Increasingly interactivity is the key to attracting readers… including online tools they can use.
Here’s how big media is trying to win the battle for online readers, from Yahoo:
Luring new readers means connecting with them on the Internet through blogs, live online chats and interactive databases, industry leaders told newspapers editors Thursday.
Amid a steady decline in newspaper advertising and circulation, building communities of readers through the online experience is essential, said Jim Brady, vice president and executive editor of washingtonpost.com.
Brady said washingtonpost.com has about 80 blogs. Sports and religion blogs have proved popular with readers, he said.
Jennifer Carroll, vice president of new media for the newspaper division of Gannett Co. Inc., said creating online databases is another way papers are attracting readers.
A person, for example, can go online to The News-Press of Fort Myers, Fla., to explore a database that allows users to search public records from the Federal Emergency Management Agency — records the paper won access to after a court battle. A user can type in an address and receive information on neighbors, relatives or others who registered for aid after Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne in 2004.
The online site for the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey has a database for readers that can tell them how much the governor is paid or the price a neighbor paid for his home.
The databases are driving users to newspapers’ web sites, Carroll said.
“They’re not coming just to look at headlines and leave,” she told editors. “They’re coming to search and learn through you in ways that nobody else can do.”
Related Link: Make your website “Web 2.0″ friendly to attract more readers and let users create your content.
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