the editor of a small newspaper whose website was not generating the desired traffic. We dug into the content section of Google Analytics to see what was popular with users. The consistent favorite was the town’s bus schedules.

How much to charge advertisers? As much as possible

Versión en español aquí.

Many digital news entrepreneurs have no idea how much to charge for the advertising on their sites.

To set a fair price you have to balance the interests of both the publisher and the advertiser. A fair price should represent the full value of service to the advertiser as well as a just reward for the media outlet.

Generally, Google’s Adsense will not give a publisher a decent price that reflects the content’s value. Adsense is an auction that favors the buyer of advertising since the supply of potential ad space is virtually unlimited.

Total users and pageviews are misleading measures of web traffic

Versión en español aquí.

When web entrepreneurs take a deeper look at their traffic in Google Analytics, they might be surprised and alarmed to learn that most of the visits probably last no more than an eyeblink, 10 seconds or less.

(This is not the bounce rate, but we will get to that in a minute.)

The dirty little secret among web publishers is that visitors to most websites have little or no interest in the content and are either browsing or lost. They arrive through referrals or search engines, don´t like what they see and leave.

Too many journalists indifferent to business side

Versión en español aquí.

Michael Meyer has studied some 150 digital news organizations and worries that too many of them neglect and even avoid the business side.

"Someone has to run the business," he said in a column written for StreetFightingMag.com.

Publisher Q: Never give up, never surrender

Versión en español aquí.

The new digital media entrepreneurs who are struggling to survive can take some inspiration from the story of Q*,  an independent newspaper publisher in a country of the former Soviet Union. (* Name withheld to protect him from further government repression.)

In 1990, Q was among many journalists who founded newspapers independent of the official media. The scent of freedom was in the air after the liberation from the Soviet Union.But as time went on these newspapers also became uncomfortable with the successor government, which despite providing certain freedoms remained an authoritarian regime.

Media-sponsored events generate revenue, buzz

Versión en español aquí.

Digital entrepreneurs should take notice of the success that the online publication Texas Tribune has been having with special events.


The Tribune’s events have generated significant revenue as well as editorial content and market buzz, according to the Nieman Journalism Lab.

Editorial independence drives business of journalism on Internet

Versión en español aquí.
"Independent journalists on the Internet are able to rid themselves of the powers, practices and ideas that have defined the traditional press," said Guillermo Culell, General Manager for Regional Media in the Mercurio Group, Chile, in a talk with the participants in the Laboratory of Digital Journalism Ventures.
Culell has an abundance of experience in digital media for various Latin American news organizations and offered sensible yet profound advice. He argued that digital media can create a new model of "independent business" on the Internet. Their chief business advantage is that they have independence from:

• Influence of corporate and political powers
• Old habits and vices of journalism, such as stiff, formal language
• Standard political agendas of the powers that be
• Aversion to mistakes and risk-taking