It's better to always have a search field ready for the user to type into. I'm glad to see that many sites feature links or even graphic ads on their home page for the archives. Those sites that make the archives difficult to find, and I spotted a fair number of them, are really shooting themselves in the foot. A frequent lapse, however, is that sites include a prominent link to the archives on their home page, but then don't repeat it on inside pages. Archives are an important part of most newspaper sites, so make sure your users are always one click away from them.
Most sites repeat their navigation aids on all content pages, which is smart.
We all know that Web banner ads are ineffective, yet they remain a staple of newspaper and most other commercial Web sites. We also know that ads placed within content or at the end of content perform better than those at the top of pages - where most publishers place them. A banner ad at the bottom of a story is going to get more clicks, typically, than the same ad at the top of a story. So, it strikes me as odd when I visit a site that does not place banner ads at the bottom of its pages or individual news stories. I spotted quite a few sites that fall into this trap.