InfoPost.com, MediaNews, NewsatSource.com,Revolution, Alarm Clock

CONTENTBIZ.COM
Practical News & Tips for
Marketing Content Online

1. News: InfoPost.com, MediaNews, NewsatSource.com,Revolution, Alarm Clock

2. Exclusive Interview: NAA's Rob Runnett on how newspapers are profiting online

3. Letters: Not one but two Dear John letters

4. Classifieds: Any offline marketers wanna job?

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NEWS
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* From Independent Movies to SpreadSheets:
Infopost's Digital Content Marketplace

Infopost.com, a new wanna-be player in the "sell it yourself" digital content shopping arena plans to go live this month. Instead of limiting themselves to one type of content, they'll sell digitized video,
audio, software, photos, books, documents ... in fact, digital everything. Learn more at their "prelaunch site" http://www.infopost.com.) The deal
is a lot like Fatbrain's eMatter, only they offer a better author royalty (at 80% for now) but zero post-purchase copyright security software. With only $4 million raised since October (vs. eMatter's $35
million) their marketing budget may be sparse as well, accounting for the site's aggressive viral campaigns. (Hint: viral marketers, this is a good place to steal some ideas.) BTW: Infopost has one of the best anti-spam policies we've had the pleasure of reading in a long time. Check it out at http://www.infopost.com/help.asp?hval=3#different

* Jokes are the Sincerest Form of Flattery:
MediaNews Parody

Boy, Jom Romanesko's MediaNews Web page gets
nominated for not one but two Webbies and instead of getting respect, he gets parodied. Is this what ContentBiz has to look forward to someday? (We only wish.) For an insider laugh go to: http://www.modernhumorist.com/mediagossip/

*Independent Journalists of the World Unite! You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Shirts

Taking a virtual stand against "big traditional newswires" EPNworld (short for European Press Network) is offering freelance (and moonlighting) journalists a way to sell their content without having to do those pesky story pitches. Journalists simply file copy at http://www.correspondent.com,
EPN then tacks a 15% sales commission on top of the journalists' price and pops it into their storefront at http://www.newsatsource.com where the world's
managing editors (short, fat, bald guys chomping stogies according to the retro '50s graphic) can buy them. The only catch: all content offerings must be previously unpublished, which means you're basically writing on spec.

* Revolution Mag: Great Content, Lame Domain Name

In their own version of the British Invasion, the UK's Revolution have opened a NYC office and launched US versions of their magazine and Web site featuring news on business and marketing "in the digital economy." It's a notion we are quite keen on, and some of the articles aren't that bad. But really, how lame is their URL: RevolutionMagazine.com? Can you say "old media-mindset" any louder?

Interestingly several of the paid US Edition ads are from UK headhunters who are these days, reportedly, desperately hurling any inducement they can to recruit US-based Internet marketers with a UK passport or working permit. There are a zillion new
Internet marketing jobs in the UK and teeny weenie native pool of experienced applicants.
* Alarm Clock Magazine Bungles Online Marketing

"Those who use Alarm Clock as their guide … will be the people who shape the information age" proclaims a recent email marketing campaign for new Wired magazine competitor Alarm Clock magazine. Well, ContentBiz.com hopes none of our readers use Alarm
Clock as their guide in shaping online marketing.

Biggest mistakes (besides overblown copy): putting the word "FREE" in the email subject line which guarantees many email systems will automatically kill it as spam; starting the message with a general comment, "What time is it?" instead of cutting right to their offer or key benefit; and putting absolutely no privacy policy on their Web site.
(This last offense is also shared by Revolution magazine's site, above.) All in all, this campaign is a salutary lesson in why traditional direct mail marketers can't just "shovelware" their campaigns onto the Internet.

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
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* Rob Runnett of the National Newspaper Association (NNA) details how newspapers are partnering, investing, marketing and profiting online

Rob Runnett, editor of the NNA's New Media
Federation Digital Edge Web site
http://www.digitaledge.org/monthly/2000_04/home.asp spends all day every day talking about the Internet with newspapers big and small across America. So, instead of doing all that research ourselves, we simply invited him out for a big pancake breakfast
and sucked his brains dry on your behalf. Enjoy!

Q: How are newspapers driving traffic to their sites?

A: Word of mouth is number one. Referring to the site in the text of print articles is number two. For example, one paper covering the NCAA Tournament added "make sure to get your NCAA scores during the work day at www…" to all relevant articles. The third most effective method is through guerilla marketing.

Phili.com is a great example, they flashed their sponsorship ad on the Jumbotron at Phili Flyers games; had their logo digitally superimposed across the batter box at televised baseball games; got all the sports arena hot dog stands to hand out napkins
with the Phili.com logo; and even arranged for a slip promoting Phili.com to pop out of local ATMs along with your money. You can't just do one thing though, you need the mix.

If all you use is your print publication to market your site, forget about it. If you want to make this real, you've got to reach out to other people -- people who don't get your print pub.

Q: How have for-fee content sales worked out?

A: Everyone's tried it but there's not a huge
percentage of the Internet audience who will pay for old articles even at $1.50-$2 per each. In fact many readers get upset to be charged for content. The most popular stuff is court listings, weddings and engagements and obits. They are huge traffic drivers for people who've left town who you can sell $20 year online-only subscriptions to.

Q: What about content syndication sales?

A: People are working a bit with Screaming Media and iSyndicate.com but mostly they want to maintain brand ownership, keep things close to home. Knight Ridder did a big deal with Digital Cities last year where they provide them four items per day per city,
plus two story summaries with links back to the papers' sites. It's a content for traffic deal.

Q: We've noticed many traditional publishers are still pretty leery of doing the partnership deals with each other, while Web companies will hop into bed with anyone. What's the partnership scene on the newspaper front?

A: Regional newspapers were getting their butts kicked by national players and portal sites, "I owned brand in this town and now it's gone!" So now they're getting religion and are partnering with anyone they can find compatibility with, including arch enemies, to be able to compete online. The Ft Worth Star Telegram and the Dallas Morning News
partnered to create www.dfm.com. Hearst and Belo got together to make MySanAntonio.com. Lots of regional papers are doing deals with local radio and TV stations to get audio and video combined with their content. So you have people, who used to be arch rivals for news, now getting in bed together.

Q: What's going in the wireless arena?

A: This is like the Second Coming. Everyone's trying to do something. They don't know what the content will look like or where it will come from or what the relationships will look like, but they know
they have to get there.

The San Jose Mercury News, New York Times and
Seattle Post Intelligencer have signed deals with Avant Go to recraft their content for Palm Pilots and the Sacramento Bee has an agreement with AirTouch to send local news over their wireless phones. The Bee gets a small fee for every phone or pager subscriber getting this content. It's like the old AOL back when they paid for content to appeal to users. The business model will probably
reverse in the long run just like AOL, unless you can come up with killer app content they can't live without.

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LETTERS
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***** Get Extra Revenues From Your Email List **

If you have an opt-in list of 500 names or more and you have permission to rent the names (i.e. people have said it's ok to send them special offers and notes from partners), contact Bethesda List Center today. They'll help you maximize rental income while keeping listees happy. Call 301-986-1455 or email info@bethesda-list.com

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* Dear ContentBiz,
Just curious about switching [email newsletter fulfillment] systems. I know you're currently using eGroups. What will the new one be? I've been using ListBot and am happy with the system but am curious
to know if there are other cost effective list services out there. Thanks.
John Ashbaugh
ReInventive.com

Dear John,
We're actually learning all this tech stuff right now ourselves as we move into The Big Time. The best resource we've found is the book, "Poor Richard's Guide to eMail Publishing", which everyone
oughta own two copies of (one to read and one as a loaner.) It includes hands on marketing, editorial and technical tips and resources. Our other best resource has been our new Web development firm, Matrix Group (http://www.matrixgroup.net) who are
going to switch ContentBiz over to an in-house list server using iMail or Lyris in the near future.
Hope that helps.
ContentBiz.com

* Dear ContentBiz,
You might like to consider advertising your
vacancies on our web site
http://www.journalism.co.uk, home of the email newsletter dotJournalism (online news for online journalists) and a database of current editorial vacancies in the UK. There is a small fee of £35.25 per vacancy. Regards,
John Thompson
Mousetrap Media, http://www.mousetrapmedia.co.uk

Dear John,
Thanks, we've already hired our UK editor but will keep your service in mind for the future. In the meantime, we recommend all ContentBiz readers check out your site's homepage for the nifty viral "friend
get a friend" freeware box you're using to grow traffic!
ContentBiz.com

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STAFFING/CAREER
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* Marketers Needed -- Extremely Stable, Well Established Co.

One of NYC's fastest growing professional publishers has a rare opening. Great Direct Marketer wanted to help with $15 million+ product line -- marketing electronic products, newsletters and books. Requires
3+ yrs related experience, solid analytical skills and good direct mail/telemarketing background. Subscription marketing experience a plus. GREAT BOSS -- LEARN FROM THE BEST IN THE BIZ!!!

Fax salary requirements w/ resume to 212-597-0331, attn: AP.
Or email this info *as text* to lrenga@aspenpubl.com

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CONTENTBIZ.COM INFO
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Subscription and Advertising Contact:
Aimee Kessler Evans
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Editorial Contact:
Felix Gorrio
Fgorrio@erols.com
202.256.1472

Publisher:
Anne Holland
anneh@marketingsherpa.com
202.232.6830

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