Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Here are some photos of the snow in our yard.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Crazy Weather here in Lynnwood
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Here are some photos of the snow in our yard.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Jon Stewart on the Newspaper Businesses
As usual, Jon Stewart has some great insight on the topic of my recent blog postings.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Vashon Island, Baby!
This week I am on beautiful Vashon Island working at the Vashon Beachcomber Newspaper.
It is a great community publication that comes out every Wednesday, delivered to around 4,000 homes on the island. The website already has a good amount of traffic, and I expect with the many features we are planning on rolling out it will really become a community hub.
I am staying at a fine establishment called Giraffe. They have a guest suite above their retail fair-trade store. It's quite cozy.
Vashon Island is also a very coffee-friendly community. I've been introduced to the French Press method of coffee brewing. It makes some tasty coffee.
Vashon Coffee Company is most famous on the island as far as coffee goes. I had the pleasure of visiting their facility and getting a sample of their blend. They have a very unique coffee shop on the Island.
State of the Economy hits Newspapers
So, as if newspapers in general hadn't been beaten up enough in the past few years, the full impact of the recession we are currently in is starting to hit the newspaper business hard.
For many of these newspaper companies (I'm talking about corporations that have traditional daily newspapers as 90% or more of their portfolios), things were already bad. Circulation numbers had been falling for years. The past 5-10 years had generally been bad news for advertising revenue. In particular, classified categories (automotive, private party, etc). But for papers that were doing it ok, retail, in particular, local reatil, was still holding its own.
But overall, things were still not good. Papers were having to make some cuts, borrow some money, take some lossses. Hoping things would get better. . hoping that craigslist would go away. . . . waiting for the auto dealers to start buying full page ads again. You catch the drift.
Anyways, guess what is just what this already delicate situation? You guessed it, a recession. Starting with the sudden and drastic decline of the real estate market. Fortunately for newspapers, Real Estate had been one category that had continued to be relatively strong. Although there were lots of dollars migrating to online offerings, local agents and builders were still spending money in newspapers, which was one bright spot in the often gloomy classified outlook.
Well, goodbye Real Estate advertising. Some papers went from strong weekly Real estate offerings to no Real Estate section at all.
But of course we can't stop at real estate. As the recession seemingly hits all angles the economy, advertising dollars seem to be increasingly fleeting. Because unfortunately, as silly as we all know it is, advertising is the first thing to go. Our small business owners are concerned with paying their employees, the electric bill, the lease.
This leads us to present day. The Tribune Company (Chicago) yesterday announced its filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Unfortunately, I think this will be just one of many huge shake ups for similarly positioned newspaper companies. For many of these companies suffering tough times already, the current recession could be the nail in their coffin.
Those that will survive will be forced to drastically alter the way they do businesses.
For many of these newspaper companies (I'm talking about corporations that have traditional daily newspapers as 90% or more of their portfolios), things were already bad. Circulation numbers had been falling for years. The past 5-10 years had generally been bad news for advertising revenue. In particular, classified categories (automotive, private party, etc). But for papers that were doing it ok, retail, in particular, local reatil, was still holding its own.
But overall, things were still not good. Papers were having to make some cuts, borrow some money, take some lossses. Hoping things would get better. . hoping that craigslist would go away. . . . waiting for the auto dealers to start buying full page ads again. You catch the drift.
Anyways, guess what is just what this already delicate situation? You guessed it, a recession. Starting with the sudden and drastic decline of the real estate market. Fortunately for newspapers, Real Estate had been one category that had continued to be relatively strong. Although there were lots of dollars migrating to online offerings, local agents and builders were still spending money in newspapers, which was one bright spot in the often gloomy classified outlook.
Well, goodbye Real Estate advertising. Some papers went from strong weekly Real estate offerings to no Real Estate section at all.
But of course we can't stop at real estate. As the recession seemingly hits all angles the economy, advertising dollars seem to be increasingly fleeting. Because unfortunately, as silly as we all know it is, advertising is the first thing to go. Our small business owners are concerned with paying their employees, the electric bill, the lease.
This leads us to present day. The Tribune Company (Chicago) yesterday announced its filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Unfortunately, I think this will be just one of many huge shake ups for similarly positioned newspaper companies. For many of these companies suffering tough times already, the current recession could be the nail in their coffin.
Those that will survive will be forced to drastically alter the way they do businesses.
Woot off today
In case you didn't know. . . head over to Woot.com for some good deals. I've only purchased one thing so far. Not the best woot-off I've ever seen. But still some great deals, especially if you don't have a Roomba, Dyson, Computer, or Camera.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
News sites using Video
Video is an important tool for any news site in today's competitive online landscape.
But newspapers don't do video, you say. While some newspapers across the country have made good use of video on their websites, many are not using it at all. Many others are using it infrequently or ineffectively.
The best way to think of video is that it is just one more tool to help tell a story. Imagine newspapers before photos were used. Just stories, right? Then photos came along and newspapers probably had a difficult time at first figuring out how to use this new technology. Now of course photos are a natural in all news reporting, and without them, something would just be missing.
Video needs to be thought of in the same way. Five or ten years from now, it would seem silly to have a news website with no videos on it.
How is video best used? Well, it should be used to enhance the stories that newspapers are already telling.
But newspapers don't do video, you say. While some newspapers across the country have made good use of video on their websites, many are not using it at all. Many others are using it infrequently or ineffectively.
The best way to think of video is that it is just one more tool to help tell a story. Imagine newspapers before photos were used. Just stories, right? Then photos came along and newspapers probably had a difficult time at first figuring out how to use this new technology. Now of course photos are a natural in all news reporting, and without them, something would just be missing.
Video needs to be thought of in the same way. Five or ten years from now, it would seem silly to have a news website with no videos on it.
How is video best used? Well, it should be used to enhance the stories that newspapers are already telling.
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