Cape Cod Times vs. Calling Cape Cod?

That was the buzz this morning, triggered by a very small re-vamp of the Cape Cod Times newspaper. They changed their header banner to include their web address. Hardly what I would interpret as a serious threat since most of my own clients do this too! Once their website is published, they always include their website address on their stationary and business cards, adverts and menus. One company even purchased cigarette lighters with their website address to promote it. Since when is that competition? If I were competing in the news industry, this might concern me, but I'm not. In fact, the Cape Cod Times is my favorite newspaper, and I've been archiving their news articles (including their header) since December 31st, 1999! The only area of competition concerns the business directory ~ and that's a healthy one. So let's not go off on the subject of the paper's redesign. I would not want them to complain about my decision to redesign my portal.

Yes, that's right... a redesign has been considered and will be put into place for some the main topic boards. The reason for this is because the front menu design doesn't acually fit with certain categories. Namely, the Health and Beauty section, which has been set up as pending. We changed the image background to suit the subject and I prefer it to the more uniform red, white and blue that has become the standard. Likewise, the Tranquil Moments section will feature art and imagery of the older Cape Cod. We know that when our guests come here, they're all looking for different things. Some come for rest, while others come for adventure and so on. They all should be able to find their bliss, and so we've decided to offer these different categories to help them in their search but I want the different pages to reflect the mood of each category of special interest.

I don't want the Calling Cape Cod portal to become a monopoly, where my viewers can only access news or other topics from our pages. First off, I really don't want that responsibility. Secondly, it's a waste of local talent and resources. Apart from this, our services are very different, so the thought that we're engaged in a "competition" with the Cape Cod Times or any other local business, is a little far-fetched. Allow me to clarify this point.

Calling Cape Cod is part of a major online network. The purpose of the portal is to offer web services to Cape Cod's business community and our services are broad. We design websites, sure. But we also offer a hyperlink service to existing websites, even if they aren't part of our own program. We do this because those websites are invisible on the world wide web and when they link to us, they enjoy a higher level of visibility. We can provide this visibility for them because we are a major network. Websites such as the ones owned by the Cape Cod Times ~ these are free-standing, special interest websites. They gain their momentum by way of reputation but they do not have the power of a network and, therefore, cannot offer the same level of service we provide. We're in the business of putting other businesses on the world wide map, not just in a local directory and that's what makes us very different. In other words, we're meant to help the local business community, not wipe it out, lol.