Jewish World Review On the Verge of Folding

Jewsih World Review ^ | 11-5-2001 | F. M. Pohole

[Amore]

the article is at: http://www.newsandopinion.com/cols/leo.html

I started with"<A HREF=" so I guess maybe I did the end bit wrong.

[SlickWillard]

I have been told by the publisher that they are redesigning the site and there will be a change in November. I will make a note of it and forward your suggestions.

Tell them KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid. The most readable bulletin board on the internet is FreeRepublic, which represents a brilliant simplicity of design.

Here's another suggestion: Make the articles interactive, i.e. allow the readers to comment on the article afterwards, in the style of a mainstream site like Ziff-Davis, or a rogue site like Mr. Cranky.

[okie_tech]

You know that I do love the writers, I was first introduced to the site years ago by the writer links on Drudge's site. I don't go to his site as much any more since I get the filtered version of the most important stuff here on FR. While we are at it we could look at why FR has never been moved to a for profit basis and why the largest conservative site on the web must rely on donations to survive. Jim, any comments? If any conservative site has the readership to survive it would be this one. Of course I suppose that copyright infringement would be more of a concern with a for profit venture. No more of that fair use arguement.

[Caipirabob]

Market forces at work. If the product is desired, then the market will sustain it. Conservative or not, they need to rework their product or economic Dawinism is gonna get 'em one way or another.

[gumbo]

you're stuck reading text that is squished into a rectangle that is only 440 pixels in width

I LIKE that format.

Guess there must be something wrong with me.

[KantianBurke]

Where did u get such a stat? It seems like 90% voted for GORE!

[Brookhaven]

FR does seem to have one huge asset that is being underutilized. The software that runs the board itself. From the poster's standpoint, FR is one of the best bulletin board systems on the internet. Spinning off a seperate, for profit venture to market the BBS software to others would be a viable way to make money. Of course the lawyers would have to make sure the actual FR site retained its non-profit status to ensure fair use still applied.

[headsonpikes]

RE: cash-flow models for idea-based sites.

Idea #173-- Sell 'hunting licenses'. Users would pay for the right to flame. ;^)

[Cinnamon Girl]

I got that stat from Arab liberal ZOGBY.

[Luis Gonzalez]

BUMP...help is on the way!

[curmudgeonII]

Unless you read the Jewish World Review you cannot be a true Conservative [i.e. one that thinks].

[father_elijah]

BUMP for the JWR

[Luis Gonzalez]

R. Emmett Tyrrell's "American Spectator" crumbled financially and was just bought out...you think that their name didn't target a sufficiently broad audience?

[Media2Powerful]

I could live without some of the liberals they carry, but, it is formatted nicely and is 90% conservative. I read it all the time. I don't know why more of their stuff is not posted of FR unless they just don't think we will go to their site if we read it here. For me, the opposite is true. I am more likely to visit a site when I read their columns on FR first. I often forget about the sites I don't see come up on FR. It's like advertising.

[Luis Gonzalez]

List masters...your help is needed.

[lodwick]

Thanks for the heads up. bttt

[Luis Gonzalez]

FYI

[JohnHuang2]

Thanks for the alert, hermano -- will do!

[Brookhaven]

but if its not appealing to a broad audience

Sites that appeal to a braod audience is exactly why advertising revenue is DOWN. It makes it impossible to target your advertising to any particular market. The television model of advertising is not flying on the internet. Even the largest sites can't reach a wide enough audience to make the ROI work.

JWR has it right in that it has defined a niche (and a unique one). One of the problems I saw with the site was the type of advertisers they have on their site. I saw banner ads for a web design company, a dating service, and a generic "you have one message - click here" ad. These are all too generic. They don't take advantage of their niche.

They may need to drop the generic banner service and start hunting out their own advertisers directly. Setup their own banner rotation system just for their site. Find advertisers that would be willing to pay a premium to advertise on their site. Not just a dating service, but a dating service that specializes in Jewish people, or matching people on their religious preferences. Not just a web design company, but one that specializes in Jewish or religious sites (I know one person that specializes in deisigning sites for people involved in the apple (the kind you eat) industry.)

The power of the internet isn't that you can reach a wider audience. It's that you can niche like crazy, and still reach enough people to make that nich work. Advertisers are out there looking for ore targeted places to advertise on the internet.