A new poll is up and though it’s not specifically redevelopment related, I thought it’d be an interesting take on the evolution of the news media. Metropolitan newspapers have folded in cities like Denver and an fascinating experiment is under way in Seattle, where a major daily has gone completely Web-only.
Don’t be alarmed, there are no plans to “monetize” the blog through subscription fees or even ads, and I pulled numbers below out of the air. No fancy market research or anything, just an discussion about the future of local news.
“Would you pay a subscription fee to access Rahway Rising?”
* Name a price — it wouldn’t be enough!
* $1 per blog post
* A buck a week is as high as I’d go
* How’s a dollar a month sound?
* You mean you’d pay me, right?
…and that sad, final copy of the PI is coming your way tomorrow. See you soon!
I think you need some banner ads on your site. I bet that you could get an ad from Breathless 😉
For the most part, a blog is published as a labor of love and isn’t launched with the intention of making money (although many have ended up going that route and are quite profitable). Unless there are infrastructure obligations to pay for hosting and upkeep, I really don’t see anyone paying a subscription fee. Maybe a voluntary donation button as I’ve seen on some successful sites; NJ Real Estate Report comes to mind… But look at the traffic at that site, granted it’s generally the same 8 people racking up 400+ comments per day.Has this pay model ever worked? NY Times Select, for example… How long did that last before they gave up on that plan?It goes without saying that Mark is providing a great resource and service to the community by having this site stay current and not fall by the wayside like some of the projects going on around town.
Would the publication be free like the Surburban News (newspaper) which gives local news as well?I don’t think I would subscribe even though I think you do a more than excellent job keeping those interested in the goings on in Rahway and we probably would not get quite the detailed information in our regular local newspapers as we do with you but times are really hard dollarwise and I personally am struggling trying to meet my daily needs dollarwise and don’t think and additional dollar or whatever the price of the publication might be while this recession has it’s foot on my neck would be possible for me. Sorry
Well… I don’t know.On one hand? I feel that this is kind of an art form, and art isn’t as appreciated as it should be within our society. On the other, my wallet is hurting and I can hardly afford anything that isn’t a necessity. So… basically my problem is while I would like to see this place and others monetarily supported, I don’t have the funds to help. If Rahway established a time bank, I would say that you should definitely get credit for the services you provide here. :)You might also want to try Google AdSense, too, if you’re looking for an noninvasive way to advertise here.
Mark,You should put an option in the poll that basically says “No, I wouldn’t pay” but in a respectful way. You do a great job with the blog and I’m always stopping by to read up on the latest Rahway redevelopment news. I’d have no problem if you wanted to advertise, but I have never paid for news content on the internet and I doubt I would for Rahway Rising. Not unless there was a sea-change in internet publishing would I consider paying for content like this. It’s hard to feel otherwise when there is so much content out there.Again, great job on the blog, but I had to answer truthfully in the poll 🙂
Like I said, it makes for an interesting discussion. Larry makes a good point about NY Times Select. I believe the Wall Street Journal also started making more of its content available without subscription since Murdoch bought it.A lot of what I’ve been reading lately essentially blames the publishing industry for putting all, or too much, of their content online for free; content that consumers normally would have paid for in print. Any other industries give away their product while trying to sell it in another form? (It’s probably what shaped the poll question and answers most.) Like Matt in his comment above, people now are used to getting most of what’s on the Internet “free” (i.e., news, classified), newspapers still seem to be trying to find a business model that will work.Obviously, all those “teeth whitening” and “six-pack abs in five minutes” ads aren’t nearly enough to support sufficient news staffs. I looked at Google AdSense but they kinda creep me out with how they analyze your online viewing habits and pitch what it thinks is related stuff. Maybe it’s just me… Besides, the pennies I might get per click-through wouldn’t be worth mucking up the site.And Matt, I don’t blame you, I don’t pay for news online either (I’m as cheap as they come). I also can’t remember the last time I bought a Star-Ledger in print; why bother if I can get the same thing, or close to it, online for free? I suppose if you want the garden section or comics or something like that, but even these days, there’s just not much too it anymore.Case in point, when was the last time they covered anything about redevelopment? Not just a “next Hoboken” puff piece, but anything, even the status of, or what’s holding up projects, etc.?
The Star Ledger doesn’t want to face the wrath of all the Real Estate developers who pay for advertising in their Real Estate section, thus the puff pieces.The motion picture industry doesn’t give their “stuff” away for free and people are stealing it by the billions of dollars every year anyway. If the demand is there, individuals would find a way to steal any kind of media that can be digitized.Big fan of this site. If you had a “donate” button I would probably toss some coin your way a few times a year.
I’m not sure what happened to my previous comment, but I’ll try again. I was just going to say that the “donation” model is not without precedent. NPR, for example, “gives” it’s product away for free, and requests donations. Same goes for a lot of musicians, most notably Radiohead last year. Many websites and freeware developers do the same.