Electric Fishwrap has moved

Those who follow me on Twitter already know that I moved in mid-September. It was a cross-town move, from Snohomish to Everett, but either way I hate moving with a passion. Part of the frustration was trying to find an apartment within the allotted 20 days my former landlady gave us to move out (she needed our unit for a family/friend emergency).

I set out to search for an apartment online. Using Google Maps, the Community Transit Web site (we had to pick a place near a bus stop for my husband to commute to UW), ApartmentRatings.com (to avoid the really bad places) and Craigslist. But after a while I felt bad about using Craigslist because a lot of people feel it’s contributing to a decline in classified ad revenue.

I sought out a local paper when my husband and I stopped at the grocery store. Lucky for me one of them was doing a subscription drive and I got one for free (no I didn’t subscribe, sorry!). I opened the pages and found a typical three-line ad for an apartment for rent, no address, just brief platitudes and a phone number.

I’m not going to call someone to ask for an address, plug it into Google Maps to see if it matches up with an address within a 1/2 mile radius of an acceptable bus stop. I realize classifieds are still sold by the line, so I understand the reason for brevity. Not giving up hope, I checked news Web sites in the region, and none in my search area offer expanded classified services for those who bought space in the dead-tree edition. (Question for readers: do any Web sites offer expanded classifieds online?)

Why can’t newspapers print a reference number with each ad (sort of like the old personal ads), which customers could then type in at the Web site to see the full online listing? Someone buys a classfied (or any) ad and they are given a login to copy and paste whatever information into the online ad that they want. (Maybe local newspapers already offer that, but none of the listings I saw online indicated that this was the case.)

As an aside, I could swear I saved some blog posts that talked about this very topic before the move, but my desktop computer unfortunately went to the big server in the sky and thus is unable to assist me in this search. My Google-fu has also failed me.

If your news organization has not produced video much, or sold video ads, the Newspaper Association of America is here to help.

Check out the new online primer for video production. It’s got advice from B roll footage to equipment purchasing guides to how to promote your online video. There is even a guide on how to market video ads (because, face it, news is a business in most places in the country).

“Zooming In on Online Video: A Development & Growth Guide for Newspaper Web Sites” is intended to help newspapers of any size develop profitable video applications. As competition heats up for online video mindshare, newspapers have an excellent opportunity to leverage their skills and content and capture an even larger share of online advertising spending.

Also from the ad front, what makes an online video ad less annoying? Read what Mark Glaser wrote on MediaShift (hint: keep it short, silly).

There is so much information here that I’ll likely spend several hours surfing the links. I am glad to see a news tutorial that applies to the ad department.

Thanks to Beth Lawton on Wired Journalists for the heads up on the NAA video training site.

Yellow pages listings are down, so are newspaper revenues. Enter BizFinderNW.com, an online solution to the yellow pages, by the Spokesman Review.

The Spokane newspaper, which continues to win awards for the dead-tree and online divisions, added another trophy to the case with the first prize for innovation from the International Newspaper Marketing Association.

This couldn’t come at a better time (well, except a few years ago. That would’ve been a better time). Read Poynter’s writeup on the award and the S-R.com.

The twist at Spokane’s BizFinderNW.com, is to offer a listing with address, store hours, a map and a photo for free. Businesses can amplify on the listing or buy a display position if they wish. Like most local search ventures, there is room for user comments, though no news content per se.

This is a great way for newspapers to capitalize on community connections and remain afloat while offering advertising at competitive rates. I hope more news organizations take this approach.