{"id":300,"date":"2015-07-30T16:49:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T16:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/2015\/07\/30\/lion-member-spotlight-your-arlington\/"},"modified":"2015-07-30T16:49:00","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T16:49:00","slug":"lion-member-spotlight-your-arlington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/lion-member-spotlight-your-arlington\/","title":{"rendered":"LION member spotlight: Your Arlington"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Q&A with LION member Bob Sprague, publisher of YourArlington<\/strong><\/a> in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

1. When did your site launch, what geography does it cover and why was it founded?<\/h4>\n

YourArlington went live in December 2006, inspired We the Media<\/strong><\/a>, a 2004 book by Dan Gillmor<\/strong><\/a>. The Boston Globe<\/strong><\/a> had laid me off in 2005, and I was working for a high-tech magazine and wanted to make an impact on Arlington, Mass., where I live.<\/p>\n

The site focuses on Arlington with exceptions made for neighboring communities in suburban Boston. My site partners with two sites like mine, InsideMedford<\/strong><\/a> and Cambridge Day<\/strong><\/a>. The immediate market area of the three communities has a population of 200,000 people.<\/p>\n

2. What was your background before becoming an independent local news publisher?<\/h4>\n

I have worked in print journalism since 1970 (reporting, editing) and have taught journalism at Emerson College. After the Boston Herald<\/strong><\/a> and before The Globe, I edited the weekly here, The Advocate<\/strong><\/a>. I am a self-taught techie and started the town's municipal website in 1998.<\/p>\n

3. How would you describe your operation and business model?<\/h4>\n

The site is built on open-source Joomla! as a community-participation site. Of 250 registered users, about 20 contribute. I have a feature freelancer and a restaurant reviewer, who I pay. I concentrated first on building site content and increased ads more slowly (yeah, I'm not a biz guy).<\/p>\n

My increasing focus is on advertising, and I think my two partners in cities next door are keys to this. We pitch joint deals to advertisers. I am seeking a sales person to work on commission. I am a Chamber of Commerce member.<\/p>\n

4. What do you consider your competition as a local news or information source?<\/h4>\n

WickedLocal.com<\/strong><\/a>, which is the site for the GateHouse chain, owner of The Advocate. Increasingly, it has posted content from the weekly paper online early (before Thursday paper publication). Problem is: I consistently beat them. Advertisers aren't paying attention yet.<\/p>\n

Patch<\/strong><\/a> offered some competition between 2010 and about 18 months ago, but it's a bottom-feeder now.<\/p>\n

I had a partnership with Boston.com and a feed to its many hyperlocal sites from 2010 until The Globe pulled the plug on all those this spring.<\/p>\n

5. What makes your site unique?<\/h4>\n

The community memory of an editor who has lived here since 1989 and his partner wife, also a journalist, who has lived here since the 1970s. The business challenge is monetizing that memory. I have scruples about what I do in that area, though I am weighing pitching sponsored content.<\/p>\n

6. What is something you wish you had known when you were starting out or would do differently now that could perhaps serve as advice for others?<\/h4>\n

1.) I would advise weighing very carefully the publication of highly controversial stories. They mean your site will have large numbers of hits initially, but such a story can also "typecast" your site as, "Oh, he's the one who published …." I published such a story about seven months after I launched — and I had a perfect right to do it — but the story hung like an albatross for six years, until it was resolved in court (against those named in the original story who were the subjects of controversy).<\/p>\n

2.) First, find a deep-pockets partner or at least person to sell ads.<\/p>\n

7. What about your operation is your biggest source of pride right now?<\/h4>\n

Covering events and people Arlington, Mass., in depth and with a conscience.<\/p>\n

8. What do you struggle with the most?<\/h4>\n

Selling advertising. I applaud what Howard Owens<\/strong><\/a> has done with The Batavian<\/strong><\/a> in this area and want him to know that I believe in his view that you build relationships before selling.<\/p>\n

9. What are some of your future goals for the site?<\/h4>\n

Expanding, selling more advertising, hiring a sales person, finding a like-minded partner with deeper pockets than I have.<\/p>\n

10. Why are you a member of LION Publishers?<\/h4>\n

I am a member because of the network of informed people who do what I do and have found more financial success than I have. This network of informed sources is worth much more than my dues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Q&A with LION member Bob Sprague, publisher of Your Arlington in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":678,"featured_media":2433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[142,2],"tags":[],"coauthors":[182],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BobS_506_150.jpg",150,189,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BobS_506_150-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BobS_506_150.jpg",150,189,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BobS_506_150.jpg",150,189,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BobS_506_150.jpg",150,189,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BobS_506_150.jpg",150,189,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BobS_506_150.jpg",150,189,false]},"post_excerpt_stackable":"

A Q&A with LION member Bob Sprague, publisher of Your Arlington in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n","category_list":"Member Spotlight<\/a>, News<\/a>","author_info":{"name":"LION Publishers","url":"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/author\/opslionpublishers-com\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","yoast_head":"\nLION member spotlight: Your Arlington - LION Publishers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/lion-member-spotlight-your-arlington\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LION member spotlight: Your Arlington - LION Publishers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Q&A with LION member Bob Sprague, publisher of Your Arlington in Massachusetts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/lion-member-spotlight-your-arlington\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LION Publishers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LionPublishers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-30T16:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BobS_506_150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"189\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"LION Publishers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LIONPubs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LIONPubs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"LION Publishers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/lion-member-spotlight-your-arlington\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/lion-member-spotlight-your-arlington\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"LION Publishers\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bfa658b23440c9435ca7853bfff42ba2\"},\"headline\":\"LION member spotlight: Your Arlington\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-30T16:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-30T16:49:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/lion-member-spotlight-your-arlington\/\"},\"wordCount\":688,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/lion-member-spotlight-your-arlington\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BobS_506_150.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Member Spotlight\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/lion-member-spotlight-your-arlington\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lionpublishers.com\/lion-member-spotlight-your-arlington\/\",\"name\":\"LION member spotlight: Your Arlington - 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