May 8, 2010 | Story by: Hal Goodtree | Categories: Editors Journal
Cary, NC – Traditional media has a saying: “If it bleeds, it leads.” Old newspaper hands scoff at the idea that positive news is a viable business model.
Well, I’ve got 100,000 page views that say they’re wrong.
Who’s Telling Our Story?
Since August of last year, CaryCitizen has been a certified Google News Source. That means our stories appear under the news tab in Google search, just like the area’s major media outlets.
A sampling of recent days shows how different news sources tell the story of our region:
Cary News (May 8, 11:50)
From ABC11 Local News Tab (May 8, 2010, 11:54 AM)
CaryCitizen (May 8, 11:58 AM)
Everyday, I search the Google News tab. Everyday, it’s the same thing. The major media in the region want to paint us as either “beigeville” or a secret hotbed of crime.
Neither of those portraits is true. Or helpful. Or interesting.
The Readers Have Spoken
100,000 page views on our website in less than the first nine months of publication is a significant indicator. Add to that another 50,000+ views of our stories delivered via daily emails and it’s pretty clear we’re on to something.
Also of note: over 80% of our traffic comes from within the town and the nearby surrounding communities. That’s the definition of a hyper-local news source.
Small businesses especially benefit from the low-cost, targeted approach of our ad programs. Time and again, we’ve heard that local stores, community organizations and professionals felt “priced out” of ad options in the regional newspapers and television.
Anyway, who wants to run an ad next to a story of man arrested for carjacking?
The Strategic Importance of Telling Our Own Story
When people are considering moving to the area or relocating a business, they search for information about the town.
Search engine results are based, in part, on frequency. Publish more stories than your competitors and you control the news stream about an area or topic. We call that the “info space.”
So who do you want to control Cary’s info space?
What Do You Think?
Do you think our brand of “happy news” is useful to the community?
Michele McKinley
May 9, 2010 at 8:55 am
Love the happy news! Definitely useful. You hae such a great capability to share truly local news on a daily basis, which is great!
Brent
May 9, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Happy or sad or whatever, I am thrilled that we have CaryCitizen.com to report interesting local news that other media outlets often don’t report. I think that CaryCitizen.com has become the #1 news outlet for citizens of Cary over the past few months. My thanks and congratulations to those who have given us this wonderful resource.
Hal Goodtree
May 9, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Thanks Brent! Thanks Michele!
Happy to have you both as contributors.
Cindy Sinkez
May 9, 2010 at 8:23 pm
I enjoy Cary Citizen. It is full of useful information. Positive stories warm the heart. It is nice to read about the great happenings in our community.