Our Business

VillageSoup provides access to 21st century publishing tools and services that help local news entities create new revenue streams.

These proven revenue streams give publishers the power to sustain time-honored professional journalism and support democracy and a pride in community life.

The Opportunity

Today's newspaper landscape is not as attractive as it was a short 10 years ago. Circulation has decreased. Ad revenue has dropped. Content has shrunk. And prominent, legacy newspapers have shut down.

"Business as usual" is no longer a sustainable business model.

The opportunity open to every newspaper publisher today is creating new revenue streams, cutting costs and assuring high quality, professional journalism.

Our Model

VillageSoup is a leader in the industry's exploration for new revenue streams for news publishers.

Using four local newspapers as testing grounds, VillageSoup has created a print and online working model that publishers like you can apply to your own business. Our software platform:

• generates both online and print news formats from a single source;
• integrates content posted by professional journalists, businesses and community members alike, side by side;
• features our bizMember® Program, which gives neighborhood, village and small town businesses a place to bring their unfettered, unfiltered daily news and information to the community and to create their own custom microsite on our virtual Main Street.

The Evidence

Because of our unwavering 12-year commitment to this model, we have results to share. On our Knox and Waldo sites:

• 21 percent of our total ad revenue comes from online -- the industry average is 5 percent;
• online revenues rose from 4 percent of total ad revenue to 10 percent our first year of implementing "bizMember®," to 21 percent after three years;
• 32 percent of our online visitors have visited more than 201 times, 73 percent more than nine times;
• we eliminated the costs of third party front-end publishing, classified and real-estate systems.

Our Key

The key to enhancing your enduring legacy and to our success is a platform that extends commercial and individual interaction into the digital community. Members:

• post unfettered, unfiltered daily news and offers alongside those of professional journalists;
• create and manage their own micro-websites within VillageSoup;
• create professionally formatted content without technical skill;
• participate on a "virtual main street and village green" that matches their real neighborhood, village or town.

The Sites

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