What will I learn? Are you worried about your newspaper’s Web site? Not sure how to build out your content or draw readers to your site? Are you concerned that your paper will be left behind because of limited staff and resources in your newsroom?
In Build and Engage Local Audiences Online, you’ll see what the power of local content can mean for you. You'll learn why local content is essential to your survival, and how you can continue being the chief information source to your community, no matter what the platform. And you'll discover ways to understand and grow your online audience.
Special features in this course will guide you: In the Media Boxes, you'll hear from others in the industry about their strategies and successes. In our online simulation, Talk to Your Colleague, "Steve," our virtual co-worker, can help you think through some of the questions and concerns you'll want to address. Other activities let you test your knowledge of online audiences and tools you can use to drive them to your site. Along the way, you'll collect the info you'll need to create an action plan for your newsroom.
Who should take this course? This course is designed for local publishers and editors in community and suburban newspapers -- dailies and weeklies. It's also for journalists in any newsroom in the middle of the online transformation. If you want to strengthen your online publication and build relationships with online audiences, this course is for you.
How long will it take? You can work through this self-directed course at your own pace. The total time to complete the course is about two to three hours in one session. You also can access the course sections in any order, starting and stopping at your convenience. The video and audio are packed with tips you may want to hear one more once. And you can come back anytime once you enroll.
About the instructors: Susan Karol is the executive director of the SNA Foundation. Content in this course came from the contributions of several members of SNA, who have demonstrated successful online publication practices.
Learn more about why the course was created in this Poynter online article, "Community Journalists Learn to 'Be Web Now.'"
Technical requirements: Because of the video and audio in the course, we recommend accessing this course with Firefox or Safari 2.x or higher as your browser. And make sure you have your speakers or headphones on. This course also requires Flash Player 8 or higher.
(Get the latest version of Flash here.)
Note: This course is available free of charge as part of a grant to the Suburban Newspapers of America Foundation from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to to help suburban and community journalists make the transformation to a multimedia world.
Cost: This course is available free of charge to registered users of NewsU.