What have we learned over the past 6 months of managing hyper-local news sites in the Atlantic City area? Glad you asked. Driving traffic to local news websites via social media is getting tougher. Unless you pay to boost. Even if you do, most of your followers / fans / …
Hyper-Local News Websites, Work-Flow and WordPress. Fall 2019. Read More »
Cities where newspapers shut down or downsize too much, see increase in government costs. Why? Lack of scrutiny over local deals, say researchers tracking the decline of local news outlets. When local newspapers scale back operations, local communities lose out. When the cat is away…. mice will play. Politicos take liberties …
What Happens When Local Newspapers Downsize or Shut Down. Read More »
Here’e a quick summary of best practices for those looking to succeed in the Hyper Local news & marketing space. Cut costs to the bone. Boot strap everything. Be cautious of vendors who re-package open source solutions. You will overpay. Enabling local commerce is job #1 Sharing local news and …
The dying legacy media. Sad to watch our former information gatekeepers called newspaper, TV and Radio bleed jobs. Local newspapers suffering sharp declines in circulation and AD revenue. They’re losing the bully pulpit too. Time to get crafty. Not much time left. Maybe the know-it-alls at Poynter can figure a …
Poynter Scandal – Why Very Few Trust Newspapers & Mainstream Media Read More »
We started our hyper local news and marketing journey back in 2007. While attending a NYC conference, speaker Jeff Jarvis asked me what my website address was. Uh-oh. Don’t have one. Even though I was trying to start a digital marketing company. You see, back in 2007, I was just …
Hyper-Local News and Marketing Update Spring 2019 Read More »
Back in 2007 when we launched our digital marketing consultancy, local newspaper and radio were still fairly successful. While both of thee traditional media platforms were ramping up their internet based efforts, most were doing the bare minimum. At that time, there was still just way too much money to …
Best Practices for Hyper-Local Website and Marketing Success in 2019 Read More »
We know far too many businesses that do 99% of their marketing and advertising….using Facebook and other Social Media sites. Geez. It’s insane to build a business on land you can’t control. See: Digital Sharecropping. As readers of Get Smart Digital know, we’ve been warning those who leverage Facebook for business …
You’ve Been Warned. Over-Reliance on Facebook Could Kill Your Business. Read More »
It’s not sexy, but good old-fashioned email is still the most effective way to communicate and market online. Fans of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube understandably don’t agree. What’s not to love about ‘free’? Fact: Reliable, permission-based marketing cuts through the clutter and land-mines associated with social media. To be sure, …
Old School Email Marketing. More Important, More Effective Than Ever. Read More »
Back in 2009, J-school professor; Jeff Jarvis, and Mark Potts of BackFence fame, asked me to contribute some online sales expertise to their ongoing research in hyper-local business models for news. These meetings, held at CUNY (City University of New York) were chock full of academics, journalists, investment and editorial …
Jeff Jarvis, CUNY. Hyper Local News and Revenue. Looking Back. Read More »
Frustrated by digital growth? So were we. That’s why we started Get Smart Digital. We’re all about local, online sales strategy…..that works NOW…..not sometime in the future. We’re known for blunt, yet highly effective methods that push you to run your website as a ‘profit-first’ business. First, we remove common choke-points that stunt …