Not so improved newspaper website
The following was inspired by a conversation I had one night about the new Daily News website, and some my own change of opinion regarding the new and so called improved bgdailynews.com. I have several issues with this new site including HTML validation, web accessibility for the disabled and Section 508 (29 U.S.C. ' 794d) Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals.
Note: While I may be critical of the new Daily News website, I have written several articles that are complimentary to the local newspaper. I still like the Daily News and will continue to purchase advertising in it. For the record however, and for those who have misquoted me otherwise, I have never written anything that was less than respectful about the local newspaper, it's owners or it's staff.
Also, please note: I am posting this on my personal website instead of my business blog. I offer my impressions, opinions and general rants from time to time but do so as an individual not representing any company, customer or entity other than myself.
My #1 issue with the "Park City Daily News" online? Story links. I predicted before the new website went live (see prediction at this blog post on July 20th) that links to old stories would be broken. I had no idea that they would be this broken. Stories that are published online are transferred to the archive server (newsbank.com) when the next edition is published. This means that if I find a story of interest to a fellow business owner and try to send a link to them, if they don't click on it in the next 24 hours, the link will not work. Furthermore, the way the new archive server works prevents links directly to articles of any kind. The reason? They require a session cookie in order to view an article.
Example: Here is a link to the recent story by Raed G. Battah, "Focus on Business - Newly enhanced Daily News site to benefit those hunting for jobs " Published: September 6, 2005. In order to find it I clicked on archive and entered "Battah" in the search block after trying "focus on business" to no avail. Since I am within the 14 day deadline, I am allowed to view the article for free. Link to article: http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=10C0A75D384EDB20&p_docnum=23
If you click on the link, you will notice that you receive a "servlet" error. "Your search session has expired. Please make sure that cookies are enabled on your browser, then return to the search page and try again. Please note that bookmarking of pages within the archive is not supported. If the problem persists please contact NewsBank (newslibrary@newsbank.com)." The key part of this error is "Please note that bookmarking of pages within the archive is not supported." This may be confusing to some of the readers if they do not understand the term bookmarking(sic) but the bottom line is, links to articles within the archive will not work even if inside the 14 day window.
(Side note: I tried to bring this issue up on the "Sound Off" discussion board to help your folks correct their own instructions. You can find it here. http://p211.ezboard.com/fspeakyourmind59273frm1.showMessage?topicID=538.topic ) (update: they have removed my advice from their board but allowed their erroneous instructions to remain. Their instructions are wrong because the system does not allow links. click here for the post that remains.)
So, I can no longer link to articles. That may be alright but Google cannot either. (hint) This makes it difficult to share your articles with friends or colleagues without infringing upon your copyrights. It makes it impossible for search engines such as Google who has more than 5,200 of your pages in their index (most of which are now broken) to effectively index your site as well. This will result in a drop of traffic from search engines. Once the search engine crawlers receive the 404 error a number of times, it is likely your entire domain will be dropped from the active index. One of the greatest promotional tools is (was) the Daily News articles inside the Google and other search engine indexes that help spread the good news of Bowling Green.
Google news has already dropped bgdailynews.com. Before the change, a keyword search at http://news.google.com would result in dozens of links to bgdailynews.com. This morning (August 25, 2005) a keyword search offers links to: (top ten sources) Sports Network, WBKO KY, WTVG OH, Toledo Blade OH, Hannibal Courier Post MO, Bogalusa Daily News LA, 2theadvocate.com LA, Bowling Green News OH, Cincinnati Enquirer OH, Central Michigan Life MI.
To further this, I entered the domain "bgdailynews" in the news section of Google just to see if there was anything available... the result "No pages were found containing "bgdailynews"." But a search for "WBKO" results "about 145 for wbko." As you can see, this number one issue of mine has a ripple effect that could potentially effect your unique user counts online.
I spent a little time this morning doing a more in depth query into the other newspaper website in KY who use "TownNews.com" just to see who charges for the archives. Of the 24 listings at the TownNews website for KY, one was not a news paper; one was a dead link; four required registration but made no mention of fees; eighteen offered free access to their archive. (I visited each website and did an advanced search from 1Jul05 to present for business, clicked on the link to ensure access.)
- Ashland Daily Independent
http://www.dailyindependent.com
(registration required, no mention of fee) - Bardstown Kentucky Standard
http://www.kystandard.com
(Free access to archive) - Campbellsille Central Kentucky News Journal
http://www.cknj.com
(Free access to archive) - Corbin Times Tribune
http://www.corbintimes.com
(Free access to archive) - Cynthiana Democrat
http://www.cynthianademocrat.com
(Free access to archive) - Elizabethtown News Enterprise
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com
(Free access to archive) - Georgetown News
http://www.news-graphic.com
(Free access to archive) - Glasgow Daily Times
http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com
(Free access to archive) - Hazard Herald
http://www.hazard-herald.com
(Registration required but no mention of fee) - LaGrange Oldham Era
http://www.oldhamera.com
(Free access to archive) - Landmark Communication
http://www.lcni.com
(portal website not news) - Lawrenceburg Anderson News
http://www.theandersonnews.com
(Free access to archive) - Lebanon Enterprise
http://www.lebanonenterprise.com
(Free access to archive) - Leitchfield Grayson County
http://www.gcnewsgazette.com
(Free access to archive) - London Sentinel Echo
http://www.sentinel-echo.com
(Free access to archive) - Maysville Ledger Independent
http://www.maysville-online.com
(Free access to archive) - Middlesboro Daily News
http://www.middlesborodailynews.com
(Registration required but no mention of fee) - Murray Ledger & Times
http://www.murrayledger.com
(Free access to archive) - Pikeille Appalachian News-Express
http://www.news-expressky.com
(Free access to archive) - Prestonsburg Floyd County Times
http://www.floydcountytimes.com
(Registration required but no mention of fee) - Russellville News Democrat Leader
http://www.newsdemocratleader.com
(Free access to archive) - Shelbyille Sentinel-News
http://www.shelbyconnect.com
(Free access to archive) - Shepherdsville Pioneer News
http://www.pioneernews.net
dead - Williamstown Grant County News
http://www.grantky.com
(Free access to archive)
All use newsbank fee based archive.
Bowling Green News
Louisville Courier-Journal
Nashville Tennessean
Lexington Herald-Leader
KansasCity.com (Kansas City Star)
One more observation regarding archive. I decided to look at the Nashville Tennessean by doing search at the Google news site with their domain name "tennessean.com." It resulted in 42 stories dating back about 2 weeks. It would appear that they store their articles locally until the 14 days expire so the search engines can pick up the stories. This is one possible solution for our community.
This is just one of my observations. I understand that the Bowling Green Daily News is a business and as such should try to find sources of revenue, in a small town like ours the local newspaper is more than a business. The local newspaper is a community resource that can be used to grow our community and offer insight to those who would locate their businesses and families here. While the big market newspapers can charge for their stories, it's my opinion that doing so in a small market like ours will be detrimental not only to the community but also to your newspaper through the loss of your online readership, ad revenue and search engine placement.
I've spent 2 hours on this observation and double checking my information (grin) so I am not going to have a chance to discuss my other issues for the website such as story comments and RSS feeds. If you go to my blog, especially the July archive you may be able to find those opinions.
Other articles I have written relating the the Daily News:
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Newspaper Readers Turning to Web
http://sokybiz.blogspot.com/2005/06/newspaper-readers-turning-to-web.html
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
BG Daily News managing editor responds
http://sokybiz.blogspot.com/2005/06/bg-daily-news-managing-editor-responds.html
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Great outlook for small business
http://sokybiz.blogspot.com/2005/07/great-outlook-for-small-business.html
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
New Daily News Web site to be unveiled
http://sokybiz.blogspot.com/2005/07/new-daily-news-web-site-to-be-unveiled.html
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Another story, still no website.
http://sokybiz.blogspot.com/2005/07/another-story-still-no-website.html
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Bowling Green Daily News and improved
http://sokybiz.blogspot.com/2005/07/bowling-green-daily-news-and-improved.html
Other sokybiz archives
posted by Soky at
2:57 PM
<< Home