Finding Your Place on the Internet Before taking the online plunge, make sure you know what your goals are. It looks picturesque and lonely at the same time, which is probably what anyone feels who has entered the brave new world of online publishing. Which may be precisely what the Newspaper Association of America intended when it designed the banner header at the top of its fee-based Web site. To aid them, there are consultants, conferences, seminars and newsletters devoted to online publishing. The NAA's New Media Federation, geared to people involved in online operations, has 900 members.
Newspapers have some really unique franchises that add value to the Internet.
We have great content. We have the ability to link readers and advertisers in a context that makes sense. Some have already learned, and others are finding out now, that there are basic lessons to be learned before adding Online Publisher to your company's masthead, whether you are an established newspaper, magazine, broadcaster or any publishing entrepreneur. Experts say the reasons for newspapers to go online are reader service, the ability to participate in a whole new medium and competition. The single most important thing someone contemplating online publishing can do is to study the market potential, revenues and costs, and know what you are going to do, understand your mission.