RARA-AVIS: Re: Site Registration

From: Richard Moore ( moorich2@aol.com)
Date: 02 Jan 2005


As a former newspaperman who continues to follow the trade with both great fondness and great concern, I understand the economics of registration--or at least the currently held theory--and have dutifully registered dozens of times.

I do wonder if it loses some newspapers more traffic, and hence economic benefit, than the newspaper gains from gathering the registrations. It is the traffic I would think that advertisers are ultimately interested in. It used to be that one could go to a URL and look at one or two stories before being hit with the registration requirement. Now it almost always comes immediately. Instead of getting a feel for a newspaper and perhaps be lured into regular visits, a fair number of browsers dump out at the registration screen. Newspaper URLs that have the capability of recognizing automatically registered visiters are a great help but many don't seem to have that feature.

It saddens me to watch the rapidly declining circulation of a fine newspaper like the Washington Post and to read that they will be moving toward the USA Today model with shorter,and perhaps, simpler stories. For now we are still treated to Jonathan Yardley articles as fine as the one on Willeford and if staying registered helps, I'll do my part.

Richard Moore

--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Jack Quick <jquick5342@y...> wrote:
> From someone in the newspaper business. It costs money
> to operate a website and those who own us ask for a
> piece of flesh in exchange for that investment. We try
> to get as much of it as we can from the advertisers so
> it is less painful to our readers.
>
> Registration data helps us get more from those
> advertisers as they try to better target their
> customers. So the choices are pay with the time to
> register of else plan to start sticking quarters into
> the side of your PC to gain access to some of this
> work.
>
> To the one who claims "I nevr pay." The answer is,
> "You alwys pay, its just how."
>
> Alabama Jack
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today!
> http://my.yahoo.com

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