The pandemic in 2020 has been the final straw for many schools and companies. If they weren’t going online before, they almost certainly are now, as it’s the only way for lots of industries to keep going at all.

Newspapers are no exception. Many have been offering online versions for quite a while, but right now is the time to go online or face a serious threat to your paper’s existence.

Keep reading to learn why going online, at least partially, can help keep your paper afloat even during a global pandemic.

The Reality of Going Online

Newspapers have been a staple of American life for centuries. They used to be the primary way that anyone got their news, and they are still well respected. The problem, of course, is that the whole world is moving online.

Subscriptions to paper editions of newspapers have been decreasing dramatically since about the year 2000. Current subscriptions are down about 8-9 percent from the previous year. At the same time, digital subscriptions to newspapers are increasing by about 6 percent a year.

So, even though newspapers are still considered a critical part of our society, their future looks bleak without some sort of digital aspect.

Advantages

The clear advantages of digital newspapers are that they are so easy to access. You can read the news on your own phone or computer–it’s literally already in your hand. The news can also be updated instantly, instead of having to print a new edition the next day.

Since the content doesn’t have to be printed on paper, the costs are also much lower. This means the cost to the customer is likely cheaper, as well.

Downsides

There are a few downsides to digital content, though. Once a paper goes online, readers tend to treat it more like a Twitter post. They don’t have the time or patience to read longer, more in-depth articles.

Also, since producing online content is so much cheaper and faster, many people have lost jobs at newspapers.

How To Succeed Online

There isn’t much value in avoiding it. To succeed in 2020 and beyond, newspapers must have at least some of their operations go online. There is reason to believe paper copies of newspapers will still exist, but that can’t be the only thing a paper offers anymore.

Generating revenue online is a little more complicated than selling a paper at a newsstand. Paywalls are essential to making online news profitable. Some good practices are to be creative with the subscription models.

Maybe you offer some choices to personalize the content people pay for. Create different streams of features that people can choose from.

Social media and event hosting are other ways to create buzz and attention for selling online content. Look at these tips for online classes, as well.

The Future

Paper books and newspapers might survive in the future. They’ve outlasted many predictions already. But, it won’t be the primary way people consume news or eduction–it will be digitally as virtually everything is going online.

The pandemic has brought everyone together, online. It’s okay. It’s the future.