One small step for BizSense. One giant leap for embattled news businesses everywhere.
Despite the conventional wisdom that online readers are not willing to pay for news, we have launched a premium section of our site for subscribers.
We think Richmond business readers will pay for news that helps them at work. That they’ll pay for stories on local business figures they find engaging and entertaining. And we think they’ll be especially willing to pay when it costs less than a Starbucks a month.
In July, I wrote that we would be adding more data and more news. And I said some of that new output would be for paid subscribers. Although it’s a little later than I had hoped, that’s still our plan.
Yesterday was the first time any information on Richmond BizSense was not open to all who wanted to read it. Nerds would call it a soft launch.
And early signs seem to indicate that readers are willing to pay if we can deliver the goods. Fifty people signed up for a free, one-month trial. That’s right: For the low, low price of free, you can test out BizSense Pro. You can get behind the wheel and see how she drives. You’ll get to see how much fun it is to mention information at meetings that your bosses or competitors didn’t know.
Some critics have emailed me, saying this goes against the BizSense mission. It’s a flattering criticism, because it means our readers see the role we play in our community.
But juiced-up news takes time and more expertise. This isn’t baseball. There is no performance-enhancing substance we can inject into our reporters to get them to crank more scoops.
So we’ve hired a talented researcher and a fourth reporter. We’ve added a data section on local patents and beefed up our weekly court roundup with federal courts cases. That section alone gives BizSense Pro subscribers a rundown of who is suing whom and which businesses are trying to collect unpaid bills. It’s juicy stuff and important for most local businesses to know. In the coming weeks, we will add building permits, and we’ve brought back a weekly list of new business licenses.
In November, we will start marking one or two stories a week as BizSense Pro. There will be some experimentation, but it’s likely that some of our scoops – stories you cannot find anywhere else – will be for BizSense Pro readers.
Please be patient. There will be some glitches and some frustrations. Bear with us, and let us know what kind of information or news is vital to your business.
And for readers who don’t want to pay, don’t worry. You’ll still get a nourishing dose of BizSense every morning on the house.
Aaron Kremer started Richmond BizSense in 2007. Please send suggestions or comments to Editor (at) richmondbizsense.com.
One small step for BizSense. One giant leap for embattled news businesses everywhere.
Despite the conventional wisdom that online readers are not willing to pay for news, we have launched a premium section of our site for subscribers.
We think Richmond business readers will pay for news that helps them at work. That they’ll pay for stories on local business figures they find engaging and entertaining. And we think they’ll be especially willing to pay when it costs less than a Starbucks a month.
In July, I wrote that we would be adding more data and more news. And I said some of that new output would be for paid subscribers. Although it’s a little later than I had hoped, that’s still our plan.
Yesterday was the first time any information on Richmond BizSense was not open to all who wanted to read it. Nerds would call it a soft launch.
And early signs seem to indicate that readers are willing to pay if we can deliver the goods. Fifty people signed up for a free, one-month trial. That’s right: For the low, low price of free, you can test out BizSense Pro. You can get behind the wheel and see how she drives. You’ll get to see how much fun it is to mention information at meetings that your bosses or competitors didn’t know.
Some critics have emailed me, saying this goes against the BizSense mission. It’s a flattering criticism, because it means our readers see the role we play in our community.
But juiced-up news takes time and more expertise. This isn’t baseball. There is no performance-enhancing substance we can inject into our reporters to get them to crank more scoops.
So we’ve hired a talented researcher and a fourth reporter. We’ve added a data section on local patents and beefed up our weekly court roundup with federal courts cases. That section alone gives BizSense Pro subscribers a rundown of who is suing whom and which businesses are trying to collect unpaid bills. It’s juicy stuff and important for most local businesses to know. In the coming weeks, we will add building permits, and we’ve brought back a weekly list of new business licenses.
In November, we will start marking one or two stories a week as BizSense Pro. There will be some experimentation, but it’s likely that some of our scoops – stories you cannot find anywhere else – will be for BizSense Pro readers.
Please be patient. There will be some glitches and some frustrations. Bear with us, and let us know what kind of information or news is vital to your business.
And for readers who don’t want to pay, don’t worry. You’ll still get a nourishing dose of BizSense every morning on the house.
Aaron Kremer started Richmond BizSense in 2007. Please send suggestions or comments to Editor (at) richmondbizsense.com.
Good luck on that… You may want to read the WSJ article on Paypal in today’s paper. As you mentioned, there’s a note in that article that people are not paying for news, as it’s a one time read. But info that can not be easily gleaned, such as who’s being sued, not paying their bills, etc – that’s got value…. So keep looking for those niches you can research and provide value to readers…. Best of luck!
Good luck. I really hope it will work out for you, but as the manager of a pay-per-view site (with tons of “free stuff” too) I can tell you many challenges face you.
Is this the first step in eliminating paper versions of the Times Dispatch?
Would a better option be to expand online distribution by making it more expansive and thereby more desirable. More readership has always translated to more income. Charging advertisers a premium for inclusion to expand their reach from traditional print ads.
Like most people I know, I pay for the traditional print newspaper & assume that a good portion of it’s revenue is dependent on advertisers. The more circulation, the more advertising dollars seems like a logical, traditional formula. BizSense charging a small fee to help cover it’s expansion costs in order to deliver a specific, unique news area seems to basically folllow that same logical formula. Embellishing on Kevin’s comment, to the extent this “premium” section gains traction, it also makes sense to me that advertisers would pay extra for exposure to that audience, especially if it concerns local business… Read more »