Alan R. Bechtold has released the latest issue of ‘E-Wealth Report’ newsletter. This featured article is titled “Are Printed Newspapers Dead?”. [E-Wealth Report]


Alan Bechtold’s latest ‘E-Wealth Report’ newsletter article:

Are Printed Newspapers Dead?

I’m a raging fan of the Internet and everything it can do. But, I also love print media. I love the instant interactivity and unfettered immediate access to vast stores of information that the Internet offers – not to mention the power to quickly reach millions of people and inexpensively build highly profitable businesses.

But I also love print media! I love to hold a printed newsletter, magazine, book or sales letter in my hands where I can read it, touch it – even smell the ink on the paper.

Sadly, one of my loves is having a dramatic negative effect on the other. The Internet is currently threatening the stability and possibly the very existence of print media in major ways and there seems to be very little we can do to stop it.

I’m not even sure we WANT to stop it. But, first we need to consider the ramifications of the outcome of the daily devastation that’s going on right now.

The impact the Internet has had on printed newspapers in this country has been so dramatic that many experts are forecasting the death of the local printed newspaper as we know it.

Other experts predict that, following the collapse of local printed newspapers, we’ll then see a similar collapse of radio and television.

All I can say is, let’s get a grip on our emotions for a moment and examine this situation from a knowledge- and experience-based perspective.

I’ve become pretty adept, over my 35+ years as a successful direct marketer, at spotting trends and extrapolating the future from current events. As I see it, print media and even broadcast media as we know it will indeed eventually be forced to change dramatically as a direct result of the impact of the Internet.

But, there’s no way any of them will be going away any time soon. I doubt seriously we’ll ever completely lose them at all.

They might not be recognizable when all that changing is over”“ but there will still be printed ink on paper you can hold in your hands, in one form or another, for many decades to come.

The best example of this is radio – especially AM radio. The death of AM radio was first predicted when motion pictures hit the scene. Then television was the culprit that would bring it down. FM radio, an innovation built by the broadcasting industry to keep the radio industry alive and thriving, turned out to be the next predicted threat to the existence of AM radio.

None of them have managed to kill off AM radio yet.

Yes, AM radio today is nothing like the AM radio I grew up with. But, the AM radio I grew up with was nothing like the AM radio that my parents used to garther around for entertainment in the evenings.

It’s been forced to shift and change, to find a proper fit and continue, just as I predict we’ll see printed newspapers, books, magazines and sales letters change in response to the impact posed by the Internet’s amazing growth and influence.

We have no idea where print media might take this. I guarantee it’ll be fun finding out.

Printed newspapers have already done a LOT of adjusting. Most have already moved to the Internet where you can basically find almost everything there is in the printed publication also online, instantly, and usually for free.

This kind of reminds me of the radio industry’s introduction of FM radio – which was supposed to save the industry and wound up also influencing AM radio to change even more dramatically or go away. Now that most local papers are online and readily available for free, subscription numbers are dropping even more dramatically.

According to a recent article appearing in the online edition of CNN, a minimum of 120 newspapers in the U.S. have shut down since January 2008. And most online editions of newspapers are still trying to figure out how to bring in more revenue than what is possible with ads appearing on their sites alone, as that isn’t enough to cover the expense of producing the news that they publish.

To combat this, online newspapers will either need to change the way they gather their news, their focus on the content they present, or the way the generate revenue.

Newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch thinks he’s got a solution. He plans to begin charging for online access to all of the online editions of the newspapers his News Corp companies publish internationally. He readily admits there are still a lot of factors to consider, but he’s moving forward with his plans to start charging online readers for access to information that his companies are currently giving away for free.

In a recent CNN interview, Murdoch explained, “We are now in the midst of an epochal debate over the value of content and it is clear to many newspapers that the current model is malfunctioning.”

But – will charging readers for access to online newspapers work? According to many experts, only about 3% of current readers of online newspaper editions would be willing to pay for access to the content. In other words, the vast majority of online readers that newspapers now reach are there precisely because the access is free. Put a tollgate on the door and readership online will plummet, too.

This means newspapers who wish to charge for access to their information must decide which information to keep free and which to charge for.

It’s clear to me the changes will continue. We’ll see radio, television and print media continue to evolve and find their place. They might never return to their glory days, but they will most certainly find a model, eventually, that’s comfortable for their operators.

Terrestrial broadcasting of radio and television might even one day be replaced by direct fiber optics into our homes. Or all the current terrestrial broadcasters could just move all their content to the Web, too.

Unfortunately for Rupert Murdoch, I’ve seen Websites try to charge for their content in the past. Many of them. We marketers know how to make a lot of money with membership sites – but this isn’t the same thing. This is information we’re now used to getting for free. Information that’s been available free for years.

It’s always tough to begin charging for access to something you’ve been giving away for free – but this seems to be the road Murdoch plans to take. More power to him.

I think newspapers should instead consider charging their online advertisers more money. Right now, many give their online ads away for free – or charge prices so low as to be inconsequential, to lure advertisers who buy ads in the print edition. They often treat their online ads like a bonus. How about turning that around? Charge more to advertisers online – especially if the print edition is no longer being published.

Whatever they decide, however the Internet continues to wreak havoc on existing media models – how do YOU profit from this?

I recommend you think about setting up a community Website TODAY. Put up a blog. Offer local news and opinion. Then get some Search Engine Optimization going so you rank on your city, to drive traffic.

Build an audience and local businesses will happily pay you to advertise – but don’t try to charge them a monthly fee for their ads. Charge them for every sale you make for them.

Becoming an “affiliate” of your local businesses that advertise on your local blog removes their perceived risk. It also removes their need to ask you to prove how many readers you have or to show them what your readership growth rate is, because they only pay you when a customer buys.

Give advertisers an option to pay monthly – and make it fairly expensive. Then, when they’re pulling in enough sales to warrant it, they’ll switch over to paying you a nice, recurring fee, month after month.

I’ll bet you could build this into a full-time business within six months – if not sooner. You’ll certainly begin to get the attention of the local businesses you’re talking to and, when they find out you understand online marketing, you’ll pick up plenty of them who also want to pay you for your expertise outside of your own blog.

That makes it the PERFECT revenue model.

I’ll be going even more in-depth on this subject in the first issue of my newly re-launched Ticket To Wealth Toolkit newsletter. It’s printed and mailed monthly to your door because I cover specifics and details in my Toolkit that I simply can’t put on the Web for any competitor to easily find.

Despite what the Internet is doing to print media these days, this is ONE print publication you simply MUST get, because it has EVERY REASON to exist in print – and that’s the ONLY place you’ll find the information I include in each jam-packed monthly issue.

I’ve got a special pre-publication sale going on right now that will SAVE you $238.40 on a one-year subscription. Act quickly and you can also qualify for up to $1,338.85 in ADDITIONAL powerful bonuses far too good to consider passing up.

Act VERY quickly and you COULD qualify for an extremely limited “hidden” bonuses – online access to my complete E-Publishing Business System course including 25 audios, 12 videos and more than 400 pages of extensive notes, examples and resources.

This course was built from all the recordings made during my six-month E-Publishing Marketing Mastermind that members paid up to $3,997 to join. The course itself was sold for $997. It’s not mentioned anywhere on the sales page, but I’m giving the first 100 people who sign up free access to the entire course, including the ability to download it and print out what you like.

But – it’s a “hidden” bonus. There is NOTHING on the sales site about this bonus at all. It comes from me. Consider it your extra reward, IF you act quickly enough. You’ll only know if you got this one after you’ve ordered, if the “Thank You” page tells you where to access it.

And everything is backed by a full unconditional 30-day money-back guarantee.

Check Out My New Ticket To Wealth Toolkit And Subscribe NOW!

I’ll see you next week!

– Alan R. Bechtold, president/CEO, BBS Press Service, Inc.

Author, Will Work for Fun: 3 Simple Steps to Turning Any Hobby or Interest Into Cash (John Wiley & Sons Books)

Co-Producer and star of The FUNdamental You!, on DVD or watch the full-length movie online: http://www.FUNdamentalYou.tv

Producer and Star, Breakfast With Alan, live Ustream TV show every other Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. eastern US Time: http://www.BreakfastWithAlan.com

Follow Alan on Twitter: http://wwww.twitter.com/bbspress

‘E-Wealth Report’ Newsletter

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Alan Bechtold for granting permission to reprint the latest article.

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