Conversation bullet points for starting a newspaper.com blog

*or*

What are the most important questions for a newsroom to consider when creating a new blog?

As a journalist/editor, I have my own set of criteria for creating a new blog. But one of the hardest things for me to learn has been to put on my “corporate hat” and think about products from a marketing, business and operations standpoint.

Here’s a checklist of bullet points I’ve created to help myself through the messy process of pitching a new blog. Please do help me out and add anything I’ve forgotten!

FOCUS

* What is this blog about? Narrow it down to one word. Then, expand it to a paragraph.
* What is your blog called? Find a domain name.

Action step: Content goals should stem from focus.

CONTENT GOALS

* What would you like to accomplish with your blog in 6 months? Change something about local government? Provide a platform for community action and dialogue? Or just a place to spout?
* What would unimaginable success be like for your blog?

Action step: Content and audience should stem from content goals.

CONTENT

* How will the content be structured — how long are the posts, how many images?
* Will the blog include specific categories of posts? What will the relative weight of these categories be? (i.e. 80 percent food pictures, 20 percent thoughts on journalism?)
* How often will your blog be updated?
* How will the content feed those “ultimate success goals” ?

APPROACH

* What is your approach to the content? Impassioned advocate? Satirical bystander? Dispassioned reporter?
* How does your approach feed the “ultimate success goals” ?

AUDIENCE

* Ask basic questions about the target audience. Are they local? Men, women, both? How much do they know about your subject matter?
* What kind of participation would you like from your audience? What blogs and websites will your audience also read? Who are the stakeholders in similar online conversations, and how will you get them to visit your site ?

STAFFING: AUTHORS

* Who will be writing this blog? What is their expertise? What should their approach be, based on their expertise?
* If there are a group of authors, how do their writing styles, expertise levels and personal convictions play against each other? Is there a balance of diversity? A combination of amateur and professional writers?

STAFFING: BEHIND THE SCENES

* For a newspaper.com, who is the ultimate editor of the blog? Who will be posting the content, adding images, sound files, and formatting?

MEDIASCAPE

* Where are your readers hanging out? What sites, listservs, forums, discussion boards or email newsletters are your potential readers digesting? What can you offer them that these other sites don’t? How can you combine the best of what they offer in your site?

DESIGN

* How can design help you to achieve your content goals? What theme do you want? What features?

COSTS

* Will there be any freelance costs associated with this blog? Paid writers, photographers, designers?

MARKETING/PROMOTIONS

* What marketing strategies would you like to employ to promote your blog? How will you reach your audience on those locations you’ve identified above?

TRAFFIC ESTIMATES

* Assess the traffic of the mediascape, and set goals. How many topics do you want to cover a day? How much discussion do you want? What’s a great number of comments to get?

What did I leave out? What questions would you ask in the brainstorming sessions for a new blog?

[This article was originally published on LauraFries.com]