Understanding analytics
It can be easy to publish content without truly understanding how it is being received. One tool I have relied on to help clear up that picture is our website analytics. There are the basic metrics such as overall page views. Those help, but diving deeper has helped us even more. For instance, we learned by looking at our Google Analytics that our engagement drops off quite dramatically later on in the day. In response, I and the Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Online created an 8pm cutoff to incentivize earlier posting. We also began scheduling articles to post in the morning so more viewers would visit throughout the day.
Newsstands
With the print publication, we realized this year that access to the paper outside of our normal distribution cycle is very difficult. So, to make our papers constantly accessible to members of the community and visitors, we have applied for a grant to purchase newsstands. Such funds are not covered in our yearly budget, but we truly believe that having our papers on constant display will preserve our image and brand in the community as well as offer more consistent access to our print content throughout the year.
An evolving philosophy
I have reached the conclusion that I can take myself too seriously sometimes, and by extension, our coverage can be too serious at times. A good portion of what you can read in this portfolio, on www.standard.asl.org or in our print editions handles quite heavy topics. But, part of our mission as scholastic journalists should be to entertain the teenage audience we represent, and that is often going to mean pursuing stories that are not so heavy in weight. I have certainly had to evolve this perspective over time and it has been an important, but slow epiphany.
