Hmm... blue ocean strategy...blue ocean strategy.....hmmm
God, this is harder than Nintendo makes it look!
Yeah, but it's easy to pinpoint the difficulties. There's a lot more competition now, it seems to me. GoNintendo has become the seminal Nintendo news site, whether you like it or not, NeoGAF has risen in prominence (I think...), and even VGChartz has become a watering hole for Nintendo denizens (I just saw couchmonkey post there! BETRAYAL!!! ... and Darc Requiem).
With the rise of specialized sites, a jack-of-all trades fan site seems to have a harder time differentiating itself.
... here's a preliminary idea. You're called NintendoWorldReport. You wanted to sound like some newsy thingy that we'd hear on the radio or see on tv.
Live up to that.
Re-center the website's offerings on podcast segments. Have more podcasts in the week, but shorter, with less people, and at one topic each. Instead of having one giant 60 minute podcast a week with 4 people, instead you should have 3-5 podcasts a week, each of length 1-3 minutes, each of 1-2 people involved, each talking about ONLY one or two news topics. Feature these podcasts prominently on the front page as if they were a series of news announcements, and dedicate a feature slider just to them to show off the frequency of updates and the one-click accessibility to some podcasted Nintendo goodness.
Even have a NintendoWorldReport News Theme that's more Broadcast News and less awesome music riffs (though I will miss those.../sniff).
Ah, but doesn't a 1-3 minute podcats with only 1 or 2 people destroy discourse? Fix that by making some or many podcasts rebuttal podcasts, continuing the same topic but offering a different opinion. This actually dramatically increases the visible "new content" buzz that visitors will get.
This is all in an effort to:
1. Differentiate the site and offer something new that no one else will have and that no one else is doing. This will also hopefully garner attention as people on the intarweb link to your 1-3 minute snippets of reporting information.
2. Keep production low. Yes, you're doing more podcasts, but if each podcast is 2 minutes long, that can't possibly take a long time. If each podcast is only one or two people, you don't need to coordinate with others and can do it on your own schedule. If each podcast is short enough to cover one topic, there's no need to write reams of extra content to validate yourself.
3. Jazz up the site front and increase the content flow for viewers to keep clicking back day after day. You don't need epic features to do this. You just need new, delectable morsels of content for them to consume. And at 1-3 minutes a pop to listen to each individual audiocast, there's nothing to fear! (Like those new oreos, only 100 calories a bag!)
Eventually you can even offer comment threads for each individual podcast, or allow select, trusted users from your forums (I.E. IanSane) to submit their own podcasts... allowing of course that these community contributions come from trusted community members, are 2 minutes in length or shorter, and screened beforehand in both written and listened form. You could have a formal community contest in which users write a X-hundred word podcast script that you guys read, then allow us to podcast for you (or you to read for us). The key of course is that you screen the content beforehand, that screening is easy (because 2 minutes is short), and that you feature these user podcasts along your own to spice things up.
All in all, I suggest that you take advantage of your new news slant.
Drum it up with a cheesy news theme in all your "news segments."
Have new, quick, bite-sized, consumer friendly "news segments" at least 3 times a week, preferably more.
Have each of these short segments focus exclusively on one topic to squeze all that you can from each individual topic, and to never run out of possible topics.
Feature these all prominently on your front page in a podcast thumbnail slider that shows off how active you are and how easy it is to listen.
Be able to create new content easily by merely taking for 2-3 minutes at a time. BAM! New "news segment" to post!
Create additional content through rebuttal podcasts and the occasional user-submitted podcast.
Topic: I'm sure you're aware (Read 21909 times)
