New bakersfield.com homepage

We launched a redesign of bakersfield.com's homepage today, laying the foundation for greater changes sitewide in the coming months.

I've posted a separate work blog post detailing the changes that is receiving generally good response. But here's a quick overview: 

• Goals were to clean up a cluttered design that had been patched way too many times, make more money and do more to promote other sites in The Bakersfield.com Network. 
• Add more "white space."
• The content mix is powered by a library of "drag and drop" widgets that can be adjusted on the fly or set to automated dayparts. I've been through a few redesigns in the past, and the second we launched, fixed code meant the design was obsolete within seconds. The beauty of drag and drop is we can quickly make changes, whether to match reader interests or to reflect a huge local story that demands a single-story focus.
• More ad positions. We were turning away money with our old design, so we added another leaderboard, a skyscraper and three smaller banners to meet demand. We're swimming in house and remnant ads as a result of the changes, but we expect to sell that inventory quickly.
• A "carousel" that highlights our growing Bakersfield.com Network of local sites. We still have to add widgets for key sites that include Bakotopia, Bakersfield Life and Northwest Voice, but what we have live now gives you a peek peak at our family of sites.

Click to read more ...

Good, bad and ugly from the Consumer Electronics Show

Updated on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 8:53 PM by Logan Molen

Updated on Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 10:19 PM by Logan Molen

Here's a report from the two days I spent late last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I attended in hopes of staying ahead of consumer trends that may affect The Californian's business. 

There was tons going on as you might expect with thousands of exhibitors and more than 100,000 attendees, so I'll try to provide a lot of quick hits that highlight general trends rather than specific product features.

Long story short: Expect more technology around the corner that feeds short-attention spans and less on tools for long-form content. The ongoing challenge of fighting for consumers' time and money isn't going to get any easier for traditional news businesses competing against whiz-bang technology. 

Click to read more ...

A Yahoo with great lessons for media execs

It's not often someone at the top of one of the world's largest publicly owned companies speaks openly about skeletons within his own business. 

But Blake Irving, Yahoo's reasonably new chief product officer, did just that in addressing the company's "good, the bad and the ugly" at a recent gathering of Newspaper Consortium executives. The good news is Irving isn't a moaner, he's an energetic doer with a vision for Yahoo's success in a crowded digital media marketplace. 

I had a conflict and couldn't attend the consortium meeting but sat wide-eyed while watching this video of his presentation. It's long, but the first 35 minutes or so are highly recommended for anyone in the media business.

His fast-paced presentation touches on the sociology that drives digital behavior, product development and "shipping" strategies, the dangers of "boiling the ocean," brand focus, teamwork and much more. At times he comes across as condescending but he backs up that in-your-face confidence with a gameplan that clearly supports his case for focused business plans executed with relentless precision and passion. 

Be sure to spend time absorbing his version of the Table of Elements. I took a screen grab to ponder later and try to adapt to my own world.