Author Archives: Sally Duros

Confused about Facebook Promoted Posts? You are not alone

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Sally Duros

 Some online community news sites aren’t feeling the love from Facebook’s new fee-based service dubbed “Promoted Posts.”  They’re feeling confusion. By now community news sites posting to their Facebook pages will have noticed a drop down tagged “promote” on their posts. … Continue reading →

Posted in Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

#NJSandy minimized scramble of Hurricane Sandy statewide coverage

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Sally Duros

Debbie Galant had decided to experiment with a live-blogging tool called ScribbleLive she’d encountered at the ONA gathering in San Francisco. ScribbleLive claimed to simplify curation and aggregation from social networks so reporting could be delivered in a live blog. … Continue reading →

Posted in Content Management System (CMS), Events, Partnerships, SEO | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How Knight Lab’s Local Circle could lead to ad revenue

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Sally Duros

United we stand, divided we fall? Indie news publishers continue to explore what ad revenue sharing could look like. NU’s Knight Innovation Lab’s Rich Gordon discusses an idea called Local Circle that could be relevant. Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising networks, BlockbyBlock, online advertising, Revenue | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Support Us: How to ask your news audience for money

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Sally Duros

  Indie online news sites can ask their audiences for money by stating very simply: “Support Us.” ”I believe there is value in what we do and readers should pay for it,’ said David Boraks of DavidsonNews.Net and Corneliusnews.net. In … Continue reading →

Posted in BlockbyBlock, CRM, Getting Started, Marketing, Memberships, Revenue, Sales | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Eleanor Cippel’s tough love on sales for community news publishers at BxB12

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Sally Duros

At BlockbyBlock,Community News Summit 2012, Eleanor Cippel of E.W. Scripps, gave the 125 publishers in attendance tough love on what commitment to sales looks like in term of time and discipline. Her talk comes from her experience coaching Block by Block Super Camp publishers. Continue reading →

Posted in BlockbyBlock, Entrepreneurship, Operations, Revenue, Sales, Super Camp | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

BxB publishers united in reporting FOR vs ABOUT their communities

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Sally Duros

The secret sauce for effective local indie online news easily boils down to choosing between two words: FOR  vs. ABOUT. “Reporters elsewhere write ABOUT our communities. We write FOR our communities,” said David Boraks, Publisher of DavidsonNews.net, at the close of … Continue reading →

Posted in BlockbyBlock, Engagement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Site criteria, lessons learned, LION discussed in BxB12 closing session

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Sally Duros

                In a wide ranging conversation Jay Rosen, journalism professor from New York University, and Michele Mclellan, founder of the BlockbyBlock Community News Summit,  discussed the summit’s origin, and the lessons learned about sustaining … Continue reading →

Posted in BlockbyBlock, LION | Tagged , | 1 Comment

BlockbyBlock 2012 kicks off: Publishers discuss the art of the business pivot

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Sally Duros

  Rusty Coats, principal of Coats2Coats,  kicked off the opening panel of the 2012 BlockbyBlock Community News Summit challenging local indie online news publishers to honestly answer three questions: Is this my hobby or is this my full-time job? What pivots has your business … Continue reading →

Posted in BlockbyBlock, Entrepreneurship, Pivots | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Block by Block: Community News Summit 2012 – how to find us online Sept 13-15

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Sally Duros

BlockbyBlock Community News Summit 2012 Spread the Word! Coming Sept 13-15. Block by Block: Community News Summit 2012 is the annual gathering of local indie  online news publishers from across the nation. It will be held Sept. 13-15, 2012 in Chicago at Loyola … Continue reading →

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Patterson will sweeten LION dues for local independent online news publishers

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Sally Duros

  LIONPublishers, the new trade association for local independent online news publishers, will be getting a start-up sweetener from The Patterson Foundation. Patterson will offer a subsidy to encourage local indie publishers to join LION, the formation of which  was … Continue reading →

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