5.2.1 LATIMES.COM
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The numbers for the latimes.com website, like most of the Web discussed in previous chapters, have gone up as the technology has increased and people are relying on websites for sources of information. September 11th was a huge watershed moment for the site and the day after latimes.com recorded a new daily record of five point two million page views.30 In 2002 the website began requiring users to register in order to access site content, which was an
advertising decision to get more information about who was reading content. The site posts its number monthly in the Readers Representative section of the website, which can be accessed by anyone.
In the five months of observation, the site increased its viewership a fairly significant amount. The website records its numbers it two ways. The first is number of page views, which simply counts the number of pages that are viewed within a month. The second is unique visitors, which measures the number of people who visit the site a month, but does not count repeat visits by the same person.
In June, the website received one hundred and fifteen million page views (Artley 2008a). It then jumped by ten million in July and August to one hundred and twenty seven million and one hundred and twenty six million page views
respectively (Artley 2008b, 2008c). The number of unique visitors, according to Omniture tracking system, was nineteen million and twenty million in July and August. The site increased by another ten million page views in September and October. One hundred and thirty seven million page views were recorded in
30 http://www.latimes.com/services/newspaper/mediacenter/la-mediacenter- milestones,0,117814.story
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September and one hundred and thirty nine million in October (Artley 2008d, 2008e). The unique visitors also increased to twenty two million and twenty four million respectively. According to executive editor Meredith Artley:
‗Latimes.com keeps getting better at SEO (search engine optimization), which means our stories are ranking higher in Google and other search engines. We are also performing better on sites like Digg.com. All that adds up to more exposure and more readership than ever before‘ (Artley 2008b).
The Election Day numbers brought large metrics to the site as well. November 4, 2008 saw more than eight million page views to the site, which was a record. It was smashed the next day when over ten million page views were recorded on the site (Artley 2008e). The Presidential election results were a big draw but California‘s controversial Proposition 8, which sought to define marriage as strictly between a man and a woman, was the big draw for readers the day after the election.
Not only did the website in general increase its users but the Top of the Ticket blog, which was handling all the campaign news, increased its numbers within the five months to hold the top blog spot on the website. In June the site had over one point seven million page views (Artley 2008a), by August that number was up to over two point three million page views (Artley 2006c) and by October the month before the election almost four point three million page views were recorded on the blog (Artley 2008e).
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5.2.2 SALON.COM
The numbers for salon.com began increasing just as my observation of the site began according to the manager of web analytics for the site. Although I could not obtain numbers for Salon‘s debut, by 2001 the site had between three and three and half million monthly unique visitors (Farhi 2001, Journalismjobs.com 2001). The current head of web analytics told me Salon had been hovering at around four million monthly unique visitors for a long while but due to the increase in links, particularly from Yahoo, the site had for the few months preceding my visit (June 2008) steadily increased to approximately six million monthly unique visitors.
Those numbers are confirmed in several web analytics profiles I was given by salon.com. In the months from January through May 2008, salon.com was averaging around four point three million unique visitors a month. If you compare that to June 2008 to December 2008, the site was averaging nearly six million unique visitors a month. The focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was something almost every person I interviewed mentioned and played a key part in getting more links to Salon from outside sources.
5.3 THE LOOK OF THE WESBITES31
5.3.1 LATIMES.COM
31 Both websites have since been redesigned. They occurred just as this thesis was being completed. The new designs can be seen at http://www.latimes.com and http://www.salon.com
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Figure 5.1-Homepage of latimes.com September 26, 2008 (1)
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Figure 5.3- Homepage of latimes.com September 26, 2008 (3)
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The homepage of the website is one of the key ways people get content on the site, the other being through large search engines such as Google and Yahoo. The main page tries to highlight key stories that are being produced by various news desks as well as the content from the Entertainment section and the people working for Metro Mix/The Guide, which is not considered by the journalists at the Los Angeles Times newspaper as part of the journalism being done for the site. How this all works together to create output for the site will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 6.
Each news desk takes care of its own section‘s Landing Page. Due to the amount of content and importance of the story, a ‗Campaign ‘08‘ Landing Page was created for all the election subject matter. It highlighted all the written stories, the blog posts, the interactive elements, and the video content that was being done on the site related to any part of the election.
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Figure 5.6- latimes.com Campaign ‘08 Landing Page (2)
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5.3.2 SALON.COM
Figure 5.8- Homepage of salon.com September 26, 2008 (1)
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Figure 5.10- Homepage of salon.com September 26, 2008 (3)
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Figure 5.12- Homepage of salon.com September 26, 2008 (5)
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The homepage is divided into four columns. The one on the very left is constant as you navigate throughout the site and links you to all the content and
information the site provides. It is divided up in the top part by daily, weekly, monthly and special reports the site has done. It has access to the Associated Press wires, ways to contact Salon and any further information you would need about the website (from ways to get Premium Salon to their Community sites).
The second column is all of their original daily content listed in chronological order. The top is their ‗cover‘ story, which changes about three times per day but there is no specific schedule. It is usually a written story but can be a blog post or other feature if deemed appropriate. It is entirely up to the editors what they decide should get the top spot. The rest of the list remains the same throughout the day, although some of the headlines will change as blog posts are updated and new content becomes available.
The third column is comprised mainly of advertisements. However, the very top part is what they call the ‗Sky Box‘. It is between four and five articles, blog posts, columns or even comics that are being highlighted for the day. As with the cover story, these headlines can rotate. They are each accompanied by a graphic. Often an item will appear in a Sky Box at the beginning of the day and rotate over to become a ‗cover‘ by the end, depending on the day and content.
The final column on the right is a list of wire stories. Salon.com provides its readers with Associated Press wire headlines that are constantly updated
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throughout the day. In addition, they have a staff member that highlights five stories entitled ‗5 Things‘ that he/she deems interesting or of note. That will change throughout the day as with other parts of site. If there is no one in the office to be in charge of the ‗5 Things‘ for the day, the column will just list all the AP wire headlines.