We don't really need more proof that content drives online viewership, but it's instructive to examine what the Lawrence (Kansas) Journal World is doing. According to a story on NetNewsCheck, this small newspaper of 16,000 subscribers has approximately 477,000 monthly unique viewers because it has worked hard to bring them in with unique content.
Most, naturally, come for its strong sports site, along with a strong health site. But some of the content shows how far down a media outlet can drill. For example, the site boasts individual baseball cards for every area Little League player. It's the kind of content that draws readers -- names make news -- that a local newspaper can provide without much fear of competition.
As the NetNewsCheck story says, a quote from longtime editor and member of the family that owns the paper, Dolph Simmons Jr., in 2005 is just as applicable today: “Information is our business and we’re trying to provide information, in one form or another, however the consumer wants it and wherever the consumer wants it.”
Information equals content, and content equals information. It's an idea that works.
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