Think about starting anew, and leaving your old one be.

Think about a micro site as a companion to your main website. Micro-sites typically cost than $5,000, and can be done with our freelance network and your staff.

• Pharma or OTC site: Health products in the pharmaceutical and OTC segments cry out for content. Web audiences are looking for help with their problems, whether it be beauty issues, minor ailments or major illness.
• Brand-centric site: Start a micro-site around one of your defunct or declining brand names. Show the history of the brand, the users of the brand and explain its current products, however modest. Allow readers to comment and post about what they like about the brand.
• Retailers: Build a separate site around one of your fashion lines or departments. Post concept ideas. Encourage readers to comment on merchandise, selection and direction.
• Financial Services: Build separate micro-sites around service-oriented stories and financial advice. The big banks do this, but create your own content relating to your offerings. Develop separate branch profiles, where you “brand” individual branches of your bank and the employees there.
• Resort Destination Guide: Build your own mini-Fodor’s guide to the area surrounding your resort, including neighboring attractions, restaurants, parks, churches and transportation. While  you might have some of this on your hotel’s site, putting it on a separate site, with links back to your booking site, will help not only build your resort’s traffic, but to reposition your resort as the most important hotel in the region.
• Magazine Ancillary Sites: Most magazine websites are all about giving away your valuable content in the hope that someone will click on some ads nearby. How about ancillary sites that revolve around niche products. Or why not test out a new pilot magazine concept as a website first?

Questions? Call us at 703-745-8602.

The law of nature is, Do the thing, and you shall have the power; but they who do not the thing have not the power.

This quote works on so many levels. But it is most appropriate to web content, and company blogs. If you want to be connected to the issue, you have to post something about it. It is that simple. You can talk about the issue, you can think about the issue, you can imagine the issue. You can even dream about the issue. But until you post something on the web, you aren’t the issue. Someone else is.

Talking to companies, they want to be a part of the discussion, the ideas, the thought leadership. But the only way to do that is to get into the game.

1. Spigit: I love Spigit, and learned about it through Hugh Carpenter’s blog (he is V/P of product). I would love to see how it works at a big company. Basically, it is sort of a Basecamp but for companies that generate ideas. Plus, it’s alot snazzier looking. The great thing is the ideas that are posted to Spigit by companies then can be analyzed by other staffers, including ROI calculations. It looks nice, so it would seem fun to use. Disney used to keep all its great ideas on a shelf. This brings the idea to all companies. If there is one service that could pull the U.S. out of its job-losing hole and democratize creativity, Spigit could be it.
2. Wordstream: A Firefox Plugin, this helps web writers optimize their copy for SEO while it is being written. The add on helps writers in conducting keyword discovery, keyword research, keyword grouping, search marketing workflow and for turning research into action.
3. LeadLander is a web analytic software that is connected to a database. Basically, it helps salespeople use web analytics reports to provide for lead generation and customer intelligence.
4. FreeConferenceCall.com: Nothing new about this service, but I’ve found handy, often.
5. Yammer: How could something that is just like Twitter, for internal uses, work at a company? I am using for a company-wide test, and find that it gives remote workers like me a chance to keep up with the office buzz.
6. Ning: I’ve seen this service used more and more, including uses as varied as a local business entrepreneur group, Yes941, Robert Kay’s Fiji travel site FijiGuide.com and the  men’s bible study Samson Society.

• Wufoo is an online html form builder from Tampa’s Infinity Box. It makes it easy to have all sorts of forms, ordering and such without a developer. Building forms is fun!
• Sitepoint.com profiled the “must have” chrome extensions, including Firebug Lite, Resolution Test and Eye Dropper.
• Fast Pencil is a terrific way to put together a book, quickly. You still have to write it, but features in it allow you to format it quickly, and paginate it. A new Fast Pencil service will help execs write their own books.
• Survey Monkey: This is not a new site, but folks really seem to make use of it. Best idea? Taking surveys of customers on issues that relate to your industry, then releasing the information in surveys.
• Architizer: It’s a site for architects and architect junkies. It describes itself as Architizer is a new way for architects to interact, show their work, and find clients. It is an open community created by architects for architects. One architectural project has dozens of contributors, from the intern who made the conceptual models to the construction administrator. Not alot of content, but I like it.
• Wibya: This is a tool that enables your readers to “tweet and write to your Fan Page from your website and share your content.”

Lately, we’ve seen some great ideas about ways to bring visitors, web traffic and revenue into struggling house museums and other historic properties.

This follows up on our post on Web Strategy for House Museums.
A few things:

1. Flickr for Events: At a family day event at Sarasota’s Ringling Museum in January, I saw a staff photographer taking pictures of visitors. As they asked visitors to pose, they gave each person a small piece of paper with the link to the museum’s Flickr page. It is an excellent way to get folks involved in the museum, and build content and backlinks to your site. Even better, you can leave the pictures up permanently, and have them easily reachable for things like newsletters. Most importantly, it’s a permanent record of your community outreach, and it costs nothing.
2. Tea Party People: On my drive in to work one day this week, that controversial radio host Glenn Beck was reciting these familiar words…then I realized it was Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty” speech. I swear I have not heard his speech recited on radio…ever. And then, I see folks on cable news, making fun of folks at Tea Party rallies around the country, wearing knee breeches and colonial garb. It got me thinking that there is an untapped market for all of these old history museums in this segment. Certainly, home-schoolers are markets for house museums, but this group is even more interesting because the sorts of people who run museums are often scared of Tea Party people. That’s a mistake, because museums get REALLY get interesting when their visitors come from diverse backgrounds. Live dangerously. Dare to host a Tea Party meeting. But host EVERY kind of political meeting.
3. Farmer’s Market: Here in my town of Sarasota, the Phillippi Estate Park holds a weekly farmer’s market. It runs Wednesday afternoons, and seems to be a big success. It brings people to the park, and also generates income for farmers, artists and the like, all to promote Florida farming. House museums are desperate for foot traffic; this sort of thing is perfect because it happens weekly, and does not involve lots of special programs or staff. There are so many house museums in the U.S., and they mostly only have small retail shop operations of dusty merchandise. Note: The Philippi effort uses smart signage and up-to-date graphics to help convince visitors that it’s a top event.
4. New Objects: I am continually surprised at the number of people I know who do not have a clue what to do with objects they want to donate to museums. While I know of a few museums that will take gifts that are related to their mission, I sometimes feel that museums are now a bit overly cautious about what they will acquire. Perhaps in the past they have been saddled with objects unrelated to the mission of the museum. That’s a mistake. Museums need to be aggressive about seeking donations, and always have an open door. For instance, The Valentine Richmond History Center and the Virginia Historical Society not only deal well with donors, but their acquisition policies are not frozen in time. They are always looking for what is next, what is amusing or interesting or illuminating. Objects should not only be for filling in holes with the collection, but should be a way of keeping a pulse on donors, trends and such.
5. Special Church Services: Many house museums allow churches to have Easter services on their lawns. This is a great way to entrench yourselves with the community. Even better, when there are memorable worship services held on your property, you become a part of the narrative of people’s lives forever.
6. Multiple locations: Ever since I have been a kid and spent time at Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities properties and in Colonial Williamsburg, I have been enamored of the “museum” that is larger than one location. Certainly, this sort of idea presents all sorts of difficulties, but it also presents so much promise. Because the larger the geographic scope of an institution, the more potential there is for a wider audience.
7. Angels Unawares: We all know the phrase from Hebrews, namely “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” This is kind of obvious, but it often gets missed. Make sure that your front line staff has an ear to who is visiting your museum, unscheduled. Even someone disheveled might be someone with money, someone who knows money, or someone who has been traveling and didn’t pull it all together. And an open attitude isn’t just for the odd fellow who stumbles in. We know of a certain museum director who had a certain beloved British Prime Minister visit his art museum. And the front line staff didn’t go get him! We also know of a case where a certain sister of a certain Omaha billionaire stumbled into a certain parochial school and ended up being a major donor, because of the way she was treated.
8. Free admission: We’ve seen a number of museums getting rid of their admission. While not all can afford it, having a free admission is an interesting concept. The idea is to build up visitor numbers, and show donors and civic officials that you are fulfilling your IRS mandate to be open to the public. Then, with that increased traffic, leverage sales in the gift shop and more memberships. Williamsburg actually does this, but not by design. The town is free, and access to gift shops and restaurants are for everyone. You pay for the buildings.

Frankly, I believe this mostly comes from legal departments, who are older, and do not understand the nature of information. The reality is that a fact cannot be copyrighted. The organization of the facts can, but one cannot copyright whether something happened or not. If a reporter is first on the scene of a plane crash, others do not have to actually see the plane crash to write about it. Otherwise, there could be no news.

What is the line between scraping and aggregation? Each instance is different. If the story is only 100 words, and you filch 80 of them and give no link, that’s theft. But if someone pulls an 80 word intro from a major online think piece, and gives a link, then that’s not. There is no way to draw a firm line on the issue, as each case is a bit different. We must all interpret things as we move along in our work, and well-meaning folks can easily figure it out.

And any newspaper writer knows it. It’s called the PM Lead. It’s a basic of journalism. When you’ve missed the big story, you start with the other story as a beginning point, and then you source out some quotes of your own. It’s then your story too.

This Lent, I have seen very easily the value of aggregation, as I gave up Drudge Report for Lent as I felt that I was checking too frequently. For those who don’t read it (I am surprised at how many don’t), Drudge rarely writes his own stories, except for short news items that are genuine scoops. He merely links to other sources, using a courier font and good news sense to make something of value.

The things I am missing this Lent go to the value of an aggregator. What are the aspects that make it unique from the stories it covers?

1. The Humor. The selection of stories is often funny; it’s like reading great headlines on a big city daily of old.
2. The Time: Drudge saves me time, having to look through myriad websites for information is wasteful. Not only do I know from the site what’s news, but I know from the site what the other TV hosts will be talking about.
3. It’s an equal opportunity offender. Certainly, I know the overall slant of Drudge, but he never resists a good story.
4. The Human Condition: A monkey that’s in rehab for smoking and drinking! Bartender in topless bar sues for pregnancy discrimination! 75 year old sues 65 year old for age discrimination! Athlete blames bad ski run on porn! Washington man electrocuted by peeing on power line! It’s all larger than life, and I am missing it.
5. The newspaper sampling. Drudge links to a wide variety of newspapers. While some appear more than others, the overall array of sources is vast. Drudge adds a unique element to the news; he writes new headlines, and his curatorial genius at picking a great assortment of stories is unrivaled. He doesn’t actually even copy anything; he adds a layer to it.

Now, the big newspapers haven’t taken on Drudge, just Google. The service that Drudge provides them is invaluable, namely a stunning amount of web traffic. It would be instructive to try to put a price on the value of Drudge links to the mainstream media. Yesterday’s blazing headline on Al Gore’s New York Times essay must have brought them millions of uniques.

The issue seems to have died down a bit since last year, when Dean Singleton went on a rampage with his buddies at the Associated Press, though we are certain it will be back in some form.

The pity is that the not that the newspaper industry will “win” this issue. They can’t. Technology prevents it. The pity is that they aren’t learning the lessons of Drudge. They are lessons that were good 100 years ago, and still of value today.

Find great stories, write great headlines, and do it all with a sense of humor and enthusiasm.

That’s it.

I will be happy to have Drudge back this Easter.

Geek Atlas

Finally got a chance to read John Graham-Cumming’s Geek Atlas. Its subtitle is 128 Places Where Science and Technology Come Alive.  Published by O’Reilly, it is a tour book of the world’s most interesting science tourist sites.

The most compelling? The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine. There is actually a tour of it. It is proof that even the worst disasters and embarrassing things will attract tourists, if the tour is interesting enough. The Chernobyl tour leaves from Kiev, and visits some of the remaining folk who live in Chernobyl, as well as takes visitors close to plant itself. It also stops in the frozen town of Pripyat, where a Ferris wheel sits abandoned.

It is also proof that different people are interested in travel for different things; even obscure science can be an asset. As tourism officials chase conventions and resort hotels, sometimes the most useful tourism assets can be hidden.

The book is a travel tour of great places connected to science, including:

• Bletchley Park in the U.K., where the Enigma Code was broken
• The Horn Antenna in New Jersey, where the Big Bang was confirmed
• The National Cryptologic Museum in Fort Meade, Maryland
• The Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California.
• Atomic Testing Museum, Las Vegas
• White Sands Missile Range Museum, New Mexico
• NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
• The Brunel Museum, London

There are not just grand sites. The Shot Tower Historical State Park in Austinville, Virginia is included. It is a place where molten lead was poured from heights to make lead shot.

Some sites are not even open to the public, but just knowing that they are there is a tourism lure sometimes.

The question for tourism and economic development officials? What interesting things happened in your area, and how can you build on those events?

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.

Pictured here is the Sitka Visitor Center, part of Sitka National Park. The photo is part of the American Memory Project of the Library of Congress, and the architecture embodies some of the best of American travel architecture.

Sitka is an exception, as it has first-rank architecture and a sole focus, namely oriented visitors to a first-rate National Park.

Frankly, visitor centers run by visitor bureaus across the nation are a big snooze, only slightly more interesting than post offices. But a least at the post office, you can buy stamps or send a package. At most visitor centers, all you can do is ask for information. It’s no coincidence that both are run by government bureaucrats.

Most visitor centers don’t have the budget of Sitka. But that is not the point. Its the aspiration; do you care about what you are showing your visitors? If you do, take account of how your visitor center looks.

But the question today is much larger. In an age of the internet, how interesting is it to have a bunch of rack brochures in a room with an old 60-year-old person sitting in a chair? But that is the typical profile of a visitor center in almost every city in the U.S., and it needs to change. Frankly, most cities could now do without a visitor center, so if they are to survive, they need to show a Return on Investment. That means looking directly at the investment in staff and overhead, and seeing how much revenue is generated by that effort.

Now, this is not to discount the value of the visitor center employee, who is always friendly, even though they are underpaid and under-appreciated by second-guessed mid-level quasi-government officials. And this does not mean that you need expensive multimedia (though you should have seating areas for free WiFi).

A friend in Virginia once talked to me about the overall boring-ness of Virginia visitor centers. They really needed to be place of selling things and showing things that are made in Virginia, and not just a place to dump boring rack brochures. His idea was to turn visitor centers into a place where all the products, art and creativity of the state are shown to visitors. West Virginia did it, to some success. And Virginia tried to upgrade the experience on I-95, though they did it just in time for Gov. Tim Kaine to close up highway rest stops.

The problem is that these visitor centers are run by quasi-government corporations that use government money, but are almost always outside the accountability of government. Furthermore, most communities do not value tourism, really, so they stock these boards with people who are merely expedient.

The most interesting visitor center I ever saw was Travelland in Richmond, Virginia. It was, of course, shut down by the Richmond Convention and Visitors Bureau and the center moved to a boring annex near downtown. But when it lived, it was brilliant (I recall it was opened by the Richmond Jaycees as a community project). It was the old Westham train station, moved to the site, and near it were placed old engines and railcars, as well as an airplane. Kids could play on the equipment while parents talked to the staff inside. Kids would ask to come as it became a local attraction too. It was also just off I-95, and it could be seen from the road.

The old visitor center did a few things today’s visitor center should emulate, including having a play area where kids could be while parents went inside. Other tips:

1. Use market considerations. Think about your traveler, and what they like. Is your traveler retired? You will need good parking for handicaps, and gentle, retired folks for visitor center employees.
2. Have your tourism office near or in the visitor center. While this is not applicable to state tourism offices, local visitor bureaus often try to stay distant from dealing with actual tourists. Actual tourists are free market research.
3. Don’t spend lots of money. Remember, its public money. You want to be clever, not wasteful. Sitka is great, but its a federal budget. However, this is not to discount the importance of quality architecture. Investment in architecture has a long payoff cycle, one of 30 years, so think through your presentation carefully.
4. Do sell rooms. People are looking for a place to stay, you need to be able to make a call to book them. You need policies on how to refer; don’t just take the easy route and make visitors do it themselves. Many people have access to online booking, but older folks don’t, and younger folks are possibly looking for something that’s not on hotels.com.
5. Engage the visitor. Sitting behind a desk is fine, but if things aren’t busy, do something for the customer. Walk around, and chat. Give out some samples.
6. If you take public money, do not charge for slots, or for rights-restrictive publications. You are not in business to make money, you are in business to promote the local community. No special deals, please.
7. Do have a sign in. Though it would most properly be called a guest register. Most do, but some don’t. It’s a nice old Victorian gesture, and you may just get some email addresses from it. At minimum, you will get some marketing information and some funny stuff drawn by kids.
8. Please have something for the kids. Of course, Travelland in Richmond had an old steam engine, RF&P railcar and maybe even a rocket. Whatever you have for the kids, make sure that the kids like it. If you are indoors, have a small play area or some crayons or something.
9. Have a stash. Your guests are traveling. What things might you need? I am not sure but your goal is to be the concierge for your city, and that might mean many different things, including toothbrushes, aspirin (no you won’t get sued) and hand wash.
10. Connect with the government. Make sure that elected officials not only visit the center, but know about it and understand it and talk to the staff, and have a personal relationship. They will support it.
11. Use visitor center staff to help with social media. The people who are at the front desk at a visitor center are the perfect people to monitor Twitter and Facebook. It’s not about technology; don’t hire some college kid to do it; get an expert who is knows the subject matter.
12. Show what you make. Even if your chief export is pallets or screws, show it and/or sell it. The connection between industrial and economic development and tourism has been lost, and it needs to be reunited. Travelers are interested in what is made in a place, even if it is something that is not a consumer product. However, if you are lucky enough to have a consumer product made in your area, ask the company for samples, or at least
13. Have local history exhibits. You want to show old things that relate to your area. So old pictures of hotels, restaurants, events and such should be shown in the visitor center. Bored young fogies like yours truly will enjoy it, and others will have something to look at while the travel partner talks to the employees. Many local museums double as visitor centers. This is good.
14. Have art. You want to show your local talent. How about an art show, or at least some local prints?
15. Sell tickets. Have a close relationship with all of the cultural groups in your area. Have symphony, stage and opera companies give away tickets at the visitor center. Make your tourists stay the night.

If there are some who dare to actually see a future in newspapers, I suggest that these are a few of the books that are essential reading.

1. The Hard Way by Alexander Brooke. This is the tale of one man and the York Coast County Star in Maine and how he grew a small paper, only to sell it and see it ruined by the likes of a new generation that would ruin the industry in a decade.
2. The Story of the New York Times by Meyer Berger. A plodding history about how the Times became great, dates from about 1951.
3. The Great American Newspaper: The Rise and Fall of the Village Voice. by Kevin McAuliffe. This is how Ed Fancher and crew built the greatest, and original, alt-weekly.
4. Handling Newspaper Type and My Paper Chase, both by Harold Evans. I haven’t read Paper Chase, but I am sure it will be useful and instructive.
5. Paper Tigers by Nicholas Coleridge. This tells the story of the newspaper owners of the late 1990s, the generation that raped the industry and drove it into the ground. Most interesting; the profile of Conrad Black of Hollinger.
6. The Astonishing Mr. Scripps by Vance Trimble. How E. W. Scripps built his empire.