Are you able to answer the following questions off the top of your head? Why do you have a Web site? What is the purpose of your e-mail newsletter? These seem like simple enough questions, but for some reason, they’re incredibly hard for many publishers to answer – or, at least, it’s hard to answer them well. And, those companies that have difficulty answering these questions are usually the same ones with lackluster online media businesses. Online media, just like print, must serve a reader need that cannot be fulfilled in the same way by someone else. It’s the golden...

I’m heading out to the Publishing Business Conference this evening in New York. I’m honored to be part of three panels on Monday. Beyond Webcasting – Revenue Opportunities with Rich Media – 11:15 AM. I’ll be part of a panel presenting on various revenue opportunities around rich media. Personally, I plan to talk on creating low-cost, high-impact, and strong revenue producing streaming video programming via sponsorship. But we’ll also cover video ads and a variety of other rich media opportunities. Emedia Roundtable Part 1 – 2:30 PM. This session will use my...

It’s been incredibly busy recently so I’ve been a little negligent at posting to my blog. But during this time, I’ve had the opportunity to converse via email with several friends, media execs, and P.E. firms about various topics. My next couple posts will be excerpts from those conversations. I thought you might find the dialog interesting and, yes, I did get permission to post these. (I always consider all non-public posted conversations confidential.) Enjoy! Question: You had mentioned there’s a person at the brand level who helps sell emedia programs? Is that a salesperson?...

It’s still early in the summit, but so far the biggest theme seems to be about the human element … how do you find, train, recruit, and organize people and define jobs / roles to help publishers go after the emedia opportunity. Speaker after speaker have talked about how sales, circulation, editorial, and every other job within media MUST adapt to emedia and how hard it is to find these folks. A couple speakers estimated that up to 35% of the workforce at their company will not make the transition successfully. That means there will be a lot of jobs and opportunities for those who do...