By
Jessica Weiss
Starting a news website is not for the
faint of heart.
For journalist Glenn Burkins, it took personal investment,
round-the-clock content creation, securing advertisers and more. His site, Qcitymetro.com,
serves the African-American community in Charlotte, N.C. It uses about 10
freelance writers and employs a Web development company. Launched in 2008, the
site surpassed 200,000 unique visitors in three years.
In a recent Poynter chat,
Burkins, who worked for more than two decades at major newspapers, talked about
why and how he started Qcitymetro.com and what he has learned in the years
since. His experience can be useful for those looking to start their own news
sites.
Here are a few of his tips:
1. Get off to a good start
If you don't start a site well, why
would people come back? It took about a year to set up Qcitymetro.com before
launch. That included building the site, putting together a business
plan, securing content producers and more. And a lot of that was self-funded –
it cost Burkins about $20,000 up front. (Since then, he estimates he’s put
another $10,000 over the last four years, and he says he may do so again soon.)
While Burkins says many start-up sites begin
basic, such as with a Wordpress platform, Qcitymetro.com was custom made, which
was a large expense.
“I wanted to give my readers a pleasant
experience,” he says. “I wanted a site that looked like it was built for them.”
2. Target
a specific audience with original content
How to strike a balance between
original and syndicated content varies depending on the site. But for a niche
site like Qcitymetro.com, a high percentage of original, local content is
extremely important.
“Why else would someone come to me?”
Burkins asks. “They have to get something they can't get elsewhere.”
Featured content should be geared
towards a target audience. The typical Qcitymetro.com reader is a woman in her
40s. Burkins' eventual goal is to expand targeted demographics by building a
network of interconnected local sites, all catering to different segments of
the local black community. (He has already started to build this network by
launching a site geared toward brides.)
3. Have a business model
Advertising is a key part of Burkins'
business model. “With enough advertising dollars you can develop a following,”
he says.
But with two weekly newspapers and
several magazines competing with Qcitymetro.com for readers (and ad dollars),
securing advertisements requires a lot of work and follow-up.
Burkins recently brought in a local
consultant to help him diversify his strategy. He's considering adding events
and publications to the mix.
Qcitymetro.com is also an online
news partner with the Charlotte Observer. The two publications
share a limited amount of content under a partnership agreement.
4. Use social media
“Social media eats up so much time,”
Burkins laments. But it is worth it. “When I don't deploy an aggressive social
media strategy, I see my numbers fall immediately.”
Fewer and fewer readers are finding
websites through the front door, he notes. “They are coming in through side
entrances...social media.”
5. Be ready to work hard and make
sacrifices
Burkins is so committed to
Qcitymetro.com that he doesn’t even let himself consider the possibility of
failure. “I know entrepreneurs are supposed to have an exit strategy, but I
have lots more I'd like to do with the site before I think about exiting. Exit will
be bankruptcy or death.”
While the site is functioning under its
current business model, Burkins can't sit back and relax. His job requires
constant work and new idea generation.
"'Sustainable’ is a funny thing,”
he says. “Even now, if I take my foot off the accelerator, I don't eat.”
Source: Ijnet.org
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