Matt Larson, President and CEO of Our-Hometown Web Publishing, met with Betsy Edwards, Executive Director of the Virginia Press Association (VPA), to prepare for an upcoming webinar aimed at other press associations. The discussion covered the planned presentation for the webinar, which will highlight the success of Virginia’s Digital Initiative in getting print newspapers online.

Key topics included the initiative’s results (increased page views and revenue), case studies, Our-Hometown’s turnkey solution, and the critical importance of newspapers having an online presence, particularly in the context of public notices and legislative advocacy. Betsy provided extensive context on the challenges faced by newspapers without websites, the strategic role of statewide public notice platforms, and the legislative efforts to protect public notice revenue in a rapidly digitizing media landscape. The meeting also touched upon the need for timely online news updates and the difficulties in pricing digital advertising and public notices.

Webinar Preparation & Agenda Overview

Matt Larson initiated the discussion by outlining the plan for an upcoming webinar aimed at other press associations. He proposed using a modified version of a previous presentation, emphasizing a free-form discussion format. He noted the current low registration (only Jen Madden from South Carolina) and suggested the initial meeting might be a more intimate conversation between Betsy and him.

Virginia’s Digital Initiative: Goals & Results

Matt detailed the proposed structure for the webinar, starting with introductions and an overview from Betsy on the Virginia Press Association’s (VPA) goals for the program. He would then present Our-Hometown’s results from the initiative, focusing on the six participating papers. The key metric for success would be comparing page views and revenue from the most recent six months against the first six months of their online presence.

Digital Success Stories: Career Record & Rappahannock Times

Matt highlighted specific success stories from the Virginia initiative. The Career Record was identified as a leader in digital revenue and subscribers, while the Rappahannock Times showed significant increases in page views. He suggested that these publishers could potentially join future meetings to share their experiences directly.

Expanding the Initiative: Illinois & Kansas Examples

To demonstrate the broader applicability and proven track record of the digital initiative, Matt introduced examples from other states. He mentioned the Illinois Press Association, which has launched four sites hosting five papers, and the Kansas initiative, featuring the Galena Sentinel Times. This context aims to show that the concept has been successfully implemented elsewhere.

Our-Hometown’s Turnkey Solution & Member Benefits

Matt elaborated on Our-Hometown’s offering, describing it as a “turnkey solution” for press association members. He explained that the initiative provides perpetual discounts for members, regardless of whether the association chooses to fund the websites directly. The presentation would cover essential website features, mention Our-Hometown’s ad network, and outline the simple process for getting started.

The Critical Need for Newspaper Websites

Betsy underscored the urgent problem of many newspapers, particularly in other states, lacking any online presence. She highlighted that some states have “dozens of papers with no websites,” emphasizing the critical need for initiatives like Our-Hometown’s to bring these publications into the digital age.

Public Notices: The Shift to Digital & Atlanta Journal-Constitution Case

Betsy discussed the evolving landscape of public notices, which are traditionally a significant revenue source for print newspapers. She noted that public notices are becoming increasingly important for online news sites as well. A major development cited was the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s decision to go entirely digital by December 31st, signaling a broader trend that necessitates online capabilities for all newspapers.

Virginia’s Public Notice Law & Statewide Website

Betsy explained Virginia’s proactive legislative efforts, specifically a 2019 bill that maintained public notices in newspapers while adding crucial digital requirements. This law mandates that newspapers with websites must advertise public notices from their landing page, ensure they are accessible in front of any paywall, and submit them to the VPA’s statewide public notice website.

The VPA Statewide Public Notice Platform

Betsy provided a detailed overview of the Virginia Press Association’s statewide public notice website, which utilizes a platform developed by the Illinois Press Association. She explained that this platform ensures public notices are available in three places: print, the individual newspaper’s website (in front of a paywall), and the statewide website, which is keyword searchable and free. This comprehensive approach helps counter arguments from legislators about public access to information.

Newspaper Sustainability & Legislative Influence

Betsy passionately argued that newspapers must embrace digital platforms for long-term sustainability. She stressed that without a website, newspapers cannot effectively compete in 2025, reach younger audiences, or maintain credibility with legislators. Being perceived as “stuck in another century” undermines their position, especially when advocating for the retention of public notice revenue.

Countering Legislative Challenges to Public Notices

Betsy recounted how the VPA successfully addressed long-standing complaints from local governments regarding the cost of public notices in print. By implementing the 2019 law that included online posting requirements and the statewide website, the VPA effectively “shut them up” on the issue, countering proposals to move public notices solely to local government websites, which are less accessible and less effective.

Debunking Public Notice Cost Myths

Betsy presented compelling data to debunk the myth that public notices are an exorbitant cost for local governments. Citing a 2016 survey, she showed that for a large city like Virginia Beach, the annual cost of public notices ($70,000) was negligible compared to its $2.6 billion budget, equating to only $0.58 per person. This data reinforces the value and affordability of keeping public notices in newspapers.

The Imperative of Timely Online News Updates

Betsy emphasized the critical need for newspapers, particularly weeklies, to update their news online between print editions. She argued that in today’s fast-paced news cycle, waiting for the next print run means losing out to other media, like TV websites, for breaking news. An online presence allows newspapers to provide immediate updates and remain the go-to source for local information.

Integrating Public Notices with the Digital Initiative

Matt considered the possibility of Our-Hometown assisting states with their public notice websites as part of the digital initiative. Betsy clarified that while many states already have statewide public notice platforms (often using the Illinois model), the more pressing need is to get the “hundreds and hundreds” of small newspapers online and ensure that Our-Hometown’s client papers are properly feeding their public notices into these existing statewide systems.

States with High Numbers of Offline Newspapers

Betsy identified several rural states, including Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Montana, as having a significant number of newspapers that still lack websites. She noted that these small papers, often with only 300-400 readers, mistakenly believe they cannot justify the cost of a website, despite the clear benefits for their survival and relevance.

Competition from Online-Only News Sites & Virginia’s Response

Betsy discussed the growing competition from new online-only, often nonprofit, news websites. She explained that Virginia proactively passed a law allowing these online-only sites to publish public notices, but with strict guardrails. These qualifications include requirements for circuit court audits, proof of local government coverage, and local reporters, preventing unqualified “bloggers” from scooping this revenue.

Strategic Legislative Engagement for Press Associations

Betsy provided insights into effective legislative strategy, emphasizing the importance of press associations working with legislators to draft favorable bills rather than simply opposing unfavorable ones. She highlighted the realities of part-time legislators, “horse-trading,” and the need to educate them on complex issues like public notices, ensuring the industry’s interests are protected.

Protecting Future Revenue: The Online-Only Transition

Betsy cited the example of Tom La Paz, a long-time weekly newspaper owner who transitioned to online-only during COVID and became a proponent of the new Virginia law. This case illustrates the future trend of newspapers moving entirely online, and the legislation ensures that these digital-first publications can retain public notice revenue, protecting the industry’s financial future.

Challenges in Pricing Digital Public Notices

Betsy pointed out a significant challenge: newspapers often struggle to price digital public notices effectively. Accustomed to print-based pricing models (e.g., by size), they tend to drastically undercharge for online notices (e.g., $100 online vs. $300 print). She warned that once a low price is set, it’s difficult to increase it, leading to lost revenue.

Conclusion: The Undeniable Value of Going Digital

Matt and Betsy concluded the discussion by reiterating their shared conviction that there is “no downside” and “only good” in newspapers establishing an online presence. They agreed that while there was once uncertainty, the industry has moved past questioning the necessity of digital, reinforcing the core message and urgency of Our-Hometown’s Digital Initiative.

The post Our-Hometown Digital Initiative: Pre-Webinar Discussion with Virginia Press Association first appeared on Our-Hometown.

Internal links may seem simple; however, they are an incredibly powerful tool for improving your website’s SEO. By effectively using links between pages on your site, you can enhance user experience, help search engines better understand your content, and distribute “link equity” to pages you want to rank higher.

What Are Internal Links?: A hyperlink that connects two pages within the same domain is an internal link. For example, if you have a blog post that links to your “About” page or product category pages, those are internal links. They allow users to naturally navigate through your site.

Benefits of Internal Links

Here are some of the major benefits of using internal links as part of your SEO strategy:

• Improves Crawlability: Internal links create a pathway for search engine crawlers to fully explore your site. By linking pages together, you ensure search engines can find and index all of your content. This helps maximize your pages’ chances of ranking.
• Enhances User Experience: Well-structured links allow visitors to easily navigate and find related content on your site. This improves engagement and time-on-site. Happy users equal better SEO!
• Distributes Equity: Internal links pass “link equity” between pages. Additionally, linking to a lower-ranking page from a higher-ranking page gives the lower-ranking page a boost. This allows you to strategically elevate target pages.
• Provides Context: Descriptive anchor text within these links gives search engines insight into how pages relate. This can improve relevance and rankings for keyword-focused content.

Let’s take a look at several case studies illustrating these benefits!

Case Studies

Uproer

In this case study from Uproer, sharing how their client, IFTTT, drove 33% Y/Y organic traffic growth by making internal linking a priority.

Here are several tactics pursued with IFTTT:

• Moving JavaScript internal links to server-side
• HTML Sitemaps
• Redesign pages to include internal links 
• Combine content plan with internal linking strategy
• Remove nofollow from important internal links

Extrapolate out the performance of your pages that are indexed (and, perhaps, have at least some crawlable internal links). Model out a few scenarios that illustrate the value to be gained given improvements to indexing.

Hypothetical: If we improve our indexing rate from 60% to 80%, we can expect a 15% lift in traffic which equates to $350,000 in annual conversion value.

Get Back to Basics with an HTML Sitemap

An HTML sitemap is typically a super feasible ask from a development perspective and can be an incredibly effective internal link asset.

The launch of IFTTT’s HTML sitemap delivered nearly a 3x increase in indexed pages in the span of two weeks.

Pursue a Content Plan that Prioritizes Internal Linking

Building internal links should be an ongoing SEO strategy, not just a one-time activity.

• Internal links help get content discovered and indexed by search engines by creating pathways for crawlers.
• They build topical authority on a site by connecting relevant pages around key subjects.
• Internal links improve keyword rankings by signaling importance between semantically related content.
• Regular internal linking helps search bots efficiently crawl and classify new content.
• High SEO potential pages should be prioritized for internal link building to maximize search performance.

While we can’t pretend to present a complete internal linking strategy based on these studies, the data does hint at some possible best practices and optimizations.

ZyppySEO

This study looked at 23 million internal links across 1,800 websites, representing approximately 520,000 individual URLs. This data was then compared to that from Google Search Console to determine search clicks for each URL.

Results

1. More internal links are associated with higher traffic, but only to a point.

2. Sitewide/navigation links seem to have a powerful effect, mostly on larger, high-authority sites. The effectiveness is less clear on small, lower-authority sites.
3. Anchor text variety is highly correlated with higher search traffic.

2. Naked URL anchors (links without anchor text, but just the url itself) don’t seem to hurt and, in fact, are associated with more traffic.
3. At least some exact match anchors are associated with significantly higher traffic.

Seer Interactive

The Internal Linking Test

Observation: Internal links can have a positive impact on keyword rankings.

Research: I found some information from doing a few searches, but nothing that made me feel completely confident that this MIGHT work.

Hypothesis #1: By adding internal links from various pages to key pages (product pages in this case) we can improve conversion rates, increase transactions and revenue, and lower the percentage of visitors not visiting a product page.

Hypothesis #2: If I can find 3 to 5 opportunities to internally link to a page with the exact same anchor text, rankings would improve by 1 to 3 positions (which would be a big win for the queries I was targeting and the difference between page 1 and page 2 of SERPS).

Client 1 (Hypothesis 1 test): Surfaced over 80 internal linking opportunities targeting to increasing internal links to product pages/product category pages within two hours. This didn’t require anything from our client except for the action of logging into their CMS and applying the link we provided to their existing content (no content changes were made).

Client 2 (Hypothesis 2 test): Surfaced over 30 internal linking opportunities to increase internal links to 10 different pages with 10 different anchor texts. This didn’t require anything from our client except for the action of logging into their CMS and applying the link we provided to their existing content (no content changes were made).

Results

Hypothesis 1 Results: This one is probably not surprising, but my hypothesis was correct. By adding 80+ internal links from various pages (FAQs, blogs, etc) and comparing two weeks pre- implementations vs. two weeks post-implementation we saw:

• +192% increase in CVR (conversion rate)
• +76% increase in transactions
• +116% increase in revenue
• +23% increase in page views to Product pages
• Lowered percentage of visitors not viewing product pages by 58%

All stats above are Organic-channel specific

Hypothesis 2 Results: Somewhat to my surprise, this hypothesis was also correct! By adding internal links with the same anchor text and comparing two weeks pre- implementations vs, two weeks post-implementation we saw:

• Keyword rankings improve by an average of 2.5 positions (anchor text are the keywords that were tracked)
• CVR (conversion rate) of pages that were being linked to improved by +7.5%
• Transactions on pages that were being linked to improved by +13%

All stats above are Organic-channel specific

Make internal linking a proactive tactic in your content strategy and you’ll realize SEO gains more quickly and efficiently!

Take a look our SEO features page learn more about how to use the OHT platform’s SEO features to learn more about optimizing your internal linking strategy!

References

• https://www.theseosprint.com/p/internal-linking-case-studies
• https://uproer.com/articles/ifttt-saas-case-study/
• https://zyppy.com/seo/internal-links/seo-study/
• https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/the-value-of-internal-links
• https://moz.com/learn/seo/internal-link

The post The Power of Internal Links for SEO first appeared on Our-Hometown.

The Recorder, a local newspaper covering three rural counties in western Virginia, was recently featured in a PBS NewsHour segment about the sustainability of local journalism. Additionally, The Recorder was singled out this year as one of 17 “Bright Spots” for local news outlets, as part of the 2023 “State of Local News Project” published by the Local News Initiative at Northeastern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

The report, in addition to providing detailed data on many downward trends in the publishing space, also highlights news outlets that are progressing towards stable, sustainable models while providing their communities with excellent journalism.

We are excited to see The Recorder recognized on both fronts as a newspaper that is managing to survive and even thrive in a difficult media landscape. To help support local papers like those highlighted as Bright Spots, Our-Hometown continues to develop partnerships through our Digital Initiative program to help local newspapers establish and maintain a web presence to reach new audiences.

In the PBS piece, Recorder owner, publisher and editor Anne Adams shared the keys to the newspaper’s success in continuing to publish for over 140 years. She said raising subscription rates and focusing on high quality journalism have been central to their strategy. As Adams recognizes, “Folks need to know what’s going on. They need to know their neighbors. They need to know what’s happening, how their money is being spent.” This driving mission to serve the local community is essential to The Recorder’s success.

Readers recognize and are willing to pay for the value provided by The Recorder’s news coverage and connection to the community. The paper has boldly raised its newsstand price over the years, despite industry pressures, charging $5 a copy where most local papers cost $1-2. They also nearly doubled their online subscription rate in 2017. Adams took a risk that readers would be loyal, and many stepped up during the pandemic with donations when the paper was close to shutting down. The Recorder has continued to break important local stories, like being the first to report on the proposed 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline that would have impacted the region.

At The Recorder, it’s all hands on deck to sustain operations, as Adams makes clear: “We’re not going to kill it off on my watch. We’ll do whatever we have to do.” This grit and adaptability is enabling the paper to continue informing its loyal readers.

At Our-Hometown, we love seeing customers like The Recorder stay afloat by relying on their communities. As more newspapers unfortunately disappear across the country, this offers some hope. The Recorder’s deep ties and responsive approach enables them to give residents what they need – connection and information to stay engaged citizens. We’re proud to support The Recorder’s online efforts Their success demonstrates how papers large and small can understand the changing landscape and pivot to sustain themselves over the long term.

The post OHT Customer The Recorder Shines Bright in New Report first appeared on Our-Hometown.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), publishers are finding themselves at a crossroads. The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (G-AI) systems has brought about a technological revolution, but with it comes a pressing question: How do we protect our creative content in this new digital age?

The Challenge: A recent white paper by the News-Media Alliance highlights a critical issue facing publishers today—the pervasive copying of expressive works by G-AI systems. These systems, which include large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, are trained on vast amounts of data, often without the consent or compensation of the original creators. This practice not only infringes on copyright laws but also threatens the very foundation of the publishing industry.

Understanding the Impact: The white paper underscores that G-AI systems are commercial products built on the backs of creative contributors. By using the creative output of publishers to train their models, G-AI developers are essentially bypassing the need for users to engage directly with the original sources. This diminishes web traffic and undermines the trust and brand value that publishers have cultivated over years.

Fair Use Fallacy

The argument that such use of copyrighted content is a fair use does not hold up under scrutiny. The white paper points out that the training of LLMs is not sufficiently transformative and is overwhelmingly commercial, which are key factors against the fair use defense. Moreover, the outputs of these models directly compete with the protected content, further impacting the market for the original works.

The Fair Use Fallacy in the AI Ecosystem: A Closer Look

In the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence, the use of copyrighted material to train generative AI systems has sparked a contentious debate over the boundaries of fair use. The News-Media Alliance (N-MA) has taken a firm stance on this issue, challenging the notion that such practices fall within the scope of fair use—a defense often cited by AI developers.

Understanding Fair Use: Fair use is a legal doctrine intended to balance the interests of copyright holders with the public’s right to use works in ways that contribute to education, commentary, criticism, or scholarship. It is not a blanket permission slip for all forms of use, especially when such use could harm the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The Four Factors of Fair Use: The fair use defense is traditionally anchored in four factors:

1. The Purpose and Character of the Use:
   • AI developers argue that the use of copyrighted content is transformative. However, the N-MA asserts that training AI models is not transformative in nature. The purpose of these models is commercial, and the character of the use does not add new expression, meaning, or message to the original copyrighted works.
2. The Nature of the Copyrighted Work:
   • Copyrighted works of a factual nature are more likely to be considered fair use when used appropriately. However, news articles and other media content often contain creative and subjective elements, making them less likely to fall under fair use when used in AI training.
3. The Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Used:
   • AI systems require large volumes of data to learn and generate outputs. The substantiality of the content used from individual publishers can be significant, and in many cases, entire articles or works are copied verbatim. This extensive use exceeds what would typically be considered fair use.
4. The Effect of the Use on the Potential Market:
   • Perhaps the most critical factor is the impact on the market. The N-MA highlights that AI-generated content directly competes with the original works, potentially cannibalizing the market and reducing the incentive for publishers to invest in creating new content.

The Economic Argument: The N-MA emphasizes that the economic impact of AI on publishers is profound. By using copyrighted material to train AI without compensation, developers are benefiting from the investment of publishers in journalism and content creation without contributing to the costs. This undermines the economic viability of the publishing industry and threatens the livelihood of those who create content.

The Need for a New Understanding: The N-MA’s position is that the current interpretation of fair use by some AI developers is flawed and does not consider the full economic and creative impact on the publishing industry. They advocate for a reevaluation of fair use in the context of AI and a more balanced approach that recognizes the rights and contributions of all parties involved.

Conclusion: The fair use fallacy is a critical issue at the intersection of AI and copyright law. As AI continues to advance, it is imperative that the publishing industry, legal experts, and policymakers work together to ensure that fair use is applied in a manner that is just, equitable, and sustainable for the future of content creation.

A Call to Action

As publishers, it’s imperative to understand the legal and economic implications of G-AI systems. The white paper concludes with several actionable recommendations:

1. Engage in Dialogue with AI Developers:
   • Publishers should initiate conversations with G-AI developers to discuss the use of their content. This dialogue is crucial for establishing boundaries and understanding how publisher content is being utilized in AI training datasets.
2. Advocate for Transparency:
   • Demand that G-AI developers disclose the datasets used in training their models. Transparency is key to ensuring that the use of copyrighted material is acknowledged and compensated.
3. Educate on Infringement:
   • Work with industry groups to educate policymakers and the public about the nature of infringement in the context of AI. It’s important to clarify why the unauthorized use of content to train AI models is not fair use.
4. Licensing Agreements:
   • Publishers should push for the development of standardized licensing agreements that respect copyright laws and ensure fair compensation for the use of their content.
5. Monitor AI Developments:
   • Stay informed about the latest developments in AI technology to understand how it may impact the use of published content. This knowledge will be crucial in negotiating terms with AI developers.
6. Legal Action:
   • Consider legal avenues to protect intellectual property. The white paper suggests that current copyright laws support the rights of publishers, and legal action may be necessary to enforce these rights.

The Path Forward

1. Collaborative Innovation:
   • Publishers should seek partnerships with AI developers to create new products that leverage AI while also benefiting the original content creators. This could include joint ventures or collaborative platforms that utilize AI to enhance the reach and impact of published content.
2. Develop New Revenue Streams:
   • Explore how AI can be used to create new revenue streams. For example, publishers could license their archives for AI training in a controlled manner that respects their copyrights and generates income.
3. Invest in Technology:
   • Invest in AI and machine learning to understand its capabilities and limitations. This can help publishers to better negotiate with AI firms and to develop their own AI-driven tools and services.
4. Policy Advocacy:
   • Engage with lawmakers to shape policies that protect publishers in the AI ecosystem. This includes advocating for laws that recognize the value of creative content and ensure fair compensation for its use.
5. Educational Initiatives:
   • Create educational materials and workshops for staff and the wider publishing community on the implications of AI for copyright and content creation.
6. Strategic Alliances:
   • Form alliances with other publishers and content creators to have a stronger collective voice when dealing with AI developers and policymakers.

The white paper is not just a call to arms; it’s a blueprint for collaboration. Publishers are encouraged to engage with G-AI developers to create a fair ecosystem where innovation thrives without compromising the rights and revenues of content creators.

The AI revolution is here, and it’s reshaping the way we think about content creation and distribution. As publishers, we must be proactive in protecting our work. By understanding the legal landscape, advocating for fair compensation, and collaborating with technology developers, we can navigate the AI climate effectively and ethically.

Co-written with ChatGPT-4 | Image by Dall-E 3 and Adobe Firefly

The post News-Media Alliance Releases Whitepaper on AI, Copyright and the Fair Use Fallacy first appeared on Our-Hometown.

The following is a guest post contributed by our friend and partner, Kevin Slimp!

A funny thing happened to me in Denver a few days ago while I was in town to speak at the Colorado Press Association Convention.

I had just finished my fourth presentation of the weekend. The topic was “Designing a Better Newspaper.” Most of the folks in the room had been around for all four of my sessions, and the time to end the workshop had come and gone.

As people were getting up to leave, a voice spoke up. “Do you have a minute to look at my newspaper and give me some advice?”

I told her I’d gladly sit with her and look over her paper. That’s when the “funny” thing happened. Another person asked, “Could I get you to look over mine, too?”

It was as if someone blew a whistle and told everyone to stop in their tracks. Most of the group began walking back toward their seats.

I asked if anyone else would like me to look over their papers. To make a long story short, all but a few people returned to the room and took out copies of their newspapers.

I invited the group to circle me as I sat at a long table. I spread the newspapers across the table and began critiquing them individually. As I finished one paper, I immediately started critiquing the next paper. Another funny thing: no one left. Everyone stayed to see what I would say about the other papers.

We stayed in that room for nearly 90 minutes until I mentioned they were scheduled to attend a banquet in a few minutes.

As I think back to the phenonium of a group electing to stay late at a workshop, I’m reminded of the similarities between their papers. I repeated much of my advice repeatedly as we looked through the newspapers on the table.

Here are a few of the most common critiques that came up in Denver:

Headlines: Use fewer words and bigger fonts. By using fewer words, it leaves room to use bigger text. Instead of “Rumors of new Amazon distributorship coming to town in November,” I’d suggest something like “Amazon Rumors” in big letters. A subhead underneath the headline could provide more details, “Rumors of distributorship coming to town in November seem to have merit.”

Photos: Fewer small photos should be included with stories. It seemed common for the Denver papers to place three or four smaller images with a front-page story. Because there were so many photos, they drew less attention. In many cases, I suggested a single three or four-column photo to replace the multiple photos with a story.

Page Headings: Cute is out. Consistent is in. Page headings like “Local,” “Agriculture,” and “Features” should have similar looks. As tempting as it is to use a big piece of clipart at the top of the Classified page, don’t do it. Keep the page consistent with the others.

Borders: Yes, have borders around your photos. And get rid of the drop shadows. They (drop shadows) were in five years ago, but not so much now. A thin border, .4 or .5 in width, should do the trick nicely around images. Don’t forget to keep the border inside the frame so it doesn’t stick outside the column.

Color: In my designs and redesigns, you’ll find color in only three places: color photos, ads, and kickers (those short bits of text like “County Commission” above a headline). I rarely include color in the flag (top of the front page) unless it’s in a teaser photo above it. Leave the cute clipart for the high school newspapers and church newsletters.

Above the Fold: Check out the top half of the front page (above the fold). Does it make the reader want to pick up the paper or put it down? The area above the fold should always entice the viewer to pick up the paper.

Everyone laughed as I feigned heart issues while looking over pages. I jokingly uttered, “I’ve seen worse, but I can’t remember when,” a few times. The truth is most of the papers looked pretty good, but there’s almost always a lot we can do to improve the look of our papers. And when our newspapers look better, it encourages people to pick them up and read them. Let’s face it, that’s what it’s all about.

I’ll be leading a publisher’s event in Washington state in a few days. I think I’ll encourage everyone to bring copies of their paper. It just makes my job easier.

The post Critiquing Common Issues first appeared on Our-Hometown.

Younger readers might not know what I’m writing about when I mention Facebook “memories.” Still, most of you are familiar with those daily reminders that pop up each morning to remind you of what you were doing one, two, or even ten years ago. Not long ago, a memory on Facebook reminded me of a post I’d created in 2014: “Over the next three weeks, I’ll be speaking in Minneapolis MN, Sioux Falls SD, Edmonton AB, Syracuse NY, and Phoenix AZ.”

It’s hard to imagine I used to spend that much time on the road. It seems like a different lifetime. Don’t get me wrong. I still speak at conventions occasionally, but not nearly as frequently as I did a few years ago. These days, I spend as much time redesigning newspapers as anything else. I’m learning that the more papers I redesign, the better I get at finding ways to make the pages draw readers without sacrificing content.

Clients often express concern about losing content at the beginning of the redesign process. One universal goal of redesigns seems to be to get as much text on the pages without increasing page count. Whenever I redesign a paper, I do something to reassure the client. I create an entire issue of the newly designed newspaper using the content from a recent issue.

I’m thrilled to show the publisher, editors, and others on staff the issue with bigger headlines, bigger photos, and easier-to-read text. For a moment, I feel like a magician. Unlike any magician you’ve seen, I will share a few of my “tricks” with you.

Headlines

Use bigger fonts with fewer words. Instead of “Central High School beats Austin-East to end 6-year losing streak,” I might use “Central ends streak!” in a big, bold font. Underneath, I might include a light subhead (generally in sans serif) describing the headline. I often use the original headline for the subhead:

Bobcats end streak!

Central High School beats Austin-East to end 6-year losing streak

The new headline (and subhead) often takes up no more room than the original headline yet appears to fill more space.

Photos

Since the pandemic, I’ve noticed in-person training has become a rarity. I lead a lot of webinars, yet I miss being in person with students. With less training, younger designers often haven’t learned the basic rules many of us learned long ago. One of these is the “shoulder rule.”

The shoulder rule goes like this: Most photos should be cropped to the shoulders. Cropping is one method I use to create more space for bigger headlines and more white space. It’s interesting how a cropped photo might take up less room on the page but appear larger. I often take photos of basketball players shooting a layup surrounded by other players, referees, and empty space and crop it to just the shooter’s upper body, tossing the ball with his outstretched arm toward the basket. I’ve heard the response, “That looks much better,” more times than I remember after cropping a photo like this.

Nameplate/Flag

My first step in redesigning any newspaper is creating a new flag for the front page. I often spend several days building the new nameplate. A newspaper’s flag is crucial. It either invites someone to look closer at the page or screams at them to throw the paper down.

Interestingly, many nameplates are much larger than they need to be. I think part of the reason for this is that many flags were first designed when bulkier fonts were in style. Newspapers often used multiple lines with “The,” “Press,” and “Chronicle” stacked.

In 2023, clean is in. By placing the flag on one line stretching across the width of the page, the reader is invited to look closer. Updating the flag makes the page more inviting by offering a cleaner, more dignified look.

The Rest of My Secrets

I could go on at the risk of sharing all of my secrets. I’m nearing the end of my allotted space, however, and this should give you and your staff enough material to make some simple yet noticeable improvements to your paper’s design right away.

The post Making More Space: Simple changes invite readers to pick up your paper first appeared on Our-Hometown.

In our latest podcast, the Our-Hometown team shares their insights on an episode by ColdFusion on the Dead Internet Theory, a concept suggesting most internet activity is the work of bots. They believe this issue, driven by profit and occasional geopolitical interference, is a significant challenge we need to address.

The video discusses a study showing only 57.7% of internet users are human, with harmful bots making up 27.7%. It’s alarming to see the proportion of humans on the internet at its lowest in eight years, while bad bots are increasing at a rate of 5% per year. The team believes the growing abilities of generative AI will impact these numbers in the future.

They also touch on the different types of bots, the use of plugins to identify bots, and the issue of bots spamming comments on YouTube videos. They discuss the implementation of CAPTCHA and the need to mitigate security risks, and the use of two-factor authentication (2FA) for user security.

The video concludes by discussing the creation of an AI version of an influencer named April Isabella and the potential for AI influences on social media platforms like Instagram. They warn about an inversion point where YouTube bots would make up a larger percentage of viewership than real people, distorting analytics and making it harder to identify real traffic from fake traffic.

The team encourages us to develop critical thinking skills and technological literacy to combat the wave of low-quality AI-generated content. They believe that developing safeguards like content credentials is as important as the development of the technology itself.

Chapters

00:00 – Intro
02:33 – Dead Internet Theory
06:23 – Bots and Bots
21:05 – AI Influencers
23:52 – Fake on Facebook
25:28 – Turing Turns
29:25 – AI and Trust
32:17 – Final Thoughts

The post Dead Internet Theory by ColdFusion | OHT Commentary first appeared on Our-Hometown.

We’ve recently hosted live webinars on AI Generated Content and AI Generated Imagery, demonstrating how publishers can leverage the power of popular AI models like ChatGPT and DALL-E to produce written articles and related stock imagery for their websites.

Now, we’re ready to tie it all together and demonstrate how you can use the Our-Hometown WordPress Platform and our Reverse Publishing tools to quickly export any AI generated content for placement in the printed newspaper.

Join us on July 20th at 3PM Eastern for a complete overview of exporting your AI-generated content for use in the print edition. As always, the presentation is free to Our-Hometown customers and members of our partnered Press Associations. 

Just fill out the short form below to register now!

The cost to the general public is $25.

The post LIVE Webinar: Reverse Publishing AI Generated Content on July 20th first appeared on Our-Hometown.

The following is the latest column contributed by our friend and partner, Kevin Slimp! Don’t miss Kevin’s upcoming webinar, “Creating More Effective Advertising For Increased Revenue” on June 22nd. As always, attendance is free for Our-Hometown customers!

If you regularly read my columns, you know that I write about focus groups quite often. Don’t worry. I’m not writing bout focus groups today. However, I want to discuss another kind of group that I find beneficial to many newspapers I visit.

Now and then, I am invited to work on-site with a paper for several days or even weeks. On these occasions, it’s a safe bet that I will call the entire staff together for an hour or so to discuss some important issues.

Just last week, I worked on-site with a newspaper staff in Tennessee. Thanks to a government grant, it was my fifth visit with the team since January. Over that time, we’ve discussed just about everything you might imagine, from sales to reporting to design. As it was my last scheduled meeting with the staff this year, I asked that everyone be on hand for an afternoon meeting. We had folks from the front desk, reporters, editors, ad reps, designers, the press staff, and the publisher.

We began the meeting by discussing customer service, including ways to improve how we interact with our readers and advertisers. Next, I divided the staff into three random groups before sending them to separate rooms with specific instructions. I asked everyone to imagine he or she was the king or queen of the newspaper. Their task was to create a list of ideas they would enact to improve the newspaper.

I explained that their ideas could be about anything, not limited to the paper’s content. Groups were given 15 minutes to create their lists. I figured they would run out of ideas before they ran out of time.

Boy, was I wrong.

After 15 minutes, I walked to the various rooms to check on the groups. All three groups asked for additional time. After 30 minutes, I gave each group a 2-minute warning and gathered everyone back together.

I never expected so many great ideas to come out of one meeting. The groups gathered in the original room, and we discussed their ideas for 30 minutes or so. Most weren’t related to the newspaper’s content, but a few were. One group came back with ideas to increase circulation by targeting zip codes with subscription promotions. Another suggested staff members keep copies of the latest newspaper in their cars, so they could give them to potential subscribers they’d meet during the course of a day. One of the groups came up with the idea of finding a phone app that would allow them to handle new or renewed subscriptions on-site.

Story ideas came from the groups. Methods of interacting with subscribers were discussed. Before the 30 minutes ended, the group began planning a billboard campaign.

Every newspaper should be different

I was visiting with a friend earlier this week who asked me about the process of redesigning newspapers. I explained to him that I begin from scratch when I redesign a paper.

He asked the obvious question, “Can’t you just use a template you created from another paper and change the names?”

He was surprised when I told him that every newspaper is different. Every town is different. Every staff is different. The process of redesigning a newspaper – for me, at least – takes approximately 100 hours because every element is created from scratch. Sure, I could make a couple of templates and fill in the blanks for various newspapers, but that’s not how the process works. Just this week, I’m finishing the designs for two newspapers in Nebraska. Frankly, I’m exhausted. When we’re finished, however, the results will be worth the effort. They always are. The papers will receive emails and calls from readers about how much they love their “new” papers. Long-lost advertisers will call the papers about placing ads again. There will be a sense of pride in the communities. It happens every time. A cookie-cutter process wouldn’t achieve the same results.

That’s why I like to meet with the entire staff when I visit a paper. Sure, I could lead a slideshow on how to improve their paper. But the real results happen when the group gathers to discuss their town and paper. Let me suggest you gather your staff together to discuss ways to improve your newspaper.

Next week, I’m privileged to meet with newspaper publishers in Kansas. The folks at the press association tell me they’ve filled my schedule on Friday afternoon to meet one-on-one with publishers to discuss their papers. This is always my favorite time at a convention, seeing their work in their hometowns and finding ways to make their newspapers even more effective.

I see community newspapers thriving all over the map. I see it every day. I’m just glad to be a small part of the process.

The post Kevin Slimp: Improving Your Paper first appeared on Our-Hometown.

We’ve seen AI technologies advance at a rapid pace throughout the first half of 2023, and that trend isn’t expected to stall out any time soon. One of the major tools released to the public this year is DALL-E 2 by OpenAI (the same company who brought you ChatGPT).

DALL-E 2 is an AI-image generation system that creates images and digital art from a simple text description entered by the end user. While this kind of technology has endless potential, one key way that it can impact the news publishing industry is by replacing generic stock imagery. 

It is no secret that content shared across social media and the internet in general performs better when there is an attached image or graphic to draw the reader’s attention. However, it is unlikely that you’ll have a relevant stock image for every topic, and using a generic image of your publication’s logo can become redundant. 

Enter: DALL-E 2.

By harnessing the power of DALL-E 2, publishers can enter a short description and generate a completely custom graphic to use with their story, potentially eliminating the need for stock imagery services altogether.

Join us on June 29th at 3PM Eastern for a complete overview of AI-generated imagery and other use cases. As always, the presentation is free to Our-Hometown customers and members of our partnered Press Associations. 

Just fill out the short form below to register now!

The cost to the general public is $25.

The post LIVE Webinar: AI for Image Generation on June 29th first appeared on Our-Hometown.