Canadians stick to usual media for news, poll finds

Vancouver Sun - If you're reading this in the newspaper you're among the 95% of Canadians who turn to traditional media for your general news.

If you're reading this online, you could be among the 42% who use some form of online media for their news.

Those are among the findings of the national media choice and trust poll conducted by IDC Canada for the Information Technology Association of Canada, which concluded that while the Internet has changed people's consumption patterns for breaking news, when it comes to general news traditional media is still the entrenched choice for most Canadians.

Online content has changed consumption patterns for breaking news with 82% of poll respondents looking to traditional media -- newspapers, radio and television -- for that news.

"It's clear that Canadians are traditionalists, and overwhelmingly turn to television, newspapers, and radio for trusted news," said ITAC president Bernard Courtois. "But 65% of Canadian households have high-speed Internet, and this high level of adoption is causing a shift in behaviour, as Internet news outlets begin to creep into the media mix."

The survey, conducted among 1,000 Canadians across all regions, found that 42% access some form of online media for general news and 21% look to online sources for breaking news.

Younger Canadians, aged 18 to 24, tend more to look online for news, with 50% of people in that age group likely to get their information online.

Television rated as the top source for general and breaking news. Online forums have low use but the bigger users of them are the MTV generation and early boomers.

The study concluded age is not necessarily an indicator of adoption.

When respondents were asked where they generally go for news, more than 70% -- in all age groups -- cited television. Among the 50-plus-year-olds, that number climbed to 80%. Among all age groups close to 50% said they read the newspaper and among the 50-plus crowd, that climbed to more than 60%.

Close to 50% of those polled said they listened to the radio for news, except among the so-called Echo generation in which only 33% opted for radio news.

Online news attracted more than 30% of respondents across all age groups except for those who are 50 and over. Online portals attracted 35% of the MTV generation.

People with higher incomes tended to access online news the most. Among respondents who reported annual incomes of $100,000-plus, online news came second with 39% of respondents, after television at 72%. Radio was third at 32%.

The use of television for news drops with age, according to the study, while radio drops among the MTV and Echo generations. By comparison, online portals jump with the MTV and Echo generations and MTV and Gen X generations are the biggest consumers of online news.

The study also found larger families access and trust online news more than smaller families and French respondents trust online media more than their English counterparts.

Online news sources face a credibility challenge with only 11.5% of respondents saying they believe online media is unbiased and 12% believing that it is accurate.

"As was the case when broadcast media came along to challenge print, any new news media is viewed with skepticism, and the Internet is no different," said Courtois.

"Once the industry begins to establish trusted checks and balances, and online news media becomes mainstream, this medium will become a more credible news source for the Canadian public."

Citizen journalism dominates online news in 2007

Here are the top CyberJournalist.net stories of 2007. Not surprisingly, citizen journalism and user-generated content stories overwhelmingly dominate the top 10.

Top CyberJournalist.net stories of 2007

1. New York Times launches user-generated features

2. 2007 Online Journalism Awards - Finalists

3. Citizen Journalism: From Pamphlet to Blog

4. CNN to launch user-generated video show on-air

5. AP partners with citizen journalism site

6. Guardian to become 24/7 Web-first newspaper

7. Eyewitness video of Virginia Tech shootings

8. Sneak peaks at USAToday.com design

9. Sulzberger: ‘I don’t care’ if we’re printing Times in 5 years

10. Washington Post issues blog guidelines

BusinessWeek layoffs: will all magazines die?

Mashable - It’s the end of the year, and layoffs are sadly an expected tragedy that comes with year-end business assessments. This year in particular was pretty rough on the printed media industry.

After continued declines in subscriptions, newspapers and magazines found it necessary to shift gears, focus a bit more on online distribution models (some even ad-supported), and quite a few people were let go in the process.

Most recently, Business 2.0 was completely cut from the Time Inc. family, while the New York Times recently instituted a temporary hiring freeze.

And now BuisnessWeek is the latest to do the same. According to an Alley Insider report, 8 to 10 staffers have been let go, including national editor Anthony Bianco and photo editor Larry Lippman.

While BusinessWeek’s layoff focuses on the printed side of things, layoffs have been an unfortunate occurrence for some web-based businesses as well. AOL, Eons, Snocap and even Google have had to trim staff in order to compete more effectively with their online businesses.

Holiday e-commerce spending reaches $14b, up 17% over last year

More than $14 billion has been spent online during the first 32 days (November 1 – December 2) of the November – December 2007 holiday season, said a new comScore report. This marks a 17% gain versus the corresponding days last year. The heaviest online spending day of the season thus far was Cyber Monday (November 26) with $733 million in sales.

According to the report:

Video games, consoles & accessories continues to be the hottest online retail category, rising 145% in November versus the corresponding days last year, while furniture, appliances & equipment (up 45%) and sport & fitness (up 30%) are also performing well. Three of the most popular holiday season categories, toys, consumer electronics, and books & magazines, are each growing at 17%, coinciding with total online retail spending growth.

Fastest Growing Retail E-Commerce Categories by Dollar Sales
November 1-30 vs. Corresponding Days in 2006
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Percent Change in Category Spending ($)

Video Games, Consoles & Accessories
145%

Furniture, Appliances & Equipment
45%

Sport & Fitness
30%

Toys
17%

Consumer Electronics
17%

Books & Magazines
17%

Apparel & Accessories
16%

Computer Hardware
15%

Music, Movies & Videos
14%

Home & Garden
14%

Source: comScore, Inc.

Full story here.

網上廣告 效益遠比想像大

明報 - 早前有調查指出，香港人平均每周花16小時上網，較用於其他傳統媒體的時間都要長。可見要吸引本地消費者的注視，互聯網作為一個廣告媒體的重要性不容忽視。然而，卻不是人人都懂得利用互聯網的優勢，白白浪費廣告開支之餘，對網上賣廣告產生各式誤會。4As廣告公司DDB互動媒體總監譚家強 (Patrick)稱：「仲有好多人以為網上廣告只以青年人為對象，停留在『.com年代』的模式，尤其是中小企(在網上廣告)的發展，最少落後外國7至 10年。」

Patrick表示，相比以前需要多番解釋，才能說服客人試行網上廣告，近年客人多為主動要求。「好多人知道要做，但係不明白如何做。」他指出，最常見的誤解是「互聯網只是銷售青年人用品的渠道」，但從「e-banking」的普及，便可見30至45歲以上，最有消費力的一群，也是互聯網的常客。「這班人在科網熱潮的年代，正好是20歲左右的青年人。」

忌以訪客數點擊率衡量效益

另一個常見的誤解是，用傳統廣告的方式衡量網上廣告的成敗，Patrick稱為「.com boom後遺症」。「客人建立一個網站，常常會以到訪人數作為一個指標，但這是錯的。」他以一個商場為比喻，「應該睇纒到訪者去邊度，有沒有看到你想推廣的東西，就好似入到時代廣場，訪客係去鰦咖啡店，還是看運動用品。數碼技術讓我們可以非常準確地計算得到廣告的成效。」

Patrick笑說，曾經有客戶表示不要賣Banner ad(網站上的廣告橫額)，因為點擊率只有低於1%。「這是以為自己識，但其實唔識，他忘記了Banner ad的作用是提升訪客對品牌的認知，有如掛一張海報，點擊率不是唯一的考量。」又曾有客人認為在香港購物太方便，網上購物根本行不通，這又是另一「.com boom」的後患。「其實根據我們一個調查發現，有23%人在網上看過產品後，之後會親自落去店舖買。因此，我們會建議客戶多在網上做產品介紹。」

網上廣告還有一個很重要的優點，就是價錢較低廉。「在電視台賣一個廣告，隨時要花上百萬元，如果投放在網上廣告，可以用1年！」他笑說。因此，網上廣告可說是非常適合推廣開支有限的中小型企業，例如google的adSense，會為廣告商自動篩選與公司業務相關的網站，以點擊率為收費指標，公司又可以設定每月的開支上限，以防超出預算。

中小企思維落後 忽略商機

但Partick直言，本港的中小企在這方面仍需很多教育，「在加拿大，連街口的乾洗店都會有自己的網站。香港(中小企)則仍存在很多『.com boom後遺症』，令他們最少(較外國)落後7至10年。」事實上，公司可以透過自建網站介紹產品，減少顧客滯留在店舖的時間，對小商戶而言可說是求之不得。

不過，網上廣告並非無敵。它的方便和互動性，也可能為廣告商戶帶來麻煩。最簡單的例子，就是經常出現在新聞版面的假銀行網站。Patrick說，其實要複製一個網站一點都不困難。如果有人故意造假網站，並惡意發放虛假資訊，或者記錄網民的個人資料，後果可能非常重。

互動性高 品牌經驗難控制

此外，由於互聯網的互動性太高，公司對品牌的控制會較困難，例如在討論區內，誰能保證沒有人會講該品牌的壞話呢？「一些高檔品牌，在雜誌落廣告前，要確定前後10多頁的內容，因為它們對顧客的『品牌經驗』十分覑緊，而互聯網偏偏那麼難以控制，故此很多高檔品牌都很怕做網上廣告，至近年才發現，網上廣告已成為趨勢，才開始做少少。」

阿里媽媽 成內地最大網上廣告平台

文匯報 - 阿里巴巴集團昨宣布，其新創建的阿里媽媽網站已成為內地最大的網上廣告交易平台。阿里巴巴稱，8月10日正式上線的阿里媽媽網站已匯集了超過15萬家中小網站和超過13.5萬的個人博客站點，超過38萬個廣告位，註冊會員超過100萬，覆蓋中小網站總流量超過 10億PV/天。目前，阿里媽媽仍以驚人的速度增長，每天新增近4,000家中小網站，新增1萬名個人博客，新增2萬餘廣告位。

每天新增2萬廣告位

集團新聞發言人金建杭表示，阿里媽媽為中國數千萬中小企業和中小網站提供了一個切合實際的商業模式和收入模式，阿里媽媽的使命是要讓有價值的網站成長起來，使他們成為明天中國的Facebook、Myspace、Youtube。

他續稱，阿里媽媽目前每天成交廣告位2萬多筆。人力網站智聯招聘、中行(3988)、中信行(0998)等多家金融機構，以及一些網遊公司已和阿里媽媽簽約，通過阿里媽媽網站投放廣告。

截至6月30日，阿里巴巴集團旗下B2B公司(1688)國內外註冊用戶超過2,400萬，而集團旗下另外的分支亦發展迅速，如在國內C2C市場份額超過80%的淘寶網，6月底擁有4,000萬的會員和數百萬的店舖，支付寶公司也擁有了5,200萬註冊用戶。

Nielsen tracks TV content on the web through digital watermarks

Clickz - Though a partnership with Digimarc, Nielsen will use digital watermarking and fingerprinting in online content to provide reporting, and tracking on copyrighted materials. The digital watermarking service is called Nielsen Digital Media Manager.

In addition to tracking for copyright security and compliance, the watermark allows clients to realize the value of their digital content, promote the expansion of Internet-distirbuted media, and facilitate a number of revenue streams. Those include ad-pairing, e-commerce, royalty reporting. Nielsen plans to start by tracking TV content online, but expects to expand to other online content categories and media types.

"We started with TV because we already do the necessary encoding - or watermarking - when we measure TV ratings. The last thing a video stream sees before it leaves a TV station is a Nielsen encoder that puts a digital code on the programming that our home meters can read. That same code can be used to measure TV programming when it is posted on the Internet," said Nielsen company spokesperson Gary Holmes.

Full story here.

Ask readers to tell you what stories to cover, investigate

The Editors' Weblog - The BBC Magazine asks, "How can papers afford to give away DVDs?" The answer as attributed to media critic Roy Greenslade: "They can't, at least not if they want to make money."

The article goes on to say that DVD giveaways and like promotions are mere ploys for "very short circulation spikes." Where "Editors hope people will buy the paper for the DVD and become loyal readers, leading to long-term stability," most people seem to be buying the paper solely for the giveaway. "It's getting to the stage in a few years where you'll get a free newspaper with your CD or DVD," continued Greenslade. So from this article, it seems that giveaways are not the answer to maintaining or attracting more of a readership.

But the format of the article itself gives insight into a way in which newspapers could attract readers.

It was printed on the BBC's website in a section called "Who, What, Why?" which allows reader feedback and questions, some of which are answered by the BBC for further investigation into a story.

Feedback for this particular article, for instance, included a suggestion that the BBC do a piece on the DVD retail market. Some was quite telling of how consumers feel about newspaper promotions; people get annoyed at having to watch the advertising at the beginning of the DVD and real news readers hate finding their paper full of inserts and giveaways. One said straight out, "Perhaps they should stop giving away freebies and start concentrating on content."

That is what it comes down to: is a newspaper's function to publish outstanding content or is it to sell papers through any means necessary? Maybe by including their readers in such a way as the BBC has done, newspapers will improve content by learning what their readers or potential readers really want and will conversely be able to sell more papers through this attention to public desire instead of luring them briefly with giveaways.

Adwords adds local listings

Clickz - Google is looking to spice up its local business ad listings with a new user interface design called AdWords Local PlusBox. The updated design will give ads that are located above organic search results the ability to expand and display maps, addresses, phone numbers and driving directions to the business. Google doesn't plan on charging extra for the display features, but will continue to charge customers when a user clicks on a link to their landing page.

Full story here.

Online political spending rising rapidly

ClickZ_- Spending by political advertisers on Internet ads, marketing and promotional efforts is poised this election cycle to be 150 percent higher than the last presidential election cycle. However, although a new PQ Media report shows it could hit $73 million by next November, Web revenues from political advertisers are still a drop in the bucket.

The preliminary Political Media Buying 2008 forecast from PQ estimates $4.5 billion will be spent by political advertisers in '08 and leading up to this year's presidential primaries on all media measured, including broadcast and cable TV, direct mail, PR, newspaper and Internet. The estimated $73 million sliver expected to go towards the Web represents a measly 1.6 percent of the whole.

Growth is steady, though. In the 2004 presidential election cycle, political advertisers spent $29 million on the Web, and during the '06 congressional elections, they put $40 million online. While the numbers are relatively small compared to broadcast TV and direct mail, the anticipated 150 percent leap between the '04 and '08 presidential elections -- when typically far more money is spent compared to non-presidential election cycles -- is a clear sign that the Internet is gaining momentum when it comes to political spending.

Online media spending doesn't mean just display or search advertising. As reported by PQ in 2006, the majority of dollars spent by political advertisers on the Web will go towards e-mail marketing efforts, the method of choice for online fundraising pitches.

Full story here.

Microsoft releases new tools for online advertisers

Bloggingstocks - Microsoft will be rolling out new tools and services soon to encourage more internet advertisers and producers to create better online ad campaigns, the software giant said this week. Naturally, the new tools will work with Microsoft's adCenter and Live Search environments.

Full story here.

Canadian e-commerce heating up

Once cool to Internet shopping, Canadian consumers are going online in record numbers.

emarketer - For a number of years no one paid much attention to Canadian B2C e-commerce. There simply wasn’t much of a market there.

Now all online retailers are looking to the north.

”The Canadian dollar’s rise against the US dollar has led to a surge in Canadian cross-border online shopping,” says Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report, Canada B2C E-Commerce: The Barriers Melt. “It is providing a big boost to home-grown Canadian e-commerce, too.”

Even before the currency shift, there was evidence of Canadian B2C e-commerce taking off. In April 2007, Statistics Canada reported that online retail sales in Canada grew by a healthy 70% in 2006.

”eMarketer estimates that this year Canadians will spend C$15.7 billion (US$14.7 billion) online on products and services such as online travel reservations and event tickets,” says Mr. Grau. “We also include purchases made with foreign Web retailers, the majority of which are on US sites.”

By 2011, online spending will more than double, reaching C$37.2 billion (U$30.2 billion).

”Of course, Canadian B2C e-commerce still has plenty of room to grow,” says Mr. Grau.

Even taking into account that Canada has one-ninth the population of the US, it is still a disproportionately small e-commerce market. Only 78% of Canadian online users are online shoppers, compared to nearly 85% of US users who shop online.

”In addition, the average Canadian online buyer will spend less than a US online buyer this year,” says Mr. Grau.

The major shift in the size of the Canadian B2C market will come as more Canadian retailers move online.

”Even now, only about 15% of retailers in Canada sell online,” says Mr. Grau. “But those that are taking the plunge say an online presence is critical to acquiring new customers.”

To find out more about what is causing the Canadian market to heat up, read the new eMarketer report, Canada B2C E-Commerce: The Barriers Melt.

Print and online hybrid will be the 'future newspaper'

journalism.co.uk - Danish newspaper The Jutland Post has created a hybrid print and online edition to prepare itself for what it sees as the future of the digital newspaper.

The JP2, which was developed in partnership with Microsoft, is essentially an e-paper with live feeds that regularly and automatically update the content featured on the platform.

The technology is similar to that used by the New York Times Reader and The Daily Mail's e-paper, with a feed linking the Post's content management system with the JP2.

"For us it's a major step towards digital publishing. When the digital paper comes, we will be ready," Jens Nicolaisen, director of electronic media at the Jutland Post, told Journalism.co.uk.

"It [the feed] connects with the articles automatically, so we can generate the JP2 without any journalists or production staff.

"That means we are able to distribute the whole newspaper or different parts on any given platform in any different way."

The JP2, Nicolaisen added, offers a model for content distribution more tailored to readers' demands by combining elements of print, online and RSS, and allowing readers to read offline or print out a paper version.

However, it is limited to being currently available only to PC users.

"If you look at the audience as different reader segments, we want to be able to reach as many as possible," he said.

"With the regular PDF version of the newspaper, people like it, because they can recognise that this is how it is presented in the paper.

"But the problem with that e-paper is that it's not using the technical possibilities that you have in the computer."

Full story here.

AFP buys stake in citizen journalism site Citizenside

journalism.co.uk - Agence France-Presse (AFP) has bought a 30% stake in the citizen journalism platform Scooplive, which will be renamed Citizenside.

AFP has stated that it will not take part in editorial decisions on the site, which allows users to publish and sell films and photos for commission.

According to a press statement from the agency, it is hoped the investment will allow AFP to 'get closer to readers' and to bring the site's content to AFP's customers for use in their own news production.

"This is for us a purely commercial and technical experiment in the Web 2.0 field, to help our clients, mainly in the media field," said Pierre Louette, AFP chairman.

AFP's investment was matched by another French firm IAM, but the remaining shares for the site, which was set up in 2006, will stay with the platform's creators.

"Citizenside will capitalize on its founders and new partners experience to create a link between two worlds: professional journalism and amateur reporting. We will thus be able to offer good quality documents in real time," said Matthieu Stefani, a founder of Scooplive, in a news release from Citizenside.com.

AP moves towards all-digital platform

NYT - After a decade of watching newspapers and rival wire services shrink, The Associated Press, the 161-year-old news cooperative, is refitting itself to handle the 24-hour news cycle it helped create.

“You have to adjust to the marketplace,” said Jim Kennedy, The A.P.’s vice president for strategic planning. “The new generation of consumers has completely different habits.”

To feed those habits and manage the news cycle more efficiently, The A.P. will change the way it files, edits and distributes stories, opening at least four regional editing hubs as part of a plan it calls AP2.0.

It is also expanding its multimedia packages for entertainment, business and sports reports. And the company is moving toward an all-digital platform it calls the “Digital Cooperative.”

The changes, The A.P. believes, will counter what hampered some of its rivals, like Dow Jones Newswires and Reuters, which, over the last decade, have cut their staffs as revenues have fallen.

Kathleen Carroll, The A.P.’s executive editor, said the company’s responsibility was to “preserve our future, so that we can continue to provide news from remote places,” and to “rev up our journalism” to make it compelling to customers.

The idea behind the regional hubs, which mimic an overhaul of The A.P.’s foreign operations earlier in the decade, is to reduce editing gridlock at its major filing desks, including that in New York. The regional hubs will handle coverage in their areas, and the New York desk will focus on “the stories that are the tip top of the day,” Ms. Carroll said.

Mr. Kennedy said another goal was to get editors in the regional bureaus back into reporting, which would increase the amount of content, and to reduce the number of people who work on an article during a news cycle.

Full story here.

CRTC looks at online broadcasting

mediacaster - In remarks at the nextMedia Conference last week, CRTC Commissioner Rita Cugini outlined the Commission's particular interest in the online audio and audiovisual services that deliver experiences similar to conventional television and radio, part of the CRTC New Media Project Initiative.

Commissioner Cugini noted that the CRTC has not made it mind on the challenging issues facing the new media industry in Canada, nor does in know how continuing initiatives to address the situation will turn out.

Commissioner Cugini mentioned the three questions the CRTC is trying to answer: First, is it necessary to develop measures to ensure that broadcasting delivered over the internet and through mobile devices contributes to the objectives of the Broadcasting Act? Second, if it is necessary, can it be done? And finally, if it can be done, how should it be done?

The CRTC first took a look at new media in 1999; in March of this year, it launched a new New Media Initiative, the first phase of which is now completed.

The meeting and industry conference in Toronto was an important part of the second phase, the Commission described, saying it will issue a report in 2008 followed by public hearings.

'NYT' to axe 12 newsroom jobs now, management cuts next year

Editor and Publisher - Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, announced in a staff memo today that "there are going to be layoffs in the newsroom, for the first time in recent memory." He added that a "hiring freeze" will continue, with open positions filled internally, and next year "we also expect to eliminate a few management jobs in administrative areas."

For now, a dozen "support" workers will be getting the axe, but Keller said the paper has still been able "to avoid the kind of drastic staff cutbacks other news organizations have endured."

Keller noted, "As we approach 2008, it is clear that the newsroom is going to have to do even more to tighten spending, and to help the publisher and the Times Company meet the difficult financial challenges facing our industry. While we are committed to retaining our competitive muscle, we will be facing some tough choices about where to save ...

"Today we notified the Newspaper Guild that about a dozen support positions within the newspaper are being eliminated. We will, for example, be closing the Recording Room as well as trimming a number of clerical and secretarial jobs. The people in those jobs will receive the severance they are entitled under the Guild contract ...

"As we move into 2008, we will be rethinking coverage priorities and how we use our space and our people, but always in ways that preserve what The Times does best. In the future, as in the past few months while these matters were under review, we have worked closely with our partners on the business side, with a single shared ambition: to seek cutbacks and reductions that are as strategically focused as possible, and do nothing to damage our core journalism."

New blog a resource for professional photographers

mediacaster - Embassy Pro Books, an Oakville, ON-based publisher of photo books for professional photographers and the creative community, has launched a new blog as part of their continuing support for photographers.

The new blog can be found at http://ProfessionalPhotoBooks.com and features a wealth of information that professional photographers can use to enhance their careers and share ideas.
For years, Embassy Pro Books has offered the photographer has complete artistic control of the style, layout, and format of the photo book as well as an online photo album so that their images can tell the story.

A spokesman for Embassy Pro Books said, “The new blog is a natural progression in our ongoing efforts to provide professional photographers with all the resources they need to grow their businesses and enhance their creativity. The blog posts will be written by professional photographers specifically for pro photographers and they are encouraged to post comments and share their ideas.”

The blog posts cover a wide range of categories and target the challenges that photographers commonly face as they grow their businesses.

Recent blog entries included topics such as:
•Include Photo Books in your Marketing Plan
•Planning your Photo Book Layout puts you in Control
•Customized Photo Book Marketing: Set Yourself Apart
•10 Ideas for Printed Photo Books

Top Canadian web rankings for October 2007

comScore release - comScore released its October rankings of the largest and fastest-growing Internet properties in Canada based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service. Microsoft Sites ranked as the most-visited property, while the beginning of hockey season made NHL Network the top-gaining property for the month.

“Hockey season is always a popular time of year here in Canada, and we’re seeing that reflected in the surge of activity to NHL Network in October,” said Brent Bernie, president of comScore Media Metrix, comScore Canada.

Top 10 Properties for October

Microsoft Sites captured the top position in Canada with 22.2 million visitors, followed closely by Google Sites with 22 million visitors. Yahoo! Sites, with 16.8 million visitors, ranked third for the month. Social networking site Facebook.com continued to grow, gaining 4% to reach 14.4 million of the 23.7 million Canadians online.

“Facebook has really surged in popularity among Canadians during the past year,” continued Mr. Bernie. “The site has grown from about 1 million visitors last October to 14 million visitors this year, positioning it as the top social networking site and fourth largest property overall in Canada.”

The largest increases in the top 10 were experienced by Wikipedia and Amazon Sites, both gaining 10% from the previous month.

Top 10 Properties by Canadian Unique Visitors*
October 2007 vs. September 2007
Total Canada – Home and Work Locations**
Source: comScore World Metrix
Property	Total Unique Visitors (000)
	Sep-07	Oct-07	% Change
Total Internet : Total Audience	23,590	23,678	0
Microsoft Sites	22,094	22,247	1
Google Sites	21,878	22,040	1
Yahoo! Sites	16,321	16,768	3
FACEBOOK.COM	13,841	14,428	4
eBay	13,318	13,876	4
Time Warner Network	12,149	12,259	1
Wikipedia Sites	10,796	11,846	10
Yellow Pages Group	9,185	9,998	9
Amazon Sites	8,857	9,719	10
Canoe Network	7,743	8,273	7
*Ranking based on the top 100 Canadian properties in October 2007.
** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Top-Gaining Properties for October

With excitement surrounding the start of the season, the NHL Network experienced a flood of traffic, growing 44% to nearly 4 million Internet visitors, making it the top-gaining property in October.

Propelled by growth at video site Crackle.com, Sony Online jumped 27% to 2.6 million visitors. Video-sharing site Dailymotion also saw gains, growing 14% to nearly 2 million visitors.

Glam Media, which has experienced strong growth throughout the year in both Canada and the U.S., continued its upward trend with a 19% increase to 3.3 million visitors.

Top 10 Gaining Properties by Canadian Unique Visitors*
October 2007 vs. September 2007
Total Canada – Home and Work Locations**
Source: comScore World Metrix
Property	Total Unique Visitors (000)
	Sep-07	Oct-07	% Change
Total Internet : Total Audience	23,590	23,678	0
The NHL Network	2,731	3,931	44
Sony Online	2,066	2,626	27
Demand Media	2,338	2,876	23
Glam Media	2,813	3,336	19
General Motors	1,670	1,979	19
Disney Online	1,984	2,337	18
Branchez-Vous! Sites	2,061	2,405	17
WordPress	3,298	3,809	16
Answers.com Sites	2,727	3,144	15
Dailymotion	1,744	1,989	14
*Ranking based on the top 100 Canadian properties in October 2007.
** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Los Angeles Times opens up newsroom with readers' blog

Journalism.co.uk - The Los Angeles Times has launched a new blog to open up newsroom practices to its readers.

The Readers' Representative Journal will use a Q&A style to put readers' comments and questions about the paper's online and print editions to reporters and editors.

Regular features on the blog will include 'Whatever Happened to…', where readers can ask for updates on past stories, and 'Ask a Staffer', which will let the audience query how editorial decisions are made.

In addition users can view a staff directory and details of the title's ethics guidelines.

"The ongoing changes reflect The Times' overarching goal of becoming a more transparent and integrated news organization," said James O'Shea, Los Angeles Times editor.

"Most important, we're further opening the lines of communication with our readers and using new ways to make the newsroom more accessible."

The new blog will be hosted by the paper's readers' representative Jamie Gold and assistant readers' representative Kent Zelas.

Mobile advertising 101: tips for beginners

ClickZ - Advertisers rushing into the mobile arena should take heed.

Maria Mandel, executive director of digital innovation at Ogilvy New York, advises them to crawl first by deploying SMS messaging; walk, by using banner advertisements or building a mobile WAP site; and then run by offering video or downloadable applications to consumers.

Mandel was one of seven industry executives who offered up mobile advertising tips at an educational program in New York last week called Mobile Ad Degree. The program, attended by over 100 people, was the brainchild of Ad Infuse and M:Metrics, two businesses specializing in the mobile advertising segment.

Mobile advertising solutions aren't limited to an advertiser's competency, and each component can be layered into a multi-message campaign. A short code (define) displayed in a TV, print, or outdoor advertisement invites users to participate and learn more about a product or service, or take part in an activity. Marketers then respond to the short code request with an SMS message. The response can contain a coupon, promotion details, a link to a WAP site, or instructions on how to access or download content.

According to M:Metrics VP of Consulting and Senior Analyst Evan Neufeld, 43 percent of U.S. mobile phone users send text or SMS messages, and an even higher percentage communicate through SMS in Europe. High adoption makes it an easy entry point to a mobile campaign.

Display and paid search advertising is another simple way to enter the mobile advertising channel. Advertisers can buy ads on a network such as Ad Infuse or Third Screen Media. Search and paid listings are bought through networks including Medio, JumpTap, and even Google, which recently began porting AdWords listings to its mobile search product.

Whether it’s a landing page or a fully-robust Web site, companies use the WAP protocol so their Web sites can be viewed on handsets and other wireless devices. Still, an even richer way for advertisers to engage consumers through mobile is through downloadable applications. These are programs that often provide convenient access to information, for instance in the form of local directories like Ingenio's TouchCall for the iPhone, or an entertainment vehicle including games and video content.

"You can't approach mobile like the Internet or other media," said Mandel. It's a personal device. Some of the best ad campaigns offer utility in the form of a useful application or some kind of entertainment such as video or a game, she said. Both utility and entertainment were included in a campaign for DHL created by Mandel and her team at Ogilvy earlier this year.

There are many practical uses for SMS. In one instance, Ansible Mobile enabled U.K.-based retailer Argos to let consumers waiting for out-of-stock items text a product-specific keyword to the retailer's short code and be notified when the store restocks the item. Additionally, Argos sends coupons offering discounts to customers who've asked for out-of-stock products, effectively growing its list for future communication.

One drawback to advertisers looking into mobile: Carriers don't provide data that metrics-minded advertisers crave to target messaging. Data include demographic and psychographic information, location, and other useful information.

Marketers beyond the trial stage can collect and tag information on consumer behavior and preferences, along with simple demographics to create long-term programs to keep consumers engaged with new products or promotions.

"Clients see mobile as a long-term CRM [customer relationship management] play," said Kevin Granath, VP of business development at Ansible. He works with clients to develop user profiles, segment, and send SMS messages to smaller, more targeted groups. His clients use a decision tree to more effectively target, enabling marketers to reach consumer segments much in the same way as triggered or segmented e-mail marketing campaigns online.

Products on store shelves and real-world sponsorships lend opportunities for mobile tie-ins. "There's unused inventory and promotional space," said Granath, referring to product packaging. "Start a conversation when picking up a bag of chips." By placing a short code or message linking to a mobile campaign, a marketer reaches consumers at the moment they pick up a product.

Other marketers have created mobile campaigns for the duration of a sponsored concert to provide updates or enrich the experience for attendees. Consumers become involved while physically at the event, or take part in an event through mobile content even when they're not present.

Ad Infuse and M:Metrics plan to put on their Mobile Ad Degree event in other cities; the next one will take place in London in a few weeks.

U.S. wireless subscriptions surge past 250 million

ClickZ - Wireless subscribers in the U.S. have surpassed 250 million, according to a report released by industry group CTIA.

Cell phone subscriptions reached 250 million in just over 20 years and increased at a rate of 352 percent since 1997. In December 2002, the U.S. had 141 million wireless subscribers, 55 million in 1997, 11 million in 1992, and 91,600 in 1985, not long after mobile phones were introduced.

CTIA cites research from the FCC, which states 98 percent of Americans have at least four service providers to choose from. The same source reports mobile high-speed subscriptions increased by roughly 600 percent in 2006 to reach 22 million. Mobile wireless subscribers made up 60 percent of all new high-speed lines. Increased adoption in high-speed wireless lines signals the adoption of mobile Web applications.

CTIA is an international association serving the wireless telecommunication industry, representing carriers, manufacturers, and wireless Internet providers. The association gathered data on the U.S. subscriber base from carriers and other sources, including the FCC.

Finish publisher fuels newspapers with user content

European Journalism Centre - Finnish news publisher Sanoma Digital has launched a user-generated news website that also uses an open-source journalism platform to gather material for a series of weekly freesheet newspapers. Launched last month, Vartti.fi is a fledgling project that allows users to break news by uploading multimedia content direct to the site.

Vartti editors also publish story threads on the website and ask for multimedia submissions from the readers - setting them deadlines for their contributions. The stories are then published in a series of ultra-local weekly papers distributed in and around the Helsinki area.

‘With the Jokela High School shooting we had one of the first pictures in Finland [from the scene] which was taken on a mobile phone, we then sold it on to publications in Norway and Sweden,’ Janne Kaijarvi, editor-in-chief of Vartti, told Journalism.co.uk.

The site also broke news about a train fire in Helsinki, Kaijarvi added, with reporters first finding out about the incident when a passenger uploaded a picture to the site from inside the train. Contributors are paid for pictures that make it into the print edition, usually in the region of 50 euros, for which Sanoma then takes the copyright.

Sanoma publishes seven local editions of Vartti in Helsinki and a further seven in other areas. Vartti.fi is just one of five news site start-ups which have been launched by Sanoma Digital, one of the largest Nordic publishers, since the start of the year.

Sample rates for freelance writing

Useful info for me from writers.ca :)

"What should I charge for my work"
or "How much do I pay a writer?"

For both freelance writers and those that hire them, that frequently asked question lacks a simple answer. Fees charged by professional writers vary according to the work involved. Many factors affect payment including:

* the type of assignment (e.g., magazine article, speech, marketing report)
* the writer's skill, background and experience
* rights licensed to the client
* the number of words and/or time the project requires
* the number of interviews and research needed
* the types of rights being purchased

PWAC's rate guidelines are based on fee information we have collected from PWAC members across Canada and from various industries that regularly hire writers on a freelance/contract basis.

PWAC's information reveals large pay variations between markets and locations. For instance, writers tend to earn more in large cities than in other areas of the country. There are also large variations between writers: a very experienced, established writer can charge more for her work than someone just starting out. Therefore, the rates below are general guidelines only. You'll need to negotiate the exact fee depending on the particulars of the assignment.

Advertising Material
Copy/Scripts/News Releases
$350 to $500 per page
$750 to $1,000 per project for brochures
$75 to $150 per hour

Advertorials
(articles commissioned by advertisers)
$0.40 to $2 per word
$100 to $3,000 per article
$40 to $100 per hour

Corporate/Business Writing
Reports/ Marketing Plans/ Technical Writing
$1 to $2 per word
$300 to $12,000 per project
$50 to $125 per hour

Editing
Varies according to publication/project
$30 to $60 per hour
$500 to $20,000 per project

Ghost Writing
Articles
Generally 2-3 times the usual rate

Books
$10,000 to $50,000 flat fee
Entire advance + 50% of royalties

Government Writing
News Releases/Studies/Reports
$1 to $3 per word
$500 to $100,000 per project
$50 to $125 per hour

Newsletters
Writing only; layout extra
$0.30 to $1.50 per word
$400 to $6,000 per issue
$50 to $80 per hour

Newspaper Writing
Large Daily Newspapers
$0.30 to $1.00 per word
$250 to $2,500 per article
$330 to $1,250 per column

Smaller Community Newspapers
$0.10 to $0.50 per word
$75 to $1,000 per article
$75 to $500 per column

Online/Web Site Writing
Varies widely; "business" sites pay higher
$1 to $3 per word
$60 to $100 per hour

Periodical Writing
General Interest/Consumer Magazines
$1.00 to $2 per word
$500 to $10,000 per article
$400 to $1,500 per column

Trade/Special Interest Magazines
$0.30 to $2 per word
$500 to $4,000 per article
$300 to $1,000 per column

Scripts
Radio (highly variable)
$40 to $80 per minute of script
Television (highly variable)
$60 to $130 per minute of script

Speech Writing
$500 to $8,000 per speech
$60 to $130 per hour

Teaching/Instruction
$25 to $80 per hour
$200 to $800 per day

Translation/Adaptation
Literary
$0.10 to $0.20 per word
Other
$0.25 to $0.60 per word
$40 to $80 per hour

User-gen news complement MSM, not replacing it: study

The Latest News Headlines—Your Vote Counts
September 12, 2007

Journalism.org - If someday we have a world without journalists, or at least without editors, what would the news agenda look like? How would citizens make up a front page differently than professional news people?

If a new crop of user-news sites—and measures of user activity on mainstream news sites—are any indication, the news agenda will be more diverse, more transitory, and often draw on a very different and perhaps controversial list of sources, according to a new study.

The report, released by the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ), compared the news agenda of the mainstream media for one week with the news agenda found on a host of user-news sites for the same period.

In a week when the mainstream press was focused on Iraq and the debate over immigration, the three leading user-news sites—Reddit, Digg and Del.icio.us—were more focused on stories like the release of Apple’s new iphone and that Nintendo had surpassed Sony in net worth, according to the study.

The report also found subtle differences in three other forms of user-driven content within one site: Yahoo News’ Most Recommended, Most Viewed, and Most Emailed.

The question of whether citizens define the news differently than professionals is becoming increasingly relevant. It started with offering visitors a sense of what others found interesting: what news stories were most emailed and most viewed?

Soon, establishment news sites like CBSNews.com allowed users to make their own newscasts. Then, names like Digg, Reddit and Del.icio.us emerged as virtual town squares that became a way to measure the pulse of what the web community finds most newsworthy, most captivating, or just amusing. The trend continues, as even Myspace, the social networking site popular among 20-somethings, has launched a news page (http://news.myspace.com).

Indeed, these user-driven sites have entered the news business, or perhaps more accurately, they have entered the news dissemination business. Reporting is not a part of their charge. Instead, they turn to others for content and then they bestow users with the task of deciding what makes it on the page.

What do individuals do with that power? What kind of events or issues do they choose to highlight? And how does it differ from the news the mainstream press offers?

To find out, PEJ took a snapshot of coverage from the week of June 24 to June 29, 2007, on three sites that offer user-driven news agendas: Digg, Del.icio.us and Reddit. In addition, the Project studied Yahoo News, an outlet that offers an editor-based news page and three different lists of user-ranked news: Most Recommended, Most Viewed, and Most Emailed. These sites were then compared with the news agenda found in the 48 mainstream news outlets contained in PEJ’s News Coverage Index.

A total of 644 stories from the three user-driven sites and Yahoo News’s three most popular pages were coded for the study and then compared to 1,395 stories from the same time period in PEJ’s News Coverage Index. The report first compared the content of the user-sites to that of the mainstream press. Next, it compared the three user-sites to each other. Finally, the study looked at the three user-oriented pages on Yahoo News, comparing them to Yahoo’s editor-selected news page, to the other user-sites, and to each other.

Some key findings include:

* The news agenda of the three user-sites that week was markedly different from that of the mainstream press. Many of the stories users selected did not appear anywhere among the top stories in the mainstream media coverage studied. And there was often little in the way of follow-up. Most stories on the user-news sites appeared only once, never to be repeated again in the week we studied.

* The sources user news sites draw on are strikingly different from the mainstream media. Seven in ten stories on the user sites come either from blogs or Web sites such as YouTube and WebMd that do not focus mostly on news.

* The three user news sites differed from one another in subtle ways. Reddit was the most likely to focus on political events from Washington, such as coverage of Vice President Cheney; Digg was particularly focused on the release of Apple’s new iPhone; Del.icio.us had the most fragmented mix of stories and the least overlap with the News Index.

* On Yahoo News—even when picking from a limited list of stories Yahoo editors had already pared down—users’ top stories only rarely matched those of the news professionals.

* There were mostly similarities in what people are most likely to email each other versus what they recommend or view on Yahoo News. But there were some differences. Most Recommended stories focused more on “news you can use” such as advice from the World Health Organization to exercise one’s legs during long flights; the Most Viewed stories were often breaking news, more sensational in nature, with a heavy dose of crime and celebrity; and the Most Emailed stories were more diverse, with a mix of the practical and the oddball.

* Despite claims that the Web would internationalize consumers’ news diets, coverage across the three user-news sites focused more on domestic events and less on news from abroad than the mainstream media that week. Yahoo News, both on its main news page and three most popular pages, meanwhile, stood out for being decidedly more international that week.

In short, the user-news agenda, at least in this one-week snapshot, was more diverse, yet also more fragmented and transitory than that of the mainstream news media. This does not mean necessarily that users disapprove or reject the mainstream news agenda. These user sites may be supplemental for audiences. They may gravitate to them in addition to, rather than instead of, traditional venues. But the agenda they set is nonetheless quite different. This initial report is based on a limited sample—a one week snapshot—to get a first sense of differences and similarities in user-driven and mainstream media. PEJ intends in a future study to delve further into this area of research.

The Big Picture

Past research by PEJ has found that week-to-week mainstream media tend to focus on a handful of major events that they monitor continuously over the course of a week or a month. Whether it be floods in the Midwest, the death of Anna Nicole Smith or debate over the President’s “surge” policy in Iraq, a sizable amount of airtime or space is often spent on just a handful of “big” stories of the week.

The week of June 24 was no different. There were no major breaking events demanding special media attention, but a handful of stories emphasizing political events in Washington and conflicts abroad dominated.

During that week, the immigration debate led the coverage, accounting for 10% of all news stories in the News Coverage Index. That was followed by coverage of a major fire near Lake Tahoe (6%), the failed bombings in the United Kingdom (6%), events on the ground in Iraq (6%), Supreme Court decisions (5%), the 2008 presidential election (4%), flooding in Texas (4%), the policy debate in the capitol over the war in Iraq (4%), U.S. domestic terrorism (3%), and the missing pregnant woman in Ohio (3%). In all, the top ten stories that week accounted for 51% of all the stories in the Index.

In the user-generated sites, these stories were barely visible. Overall, just 5% of the stories captured on these three sites overlapped with the ten most widely-covered stories in the Index (13% for Reddit, 4% for Digg, and 0% for Del.icio.us).

The immigration debate in Congress, the biggest single story of the week in the mainstream media, appeared just once as a top-ten story on Reddit, and not at all on Digg and Del.icio.us. Similarly, the war in Iraq accounted for 10% of all stories in the Index and seven percent in the Yahoo-user material. Across the three user-news sites, it amounted to about 1%.

What were the favorite stories on the user-driven sites? For the most part, there were no dominant ones. The only story with any real traction was the release of the Apple iPhone, and that was just on one site (it accounted for 16% of the stories on Digg that week). Otherwise, users put forth a mix of diverse and unconnected news events from day to day. On the morning of June 26 on Digg, for example, a story about intelligent design topped the list followed by a story about a woman suing record labels for malicious prosecution. But by 5pm that day, both had vanished from the top ten.

Rank better on Yahoo with dynamic URL rewriting

Search Engine Journal - Big news from the Yahoo Site Explorer team as they have announced a new dynamic URL rewriting service for sites which use multiple variables in their URL strings which may damage their ranking potential within Yahoo Search, even if the site is full of good relevant content and has lots of natural incoming links.

Site owners can now alert Yahoo about the dynamic parameters used within their URL strings. Yahoo Search can then ignore the variables and automatically rewrite the URL to make it more search friendly.

How does this help site owners? Yahoo says the rewriting of dynamic URLs effects everything from the crawling of a site to the distribution of link juice:

* A more efficient crawl of your site, with fewer duplicate URLs being crawled.
* Better and deeper site coverage, as we’ll be able to use our crawler capacity to find and index more new content on your site.
* More unique content discovered, as we’ll handle more dynamic parameters in your URLs (if you remove the content-neutral dynamic parameters).
* Fewer chances of crawler traps.
* Cleaner and easier-to-read URLs displayed in the search results.
* Better aggregation of link juice to your sites, which can help your pages rank better.

More on Dynamic URL Rewriting via the Yahoo Search Blog.

cannibalistic URLs

Search Engine Journal - When you build a web site, you create paths to certain pages. Most web developers will put those pages in specific folders like: www.example.com/press-releases/ or www.example.com/store/ to give the site a logical structure. Unfortunately, depending on a slew of technical stuff like servers, file extensions, redirects and internal site links, that pretty path can end up looking like a number of unique paths to both users and search engines even though they’re really the same:

www.example.com/press-releases/
example.com/press-releases/

www.example.com/press-releases/default.aspx
example.com/press-releases/default.aspx
www.example.com/press-releases/?id=1
example.com/press-releases/?id=1

Why is this a problem?

Isn’t this just ugly code to some standards-compliant web freaks?

It’s a problem because when a link goes to that page (either from your site or another site) and it uses different paths (through a mistake or technical error), that path is seen by the search engines as unique pages. And when Google determines page rank from links to your page, if they find multiple pages, you could be splitting your best possible ranking.

Let’s use Play-Doh to demonstrate the principle.

If you have three page paths:

example.com/default.aspx
example.com/default.aspx?id=1
WWW.Example.com/Default.aspx

The first one might have just one or two links to it and a PR of 1. The second might have a few more links and a PR of 2. And let’s pretend the third has even more links with a PR of 3.

Unfortunately, page rank isn’t simple arithmetic, but for the sake of this discussion, if you could make all of those links go to the “same” page, you would be channeling greater link equity to one central location. This could potentially result in a PR of a big, beautiful 6, which should mean increased rankings.

How do you find out if you’re cannibalizing your page rank

First things first… open your website in a browser and type in the domain as www.example.com. Then type in example.com without the “www.” If the domains stay the same when you type either one, you need to designate one version over the other. For detailed instructions on how to do this, read Chris Hooley’s article, Canonicalize with .htacces. Your goal is to make one version redirect to the other.

Now that, that biggie is out of the way, you need to choose how you want your pages to look. I recommend removing extensions entirely if you are using folders (e.g. www.example.com/example/ versus www.example.com/example/index.htm). This is for a maintenance reason, but I am also partial to keeping pages in the root directory as much as possible, which means you have to show an extension like www.example.com/example.htm.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you stay consistent in how you code your internal links. What I mean is that if you create a path on your site to www.example.com/example/, do not make the page www.example/example in another area of your site. This is one of the few times in life when it’s okay to play favorites!

You should also control the amount of variables appended to your path. Often, for tracking or programming reasons, variables are appended to URLs that can make your paths appear different. Try to limit them and again, be consistent.

To test for variables and path mistakes, create a Google Webmaster Central account and navigate to Webmaster Tools. Then go to the Links tab (after you have verified the site) and scroll through both the internal and external links. You should be able to easily eye serious issues. I also like to use Xenu Link Sleuth, which detects broken links, but also displays a list of paths on your site.

And, that’s about it, though there’s probably a lot I did not cover either from my own misunderstanding or tiredness. Either way, I got to play with Play-Doh and talk about page rank. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Online ads taking over

The Internet Outsider demonstrates how the web is causing a shift in advertising dollars, according to the Web Strategist.

“US advertising revenue at 4 big online media companies–Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO), AOL (TWX), and MSN (MSFT)–grew by $1.3 billion in Q2, or 42%.

US advertising revenue at 15 big television, newspaper, magazine, radio, and outdoor companies (Time Warner, Viacom, CBS, etc.) shrank by $280 million in Q2, or 3%.”

42% online vs -3% traditional

Read the bottom line on this spreadsheet analysis. Google is growing hand over fist at 96% while NYT has a decrease by 6%.

Online video will dominate: forecast

eMarketer - Television networks, film studios, independent content owners, Web portals, social media sites, technology providers, online stores, brand marketers and consumers are all joining the Internet video revolution. They are changing the way digital content is created, distributed, consumed and monetized.

The Online Video report analyzes and compares the online video delivery channels that are creating both uncertainty and a sense of opportunity among media professionals.

Some players are fearful that the widespread availability of video content on the Internet will threaten the TV and film industries. Others see the potential to increase revenues through a variety of business models, including ad-supported streaming, pay-to-own downloads, subscription services and online rentals as a boon.

eMarketer projects that by 2011, 86.6% of the US Internet population will consume online video, up from 62.8% in 2006.

In raw numbers, that means the number of viewers will rise from 114 million in 2006 to 183 million in 2011.

Key questions the "Online Video" report answers:

• What is the size and projected growth of the online video audience?
• What are the leading types of online video content?
• Which business models will prevail for video on the Internet?
• How will the widespread availability of video on the Web affect TV viewing?
• What are the top video content Internet sites?
• Which devices do consumers prefer for viewing video online?
• And many others...

eMarketer Reports—On-Target and Up-to-Date

The Online Video report aggregates the latest data from marketing and communications researchers with eMarketer numbers, projections and analysis to provide the information you need to make the right business decisions—right now.

Online Advertising to Surpass Newspaper Advertising by 2011

Forecast: Internet Expected To Exceed All Other Ad Media By 2011

Private equity and investment firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) put out a new ad spending forecast, covered in MediaPost and the Financial Times. Driven by audience migration, the US Internet is anticipated to capture $61.98 billion and become the top ad medium in 2011. Traditional media will show slow, low single-digit growth while alternative media will grow at a compound annual rate of 17.4 percent during the forecast period.

According to the MediaPost write-up of the VSS findings, consumers are spending less time with media overall and less time with "push" vs. "pull" media in particular:

At the same time, the consumer migration to digital media--which require less time investment than traditional media counterparts (think 3-minute YouTube clips versus 30-minute TV shows)--has spawned a year-over-year decline in the amount of time consumers spent with media, VSS researchers say. The tally came in at 3,530 hours in 2006, a per-capita decrease of 0.5%. It's the first time since 1997, researchers say, that such a behavior has occurred.

Consumers are also migrating away from ad-supported media and spending more time with media they support, according to the VSS Forecast. Consumers spent an average of 1,631 hours in 2006 with consumer-supported media, such as the Internet and video games--a gain of 19.8% compared to 2001. Time spent with ad-supported media, such as broadcast television and newspapers, has fallen 6.3% since 2001 to 1,899 hours per person.

While forecasts are often inflated and make assumptions that don't come to pass as quickly as expected, VSS claims its forecasts are historically very accurate:

The VSS Forecast also features the industry’s most accurate spending forecasts, producing a margin of error of +/- 2% for 9 of the last 10 years. The margin of error for the 2006 forecasts was + 0.4%.

VSS projects paid search will reach roughly $8.7 billion by year end and $16.7 billion in 2011. The report also projects roughly $6 billion in local search and online yellow pages spending by 2011. All locally targeted online ad spending is expected to reach just over $19 billion by 2011.

Local Search Booms - Driving Offline Sales

Need Hits - If you thought that local search is not affecting the way consumers shop offline then you would be mistaken! TMP Directional Marketing has released the results of a comScore study, revealing that 61% of local online searchers proceeded to purchase from a local business. Just under half made a phone call or visited the store offline, whilst only 6% made a purchase online!

While 33% of searchers still look to Yellow Pages for the majority of their local information, and 90% believe that print directories are "still a valuable source for shopping information." the majority (over 60%) of consumers use the internet to find local and business information. Half this number utilizes popular search engines like Google and Yahoo!, 17% choose to search Internet Yellow Pages (IYPs) and 13% use local search sites such as Citysearch, InsiderPages or Merchant Circle.

Despite the strong evidence, highlighting the benefits of investing in local search, Stuart McKelvey, CEO, TMP Directional Marketing, said that advertisers have been slow to embrace local search marketing efforts due to the lack of perceived value in driving purchases, and the cost of moving dollars from offline to online local directories. With only 6% of the 61% of local searchers actually purchasing online, and no tracking to link offline purchases to online searches, advertisers just aren't seeing the proven benefits of local search marketing.

"Online local search is a $9 billion market and growing. The consumer is there, and the opportunities for marketers to capture a share of this growth are huge," states McKelvey. Now is the time to invest in clever local search marketing to drive your offline sales!

Start your local search marketing with Local Search Listing. You provide us with your details. We submit your business to 46 major search engines and local directories, and create an optimized local webpage, displaying all your business information! Simple and smart local search marketing!

Toronto Star facing tough road but online taking on important role, CEO says

CP - Despite its successful redesign, Canada's largest daily newspaper continues to face revenue challenges amid ongoing slippage in advertising, while online media has taken on a modest but increasingly important revenue-generating role, the head of Torstar Corp. said Wednesday.

The comments from a concerned Rob Prichard came even as Torstar (TSX:TS.B), owner of the Toronto Star and other media properties, released "solid" second quarter financial results showing overall profits climbing 15 per cent to $30.1 million or 38 cents a share.

"Our growth slowed in the second quarter despite year over year favourable cost comparisons," Prichard said in a conference call with analysts. "The second quarter was tougher than the first."

Three-month revenues rose 1.7 per cent to $397 million, with modest growth seen in newspapers, digital and at the Harlequin book publishing unit.

Prichard stressed the difficulties facing the Star, the country's biggest circulation paper, a trend he predicted would continue. Advertising linage fell 5.6 per cent for the quarter with ad rates barely eking out gains.

The "tough" revenue trends at the paper were offset by the discontinuance of the weekly Scoop, which cost the Star $3.1 million in 2006, and lower pension and newsprint costs, CFO David Holland said.

The redesign of the Toronto Star, which Prichard said has been "greeted with acclaim," will further yield significant savings in the order of $3 million a year because it will be printed on smaller pages.

Overall revenues for Torstar's newspaper and digital division climbed a scant 1.9 per cent to $281 million in the quarter compared with the year-before period.

At the same time, the newspaper's website torontostar.com is enjoying increased traffic and revenues as the company invests heavily in online media.

"Digital revenue for our newspaper and digital segment grew by about 50 per cent year over year, albeit on a modest base," Prichard said.

Although digital revenues accounted for just 4.3 per cent of the total in the quarter, that was still significantly ahead of the 2.8 per cent in 2006.

"This is an important achievement for securing our future," Prichard said.

Besides the Star, Torstar also owns the Hamilton Spectator and other papers in southern Ontario, including the Metroland community newspaper chain around the Toronto area.

The company's Harlequin division, publisher of popular romance novels, continued to perform well, especially in the North American series market.

"For the year as a whole, we expect Harlequin will deliver stable earnings despite the rising strength of the Canadian dollar as business growth offsets the foreign exchange headwinds," Prichard said.

In all, book publishing revenue was $116 million in the second quarter, up $1.4 million, including $900,000 favourable impact of foreign exchange.

On the Toronto Stock Exchange Tuesday, Torstar shares were off 15 cents at $21.85.

11 Ways to Boost Your Site’s Effectiveness using MyBlogLog

YPN BLOG - Editor’s Note: When I asked MyBlogLog Community Manager, Robyn Tippins, last week to pen a post on how publishers can use MyBlogLog to drive traffic and keep their users engaged, she was on her way to the BlogHer conference in Chicago. So frantic was her schedule that I had little hope that I would actually see copy anytime soon. I needn’t have worried. Somehow, in between sessions, schmoozing, cocktail parties and late night runs to the 7-11 for more beer, she managed to bang out 11 useful and erudite tips you can use. Without further ado, let’s go straight to ‘em…

1. Make your Profile page deep
Don’t just fill in the basic information. Take time to make your profile page something that really communicates your personality. People are more likely to want to click through to your blog if they feel a connection to you. MyBlogLog is full of bloggers and site owners who want to find great sites. They are interested in networking, learning from you and in really making a friend. Make sure your page lists basic things like your location and your bio, but don’t forget to add your names on all the other social sites. People who share common interests and common online hangouts with a site owner feel as if they already know them. Making friends with your readers starts with a full profile page.

2. Use the search function
Look for people who share your interests. Check out their blog and let them know that you too like to ride horses or restore classic cars. Look for blogs that are similar in topic and find a few that you love. Subscribe to their RSS feeds and comment on their blogs. You’ll quickly realize that those people will usually come and bring the conversation back to your own blog.

3. Use your own picture on your avatar
While there’s something to be said for the safety of anonymity, readers seem to really like to see pictures of the authors they are reading. It also makes the Recent Readers widget show off a real community of real people. There’s nothing more fun that seeing that widget reflect the real look of your readers. It feels more concrete, tangible, than pictures of celebs and photos with your site’s name on it.

4. Stop posting your blankity-blank url
There’s no need to leave your url in any message on MyBlogLog. Your picture links back to your profile and if people are interested in what you have to say they’ll click through. People who send a URL in a message are often seen as “smarmy.” If you are doing this now, it doesn’t mean you are really smarmy, but it does mean you need to stop shouting for attention. You get more notice from people if they think you don’t need their attention, but deserve it. (Editor’s Note: I feel so dirty ’cause I just did that last week. Ouch!)

5. Don’t spam or attempt to game the system
Sure, if you are a reasonably talented programmer, any system can be leveraged illegally. However, people will rat you out with tags like Schmoe, with spam reports and by telling others of your behavior. And, once banned, it is rare that we offer a second chance. Don’t risk having your url and your name banned for pity traffic. Remember, when people visit your site and leave because it’s not a topic they are interested in, you gain absolutely no value. Spam traffic results in a larger load on your servers and no one caring long enough to read your content, much less pay attention to any advertising on your site.

6. Make your avatar attractive, hot even, but not racy
Due to a large outcry from our members, we’ve really cracked down on sexy avatars. Not only do you risk being banned if your image is outside of our image guidelines, you also run the risk of people clicking the red x themselves and banning you from appearing on their widget and on their pages. When people put our widget on their page we deeply appreciate the valuable real estate that has been entrusted to us. We never want to put them in a position that our widget brings unwelcome content to their site, their home. Sexy is OK, but cleavage, bathing suits and images designed to make someone, er, “excited” are out of place on a family-friendly site. Don’t make yourself invisible (i.e., get banned) on business blogs and family blogs just because you want attention.

7. Take advantage of the tags
Tags have been searchable now for a few weeks and by making sure that your keywords are on your page, you increase your chances of ranking highly on MyBlogLog for your chosen search terms. Plus, by taking a gander at the tags that you interest you, and who else has been tagged the same term, you immediately make MyBlogLog smaller and more intimate for you. With one click you can find ‘business bloggers’ and ‘gamers’ and dive into people who’ll likely become instant friends (and readers).

8. Give back
Spend some time in the MyBlogLog Users Group. Share your knowledge and gain instant credibility as a MyBlogLog expert. You’ll gain friends, readers and people will appreciate your generosity.

9. Make sure your RSS feed is valid
At feedvalidator.org, you can check to see if your feed passes the test. If it doesn’t, you may find that it doesn’t update properly on MyBlogLog. Take the time to make sure it validates so the visitors to your profile will see what you are all about, rather than have them think you haven’t blogged in weeks.

10. Apply to be a hot member
I’m tight with the person that picks hot members (grin) and I can put in a good word for you. However, you stand a much better chance at getting picked if you send me an email along with your picture (must be at least 2”x 3”) and what you are doing that is cool. Try to stand out from the crowd. What are you doing that will knock my socks off? Here’s a rare time that a little bragging is a good thing.

11. Watch what’s Hot in Your Communities
This list includes all the sites that you either write or read. If you joined a community or own a community, that site is one of Your Communities. The Hot part refers to the hot stories in all those communities. To really see what is hot in your area of the blogosphere, keep an eye on that box. It’s a great place for story ideas and inspiration for future series, and it is a brilliant way to know what resonates out there.

Social Media Optimization tips

Make the Most out of your Social Media Marketing Campaign

Editor’s Note: In the first installment of this series, Louise Rijk offered an overview of social media marketing, or SMM. In the second, she went deep into SMM, giving advice on how to start your own social media campaign designed to get more users and links to your site. In this, the third installment, Louise shows you how to optimize your content for social media.

Publishing for profit is a numbers game. You can’t just put up a site and hope people will find it and click on your contextual ads or affiliate links, or—if you sell online—make purchases. You have to market yourself and your site(s) aggressively. As far as contextual advertising goes, publishers often need 1,000 page views or more by highly qualified visitors to generate just $1 in revenue (though this is not a hard-and-fast formula).

Taking advantage of social media is one inexpensive (if sometimes labor intensive) way to help you get more visits and, hopefully, more clicks and/or sales. That’s why so many articles you read online these days—whether published by major newspapers or on an individual blog—have an RSS button or one or more links to social media sites like Digg, Reddit, Slashdot, MyYahoo!, or de.lico.us (like the one above).

Social Media Optimization
But there’s more to it than just offering a way for visitors to bookmark and tag your content. To get the best results, your content itself should be optimized to perform better in social media.

Social media optimization (SMO) is much like organic search engine optimization (SEO). Whereas SEO is designed to help leverage your content in organic search, SMO is designed to help achieve greater visibility on social media sites. Your content might be very original and provide high value for your target audience, but if it’s disorganized and you have not provided an easy way for visitors to pass it along the social web, it probably won’t be effective in your social media marketing campaign.

To implement SMO, you have to make changes to existing content, site usability, navigation and information architecture to make it easier for visitors to interact with your content and to help virally spread it through the social web.

SMO Tips
There are many ways that content can be optimized for social media distribution. Here are a handful of tips that you can use to implement social media optimization:

Content Creation

• Continually create content that is relevant to your target audience and organized in a way that it can easily be found and passed on to others. Highly targeted, relevant content increases the probability that visitors will link to you and distribute your content via social media or email.
• Update your content frequently with new postings and promote these through email, RSS feeds and directories (e.g., podcast and blog directories). A side benefit of frequent updates is that search engines may crawl your site or blog more often for new content. Similarly, the more you post, the more you’re likely to get indexed by blog engines like Technorati.
• Adding an “About” page is a tremendous opportunity to cement a relationship with your site or blog visitors. It puts a human face on an otherwise technical, dry and impersonal page.

Copywriting

• Write your content specifically for the web. Writing for the web means using short, scannable and to-the-point (focused) copy. In general, on the Web, people scan first to sniff out the main points and then, if necessary, comb the page for more details.
• Write attention-grabbing headlines that pique the interest of your audience. This is really important when you optimize content for voting sites like Digg or Reddit, because visitors often decide to vote for your content based on the headlines.
• Put the information-carrying words in the beginning of the headings and sub-headings, and make the headings not wider than 60 characters. Copy Blogger offers free expert headline writing tips.
• Don’t write in an over-promotional or exaggerated fashion. Credibility is more important.
• Use the two-sentence test on web site copy. Ask yourself whether somebody reading the first two sentences on your page will take away the information you want to convey.

Copy Formatting

• Use well-established web formatting techniques, such as bulleted lists, numbered steps and short scannable paragraphs to improve readability. Short paragraphs should be under five sentences. Each paragraph should have one topic sentence and one idea.
• Use bulleted lists when items require no particular order and numbered lists for step-by-step instructions.
• Vertical lists are more effective than run-on lists at conveying a sequence of events or ideas. Use vertical lists when you have four or more items to emphasize. Shorter lists are generally overkill.

Navigation

• Don’t use non-standard links and navigation. As much as possible, follow standard link conventions. Make obvious what is clickable: For text links, use colored, underlined text (and don’t underline non-link text). Avoid using colored underlining text for anything that isn’t a hypertext link. Differentiate visited and unvisited links.

Interaction

• Implement tools and functionality that encourage interaction, e.g., blog commenting, a feedback form, polls and surveys. This allows your visitors to participate in and expand the content on your web site or blog.

Viral Content Optimization
Make your web site or blog content viral. For example, instead of the traditional “Send-to-a-friend” message, consider the following:

• “Tell your friends” is better than “tell a friend.” Suggest telling five or ten friends instead of one. Use multiple address fields, instead of just one, so that the message can be easily passed on to multiple people.
• Make your content available through RSS feeds. Make sure you put the RSS subscription button in a prominent place. Also provide an explanation on what RSS is, and instructions on what visitors need to do to subscribe to your RSS feed.
• Make tagging and bookmarking easy, by including language that encourages users to tag, bookmark and vote for your content.
• Broadcast new posts in a newsletter to your subscription list.

Message Optimization

• Make an offer sound exclusive (“Only three (what-evers) per customer”).
• Make content into a gift that participants can give to a friend by offering coupon codes for discounts, samples, freebies and so forth