Launch a Local News Website and Business: Startup Resource Center

Hyperlocal Launch Worksheets

• Launch Checklist
• 1st Year Goal Worksheet
• Ad Sales Worksheet
• Weekly Scorecard

A virtual community of digital publishing professionals and entrepreneurs laser-focused on digital revenue and business growth.

In Part 1, we cover:

1. Tips on launching quickly: Choosing the right partners, setting the right expectations, and planning for maximum long-term efficiency and success.

2. Successful Revenue models: How hyperlocal news entrepreneurs generate revenue, and how you can too.

3. Revenue Goals: Setting a first year revenue goal and building the right plan to achieve it.

4. Your Key Advantages: Learn about your strengths as a small publisher, and avoid competing head-on with Facebook, Google, and legacy newspapers.

5. Insights from Experts: We’ve assembled a panel of industry veterans who have successfully launched and run publications or studied them extensively.

Panelists Include:

• Glenn Burkins, QCityMetro
• Kim Clark, Noozhawk
• Michele McLellan, Michele’s List
• Dylan Smith, Tucson Sentinel
• Michael White, Greater Long Island Media

In Part 2, we cover:

1. The site setup: Getting a website, domain, and host, including which tech platforms to choose (read: CMS showdown).

2. Newsletters: Creating an automated, hands-off newsletter to help build and retain your readership.

3. Monetization tips and tools: Getting your site set up with best practices to support advertising, paid subscriptions, and sponsored content — the 3 key areas where small publishers generate revenue.

4. Assistance: Whether to hire, who to hire, and how to hire for a website vendor or partner. Also, how to tell them what you need in order to keep costs low.

5. Insights from Experts: We’ve assembled a panel of industry veterans who have successfully launched and run hyperlocal news publications to share their insight.

Panelists Include:

• Gary Collins, Sweetwater Now
• Michael Dinan, New Canaanite
• Uriah Kiser, Potomac Local
• Josh Popichak, Saucon Source
• Marcie Setlow, The Berkshire Edge

In Part 3, we cover:

1. Critical Advice for specialists (journalists turned business owners): It’s a new ball game now — this is what you need to know.

2. Time management: How to manage your time most effectively to ensure you’re focusing on the highest-impact tasks. Also, we’ll explain what those “high impact” tasks are.

3. Hiring: How to hire, who to hire, and when. It’s hard to do it all alone — you’ll want to hire yourself out of menial tasks so you can focus on building your business.

4. Systematizing: Putting the right documentation and “system” in place so that you, your hires, and perhaps eventual prospective buyers understand how your business operates. This will save you an immense amount of time and frustration.

5. Finding the right peers and mentors: Finding peers and mentors can accelerate your progress. They’ll clue you in to solutions to hard problems that have already been solved by those who came before you.

Panelists Include:

• Scott Brodbeck, Local News Now
• Denise Civiletti, Riverhead Local
• Kelly Gilfillan, FW Publishing
• Howard Owens, The Batavian
• John T Ward, redbankgreen