These attract strong interest from KU alumni in-state and beyond, and provide excellent opportunities for ads. Johnson says the company plans to establish the value of site content, assuming ads and profitability will follow. Staffers also examine other revenue opportunities, such as charging a fee for access to newspaper archives and charging Realtors for enhancements to the content of their Multiple Listing Service. Although it did all its technical programming in-house, Johnson says that better integration of Web tasks into company operations in the beginning could have avoided what turned out to be duplication of effort. Plans to generate revenue by creating Web sites for other businesses turned out to be unrealistic because of the amount of client education and time required.
Plans call for rolling out enhanced real-estate and auto sections, followed by community news.
Planning began in 1996 following a study of Internet penetration in Vermont by consultants Kathleen Criner and Jane Wilson. As plans evolved, Johnston moved from task-force leader to a permanent role overseeing new media. Without that, you'll never get revenue. Microsoft knows that. Staff members upload classifieds each evening to offer online viewers early access.