One of the consistently well-regarded medium circulation newspaper Web sites right now is roanoke.com. It’s been recognized as a Digital Edge winner, among other honors. The Web site design is fairly traditional for a news site. There is a lead-in photo on the top righthand side of the page, and several important stories located to the left of that that are highlighted of possible stories of interest.
However, what makes roanoke.com stand out is how the site has embraced new media. Site designers prominently feature video, blogs, podcasts and photo galleries. All of these cater to readers who are looking for non-traditional outlets of gathering news. In particular, the TimesCast has become a popular feature. The videocast takes top news presented by commentators interwoven with additional videos and photographs from top stories.
More interactive mediums are the blogs and discussion boards. Blogs are sorted by most recently updated to help filter the content for those who avidly check the site.The Web site also is a good demonstration of how news organizations can help present news on demand. Reades can access the videos and podcasts at their leisure. The right side of the homepage also advertises that readers can sign up for text messages that will be delivered when breaking news occurs. This is probably a good move since the mobile news audience still largely is untapped. It never hurts to be above the curve.
While Roanoke.com might look like a traditional news site at first glance, it really does pack more of a punch. The site also is evidence that medium-sized newspapers will have a place to compete, especially in their community’s niche markets. I’m willing to bet there are few other sites that serve as such a good reference for Roanoke residents.
2 Comments
September 5, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Looks good, Erin.
September 16, 2007 at 9:37 am
I can’t get over that distractive ad…