• Whys and hows of online ads in high school news publications
Past Crown winners describe their policies, procedures
by Helen F. Smith
Ads in online student news publications can bring a significant revenue boost to related programs.
Advisers and business managers of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s seven high school online newspaper Crown Award recipients, announced in March 2009, described how ads work on their sites and gave recommendations on procedures they have found productive.
Using multi-media for outreach
The Oakton Outlook Online
The Oakton Outlook, http://www.oaktonoutlook.com, part of the Oakton Media Group at Oakton High School in Vienna, Va., is aiming to increase its online-only content and its multi-media range, including its ads, said Chad Rummel, the adviser of the yearbook, news magazine and online news publication.
“There is no reason to go to an online publication if you’re only going to see print content all over again,” he said.
Adding podcasts, videos, special stories, comment boards and blogs helps draw students in, he said.
But one of the main magnets has been to link the publication to Facebook, he said.
One way to begin to accommodate multiple media in advertising, he said, is to take the current print ad order form and add a small dollar amount for an ad to run online, offering existing customers a banner at the top, bottom or side and letting readers click through to the customers’ site or to their print ads, Rummel said.
A second step is to consider online specials, he said.
“Now, we can add exclusive online coupons and run an ad in the newspaper teasing the coupons in the Oakton Outlook,” Rummel said. “We can use two, three or four pages of coupons online.”
Promoting businesses through Facebook can also work well, he said.
By using Facebook, publications can get close to the same sort of exposure that they would through professional marketers, but for free, he said.
“Kids see a new story and a new ad to go with it,” Rummel said. “It takes literally seconds to do that.”
Rummel said that a local restaurant offers a special Wednesday nights and promotes it each week on Facebook. He said the oaktonoutlook.com charges the restaurant for both online and Facebook promotion.
Tracking hits is important because when advertisers find out when people look, it provides a selling point, Rummel said.
A possibility Rummel also said The Oakton Outlook is looking into is to have theatre students go online in video commercials.
Beyond advertising, other sources of revenue can include parent boosters and photo sales, Rummel said.
Parents who join a booster group contribute to upgrades, maintenance and purchases of multimedia equipment, he said.
Uploader software enables purchase of reprints of the work of Oakton Media Group photographers. The site pays a monthly commission of $50 to $100, Rummel said.
Having consulted the Student Press Law Center, Rummel said the titles of the packages need to indicate they were shot at news events.
recommendation:
Create a multimedia club as a way of recruiting students to work on the site, Rummel suggested. Writers, photographers and page designers need to work with students from business and web design classes, with curricula changing accordingly, he said.
Low prices; lists of options
The Feather Online
At the Feather Online, http://www.thefeather.com, more advertisers want to put ads online than in print, said the adviser, Greg Stobbe at Fresno Christian High School in California.
“For the past two years, the online ads have paid for the print edition and enabled the staff to purchase a sports camera and other equipment,” he said.
“Ads also add credibility. The hope is that local businesses choose to pay to have their ads in the Feather Online. They become community stakeholders in a local and community student-run product.”
However, Stobbe said, advertisers “outside of the mom and pop companies” may have links or be tied to “other organizations that may have direct or indirect ties to inappropriate content, products or ideals in direct opposition to school or newspaper mission statements.”
He said he and the staff decided to keep online ad prices low, but that as hits have increased, ad rates have slightly increased too.
“Originally rates were about the same for a small ad as the print edition ($35),” he said.
Currently, he said, a small ad is $50 for a month, $175 for a semester and $350 for a year. These ads are sized 160 pixels x 200 pixels.
The medium ad is 160 pixels by 300-350, and advertisers are charged $75 a month, $250 a semester or $450 a year. The large ad is 160 pixels x 550-600, and advertisers are charged $100 a month, $350 a semester or $550 a year.
The Feather Online tracks click-throughs.
“Users can click on an ad and then be immediately taken to the advertiser,” Stobbe said. “Each time a page is refreshed, the ads automatically change.”
In addition, the Feather Online has a sponsor section for individuals or businesses who “want to remain anonymous or low-key in their support,” Stobbe said.
Describing the sales process, Stobbe said each staff member signs a contract accepting responsibility for bringing in at least $75 in donations or ad revenue per semester.
Former advertisers, businesses within a two-mile radius, families’ and friends’ businesses, and local businesses that cater to students in the area all make good prospects, he said.
The staff has ad sheets, examples, thank you letters, and a phone talk idea page for solicitation to help them get started, he said.
Print and online customers send camera-ready artwork and instructions to The Feather Online via email, memory stick or DVD for posting.
Stobbe said the Feather Online “reserves all rights as to the content and ability to post ads.”
“The staff will not post ads that sell, market, lure teen-agers to products, information, events that are not age appropriate or violate the mission of the Feather,” he said.
“All ads must adhere to school policies and mission statements. Due to limited space for advertising, the Feather Online reserves the right to be selective in granting contracts.”
recommendation:
Staffs need to focus on follow-up details with advertisers, Stobbe said. These include billing, thank you notes and trying to secure a new ad once the old ad expires.
Ads respond to page content
The Paly Voice
The Paly Voice, http://voice.paly.net, uses Google’s AdSense program to meet projected costs of about $1,000 a year, said the adviser, Paul Kandell.
“To try to do journalism without paying attention to advertising isn’t real,” Kandell said.
Through AdSense, thousands of ads respond to page content.
For a volleyball story, for instance, ads could be about volleyball camps or equipment, Kandell explained.
“We’ve had no complaints on any of our ads’ content,” he said.
But he added that it might be that ads for Canadian pharmacies selling Vicodin might pop up, accompanying stories students wrote about the abuse of prescription drugs.
According to a diagram using text with highlighted key words and a coffee cup on the AdSense site, the program “grasps the meaning of your content.”
“If you have a page about Java the coffee, our tech knows that it’s not about Java the programming language,” AdSense says. “And you always get ads about coffee.”
Customers pay only when people click on their ads. Publications do not pay Google.
AdSense program policies say that payees must be at least 18.
On the AdSense site, formats for image ads range from banners to small squares to videos with details about text ads, image ads and content guidelines.
Kandell said the publication is looking toward ways to put up and schedule its own local ads.
Rate categories have to be measurable, he said, noting that there are two main rate models: click-throughs and time.
recommendation:
Advisers should inform themselves thoroughly about the newest options, Kandell said.
Low costs crucial to financial health
Rockville Rampage Online
The Rockville Rampage’s online site, http://www.rockvillerampage.com, does not yet have permission to advertise from Montgomery County’s Board of Education, said Peter Daddone, the adviser at Rockville High School in Rockville, Md.
But he said $9.95 each month pays for the web hosting.
“Costs for web hosting can range from free to $40 a month,” he said, noting that the American Society of Newspaper Editors has a one-time fee of $50 (See myhsj.org).
Daddone, who recently served as director of a 5K race and funrun to benefit the publication, said 262 participated and that the event had raised about $3,200.
Other ways to generate income for the rockvillerampage can include click-on 15-second spots incorporating sponsors for individual videos, and banner headlines announcing sponsor/hosts for stories including movie reviews, Daddone said.
recommendation:
Encourage students to design pages by recruiting staff through service learning programs and in your school’s morning announcements, Daddone suggested. If students design the pages for the online publication, it keeps the online publication student-centered and it saves the costs of having professional help, further reducing the need to fundraise, he said.
Bonus for print customers
The Saratoga Falcon
The Saratoga Falcon, http://www.saratogafalcon.org, is developing ads, said the adviser, Michael Tyler, the adviser at Saratoga High School, Saratoga, Calif.,
Online ads are a bonus for print customers, he said.
“There is no extra charge,” Tyler said of the online advertising. “We’re really pretty early in our development of ads. It’s not been something that has driven the print side.
“We’re still working more on the editorial side. Writing for the web is what we are aiming for first.”
If a print advertiser wants an ad and formats it to the online specifications, it will run, Tyler said.
“We have nothing in writing in terms of the advertising for the web,” Tyler said. “We simply let print advertisers know they can put ads on the site if they wish.”
Tyler said the physical specifications are as follows:
•square ads, 300 pixels by 250 pixels, either gif or jpeg
•leaderboard ads at the bottom of the page: 728 pixels by 90 pixels, either gif or jpeg.
Ads stay online as long as the customer advertises in print, he said.
The online publication began in 2001, and, after the first site bombed, the current one went up two years ago, Tyler said.
recommendation:
Online publications need a resource—a company or an individual—to consult for help, especially if there is a crisis, Tyler said.
“My background is in print,” Tyler said. “Everything can go along fine online, but after a crisis, you need someone to come in and help you fix things.”
Looking toward combinations
Stoganews.com
The Spoke, http://www.stoganews.com, plans to run advertising in print and online combinations, said the editor in chief at Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pa., Seth Zweifler.
“That’s the direction the industry is heading in,” Zweifler said.
Print and online combinations will be an emphasis once the sales strategy and the solicitations get under way this year, he said. The online ads will need monthly renewals, he said.
The cost for a month’s run of an online ad is $20, according to the rate on the site.
Susan Houseman, the adviser, noted that Zweifler is the content manager of the site.
“I originally set up the site a few years ago,” Houseman said. “When I set it up, the site was a promotional site that provided information about the Spoke and TV program.
“It did not have any online news content. The students took the site I created and made it into an online news site to complement our newspaper.
“They manage it completely from home.”
recommendation:
Run promotional ads—ads for space online—in prominent places on the site’s home page. Include a click-through to more information about rates and whom to contact.
See, for example, stoganews.com’s home page.
Sponsors make key contributions
Wayland Student Press Network
Wayland Student Press, http://waylandstudentpress.com, has been able to rely on sponsorships up to now.
“We have been approached by generous members of the community interested in sponsoring us,” said Matthew Gutschenritter, the business manager of waylandstudentpress.com at Wayland High School in Wayland, Mass. “We plan on selling advertising beginning in 2010.”
Gutschenritter said clarity about how and why to buy ads or become sponsors is important.
“Tell them exactly what they will be getting in return,” he said.
“In our case they will be contributing to the journalistic education of Wayland students as well as in the case of advertisers, promoting their product/business to a very specific demographic.”
Sponsorships cost
• $500 for Platinum
• $300 for Gold
• $200 for Silver
• $125 for Premium
• $50 for Benefactor and
• $25 for Friend.
The page with rates has a statement of purpose for the sponsorship program and directions for payment.
To set ad rates, Gutschenritter said, the staff has browsed at other scholastic websites and looked at print publications. Hits per day is a consideration as is placement, he said.
“On our homepage we receive about 500-1,000 hits per day,” he said. “An ad there would be more expensive than an ad on another page. “Also, if the number of hits per day were to rise, we would begin charging more.”
Types of ads and advertising space are other considerations.
A classic small ad could include the company’s slogan, phone number and address, Gutschenritter said.
“Building off that, a company could ask to have its ad made to link to its website, in which case we would charge a certain amount per click-through,” he said.
“We only have limited ad space, so if we have many companies interested in advertising, we could set it up so that every time the home page was opened it rotated between two ads (in the same spot).
“The price would be amended to coincide with that.
“We also offer ads at the beginnings and ends of videos. The price depends on the video (how many expected views) and the length of the ad. Obviously, the more views or the longer the ad, the higher the price.
“WSPN will also create ads for a small fee.
“By January, our plan is to have created a media kit to send to companies with relevant information about advertising with WSPN. At that time we will also be posting more advertising information up on the site.”
recommendation:
Move on if one option fails (for example a grant) and find multiple additional options, Gutschenritter said.
10 more recommendations
about online ads
1. Give the business side its due.
Keep in mind that your publication is a business and a public service. Let the terms and tone of your business communications reflect this knowledge. Advertisers have a great deal to gain from appearing on your site. You are not in this venture for charity.
2. Take advantage of every one of your selling points.
Let customers know about discounts, coupons, editions that happen near events at particular times of the year. Such events include traditional athletic contests, concerts, plays and open houses.
3. Break through the jargon.
Do not be intimidated. Instead, ask your online business manager to start a list or build on an existing list of terms and definitions, geared to inexperienced staff members and non-tech savvy, print-oriented advisers.
One such list, for instance, is at https://ledger-ads.planetdiscover.com/ssi/mc_resources/glossary.jsp.
Almost everyone knows what clicks are. But the Planet Discover site explains such terms as CPM (cost per thousand deliveries per ad), PPC (what it costs an advertiser each time an ad is clicked) and PPV (the price an advertiser pays each time the ad is viewed).
Another informative source is JEADigitalMedia.org.
Aaron Manfull, the media adviser at Francis Howell North High School in St. Charles, Mo., maintains the site, which has a wealth of information along with explanations including
•Static v. Dynamic Sites (You need to know the difference)
•Adding Content to Your WordPress Site
•WordPress Plugins and Widgets, and
•Setting Up Different Access Levels for WordPress Users.
4. Highlight your advertising potential.
Make the sales process clear, coherent and easy for potential customers.
Do not bury the link to your advertising rates at the bottom of the page. Instead, run it in the upper right.
5. Decide how much control you need over ad content.
To brief yourself on the amount of control you have over ads and ad content on your site, consult the Student Press Law Center’s Student Media Guide to Advertising Law on its web site, splc.org.
Although as the site says, schools “do have the power to prohibit or strictly limit purely commercial activity such as the on-campus sale of candy, pots and pans or concert tickets,” it also says that “at least one court has explicitly ruled that administrators cannot prohibit the publishers of a non-school-sponsored publication from canvassing the community to sell ads.”
As the SPLC points out on the question of whether a school-sponsored publication has a right to reject advertising, in Yeo v. Town of Lexington, a federal appeals court held that “as long as students—and not public school officials (including a faculty adviser)—make the advertising decisions for a student publication,” the students “have the same right to reject advertising as their commercial counterparts because there is no ‘state action.’”
6. Think about what kinds of ads you might refuse.
According to Adam Goldstein, an attorney advocate with special expertise in internet journalism at the Student Press Law Center, ad guidelines online are the same as offline.
When deciding whether to accept an ad, the legal answer “is often fairly easy,” the Media Guide to Advertising Law says.
“As long as the ad concerns lawful activity, is not false or misleading and is otherwise protected by the First Amendment (the material is not libelous, obscene, protected by copyright, etc.) it can be accepted.”
But should it be accepted? As the Media Guide to Advertising Law says, “Like editorial policies, advertising policies reflect the philosophy of a publication; there is no single ‘best’ policy. All student media, however, do themselves a favor by addressing the question of advertising acceptance before a particularly difficult question catches them off-guard.”
7. Consider filtering.
Google AdSense has a category filtering feature. According to information on the site, it allows you to block up to five categories from the following list: cosmetic procedures and surgery, dating, drugs and supplements, get rich quick, politics, ringtones and downloadables, sexual and reproductive health, sexually suggestive, video games, and weight loss.
8. Just say no.
When it comes to working with individual customers who send ad copy to which the staff objects, the editor can just say no.
Getting into a discussion of what is and isn’t acceptable in a particular ad can lead to a real headache.
In a real pinch, just say you’ve run out of space.
9. Check out the best in college online news sites.
Take a look at the ad policies and procedures that college online publications list. A good place to start is CSPA’s past college newspaper online Crown Award winners.
Although the college online sites tend to be much more elaborate than high schools’, they are educational in themselves.
10. Staff appropriately.
Have individuals in charge of departments on the business side of the publication to help ensure precision and follow up.
Helen F. Smith is the executive director of the New England Scholastic Press Association and a past president of the Columbia Scholastic Press Advisers Association. From 1973-2009, she taught English and journalism and advised the Newtonite and Mirettes at Newton North High School in Newtonville, Mass. Publications she has edited include Journalist’s Handbook for the New England Press Association, and Springboard to Journalism and its Teacher’s Manual, The Official CSPA Stylebook, Scholastic Newspaper Fundamentals and Scholastic Newspaper Critique for CSPA. Along with teaching in CSPA programs, she has taught high school students and teachers at Boston University, and, through the Soros Foundation, in Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Georgia, Hungary and Romania. The U.S. State Department’s ACCELS program also sent her to teach in Kyrgyzstan. At the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, she has been a visiting teacher since 2006. She has edited the Writing Handbook for the American University of Central Asia and the university’s Web Page Style Guide. Since 2007 she has worked with teachers in Lusaka, Zambia through the Communities Without Borders program.