JAMESTOWN – Transparency and self-promotion are two of the areas in which WNYNewsNow seeks to improve upon towards the end of this year and beyond.
To that end, Justin Gould and I will fill you in on some of the latest information regarding recent events that have helped our agency grow since our Dec. 16, 2016 launch. We will also, to the best of our ability, answer the questions you, the audience, have.
WE ARE LISTENING
One of the areas we pride ourselves in is listening to the audience’s needs, wants and concerns. Remember, there’s no legitimate model for us to follow considering we are the only online news organization locally that provides video, written word and other forms of media.
We’ve learned, for starters, that our viewers do not want to pay for a subscription to consume news.
We’ve worked, since launching, to build a network of local advertising. We also obtain revenue by running political advertisements during election season.
If you’d like to advertise with us, please email either Justin (justin.gould@new.wnynewsnow.com) or myself (matt.hummel@new.wnynewsnow.com).
A third source of revenue involves Google Adsense and an ad service called The Moneytizer, two separate systems that pay our site a certain amount of money per click on our stories. (More on this later.)
In all honesty, the programs have previously led us, either consciously or subconsciously, to use what is called “clickbait” headlines. Our viewers, and rightfully so, called us out earlier in 2018.
Since then, we’ve taken a better approach in regards to what our headlines and stories contain. Our policy is to make sure that at least a second set of eyes checks our work for grammar and spelling, as well as context and other editorial areas.
We’ve had our ups and downs throughout our history, but we seek to learn from our mistakes with the business, the content, and the way in which we conduct ourselves.
ANNOYING POP-UPS
As mentioned earlier, we utilize Google Adsense and Moneytizer to acquire an additional revenue to help nurture and grow our business.
Unfortunately, because of the way the two systems work, pop-ups often take away from the viewing experience on both our laptop and mobile platforms.
This month, WNYNewsNow is expected to launch a brand new mobile app for IOS and Android users. The app will create a unique experience for news followers and the ability for subscribers to receive push notifcation alerts when stories publish.
Furthermore, those who want a unique experience can choose to do so. For example, one could subscribe to just breaking news and weather or just local business news and sports. The customization will continue as the app is updated throughout the year.
We are confident, once the app is released, that our audience will be very thrilled.
A REMINDER: Alternate Live Streaming
Starting on Dec. 5th, we began streaming live on You Tube. Anytime our team goes live, whether it’d be our News Now at Noon program, or breaking news, our audience can watch by clicking the “WATCH LIVE” tab on our site’s home page and on the new app that will be published soon.
When we aren’t live, the stream will show a live look at our HD NewsNow Cam overlooking East Third Street.
We know that some of our readers either don’t use, or rarely, use Facebook, and rely solely on WNYNewsNow.com to consume our content.
SALES POSITION
We are currently seeking a hard-working, dedicated person to help grow our company by working to build our already-existing local clientele.
For more information on the job, email either Justin (justin.gould@new.wnynewsnow.com) or myself (matt.hummel@new.wnynewsnow.com).
WHERE WE STAND:
A start-up’s goal is to, by the end of year two, be able to pay the bills and still have some sort of profit.
We’ve, again, had our ups and downs like the rest of humankind, but we can confidently say that we’ve reached that goal.
We deeply appreciate our advertisers, past and present, because we wouldn’t be able to operate without them. More importantly, we’ve been able to foster a connection with them that runs deeper than any dollar and cent.
Business owners and advertisers, whether they’ve agreed to join our family or not, give us an idea of what we can do to improve as a media organization.
WORDPRESS UPDATE:
Our website has used the WordPress system since the launch. WordPress recently updated to a newer version, and we needed to update in order to ensure our website functions properly.
It appears the audience won’t see any of these changes. Trust us, those of us who have access to the website are seeing the changes and are learning to adapt.
We are human, and we make mistakes. Please let us know in the comment section, regardless of whether it’s on our site, Facebook page or Twitter account (@wnynewsnow).
OUR STAFF:
Our staff consists of the following:
Justin Gould (Co-Owner, Operations Manager, News Director)
Dakota Hunter (Chief Forecaster)
Yours truly serves as a Co-Owner and Chief News Editor. I also occasionally fill in as a sportswriter/reporter, but my primary focus is on news and the business side of things.
Norm Rodriguez, however, is our chief sports anchor and reporter.
Rory Pollaro is a contributor to our site.
SITE STATISTICS:
We are currently at 13,116 Facebook likes and 14,893 Facebook followers. We also have 602 Twitter followers, 786 Instagram followers and 28 snapchat follows. Dakota just set that up this month, so feel free to follow @WNYNewsNow.
So far, we’ve had 4,596,208 page views all-time on our site. We had 202,000 this month, an average of 50,000 a week, an average of 7,000 a day.
As always, you can submit questions, comments and concerns below. We will also check the comment sections for this article on our company’s social media accounts.
If you’d rather remain private with concerns, feel free to email Justin or I. You can also message us privately on our company’s social media accounts.
News Tips Hotline: 716-488-7226 or newsdesk@new.wnynewsnow.com. Please feel free to submit them through a private message on our company’s social media accounts, as well.
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