Anita Roddick and the Papers PPC

Jonathan Bowers, September 15th 2007, 6:39PM

We were talking about how some of the national newspapers used pay-per-click tactics to appear on searches for Pavarotti in the days following his death. One paper in particular seems to be using this strategy on a weekly basis. Lawrence Jones has an insightful blog about Anita Roddick and The Telegraph, which is one of two papers that used her name as key words to drive traffic to their site and improve awareness of their brand.

I wonder how this will develop over the coming months and whether others media brands will utilise the same techniques.

Tags: newspapers, search_terms
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Broadsheets prepare for the virtual upgrade

Jonathan Bowers, May 10th 2007, 12:05PM

Yesterday I attended a seminar session in Manchester called Meet the Northern Correspondents, which added to the newspapers' online debate. The two speakers were Helen Carter of The Guardian and James Wilson of the FT.

Helen revealed that some departments have a 'Web First' policy meaning that their stories appear on the web and then the next morning in the paper. She also talked about reporters having to take recording equipment out with them to generate both written articles and podcasting material. Projecting forward she expected to be taking a video camera out on assignments soon too. The job is becoming more and more technically demanding.

She gave companies’ blogging a welcome boost by admitting that she loves the arena and has found and researched a number of her stories through blogs.

James admitted that the FT has not embraced the web quite as fully as The Guardian yet - but intends to in the very near future. When you think about it, the FT's focus on business only mirrors UK companies in their slower adoption of the web's social opportunities than the UK public.

James also talked about the FT's model online that allowed subscribers only to view their breaking news content and about the papers intention to turn up at businesses with video cameras for interviews, just like Guardian reporters.

In other broadsheet devlopments, Shane Richmond of the Telegraph blogged about MyTelegraph a few weeks ago, which has now launched and is an online community encouraging users to blog their views and comments on the broadsheet's website.

Back at the event, possibly most telling was the response from the audience of PRs to the Internet topics. There was a sense that many were hoping the journalists would say that the newspaper was irreplaceable and the web was going to fade away in a few years.

But just as the journalists are moving out of their comfort zone, so must the PRs.

Tags: newspapers, web2.0
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One for the newspapers

Jonathan Bowers, May 31st 2006, 5:24PM

It's very rare to type a phrase into Google Suggest and be told that there are only 205 results. But such is the case for "ransomware."

Even more astonishing is that ransomware was brought to my attention by the Manchester Evening News today. My daily browse of BBC Online, The Register and ZDNet.com did not bring anything to light and yet, the front page of the local paper delivered a story of International importance about cybercrime through the tale of a local woman.

The first entry Google does offer is the Wikipedia definition which is worth a read.

It's hugely important to keep informed about new emerging threats to our online security. But I have to admit I'm a little surprised by the source of the breaking news.

It shows that while the Internet has found ways to deliver the national and international news faster than ever before, it still has a little to learn when it comes to local news.

One to the MEN!

Tags: newspapers, security
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