DOPF inducts new members, hold training on website management, revenue generation

The Delta Online Publishers Forum (DOPF), has inducted eight new members who were subsequently taken through a brainstorming session, under the theme: Website Management and Revenue for Online News Publishers”.

Dr.Monday Ashibuogwu, Publisher of quicknewsafrica.com, delivered the training at Asaba, on Wednesday.

The trainer, who has in-depth knowledge on the subject, provided great awareness to the inductees, while being an eye opener for old members.

The online forum, also engendered a discourse on the Niger Delta, as part of the DOPF 2021 Annual Lecture, with the theme: “Niger Delta Economy: Building A New Face For The Region.”

Chairman of the DOPF, Mr. Emmanuel Ochonogor Enebeli, described the training as a means of fortifying the inductees with all-round knowledge needed for successful ownership of the online publishing business, as well as part of its continuous training and retraining on the ever evolving global online space.

Enebeli who disclosed that the induction of new members brings the total membership to 30, said that it was the forum’s second training since its inception.

Speaking during the induction/members’ training, the Executive Assistant to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on Communications, Barr. Fred Latimor, who represented the Manager, Communications, Government House, Asaba, Mr. Jackson Ekubo, praised DOPF members for their rich online content, saying it met all criteria required of sound journalism practice. He therefore, expressed hope that in the not-too-distant future, the forum would produce media moguls.

Enebeli justified the humble number of registered members as a deliberate strategy geared towards preventing the forum from being a place for all comers, as well as to insulate the group against the activities of quacks, who are known to have caused damage to other areas of journalism, while pledging that the present DOPF leadership is determined to sustain sanity in online publishing in Delta State.

Giving credence to this position, he said the inductees passed through a rigorous selection process and were thoroughly screened, along with necessary fact checking on all information provided, before they were deemed fit to belong to the forum. Enebeli further said that the given conditions, included having a fully operational website, which would have been operational for about a year, registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and incorporation as a business entity, a sound journalism background, among other set criteria.

This was corroborated by Ashibuogwu, who harped on the need to have a business name, as proper media management cannot be done without due legal backing. Besides, he said that prospective advertisers would not take any online publisher seriously without being seen as a formal business entity. He, thus counseled members to see themselves as business owners and managers, but with good knowledge of journalism practice.

“Don’t rush to cover stories, but always carry yourselves with dignity and respect, but above all, strive to have a standard and the prerequisite management skills, aimed at striking a balance between editorial affairs and your finances”, while he described the DOPF as an enabler for networking and collective stakeholder engagement.

During the lecture, he emphasised the need for website optimisation, describing the various types of optimisation to include, search engine optimisation, digital asset optimisation and Social Media optimisation, while he also threw light on indexing and search console. 

Members were also taught how to develop and optimise content with personas in mind, develop channels of distribution and Social Media links and to leverage both web and Social Media analytics.

On content marketing checklist, Ashibuogwu taught the members to set goals, buyer personas, select keywords or tag for every story, as well as content and access.

Others included having an editorial plan, optimising the search engine, so they could deploy to Google, Facebook, among other sites.

He also spoke on offsite content, which includes networking, conferences, seminars, advocacy and socialising, but at the end, the online publishers should measure and refine.

Before bringing the intensive training to a close, Ashibuogwu took various questions on the challenges faced by the online publishers, while giving useful tips on better management of their websites for profitability.