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By Jim Moore, Editor and Publisher TennTimes (http://www.tenntimes.org) "TennTimes the news - TennTimes the information!"

The Internet has clearly evolved into the Global Village, connecting the whole world through a simple telephone link. But in the process, it has left many smaller communities and resources behind.

This article highlights one example of that and how you can tap into an unrealized market right in your own backyard.

I live on a 34-acre farm in a rural county southwest of Nashville, Tennessee. This area we call Middle Tennessee has many smaller, rural communities that have their own weekly newspaper, but very few of these papers have an Internet presence.

These papers often have very small staffs, maybe one person in the editorial department, and they don't have the resources or the manpower to create and maintain a web site.

Yet, with the world as mobile and farflung as it is, there is a real opportunity for these papers to provide local news content that would be available over the Internet.

WHY KEEP UP WITH SMALL TOWN NEWS?

- John Boy has moved to the city, but would like to keep up with what's going on in his hometown, where Mom and Dad and aunts and uncles may still live. - Or maybe it's Grandma and Grandpa that have moved to a retirement community in Florida, but would still like to keep up with their grandson's school activities, Scout programs, etc. - Bobby is serving in the Marines in Kosovo and would like to stay in touch with the hometown news while he's overseas.

Yahoo, CitySearch and several sites offer localized restaurant listings, business listings, etc. within certain major metropolitan areas, but until now there has been no way to access the smaller independent weekly newspapers.

"Freedom of the press," wrote A. J. Lieberling, "belongs to those who own one." As a Net surfer, you own a global printing press.

HOW IT WORKS

In a nutshell, you approach your local newspaper and offer them a free web page where they can publish local news and photos. They can also increase their advertising revenue - and yours.

All they have to do is email you the stories and photos they want published on the Net. It's best to limit this to no more than three or four stories and a couple of photos. Since you maintain the site for them (or have a service like TennTimes do it), they don't have to do anything they're not already doing.

When their advertising salespeople make their calls, they simply ask local businesses if they would like a supplementary Internet ad along with their newspaper ad. "Supplementary" is a key word here. No newspaper is going to want to lose existing ad revenue to an Internet site, not even their own.  To place an ad on the Westview Online Edition (this is the name of a real newspaper in Bellevue, TN that is using this program), the advertiser must also be placing a print ad in the "real" newspaper. (You can see this at http://www.tenntimes.org/bellevue.html.)

When Net surfers tune in to the Online Westview, they find highlights from the just published issue, plus a ton of features the weekly paper can't afford to offer in its print edition - comics, newslinks to hundreds of other newspapers in 139 countries, editorial columns from 400+ well-known newspaper columnists, material on lifestyles, business, sports (all the college and pro scores and standings, updated hourly), news and photos from Reuters, AP, UPI and others (also updated hourly), plus local links to schools, churches, government agencies, and community organizations, as well as local weather, local TV listings, local movies, etc.

The Westview thus becomes a portal to the Internet for its online readers, complete with search engines, valuable tools and tips, and much more.

HOW DOES THIS HELP LOCAL BUSINESSES?

While local businesses can put up a Web site, it's probably going to get lost in the World Wide Web. Do a search on "book stores" and see how many you come up with.

This concept enables small businesses to reach a LOCAL audience (most sales are within 7 miles of a store's location unless you're a national business).

It puts their advertising in a format in which they don't get lost among all the bookstores in the whole world, for example. Their battle to get "noticed" is much easier.

HOW DO I PROMOTE MY PAPER?

Newspapers I work with are glad to print free advertising, telling their readers they can now access the online newspaper. The way this generally works is: you submit several different sized ads, which the editor will use whenever he/she needs to fill a certain space.  Newspaper layout is not an exact science. Usually there will be small holes to fill (an advertiser cancels an ad at the last minute, a story isn't quite long enough to fill up the available space, etc.) Give the editor a broad enough selection of sizes on your ad and you're making his/her job easier. They pick an ad that will fit the hole.

Second, offer FREE listings to all churches, schools, nonprofit community organizations, government agencies and elected representatives, and news media (radio, TV, newspapers). This attracts traffic. Only businesses pay for listings, ads or links to their existing web sites, as well as e-mail addresses. Also offer FREE classified ads to your online readers, business and personal. (You can always limit it to personal only if businesses want to use the free classifieds instead of paid advertising.

Third, promote your newspaper through word of mouth. Tell everyone you know. Print up business cards with your site address on it and hand them out freely.

The Westview (mentioned earlier) carries the online columns of its two city council members (Bellevue is a part of Nashville). This gets elected officials involved and participating - and of course they're going to tell their friends how to read their online columns. It never hurts to get City Hall on your side.

WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?

You can spend months setting up this whole idea on your own, maintain it and expand it - or you can plug into an existing local newspaper service (and I know of only one such service) in order to offer 100+ pages of content to supplement the local news and advertising.

As a local online publisher, your job is to make sure the local news keeps coming in, to sell local ads, and to accumulate the names, addresses and phone numbers of local links (churches, schools, government, community groups, etc.)

Another important thing is to include historical articles and those that promote your local community, Chamber of Commerce, etc.

If you have a flair for writing and enjoy it, you might also want to come up with some of your own local human-interest features or even a weekly column. Let the "real" newspaper print it for free, if they wish. I write a column reviewing plays at the local dinner theatre; they're printed online and in the printed paper. (Make sure the printed paper gets first access; you don't want to undercut them or "hog the limelight.") Remember, this is a partnership between your online edition and the printed newspaper.

One other thing I'm doing is reprinting chapters and photos from a book of local history written by the Westview publisher (now deceased). Readers eat this kind of stuff up - but be sure you have permission. In this case, the book is copyrighted, so I got permission from the widow and her daughter, who have run the paper since his death.

HOW DO I MAKE ANY MONEY?

This isn't a "get rich quick" scheme. It's a business and you're in it for the long haul. You make money by (a) ad revenue you get from the local paper (50-50 split of online advertising), (b) sale of online information you either originate or obtain from other sources - with permission!, (c) ad revenue from ads you sell that do not undercut your newspaper partner, and (d) affiliate advertising, if you wish. Remember that your emphasis is LOCAL news and advertising, so don't cut your nose to spite your face by getting too many affiliates that would compete with or overshadow your local business partners.

Advertising you get entirely on your own would have to be published in the national edition of your newspaper (if you work with a service like TennTimes). You want to make sure to honor your commitment with your local paper that local ads, published in the local edition, go through them.

To see an online example of how this works, go to http://www.tenntimes.org. There you'll see the whole enchilada - local, state, national and world - all wrapped up into one convenient package that will keep attracting Net surfers to your local page first. Who knows, they might even want to make it their home page.

For more information, you can also email: mailto:tenntimes@getresponse.com or mailto:omegareport@mindspring.com.

Jim Moore, Director Phoenix Technologies A Division of the Phoenix Foundation

Visit our web site at: <http://www.fortunecity.com/business/moo/272/> Internet Web Design & Consulting at Affordable Prices for Small-Medium Businesses & Organizations or visit Tennessee's electronic newspaper covering Middle Tennessee <http://www.tenntimes.org>