Much online news is found through news aggregators that direct readers to one article of a publication. Their browser’s ‘back button’ means that there is a good chance readers will ignore the rest of the paper’s content and return to the compilation of news from numerous sources.

The principle problem with this is that advertisers don’t pay as much online because it is expected that readers will not spend as much time seeing their banner ads.

Solution? Newspapers need to make their websites stickier.

The real puzzle is how.

Online readers find their general news through aggregators because they know they’ll find what they’re looking for. They are not necessarily dedicated to one site or another; they just want to know what’s going on. So if you’re a provider of general news, you have your work cut out for you.

But if you cater to niche or local interests, you have a better chance at making your site sticky. Readers who visit your site probably didn’t find it through Google or Yahoo News. They’re probably looking for something very specific be it news about a particular topic or news about their area that they can’t find anywhere else.

However, some larger papers have figured out how to make their sites sticky. The example that The Economist uses is Norway’s two biggest papers, both published by Schibsted, that bring in ¾ of their traffic through their own web pages instead of Google meaning they win twice on the advertising front: firstly, they can charge more and secondly, they don’t have to share any of the revenue with Google.

The latest example is the New York Times which is now testing a feature named My Times with selected customers. It’s kind of like an RSS reader on a NYT page. Users can choose the feeds they want which then appear with section name and a number of headlines depending on user preference. Functionality is simple. Different sections can be moved around the page with ease so that readers can customize their own page with the news they like to read.

Maybe most importantly for users, they can download feeds from just about any publication onto their My Times page to create a page which looks like their own customized news aggregator. But seeing as it is a New York Times service and the fact that the Times provides a little of everything, users are inclined to prioritize NYT sections, making My Times an efficient tool for making nytimes.com a sticky site.

Being still in beta, there are no advertisements yet on individuals’ My Times page. Assumedly, it’s only a matter of time before the service is monetized with ads. And of course, by making the entire site stickier, NYT has already upped its standing in advertisers’ eyes.  

My Times could also be used as a means of earning revenue directly from readers. NYT could build on Times Select which bundles a number of columnists not necessarily related to one another into one paid package. But by allowing readers to subscribe to one specified section of the online paper easily accessible through their My Times personalized page just like a la carte cable channels, the Times may find that readers will be more inclined to pay.

And by leaving the commoditized sections, (national, international, etc.) of the site free of charge, NYT.com will maintain its stickiness.

Still, there are other services that already rival the New York Times personalized service and with more features. The International Herald Tribune reports that a French company called Netvibes is building on Google and Yahoo’s personalized services. Fueled by €12 million in investment and a user base of 5 million, Netvibes claims it is easier to use than RSS and will allow users to organize a myriad of functions onto one page including news, eBay auctions, email accounts, language translators, currency converters, feeds from advertisers, etc.

Placing all of your daily needs onto one comprehensive page – now that’s sticky!

Sources: The Economist, New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, Netvibes