"The Internets is a big waste of time,'' Sparky harrumphed, after learning how much I've earned to date: $1,149 -- 19% of my goal. As this breakdown shows, ads don't come close to paying the bills:
- Advertising: $265
- Subscriptions: $884
To buy a $5 subscription, please use the "Donate" tool in the green sidebar, upper right. Any amount appreciated! Post feedback in the comments section, below. Send e-mail to gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com].
*compulsively clicks on every ad*
ReplyDelete:)
Sparky: "We have to protect our phoney baloney jobs here, gentlemen! We must do something about this immediately! Immediately! Immediately! Harrumph! Harrumph! Harrumph! "
ReplyDeleteAt least you can articulate your personal "transformation" with well defined financial goals. That way, you'll be able to tell your shareholders (us) when you succeed or fail.
ReplyDeleteIf readers and advertising won't support this site, then that's a very bad sign. This site breaks news and offers valuable information -- updated many times a day -- to a large audience that's keenly interested in the topic. It also offers commentary and a lively public forum. In short, it does every damn thing a website could be expected to do.
ReplyDeleteIf Jim can't somehow make $24,000 a year offering this service, then I guess you could say he's not offering what the market wants -- or you could say the market is so screwed up that there's no hope for anyone in the communications business.
In that case, I guess he'll just have to become an Internet porn magnate. I think a person can still carve out a living that way.
P.S. I sent him $10 -- and it's been more than a decade since I worked for Gannett!
Thanks, John!
ReplyDeleteHey, if I can afford $5 out of my measly weekly editor salary, anyone can!
ReplyDeleteanon 9:40am
ReplyDeleteit's not about the market being broken - its about fragmentation.
Jim's well documented efforts here are illustrative of the overall challenges of digital journalism. A site needs a tightly defined niche to generate interest and breakthrough the clutter of the superhighway, but needs sufficent mass to generate revenue from advertising.
My fear is that while Jim has the niche, he cant get the mass.....
Exactly, 1:35 p.m. My dilemma is the newspaper industry's dilemma: Maintaining a local-local-local focus, while simultaneously building enough traffic to pay for original content.
ReplyDeleteMy underserved target market is 46,000 Gannett employees plus thousands more former employees. That's a good-sized niche -- but I fear not big enough to draw sufficient traffic.
It would be pretty awesome if you could be a non-profit so we could donate through the Gannett match program. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't even work for Gannett; my husband who passed away last year did. But I find this website informative, interesting, more than a bit tittilating and even more spot on. I remindes me of all the bitch sessions my husband would have amongst his newspaper friends. I contributed $10 and would hope others do likewise.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry for your loss, 6:41 p.m. And I'm glad to see you are finding this blog useful. Thank you, very much, for your contribution.
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