Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) article about Hometow/ntimes.com, Saturday,8/22/2009

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approach to online news
IEntr~pr~n~til1tp~s'new , "'i:" ', ,'.' :.~' .'
t ap' .'pcid' .r
i'j i.i v~hicie.t III not trying to c~vet.i ~.
Paul Baron believes
~fl11a~~ttt afranchisemodel
stories'that .. ~~purejOlU'naliSll1l."
a
"It's a realLygood ideafrom a
business standpoint," said Jane
,I
i'for bottl~d
, .~ ., '
.will bring
...
,
sucS~ss',.
...;wr-~.;..;...,.,....-~-.;. •...
~
McDonl1e.llteX~Ctlti:v~ director of
tfu¢ Online NewsAssociation. Mc
Donnell said the trend toward .
J
wat~r By DcwldMarklewlcz
dfl'larki~wlcz@aJc.com
online.news and information
sites is "growing." ', ' . , .
.1
Baronplans to sell advertis-
Hypevlocalnews has'been iI, .hig nationailyas hisrietwork Of
Worries:'over the i
the news lately.:I;Wo online sites fFqI1chiset:,sgrows, providing ad-
eriV:i'rotiineht~nd tbe o~teF~ng Intensely c()m~11.lOity~t0~ ditional revenue. The standard ,
cused newsandinformation sold I-IometownTi1l1es.~olll franchise,
recession have taken a rec ent.ly.o l:>. igqie dla co. npan.ies
t .: i he sai.d,i.S.'.
a twO'PerSOl.l.opera-
toll on the sale ofbottled AQI,. and MSNBC, ne for $7mil-
1l00p. t,..
o
'.'
tion and can earn: the owner a
. high five-figureor low six-figure
The
water this year .... shift . Still; thefree'sites, which try . income;' .
.in-themarket has hit
, ':'~',?K,"-' ,:",,:"
to 'attract readetsend advertis- What's feasiblesays
i'};'.;, ,,'-' ,~
e,tS,,withitems ranging from po- Steve Carter,owner of the . .
hQme at.Atlania:~ased liceblotter bits to missing pet oummmgnome.com franchise. x
Cooa-ColaCo, alerts to event notiges,.,have,Jj'een, .'Carter launched t1'iatSitein2003,
/ a hard' sell. Me'dia~nalystsh~lVe,," ..before HOUleto~'.nme$.cop.1 was
porider~dwho mighteventj:lal- conceived By Baron, anditseryes
!yta.PI'flB?t'S supposed(Q b~a.lu-, as the rri0de1.fi;anchise; Carter'
ct'atiye.markE:t. .i. ' . had been laid off from the fiber .
:!Atlanta entrepreneur raul ..' optics ind'ustrYilnd:r;epsed the
•Bilfon hasjo~e.d the, quest with de~ireoHocal resid(;!ntsf0p com-
,'liIometownTilUes.<;~)ln: Baron, .• . "i'. ....•. " . '. ' rnunity information exchange-
!5~,IFas,est,!bJished 525$ites in is Cumn}ingHome.com. . . I newspapers is byofferingbusi- Baron,a,loqgtirp,ebusi- .
rriarkets a~ross.'t~ec()Untrywith "We'.ietryi~gt() promote, ness~s not only st<;rfld;udaid ad-. ness executive, discovered
p
tl}e h()pe Qfsellingfr~nchises.for! comm.uhicationsWithih~oUl- vertising?pportunities, bJ:ltthe ,GummingH;oFJ,1le.com, while-per-
eiH.:h'al curre~'ltprice of abo~tml.mities,l'
a Baron.says. "Zon- chance'to'Reu.their ()WIl "arW : sonally involved ina zoning de-
$5;OOOa;piece;,.'". . . ..ing issues-school matters,Littledes,'.knowninthe ibdustry as bate in cumnrmg, Se,eing;hat:~a
t
ii'fl~e franchise model, he says, League scores- ..loccV.Andw~' . , . a!ivertol'ials.,
. '.10t ofpeople,yere drifting to the
is what wa<es, is efi,' >rt l1ique.
h u alS:d.Offera latform for business: ,Barqn calls his cornpaIJy~:'ul- ~nternet,"an~~ecognizing the .
p
'.-
C1
" ,.sofar;.th ~CO.J;Il.p~ny.'
..... ..· has.s.o.ld ,,,.e ...
s.tos.aYWhQt~ey:a.r,e .. .i ' ti:Q;1..at.elY ..usi.ne~sopl~o.rt~l.h
..
" ....
~.b ..it.y.. P0SSI.·bilitles,~nfran gt.he .
..Gh~Sin.
tour fran~hlses, ,aU ~nnorth Geor- .".•. neway the company differ-
p that uses news,and,events in the .foncept,ht;Jormed hlS'cOIn:parY
gia; th~mO$ts1;~(essful of whi~h . entiates itself from tradtional .. ·..comIl.1Unity to create a bVAl,irless,"'Usiog Garter'sUlo~l. .;,
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