By Kristin DeIuliis

Staci Kramer from PaidContent.org served as moderator on the panel that featured Joan Walsh of Salon.com, Fraser VanAsch of McClatchy Interactive and Ron Stitt of Fox Television.

Each of the four contributors’ businesses are in periods of transition and experimentation. The panelists mentioned a number of methods that are useful in strategically planning business growth, but the two major recurring themes were centered upon their audiences.

Looking back at changes at Salon, Walsh said, “We trusted our readers.”

Following the dotcom bust, Salon.com trimmed the content of its site and narrowed coverage down to a few key areas that editors felt best served their readers' interests.

“We put our resources into breaking news,” said Walsh. “I’m a great believer in the power of news and I’m also a great believer in opening up to the audience.”

Walsh also mentioned that intuition and general audience feedback helps Salon.com determine where its resources should be allocated.

Stitt’s recent work with Fox Television also revolves around determining the best way to serve its audience and giving the audience a voice in what type of content is made available. However, Fox Television and MyFox Web sites use a more quantitative and data-based approach to choosing content.

For Stitt and Fox Television, making videos readily available on their Web sites is important to most of their audience.

“The video part of [our Web sites] is something we feel like we have to do,” said Stitt.

Based on recent success and audience feedback, Stitt and Fox Television see a great deal of promise in expanding and continuing to improve their online video availability.

According to Stitt, audience-generated content in local communities is also an area that shows tremendous promise.

“We’re taking a very hands-off approach,” said Stitt, referring to message boards. “We want to give our readers some leniency to run with it.”

VanAsch also recognizes the value of utilizing the audience to generate content for McClatchy Interactive, the Internet arm of McClatchy newspapers. VanAsch noted that his company tries to be very open to small, local markets to provide the resources they want.

”We have been very successful with the local markets with online video and advertising,” said VanAsch. “Down in the local markets, merchants really fight for sponsorship.”

In a wide-ranging Q&A session, the panelists also discussed the value of setting clear goals for businesses growth, deciding when it is time to abandon certain operations, and how to best reach audiences through advertising without driving them from a Web site.