Customized shopping sites developed by the Evening Post Publishing Company include elements of business directories, coupon sites and dining guides. Each is a standalone site, but relies heavily on newspaper site promotions. Together four sites generate $400,000 a year, and growing. Here's a close look at ShopBrazos. more

BCLocalBiz.com, a directory launched at Black Press in April 2010, is designed to compete directly with IYP’s in its local markets. Project manager Jason Naidu's team started with a database from Axiom, loaded into eDirectory software. The software mapping was enhanced to identify hyper-local neighborhoods and communities, allowing a user to refine their search. A home page widget also promotes featured listings, and with 115 sales in the first quarter. Here's an analysis of the site. more

The Riverside Press-Enterprise has jumped into selling social media services with both feet. Their model, eMediaWaves.com, launched officially in June, 2010 and sells a DIY platform that allows small businesses to create a blog that automatically posts to other social media. Here's how they set up the new program. more

A typical city weekly carries 20 to 60 restuarants a week, and hundreds for a dining guide and a couple of thousand a year. And these are all migrating to digital services. The key to selling restaurants online is to have “the big idea” for the campaign, whether it's digital or broadcast. With digital advertising, however, the every campaign needs to have a great concept. Here is a list of advertising concepts that get results for restaurants. more

Gannet-owned Shreveportimes.com has three or four local online initiatives a year. These have to be chosen carefully and tested for interest from the marketplace. After talking to potential advertisers, a recipe-based food channel launched with $36,000 in pre-sold sponsorships. Here's how they did it. more

Knoxnews.com created one of the first efforts by local newspaper companies to sell social media services. Led by Jay Horton, Director of Advertising, the initiative was profitable within six months, with 16 new clients spending an average of $1000 per month. All advertisers upgraded or are buying premium media. Here is a break down of how the new division works. more

With media companies looking at reselling social media, there is a great tool that is not getting enough attention: Marchex will partner to provide an inexpensive dashboard that let's SMB's monitor social media mentions across platforms. Here's a look at the new tools: more

the330, a branded entertainment site, is the brainchild of the Akron Beacon Journal's marketing, sales and online team, led by Amanda Carroll, Marketing Director. After launching on a WordPress template, the new site, owned by Black Press, increased entertainment traffic by almost 50% in the first 30 days and acquired 16 new advertisers, including the art museum. It uses a novel approach to spotlight restaurant advertisers, more

To get the best thinking from the field on pricing methodology, we interviewed 15 sales managers of sites with at least 10% of advertising revenue from digital product and 60% sell-through rates for digital ad impressions. Here is their practical advice on pricing models that work: more

In digital campaigns advertisers are more willing to “buy the customer” with a great offer in exchange for information. But there is an art to the outrageous offer. David Fowler of AdsUP is expert in designing ads with high-power conversion rates. Here are ten guidelines to creating outrageous offers that out-perform. more