Category Archives: start-up nerves

Seeking: Better Marketing

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Marketing my 10-month-old online news magazine is my weakest link.  I’d rather focus energies on story ideas, not tooting my horn. But I know that isn’t enough.  People won’t come to The Jefferson Park Hub if they don’t know about it.

My online news magazine/newspaper was recently promoted in the neighborhood newsletter, The Grapevine. You can read it at the organization’s website here. I noted the date of the publication on my Google Analytics account.  I am curious to see if the site sees an uptick in the number of viewers.

Another opportunity to get the word out is I plan on being a a regular contributor the quarterly newsletter. It’ll be a reprint of a past feature with a notice of where it came from. That’ll be a lazy way to get my site in front of the 1,000 people on the circ list.

I’ve posted a question on LinkedIn looking for other marketing techniques. I’ll follow up with any ideas that are floated.

What’s it all about

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Like the world needs another blog, I’m thinking

These online musing will be my ‘reporters notebook’ of my hyperlocal news blog, The Jefferson Park Hub.

I expect to write at least twice a week about successes, challenges and work arounds to those obstacles.

Also, I’ll throw in a few words about my hobbies – reading and running.

Comments are most welcome. Follow me with my Twitter handle @NelsonAndrewC.

Need more oomph.

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It’s one thing to approach people to interview and drop the name of a well-known publication. It’s no great insight that working for an established news organization opens doors. A start-up neighborhood news blog doesn’t have much swagger.

Poynter Online columnist Damon Kiesow wrote about this at the website when he interviewed Jim MacMillan. He had a great lede: “Hi, my name is Jim. I’m from the Internet.”

Recently, I attended a local government expo where staff at the city of East Point, Ga., where I write my hyperlocal blog, showcased their services. And although I’ve been writing and reporting since the early 1990s, it gave me pause as I walked up to strangers and tell them I write for the a blog called The Jefferson Park Hub and would like to take up their time.

Maybe it’s the term blog that makes my stomach queasy. It lacks oomph. It seems so juvenile, like I am a school-aged kid scribbling my crushes in an online diary.

Next time, I’ll try online news publication.