Diversify or die: The search is on for publishers
It’s not breaking news that print media is suffering. With the lousy economy, skyrocketing operating costs and readers defecting and getting their information online, publishers are aggressively looking for ways to leverage the web to make a profit or to merely stay alive.
One recent study, “Vertical Search Report 2008,” from E-consultancy conducted in association with Convera suggests though, that publishers can retain existing readers and even grab new ones by offering a very specific search functionally within their market or niche. By delivering a specific search niche publishers can position themselves as the go-to expert source on the topic in their industry.
Publishers have an opportunity to gain this “search market share” by establishing themselves as the definitive search engine within their particular niche or sector.
A great example of a publisher that has done this with success is TechTarget. Though not originally started by TechTarget [they bought the site back in 2002] the publisher’s Whatis.com website has positioned TechTarget as the go-to site for IT tech term definitions. It certainly has helped strengthen TechTarget’s brand as well.
The challenge of course is that publishers will be up against hugely popular generic search engines such as Google. The way to overcome this competition is to produce a search tool which is perceived to be a better way to find information on a very specific topic – like IT tech term definitions – than generic search engines can offer.
The report backs up its claims with a statistic of 93% of media and internet B2B professionals saying, “they would be “very likely or quite likely to use a search engine that focused on serving their specific business or work needs.”
Granted, these are early adopters and people who feel comfortable using technology.
Even so, more than half of the respondents claimed that faster access to desired information was a major benefit of vertical search, with 50% saying the focus on their business interests and workflow would be a major advantage.
According to the study, the three biggest advantages of having a vertical search feature on an existing website is the ability to “improve brand by becoming an authority website,” the potential to “keep users on-site” and the “potential to monetize through advertising.”
Vertical search also helps advertisers connect to their customers and “increase the publisher’s revenue stream.”
That’s key.
It’s one thing to have a killer search engine, strengthen the brand and be positioned as the prime landing spot for your industry, but if this search engine drives customers to a site, keeps them there and lets publishers increase ad revenue, then it’s a win/win.
Feed the reader
Another interesting point from this study was the increasing use of RSS feeds and advice on how publishers should be utilizing them.
The research notes the impact that the underutilized RSS technology could have on the print world and how using RSS feeds to push and offer content to readers can increase readership.
By employing RSS, print publishers can extend the life of their content, gain readers and gain more ad dollars. For the reader, RSS feeds offer the convenience of reading their favorite columnist, breaking news, industry news or sports scores, anytime, anywhere.
According to the report, many professionals are already receiving content electronically – a whopping 80% of internet professionals surveyed as part of the research were already using industry or sector-specific RSS feeds.
Trends in digital marketing are leading towards a fragmentation of the online landscape and “atomization” of content, or the breaking down of content into bite size bits of information – very drilled-down and hyper-focused to a specific audience.
Content owners have a great opportunity to increase visibility for their content through the effective use of feeds, widgets and toolbars, according to the report:
“The level of uptake for feeds and customized homepages is very high among this early-adopter audience, but this kind of online behavior will soon become more widespread among knowledge workers across a wider range of industries,” said Linus Gregoriadis, head of research at E-consultancy.
As communication professionals working with numerous early adopters and their ahead-of-the-curve customers, we sometimes tend to forget that not everyone understands the technology behind RSS or are even using it without knowing how it works to read their daily content.
Like E-consultancy, we also believe that usage of RSS technology, both on the desktop and on smartphones, will increase with the “less-techie” audience over the next 12 months.
We understand that the average newspaper reader wants to open their front door, reach down and grab the Sunday paper. They don’t care how the paper was printed, how it was distributed to the delivery center, and then sent to the paper carrier’s home where it was folded, bagged and thrown onto their front porch. They just want to read their newspaper.
The same goes for online and mobile content – people with smartphones don’t care about RSS technology, XML, or feeds. [Next time you’re at a BBQ or party, ask your friends if they know what RSS is.]
Like the newspaper reader, smartphone users just want their content delivered to their device so they can read it.
Struggling print media need all the help they can get. Using new media and technology such as focused, niche search engines and setting up easy to subscribe to RSS feeds is a great start for publishers to help add value to their content, keep readers – even gain readers – and more importantly nab ad revenue. As someone who comes from the print world, still relies on a healthy print industry and continually follows it, I’ll definitely be watching this trend. – John “JC” Chilson
