By Tara McMeekin
Associate Editor

Nearly every large newspaper these days has an online presence, and small dailies and weekly papers are following suit.

For smaller papers, the proposition of operating a Web site can be a bit more difficult in terms of budgets and operating costs. So how are smaller papers coping while keeping up with the Joneses, so to speak?

The Eau Claire (Wis.) Leader-Telegram is one of many small papers trying — successfully, in their case — to make the Web site work and, hopefully in the future, make it derive some income.

Having enough capital to even start up a Web site can be a scary proposition for many smaller papers. Their pockets are not as deep as larger newspapers, such as The New York Times or the Los Angeles Times. They often don’t have enough human capital to drive the Web site either.

The Leader-Telegram conquered both of these issues with smarts and a little luck. Chippewa Valley Online (www.cvol.com) is not only the paper’s Internet presence, but an Internet service provider as well.

“Being a smaller newspaper we are very fortunate to also be an ISP. That gives us a great advantage,” said Brian Sandy, product manager for Chippewa Valley Online. The Leader-Telegram is a family-owned paper that receives a great amount of support from top management.

The Web site currently has 5,000 dial-up customers using the ISP.

“We’re also in the process of starting up DSL, but at this point, in our market, DSL is not available in Eau Claire,” Sandy said.

To obtain its start-up capital for the site, Chippewa Valley Online partnered with one of the largest credit unions in the area. CVOL discounted its rate for Internet service to all of the credit union’s 90,000 members, and the credit union, in turn, promoted the site.

“It was a real big boost for our division to be able to have that initial capital,” Sandy said.

Automation for the small guy

Chippewa Valley Online does not outsource its automation. The Web version of the paper is put up using QuarkXPress, which currently does not have XTensions for producing a Web-based HyperText Markup Language product.

“Believe it or not, we hand put-up the paper every day,” Sandy said.

CVOL recently purchased a software system from Mactive designed to automate some of its daily publishing processes.

“Our [information systems] manager is currently working on how to best get the automated process flowing from print to Web,” Sandy added.

CVOL’s technical support staff, which consists of four part-time employees, currently publishes the Web edition of the paper everyday. The paper employs two full-time designers that handle the Web and print editions. An online editor has been brought on board as well. The Leader-Telegram is an evening daily, so content is put up during the day.

“Basically the Web version is [very similar] to the print version of the paper. We’re putting it up in real-time during the day and updating the site with any breaking news stories,” Sandy said.

Profits for smaller papers

Consider the implications of giving out free bread at a major supermarket chain versus giving away bread at a mom-and-pop store on the corner. Clearly, the smaller store is going to be more financially devastated than the larger chain.

Many large papers are finding that they need to charge for content, and it is likely that smaller papers will have to do the same. This is something Sandy said he has though about, “We’re considering going to a two-tier system where some content will be free, but if readers want something else, they’ll have to pay for it.”

At this point, however, CVOL is just playing around with the idea.

“We’re in our first stages of figuring out how we’re going to do this and when we’re going to do it,” Sandy said.

One of the ideas under consideration is charging users a registration fee. The Leader-Telegram’s print subscribers would be provided with an automatic registration.

“They’re already paying for it, so we wouldn’t want to double charge our [print] subscribers,” Sandy said.

Before moving forward with the idea of charging for content, CVOL wants to determine whether most of its site visitors are local or national. Sandy said that area records and court records would be among the types of content CVOL would consider charging for. The site currently charges a nominal fee for its archives.

“If we were to switch over and have to start charging for our paper online, we’ve already sort of trained our customers that everything isn’t free,” Sandy said.

Other sources of revenue for the Leader-Telegram’s online presence come from banner advertising and classifieds, which have remained strong for the site. Many of the Leader-Telegram’s print advertisers are also advertising on the Web site.

“The verticals have worked real well for us and we’re continuing to advance in those directions based on the fact that they’ve been so successful,” Sandy said.

CVOL will also be unveiling Valley Wheels this month, an automotive classified section that will include the entire used car inventory of many of the area’s largest car dealerships.

Aside from readership from the Leader-Telegram’s print subscribers, CVOL also caters to a four-county area.

“Our readership is larger than even what our newspaper coverage is,” Sandy said.

The front page of the Leader-Telegram’s Web edition is featured on the front page of cvol.com, complete with the day’s top stories. From there readers can link to leadertelegram.com to view the daily Web issue in its entirety. Local weather and other region-specific content is also available from CVOL’s home page. Cvol.com and leadertelegram.com combined receive about 99,733 visits per week.