Making money online
In digital-first,
think profit first

Tory Starr
Bulletin Staff

Mel Taylor thinks that you might have the wrong priorities for your newspaper’s website strategy.

“It’s not about crazy new ideas, but a simple one: Do all the successful things you've done during the past 100 years in the history of newspapers -- and apply those principles to the Internet,” Taylor said.

Taylor, an online revenue and strategy specialist, will present 10 “choke points” for a typical newspaper website in “Run your newspaper website as a profit-first business” during the New England Newspaper and Press Association’s 2012 Convention and Trade Show Feb. 10 and 11.

Taylor’s workshop is based on the idea that newspapers’ websites should be run with profit and business tactics foremost. Not doing so is a key choke point that keeps most newspaper sites from running a profit, Taylor said.

"We all agree how a publisher runs a newspaper and that (it) works really well. But when it comes to the Internet, we don't run our websites the same way," Taylor said.

Taylor works on overhauling newspapers’ online business models to create a profit-first digital strategy that will revolutionize the way websites are run.

Through his business in Philadelphia, Mel Taylor Media, he has worked with philly.com, the website of the Philadelphia Inquirer; The Press of Atlantic City, N.J.; and the Tribune Co. newspaper group.

Taylor has a plan to tell newspaper publishers at the workshop exactly why most newspaper websites run at a loss. He will also give specific examples of how to deal with those "choke points."

Taylor said another example of a “choke point” is the lack of incentives for most website managers. The person running the newspaper website must have a financial stake in the success of the site, the same way an advertising manager or editor does, he said.

"No one is paying attention to the fact that the person in charge of the website is a person who does not have a financial motivation to make it successful," Taylor said.

Taylor hopes to target his message toward those who are financially responsible for a paper's digital efforts, such as the publisher, owner, or advertising director, but argues that those working on the ground on the digital side of a newspaper will benefit as well.

"I share what I believe are the absolute guaranteed best practices that dramatically get a newspaper closer to Internet profitability," Taylor said.

“Run your newspaper website as a profit-first business” will be held from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, in the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.

POSTED 2/3/12