Arkansas Business

During the last few years, several online-only publications have started up in Arkansas, providing stories, analysis and other content - most of it free to readers - to an audience hungry for local news.

Several of these Web news entrepreneurs who spoke with Arkansas Business said they believe they've hit on a sustainable business model, albeit one that might not pay as well as their former jobs. At least, that is, not yet.

(Click here to read more about the online-only business model.)

As the traffic increases on these regionally oriented sites, so do the prospects of selling ads to businesses that are looking to target local eyeballs. In a weak economy, however, that can still be a tough sell.

"We're so far ahead of where we thought we'd be in traffic, it's not even funny," said Michael Tilley, editor and co-owner of The City Wire, which covers cultural, political and business news in the Fort Smith region.

But, he said, "we're in the mid to low range on our business model of where we thought we'd be on revenue. However, considering this deep recession, we're just proud to be in the range."

Dustin Bartholomew and Todd Gill began The Fayetteville Flyer in December 2007 because, as Bartholomew put it, they "wished that it existed. We wished there was a site that was updated every day about Fayetteville stuff."

Though it started off as a nights, weekends and lunch breaks endeavor, the two soon recognized the site's potential to become a full-time gig.

"We took a loan to get started and that lasted about six months, and we kind of fought with it from there, but it's just recently become sustainable enough to support both of us," Gill said. "We're not quite where we were at our old jobs yet, but we see so much potential. It makes it easy to come in and get started every day when you see growth like that."

Gill worked at the northwest Arkansas office of ad agency Cranford Johnson Robinson & Woods, handling graphic design and Web design. Bartholomew also worked for CJRW for several years as a production manager.

Christopher Spencer turned lemons into lemonade after he was laid off from Stephens Media's The Morning News in April 2009. He and his partner, Greg Leding, began Ozarks Unbound in June 2009. Spencer eventually bought out his partner's interest in the site, after Leding ran for, and was elected as, state representative for District 92 in Fayetteville.

"It's a full-time gig," Spencer said of the site. "It doesn't pay full time - at all - so I do freelance writing as well, but I put in full-time hours."