Memo to Local Newspapers
Posted by Jonathan on August 22nd, 2005 (All posts by Jonathan)
Suggestion: When you set up your website, make sure to display the name of your city and state prominently on each page, especially if it is not obvious from the name of your publication. Otherwise, non-local readers may have difficulty figuring out who you are and what part of the country or even world you are in. I can’t count the times I’ve followed a link to a story in a local paper and couldn’t immediately tell in what state the events I was reading about took place (e.g., this story).
You do want to attract non-local readers, don’t you?
August 22nd, 2005 at 11:31 pm
Sometimes if the page has a weather map or radar link, the paper’s location can be located. Your example is Lansing, Mi., (via their weather link.)
I do agree with your point: please people tell us where you are located!
August 23rd, 2005 at 9:46 am
Same thing goes for TV or radio station pages. On a good day, I can remember where the W/X line falls, but that only narrows things to half the country.
This kind of ID can be pretty unobtrusive, even a faint map watermarked behind a logo would generally do. Most Americans, at least, learned state outlines in grade school. But explicit never hurts.
August 23rd, 2005 at 9:49 am
Sorry that should have been W/K line.
August 23rd, 2005 at 1:31 pm
I had the same problem with the “Valley News” a couple of months ago. It was very difficult to figure out what valley they were in (upper Connecticut River, if you’re wondering). The post is here.