Most of you know me from my role as a newspaper consultant and “expert” over the past 30 years. You might be surprised to know that I’m also quite involved in the book industry, where my company represents and publishes books for more than 20 best-selling authors. We’ve published approximately 100 books over the past six years.

Today, I had an almost surreal experience as I somehow gathered 14 of our authors, who came from every corner of the U.S., together to sign books for readers at an international event in Charlotte, North Carolina.

As I look at the photo taken earlier today of our group, which has actually become more of a big family, I can’t help but wonder how I became associated with such a talented group of individuals. In retrospect, I realize that a lot of it has to do with making sure to deal with good people who are really smart. One bad author or one bad book could ruin our reputation, and my whole publishing company could come tumbling down.

In my years as a newspaper “expert,” I’ve had quite a few software, hardware, and other companies offer to pay me to promote their products or let them attach my name to their products. I never did because I never wanted anyone to think there was an ulterior motive to the information I provided or the products I recommended.

When Matt Larson, CEO of Our-Hometown, contacted me a couple of years ago about paying for his customers to attend my webinars, he came with no ulterior motive. He asked nothing of me but to allow his customers to attend, and I would bill him directly for their registration fees. There was no product endorsement attached or any other request from Matt. He just wanted to do something good for his customers.

Over time, I had several conversations with Matt and became a big fan of the services he provides his customers. Our-Hometown creates and hosts websites for a lot of newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. Publishers would often mention to me how lucky they were to find Our-Hometown. I would usually hear two things: They made having a top-quality website possible for a community newspaper, and the price was much less than what they had been paying before.

No one asked me to write this column, and no one is paying me to write it. I just appreciate the work Matt and his staff do for community newspapers – going far beyond what’s expected – because of their genuine care and concern for our industry.

I appreciate that Matt and Our-Hometown send so many folks to my webinars, but I appreciate even more that Matt takes such good care of so many of my newspaper friends.

Now you know what I know.

The post Kevin Slimp: A word of appreciation to Our-Hometown first appeared on Our-Hometown.

South Jetty staff members hold plaques won by the newspaper in the Texas Gulf Coast and South Texas Press associations’ Better Newspaper Contests. Awards were presented at a joint conference of the two organizations in Galveston Thursday through Saturday, April 18-20. Awards were for writing, photography, advertising, design and more.

South Jetty editor Dan Parker, left, was named Photographer of the Year for STPA, and general manager Kelli Hartig, second from right, was elected to the STPA board of directors. Also pictured are, from Parker’s left, co-publishers Mary Henkel Judson and Murray Judson, reporter Kathryn Cargo, Hartig and advertising production chief Elizabeth Weaver. Not pictured are advertising director Keith Petrus, staff writer/ classified ad manager Vivian Carlson and distribution manager Paul Fain. Judging the contests were newspaper professionals from the North & East Texas Press Association and the National Newspaper Association. Work submitted for judging was published in 2023.

Read South Jetty wins at regional contests on the South Jetty website!

If you are an OHT customer we would like to hear about your accolades and announcements! Share the news with us at ops@our-hometown.com.

The post South Jetty Shines: Staff Wins Multiple Awards first appeared on Our-Hometown.

The following is a guest column from our friend and industry expert, Kevin Slimp!

Making bold predictions is easy. This year, I’ve paid close attention to forecasts by respected sportswriters in national print and online publications to see how my football bowl predictions match up against their predictions. Some of you probably did the same thing.

I was surprised that I correctly predicted the winners of the bowl games at a much higher rate than any of the national sportswriters I followed. There are still a few games remaining in the bowl season, so that could change. For now, however, I’m feeling pretty good about myself.

I think it’s probably easier for someone like me to make predictions like these because I have nothing on the line. I can pick Missouri over Ohio State because I don’t feel any pressure to pick the favorite. Let’s face it: if I’m a respected sportswriter considering picking Ole Miss to beat Penn State, I know I will get hammered if my underdog pick loses. The safe bet is to choose the favorite. Then, if the favorite loses, most readers will understand because they picked the favorite, too.

I’ve made a career out of making good bets on the newspaper business. More times than not, my bets were not popular among “experts,” but I somehow kept picking the right team.

My first bet was long ago, in the early 1990s. I was betting against big players like Adobe and others who were adamant that designing a newspaper in one location and then magically sending it to another location to print using a new technology called a PDF file was a crazy idea. For a lot of reasons, the idea couldn’t work. Thankfully, a few folks placed their bet on my idea, and before long, the PDF file was the standard for printing newspapers and everything else. A few years later, the CEO of Adobe wrote to me, thanking me for possibly saving his company.

Fast-forward a few years, and I found myself once again making unpopular wagers. Most noted “experts” were convinced the printed newspaper was within just a few years of extinction. Even newspaper experts predicted the quick end of the printed word. Many leading journalism schools led the way by proclaiming the newspaper business “dead.” I kept hearing the year 2018 knocked about as the year the final newspaper would turn off its press. I wonder when someone will print a tee shirt with “Kevin was right!” on the back.

A quick Google search just now – searching for headlines from the past week – uncovers a windfall of gloomy predictions, including:

Inroads: The Canadian Journal of Opinion
The Near-Death of Local News

Politico
No Stopping the Newspaper Death Spiral

Whenever I read headlines similar to those, I remember other headlines like this one from 2006:

The Economist
Who Killed the Newspaper?

I’m also reminded of this one from 2009:

Business Insider
The Year the Newspaper Died

Or this one from 2011:

The Guardian
British Newspaper to Die in 2019

Many of you are familiar with the Newspaper Extinction Timeline by Australian-based futurist Ross Dawson. I found the timeline from 2010, predicting that newspapers in the United States would be “insignificant” by 2017. According to the timeline, most other nations’ papers wouldn’t face extinction for another decade or two.

I’m not picking on Dawson or anyone else. Dawson has since backtracked on the extinction date in the U.S. and admitted it was much too early. That doesn’t, however, undo the damage that was done to newspapers who had to explain to their readers and advertisers that they weren’t dying.

Like football bowl predictions, it’s safer to agree with popular opinion than to make unpopular predictions. I suspect it also leads to more invitations to speak at conferences. I get it.

By now, you might be wondering if I will ever get to my point. Get ready. It’s coming now: It is the beginning of a new year. What if we agreed to pay less attention to experts declaring our demise and spend a little more time appreciating what we’ve created and investing in growing our newspapers?

I hear from publishers daily who are investing in the future of their newspapers. They’re investing in staff training, new designs, hardware & software, and marketing. They have not only not given up; they are investing in their futures.

If I were an expert who had predicted the death of newspapers a dozen years ago, I’d probably be saying something like, “I didn’t hit the exact date, but I was right. I was just a few years off.”

That seems like the safest way to keep getting speaking gigs. Thankfully, I’m not too concerned about that these days. So let me suggest you give my idea some consideration. It just might make for a much more enjoyable – as well as profitable – 2024.

The post Kevin Slimp: “Beginning 2024 Right” first appeared on Our-Hometown.

The following column was contributed by our friend and industry expert, Kevin Slimp!

Yesterday, I returned from a trip to New York, where I spoke at the New York Press Association (NYPA) Convention for two days. I was reminded that I spoke at my first NYPA convention 28 years ago. Time flies.

Unlike many conventions where I’m the only speaker – or maybe one of two – NYPA has four to six speakers making presentations during each time slot. That means not everyone makes it to one of my sessions during the convention. As a result, I often found myself involved in conversations with publishers and others who came by my room immediately after a session or approached me during a “meet and greet” to ask for my advice.

The conversations generally begin with something like, “I wasn’t able to attend any of your sessions,” as if the questioner felt the need to apologize. I tried to assure them that was fine. After all, you can’t be everywhere at once. I met with one publisher who runs a one-person shop. He writes the stories, sells the ads, designs the paper, and pays the bills. I met others who owned several large dailies and weeklies in the state.

Here are some of the things we discussed:

The publisher running a newspaper alone brought his paper and asked me to look it over, hoping I could offer a little advice. I suggested he use a different body font (I believe he was using Minion) and a larger text size. I recommended he use a 10-point Nimrod. I assured him if that was the only change he made, readers would be writing to praise him after the first issue. I also suggested he use smaller borders around photos. Probably a .3 or .4 frame rather than a 1-point border. I knew he had his hands full getting a paper out by himself. I figured that was enough advice for one day.

I met with another publisher – who attended my classes with her page designer – for about 30 minutes, and we looked over her newspaper. We discussed several potential improvements. The most important, in my opinion, was to put the flag on top of the front page to rest and create a new flag for her newspaper. Redesigning as many newspapers as I do, I’ve learned people can be protective of their flags, and rightly so. While newspapers should undergo a redesign every 5-7 years, the flag identifies the newspaper and shouldn’t be discarded at a whim. However, as was the case with this paper, sometimes a flag looks too outdated and can be a distraction – or even turn off – a reader. We also discussed the importance of creating a consistent look on each newspaper page. When our conversation ended, I felt confident they would go home after the conference to begin working on these changes.

Two owners of larger groups approached me separately. One asked about training for their papers. Where can they find training directed toward newspaper staff, and what training would be most helpful? Both asked about redesigns. One mentioned it had been a long time since her papers had gone through a redesign process. I suggested there’s never a wrong time to begin redesigning a newspaper. You don’t have to wait for an expert to guide the process, although that’s always helpful when possible. Any newspaper can gather the staff together and begin discussing the most urgent redesign issues and develop ways to start upgrading a publication.

Perhaps my favorite conversation while in New York was with Chip Rowe, editor of The Highlands Current (THC), which was named co-winner of the 2023 “Best Newspaper Award.” THC tied with The Times Union of Albany, winning 24 awards at the convention. I spent three days with Chip two years ago, holding focus groups and meeting with staff members of THC. Chip reminded me of the work we did while I was in his community, meeting with multiple focus groups and offering advice to his staff. He shared that he felt like those focus groups and minutes spent together contributed to the success THC is experiencing. I write a lot about focus groups in my columns and advise most clients to hold focus groups annually. It’s always nice to hear that the information garnered from such gatherings leads to improvements at newspapers.

After leading seven sessions over two days, my body reminded me I’m not as young as I was before COVID, or maybe I’m just out of practice standing all day. I returned home, however, as I always seem to from newspaper conferences, refreshed and inspired by the work being done by newspapers of all sizes. Today’s free press is just as important, if not more, than ever.

The post Questions posed by New York publishers first appeared on Our-Hometown.

The AddToAny icons are enabled on our websites by default, so you’ve likely seen these icons when browsing through your online content:

While these icons are pretty straight forward and certainly serve their purpose adequately, you may not be aware that you can customize this set of icons in a couple of ways to better suit your website and audience.

Selecting Your Social Networks

Importantly, AddToAny includes support for a large number of social networks and other platforms to which readers are able to share content to. Many of these options are lesser-known alternatives, but rest assured that all of your major social networks are supported:

Through the AddToAny settings page, you can add, remove and re-order the icons that you want to appear with each piece of content on your website.

By default, you will find Facebook, Twitter, Email, Messenger and SMS buttons enabled, along with a simple Copy Link option for manual sharing. Depending on your audience, it may make sense to enable additional options that are popular among your demographic, such as Reddit or LinkedIn.

Customizing Button Appearance

In addition to being able to modify which sharing icons are included, you can also customize the appearance of the buttons. After all, the default set of icons I’ve included above is quite vibrant with bright shades of blue & green, and may look out of place on some websites.

Fortunately AddToAny includes support for changing the size and color of the sharing icons! The following settings are available on the settings page:

The background and foreground options allow you to set custom colors for those parts of the icon.

If your site is using a primarily red color scheme, then blue and green icons probably don’t look very natural. You can set the background color to red, and the foreground color to white to achieve the following:

You can also adjust the size of the icons in pixels should you ever want to make the icons larger or smaller.

Miscellaneous Settings

There are a couple of other customization options that are pretty straight forward to further change how the AddToAny buttons appear on your site.

The Sharing Header allows you to add a short header message above the icons alerting the readers to their purpose.

The Universal Button adds an extra icon to the stack that, when clicked, allows the reader to choose from the entire allotment of supported social networks rather than just the few defaults you’ve activated.

There is also an option for Floating Icons, which anchor themselves to the side of the screen on desktop computers and scroll along with the reader, providing quick access to share the article.

If you’re interested in changing the look of the Social Sharing Icons on your website, feel free to reach out to our support team at any time by emailing ops@our-hometown.com! We’d be happy to help customize your icons.

The post Customize your sharing icons with AddToAny first appeared on Our-Hometown.

In an effort to demonstrate the true power and potential of the tool, we’ve asked ChatGPT itself to explain the impact its abilities will have on search engines and search engine optimization.

Please enjoy the blog post below generated entirely by ChatGPT!

Our-Hometown, Inc: Can you explain, from your own perspective, how ChatGPT aims to change the future of Search Engines and Search Engine Optimization?

Thanks for the info, ChatGPT!

As you can see, this technology has incredible potential for journalists and content creators, as well as those utilizing search engines to find the content they like to consume. 

If you want to learn more about ChatGPT and other AI language models and how they pertain to Search Engine Optimization, don’t miss our LIVE WEBINAR on SEO for Newspapers next Friday, March 17th, at 3PM EST. 

Fill out the short form below to Register NOW! (Free for Our-Hometown customers and members of our partnered Press Associations!)

The post How ChatGPT aims to improve search engines & SEO first appeared on Our-Hometown.

We’re excited to see the program expand to more states and Press Associations in 2023, continuing our goal of assisting every print newspaper in the country adapt to the ever-evolving digital landscape with a modern, mobile-friendly website and digital subscription options.

The Virginia Press Association

The Virginia Press Association was the first Press Association to partner with Our-Hometown to offer the Digital Initiative to publishers in Virginia.

The program has already allowed five publications to launch brand new websites equipped with all of the tools necessary for publishers to start earning digital subscription revenue.

Check out the following examples:

• The Virginia Star
• The Amelia Bulletin-Monitor
• The Courier-Record
• The Crewe-Burkeville Journal
• The Rappahannock Times

Last summer, we hosted a webinar interview with the Directors of the VPA to get their thoughts on the program and how it has helped their publishers:

The Illinois Press Association & Foundation

The Illinois Press Association & Foundation was happy to partner with Our-Hometown to launch the Digital Initiative in Illinois last summer. We were able to quickly equip several newspapers with new websites and revenue streams made possible by our platform.

Check out some of our publishers in Illinois:

• The Ford County Chronicle
• The Petersburg Observer & Menard County Review
• The Henry News-Republican
• The Southwest Messenger Press

Check out the videos below for some direct feedback from Will Brumleve of the Ford County Chronicle, or learn more about the program by watching the announcement webinar.

The Kansas Newspaper Foundation (KPA)

The Digital Initiative program expanded to Kansas last year when the Kansas Newspaper Foundation (the non-profit arm of the Kansas Press Association) partnered with Our-Hometown to provide newspaper publishers in Kansas access to the resources we provide.

The program was announced during a live webinar hosted by the Kansas Newspaper Foundation last summer.

A handful of publishers have expressed interest and have started the process of migrating to our platform to launch their new websites. We hope to have more information to share soon!

We’re excited to see the progress these publishers have made in the short-time since launching on our platform. We can’t wait to share more news on the expansion of the Digital Initiative, but for now, be sure to contact your local press association to ask if the program is available in your state — and let them know you’re interested!

The post The Digital Initiative in 2023 first appeared on Our-Hometown.

There’s no better time than the first of the year to take steps to improve your newspaper. I visit several newspapers each month, both online and in-person, offering advice on ways to increase readership and ad revenue. It’s becoming more common for me to work with everyone from the publisher to the front desk person when I visit a newspaper.

As we get set to begin 2023, here are some steps I often recommend when visiting with community papers:

Advertising Reps:

Create a master chart to track your calls to customers. Be sure to include columns for “in-person,” “phone,” “text,” and “email” calls. Look over your calls with your ad manager or publisher at the end of each week. I’ve found this is a straightforward method for increasing the number of calls, guaranteeing an increase in ad revenue. It is also an excellent reminder to make more in-person calls rather than relying too much on email or other contact methods.

Designers:

Keep abreast of Pantone’s list of popular colors. The list changes each year, and using the right color is a good way to increase the effectiveness of an ad. Also, keep an eye on popular font styles. Especially in ad design, these change about as often as clothing styles.

Editors:

Make it a habit to meet with reporters and designers to discuss ways to improve the content and design of your newspaper. Do you want to increase readership? The quickest way I know of is to improve the content and look of your newspaper.

Front Desk:

I don’t know why it surprises me that most newspapers I visit still have friendly faces welcoming folks into the building. I guess my surprise comes from the disappearance of helpers in department stores and other businesses. More often than not, the front desk staff is in charge of calls for classifieds and contacting customers with expired subscriptions. I used to wonder how I would fill an hour with the front desk staff at a newspaper, but it never fails that we spend more time than scheduled to discuss the layout of the classifieds, methods for increasing classified ad sales, retaining subscribers, and more. As we enter a new year, I suggest not overlooking the folks who take calls for classifieds and ensuring that your methods are as efficient as possible to increase classified sales and retain subscribers.

The Press Staff:

Most newspapers don’t have presses anymore, but I visit many papers that have presses. When I was younger, I noticed the folks who run presses were often wary when I showed up. I soon learned the words, “What can I do to make your job better?” led to conversations that improved the printing quality of their papers. Don’t overlook the press staff if you have a press at your paper. Take time to ask what you can do to make their work go more smoothly and improve the paper’s quality.

Publishers:

The most successful papers I’ve worked with in 2022 – and there have been a lot of them – have publishers that are “hands-on” in the daily operation of the newspaper. Years ago, a young editor called me panicked when she had been offered the publisher’s position at a nearby daily paper. “What does a publisher do?” she asked. “It’s simple,” I replied. “Either nothing…or everything.” Successful papers have publishers who are involved in the paper and the community.

Reporters:

Seasoned reporters know that the “hook” makes or breaks a story. Those first few words invite the reader into the story or tell them to look elsewhere. Be sure to hook your readers with the first paragraph of every story. It might seem like nothing happened in the school board meeting that excites the reader. If there’s not, skip the story and write something that will draw your readers.

Newspaper staffs come in all sizes. Some newspapers I visit have staff persons who oversee technology, accounting, and other areas. Other papers might have just three or four persons on staff. No matter the size of your team, my best advice is to involve everyone in finding ways to improve everything you do. You don’t always have to bring in an “expert” to make significant improvements at your paper.

The post Kevin Slimp: To-Do List for Newspapers as we Approach the New Year first appeared on Our-Hometown.

The MemberPress Gifting Add-On replaces our existing Gift Subscriptions feature, offering a more streamlined and user-friendly approach that includes a direct integration with the MemberPress software.

Setting up Gift Subscriptions in MemberPress is a breeze. Keep scrolling to find out how!

Enabling a Gift Subscription

Once the MemberPress Gifting Add-On has been enabled on your website, you’ll need to choose which Memberships you want to allow to be gifted.

The Gift Recipient will have their Gift Subscription delivered via e-mail, and they will need to create an account on the website in order to redeem their gift. For this reason, we recommend that you only allow Digital or Print + Digital Combo memberships to be gifted through MemberPress.

(If you want to create a standalone order form for Print Only Gift Subscriptions, just e-mail us at ops@our-hometown.com!)

In order to allow a Membership to be gifted, navigate to the Membership settings and check the box next to the option labeled, “Allow this membership to be gifted.”

Purchasing a Gift Subscription

Once you’ve updated the Membership settings for each of the different memberships that you intend to allow to be gifted, visitors will see a new option during checkout allowing them to designate their purchase as a gift:

Once the customer has submitted their order with the “Is this a gift?” box marked, they will be prompted to fill out a quick form with the gift recipient’s Name and Email Address, as well as a personalized message to include in the mail:

The Gift Recipient will receive the Gift Subscription via email at the address provided. The email will include the personalized message from the buyer, and will include a link where the recipient can redeem their gift.

The link will take them to the standard registration page for the membership that was gifted, but there will be a coupon code applied reducing the price to 0 so that the recipient doesn’t have to pay anything.

Monitoring Gift Subscriptions

One of the complaints about our older Gift Subscription system was that after a gift was purchased and delivered, it was difficult for both the purchaser as well as newspaper staff to track whether the recipient had ever actually redeemed the gift and started using the subscription.

The MemberPress Gifting Add-On solves that problem by allowing anybody who purchases a Gift Subscription to track the status directly from their My Account page. Members will see a new tab labeled “Gifts” once they have purchased a gift subscription, and it will include a list of all purchased gifts and whether or not they have been redeemed.

If a gift has not been redeemed, members have the option to send out the gift delivery email again, or they can copy the Gift URL and send it directly to the recipient over social media or other forms of direct messaging.

Newspaper staff can also monitor purchased and redeemed gifts from the Transactions tab, where there will be a new filter option to view “Gifts Purchased” or “Gifts Claimed.”

A few additional notes from the MemberPress team regarding Gift Subscriptions:

Note: If a membership is set up as a recurring subscription, the gift will only be valid for the first cycle, after which the subscription will expire. 

Note: A free membership cannot be gifted.

Note: All trial periods will be overridden when a user signs up for a gifted subscription. For example, if the membership terms are set to 7 free days, and $25 a month, the recipient will get a month’s worth of access instead of the 7 day trial.

That largely covers the basics of the new MemberPress Gifting Add-On that is now available to Our-Hometown customers just in time for this holiday season.

If you’re interested in setting up Digital Gift Subscriptions on your website, just e-mail our support team at ops@our-hometown.com and let us know!

The post New Gift Subscriptions Add-On for MemberPress available now first appeared on Our-Hometown.

Previously, the widget was limited to a more immediate timeframe and only able to display the most popular articles of the past week, two weeks, one month, three months, or six months.

Check out an example of the Top Stories widget in action on SignalsAZ below, along with a screenshot of the new widget settings!

As we approach the end of the year, this widget will offer publishers a simple and painless way to showcase their most popular articles of 2022 by selecting the “past year” option on the widget!

If you have any suggestions for further improvement of our Top Stories/Trending Stories widget, we welcome your feedback! Please send an email to our support team with your suggestion or idea!

The post Top Stories widget now includes “Past Year” option first appeared on Our-Hometown.