The 21st century, the age of information, is not without its paradoxes. It has been marked, since the beginning, with a shaking up of the old business models and the opportunity to do thing differently and in this trend it has consistently challenged the traditional newspaper industry which has had to cope with falling circulation figures and fewer readers.

There have been quite a few instances, over the years, when internet-only newspapers (like The Huffington Post) appeared and offered a business model to follow, which, it must be said, traditional newspapers resisted.

The case of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is now coming to change all this> Seattle’s oldest newspaper is closing down its print editions, shedding stuff (from over 160 to just 20) and taking its operation entirely online.

There are many merits to this idea. Digital has the power to offer instantly-updated news (which print could never do). It has the ability to bring  together a cross-referencing of sites and stories (much like this article) which add greater depth, relevancy and power to any story without distracting the reader or detracting from the impact of the story and it has the ability to be more pervasive, widespread and inclusive than print with its more traditional times and points of access and the ability to run out of copies.

This does not mean that it’s all roses. Digital requires a clear sight of the idea and the strength of purpose to implement it correctly. Because, however, it is relatively cost-effective and easy to implement it does mean that you can suddenly start up and own your own newspaper for much less than you would spend in printer-cartridges in the traditional print model.

Newspaper websites these days run on a powerful Content Management System (CMS) which allows just a few users to create pages, input content and cross-link it working through their web browser. Put in place, Google Ads, Banner Advertising and some targeted campaigns and you suddenly have a powerful vertical business model which can help with the monetizing of your website.

The case here, as always when it comes to anything digital, is that because the implementation is now so much more cost-effective and accessible the onus is very much on the business model you will implement and the organizational and strategic thinking that needs to be in place behind it.

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