That’s a shame, because obits are some great information, and they are one way that the newspaper can both emphasize its usefulness in print as well as deliver long term search engine benefits to a newspaper’s website.

But obits, as practiced by most daily American newspapers, are seen mostly as a revenue opportunity, a way to get some bucks in collaboration from the guy at the funeral home who places the ads. And newspapers do the most counter-productive thing with the content of the obituaries after they are printed, namely brokering the information to a third party.

So, while I admire the ideal of the newspaper obituary (seen here in an image from online Obit Magazine, as practiced, they are now evidence of why the daily newspaper monopoly has deservedly crumbled.

I worked at a small afternoon daily in Petersburg, Virginia called The Progress-Index, once part of Thomson (which drained it dry and pumped cash out) and now Times-Shamrock. It is a quite amazing feat that the newspaper is still around. But that’s a separate story. Every day, someone typed up the obits as they were faxed in by the funeral homes. As editors, we had to read them and proof them. But we charged for them, over a certain number of free words, a deal that was worked with the cooperation of the funeral home. I wish I could recall if the newspaper charged for the words at the end, that included very long mention of the funeral home. Sometimes you even had a LOGO of the funeral home inserted inside the text. Now that’s branding!

If you wanted a few short words, that was free, justified by the idea that the newspaper had “paper of record” status.

Now, us fussy self-righteous journalists of a post-Watergate vintage stick their noses in the air over mixing editorial and subsidized content. Like Jane Pauley did so long ago with the Today Show where she refused to read ads, we will have nothing to do with THAT! But when it came to obits, all bets were off. The practice with our paper was that the editors had to edit the paid obituaries, something that “pure” journalists were not supposed to do. But we did it anyway.

Furthermore, there was a class distinction. We would give something free away to rich and influential people (namely the “news obit”) and then charge poor and less influential people a few bucks for a “paid obit.” Furthermore, we would run the obit in ugly looking type that was less nice than the real newspaper.

The only way newspapers got to this cheapskate journalism was over money. In the old days, newspapers would just publish information from readers. Weddings, parties, visitors, and yes even obits, were written by the family and submitted to the newspaper, which edited and verified them. They saw it as a service, of being a part of the community. The funeral home merely confirmed the deaths, so there were no fakes.

The American practice of obits was different than the practice in the U.K. In London newspaper, the newspaper obit is taken seriously. Writers are honest about the faults of the deceased. The people featured in obits were interesting, as well. Not just for the rich and powerful, but anyone interesting might have a chance at a news obit.

I go into this long explanation because at the death of the father of a close friend, a quite newsworthy one, the newspaper online obituary linked to a third party side, Legacy.com, where one could leave comments about the person, as well as read the obituary for a certain amount of time. It came at the same time I got a request to write about an online obituary service, Tributes.com launched by Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor in February of 2008. That site aims to link up with other media partners that include radio stations, and combat the monopolized obituary industry, citing a recent study by Northwestern University that talks of the pressures on newspaper obits.

“The Internet is transforming the way people grieve,” said Taylor in a press release, “and the Obituary classifieds was the last laggard classified section that hadn’t made a meaningful transition from print to online.”

There are significant revenues though figuring out what they are takes some work if you aren’t in it each day. Newspapers don’t like to publicize how much they make on dead people, and few newspapers publish the rates online as it is such an insider club. Andrew Alexander, writing in the Washington Post’s (NYSE: WPO) blog, puts their revenues at millions, and said that their section gets three times the traffic as them metro section. Some obits can run as much as $500. Most newspapers (how nice!) only offer the paid obits as pre-paid. Granted, running an obituary desk is a staff cost for newspapers (a great explanation of the reason is online at the West Central Tribune of Willmar, Minnesota). There is nothing morally wrong with charging for obits, especially if families want to put in all sorts of junk about their beloved that has no interest to readers except for entertainment value.

But that makes this a plum opportunity for competitors.

My question is what are newspapers going to do about it? Thoughts:

1. Careful with third parties. Why share revenue with a third party? Newspapers need to own the information themselves. When a person dies, they become a part of a historical record, and people from generations on will be interested in the lives of the deceased as long as there is geneology, which has Old Testament roots, so it will be around. So why should a newspaper share those long-term keyword and search engine benefits with an outside site, when THEY are the ones that are doing the hard work of processing the obits? Certainly, they need revenue but building your local brand, franchise and web traffic must come first. And some newspapers might need third-party partners to help with online, but keep it at a distance, just in case.
2. Why do they charge to keep a newspaper “up” on the site after only a year? Some newspapers leave these notices up permanently. Many do not. The few dollars made on charging for this might be nice, but long term, this information keeps the newspapers website as the central hub of community information.
3. Keep the funeral homes at arm’s length. Deciding on how and if you have paid obits is one thing, but remember that being to close with the funeral home is not good for your brand. Funeral homes are customers of newspapers, not partners.
4. Why not allow comments on obits for a longer time than just after the death? This is a way for local papers to build readership, especially with partners like Facebook.
5. This discussion applies to weddings and engagements, too. It was only a decade or so ago that newspapers published these free, with the simple but elegant idea that when readers read the notices, they would look at the ads for bridal shops, jewelers and department stores. Then they started getting cheap, started charging, and the ads dried up. This happened at the Times-Dispatch and Virginian-Pilot, and it ruined the Sunday lifestyle section revenue.
6. Newspapers need to understand that obits, even of the lowly, have an information value. Doing research for a consumer products company’s marketing department, I found clues to the early history of the product from an obit.
7. This will be more critical in an age of tablet newspapers, if that comes. Local parties will want a simple way to see their local obits, with a local spin, and the newspaper is the best source.
8. Matrix of web links are aided by obits. For newspaper sites to be powerful, they need to build up a network of linked pages. Imagine the SEO benefits of having all your newspaper obits published as separate pages on the Internet? All of a sudden a small community paper begins to truly dominate the information.
9. The outside revenue threat is great. Craigslist is a very imperfect product, yet with only a few employees has stolen billions in revenue away from newspapers. This can also happen with obituaries. Yet newspapers can compete with Craigslist by offering better, more tailored ads, and a larger audience.
10. Connect with churches, libraries and historical societies. Funeral homes aren’t the only ones that deal with the deceased. Opening up connections with local churches allows for all sorts of revenue. What if newspapers published eulogies and services in podcast form? There are many opportunities, not only with advertising revenue but from ancillary services.
11. Legacy newspapers need to consider how their microfiche archives (and photos of the deceased) can be tagged, displayed and turned into text. Don’t just leave it up to Google; figure out a way to digitize.
12. Don’t discount the value of the printed edition. The printed obit means something to families, and no one wants to keep a fading home laserprint of a loved one when they can have the actual printed clipping, perhaps encased in lucite.
13. What happened to births? Newspapers used to routinely publish births, and local newspapers still do. They need to appear in local papers again, or at least online.
14. This isn’t easy. It’s not as simple as just posting all your obits online. It needs a few weeks of thinking how your community dies, what rituals there are, and crafting a solution that builds your newspaper brand and franchise. How much gets printed, and how much goes online? Photography, keywords, tags, typography and style issues with words are important, and must be crafted locally.

Garland Pollard is a freelance web editor/consultant and business writer in Sarasota, Florida.

Remember. Each time you post something on the web with your church’s name on it, you spread the word about you, and your faith. In addition, register your church’s name in each of the social media websites; it will help you build links back to your main church website.

• Skype: Use Skype to broadcast sermons to homebound parishioners and across the world. Skype can also be used during meetings and services to talk to missionaries around the world who are working with your church.
• Twitter: Group and youth leaders can use Twitter to talk to members. Have them post the Twitter feed to Facebook; it can be done automatically.
• WordPress: Use blog softtware like WordPress for managing the content of your entire church website. Encourage ministers and even your choir and music directors to have their own blogs and post content related to their work. Not only sermons can be posted, but links and resources for study after church.
• Flickr: Post documentary-like pictures of the church buildings, as well as photos of church events. Tag each photo so that it can be found by others looking for photos of other things. Take photos of food drives and other church events. You should also post photos from mission trips as they happen.
• Use Facebook as an ersatz congregation directory.
• Scribd is an excellent service that allows people to post documents like bulletins, newsletters, sermons and such. Use it to post religious documents for other churches around the world. For instance, you can publish study materials, worksheets and even Sunday school coloring sheets. Make sure that whatever you share has your church’s website, address and telephone on the sheet, so you get some value out of it.

From working in social media for the last three years, we’ve gathered our Five Fallacies. Hope it helps you understand what you need to know, even if the alliteration is cheesy.

1. You can get kids to do it. Yes, you might get younger staff or even college students to help you out with using Twitter, Facebook and the rest. There are all sorts of weird nooks and crannies in each of the bits of software. But the reality is that that what is important is not the technology but the content you put behind it. And that takes adults thinking things through.
2. It’s free. Yes, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube will put your content out for free, but it costs money to package it and develop it. That is JUST as expensive as before all these sites were invented. It’s called time cost. We are surprised that companies forget this. The reality is that a few decades ago before the Internet, most weekly newspapers printed all sorts of pre-written press releases. That was “free” in that the only cost was the stamp to mail it to the newspaper. But the cost was in thinking through the content, and how it would be packaged and sent out.
3. It’s “fun” for employees. Yes, it’s a nice assignment to launch campaigns on Facebook and other social media sites. We admit. It isn’t digging ditches. But the job of working in social media is like any other content or media job. And much of it is about skill; while Google’s search engine habits can be figured out, it still takes time to learn the tricks.
4. It’s different than before. Some people will tell you that this new era of social media is terribly different than before, that so many new things are happening that it’s a revolution. Yes, we admit that any change in media changes the message. But a blog entry that “goes viral” is very similar to an old press release that is picked up by multiple media outlets.
5. You can control it. One thing that is different than the old media is the sense of control. While you can do things to make  your message stay on track, you can no longer control it like the old days. There are no more embargoed releases; in fact the idea of a press release almost irrelevant. What you want to do with social media is realize that while you can’t control it, you can certainly steer it.

Contact Editor Garland Pollard for content ideas for your company or p.r. firm’s social media strategy. Or call him at 703-745-8602.

We developed a news headline service for them, as well as a content plan to help position their research work in this new era of social media.

The addition of content turned what would have been a simple “Software as a Service” website into a hub of green information.

See more at green.noblis.org.

Email Chief Content Editor Garland Pollard for insight and ideas. Or call him at (703) 745-8602.

Many different sorts of things will catch search engines, even a photo of your retail storefront sign.

Most small and medium-sized businesses are now thinking about SEO, or search engine optimization. Some still don’t know the basics. Many firms will tell you that they have the magic answer.

There is no magic answer. SEO is not a science. Google changes its methods all the time; Search Engine Optimization, while it has a fancy title, is not fancy work.

If you hear of a web strategy that works with Google, great, but it might change next month. So just do what is best content-wise, and good things will happen, and don’t let any vendor tell you there is a magic answer.

Here are a few basic tips for the person learning about how search engines work.

1. Don’t redesign your site too often. Redesign your website only after you have thought about, and gathered, the content that you want on the site. Remember, the nation’s top news site, DrudgeReport, has never redesigned. Readers have gotten used to the ugliness. Also, when you move your site, you move URLs and links. Google can find you, but there is a lag time.
2. Try Tumblr, Flickr and the rest. Set up some independent sites with your company name as a user name on Blogspot, Tumblr, Flickr and other social networking sites. This is obvious advice, but it isn’t done very often by businesses. So we need to say it, even at the risk of stating the obvious. Registering and posting information at these sites helps to fill the first page of Google results with sites that ultimately link back to you. Be careful about sites like Twitter. Unless you like telling everyone where you go to the bathroom, it’s a lot of work.
3. Fill out the top of Google results. If you work at a company that is pilloried online, make sure that you are filling up the top mentions of your brand name on a Google Search results page. Brands that are taunted by the fringe protesters (places like Miami Seaquarium) need to have as many social sites with their name registered. This will not only help you get good inbound links to your site, but when a person puts your company name in Google, you will bump down the bad stuff. Also, think of setting up a completely separate themed micro-site to reinforce your claim to these spots.
4. You have to post to a blog to make it work. O.K., so you took a few hours out of your evening and set up a blog. Now what? Post one small item every day of the week for a week, and that will get you in the habit. Items don’t have to be big stories about your company. They could be staff photos, old brochures, links to suppliers, fun ideas and the like. Always include a link back to your main website. Post all of them at one time, as you can time them so they release each day. Make sure that each of your posts has a link back to your main website. Search through all your company archives for old brochures, advertisements, etc. Are there cool old pictures on the wall? Old newsletters? Interviews with founders or old customers? Post the information online. Use these independent websites like Tumblr as your filing system for old clippings, photos, brochures and history, or put them on your site. It costs little, and every mention of your company can link back to you. You might be surprised who is interested.
5. Get your younger staff to help. While you can go wild with Twittering and instant messaging, having a younger person on staff to help you through the jungle will be helpful. Ask them to think up ways to get the company’s name out on the Internet. They will FREAK when you tell them you will pay them to set up a Facebook page.
6. Link to other people. If you want to get other people to link to you, you need to link to them first. Good outbound links won’t hurt your Google rank; bad ones will though. My Blogger friend Bunny Tomerlin won thousands of hits each day; all she did was post cool pictures of fashion and society items, and then post a link next to it.
7. Have links to places like Wikipedia. You may or may not like what sites like Angie’s List and Wikipedia are saying about your company, but you can’t ignore it. You instead need to get your customers to begin promoting you at these sites. So link to them. This is not just so that people will leave good comments. You have a more devious reason. When someone searches for “Joe The Plumber” and Angie’s List, if you have Angie’s list on your page, you just might get the person to bypass Angie’s and head straight to your site. Think about having a page of links to these pages.
8. Do mention staff and product names. You want to have as many things that might catch a reader in a long-tail search. Make sure staff names, product names and geographic names are all mentioned on your site and if necessary, companion blogs.
9. Don’t be afraid of linking to other sites. There is a line of thinking in web-land that only want a certain number of links out of a site to another. That’s wrong. You also want to link to other sites, as folks will link back to you. One of the biggest sites on the Net is The Drudge Report and all he does is link out.
10. Don’t forget Title tags. While some debate the usefulness of meta tags, the title that appears at the top bar of a web page not only frames the page on the Google results page, it helps Google know what the page is about. Use straightforward title tags for your pages. If you want to see what your competitors use for meta information, go to their website and press “Control U” and the html code will show up.
11. Describe your location in words, not just a Google map. Words catch Google, and giving a longer description of the neighborhood of your location can help you. Instead of just an address, make it descriptive, and you have that many more chances to snag the search engines. “Joe’s Auto Service, located at the southeast corner of Palm and Vine Streets at 304 South Vine Street. The location is convenient to Mercy Hospital, the Holiday Inn in the Piney Oaks region of Anytown, U.S.A.

That’s enough for now.

That’s the thesis behind web syndication, and if your company is not doing it, you are missing out. At right, the syndicated version of BrandlandUSA, which appears on the Chicago Sun-Times website.

Web syndication works like television syndication. Someone first creates the content, and then others use the content.

Major newspaper websites are taking syndicated content; even The New York Times is aggregating blogs and presenting them on their website. Notice that there is nothing promotional or advertising like about the content; you can’t syndicate it if it is sales-talk.

To make the content useful it needs to be:

1. Written in plain English, not in P.R. speak
2. Written from a journalism perspective, and not by salespeople
3. Written without spin. While your whole idea is “spin”  your content cannot be seen as spin or it will not get picked up

Some major syndicators include:

1. Blogburst, which helps syndicate your blog to new readers.
2. Newstex, which can put your content on major newspaper sites. It will even pay you for your content.

You can also syndicate your website feed into your Facebook, Twitter and other feeds. While this doesn’t pay, it does give you extra traffic.

Talk to us at Black Cow Press about this process; we can guide your company through it.

How best to attack it? It’s easy to set up pages and posts, but what’s the next step?

Try building an application related to your industry. For our website BrandlandUSA.com, we created BrandlandUSA’s Brands to Bring Back. Thousands of downloads later, it is still bringing us traffic, at no cost.

Talk to us about how a Facebook application can change your sales and marketing.