(Screenshot, Santa Cruz Local)

This newsletter covers what’s working in local news. See something I should feature? Let me know. 

In 2021, California newsroom Santa Cruz Local wanted to test an idea based on a discovery during a deep dive into the analytics: Most of the site’s traffic came through search engines. 

A majority of readers discovered the local online news site through search. 

“We wanted to test the idea,” said Kara Meyberg Guzman, the site’s co-founder and CEO. “OK, what if we intentionally made more evergreen guides that people could refer to that would help drive more traffic and loyalty to our website?”

So they made a guide on housing and construction. 

“It worked.”

Three months of data showed the guide drove significant traffic to the site and newsletter signups. And that meant the guide was moving people down “the funnel,” the marketing term used to describe the user journey from “I don’t know this thing exists” to “I support it as a devoted member/donor/subscriber.”

Santa Cruz Local has since created a host of guides on topics including the California Coastal Commission, local government and mental health. Its election guides are the main driver of traffic to the site during elections. 

Now, Santa Cruz Local is gearing up for its next election guide. 

The experiment was a success, but it’s also a lot of work. The time it takes to report a guide is about the same as a regular story. It’s the maintenance, making sure the guide is regularly up to date, that can be time-consuming. 

But what a formula! Build a guide that helps people understand complex and critical issues in your community, water and trim as needed, and build loyalty that supports your bottom line. 

I last spoke with Meyberg Guzman in the summer of 2020, when Santa Cruz Local had doubled its paying members. Growth has continued since then, she told me. This year, the site became a nonprofit, doubled its staff to six, and earned more than half of its revenue from donors. It launched a Spanish news audio product. And it won a few awards, including Local Independent Online News Publisher’s Business of the Year.

Check out Santa Cruz Local’s work here, and below, find a few tips from Meyberg Guzman on what to know before, during and after you build a guide of your own.

Two corrections from last week: Streetlight Detroit started publishing in May, and I forgot to mention one partner, Chalkbeat Detroit. 

That’s it for me! “Not-always-sweating” season has started in Florida, so I’m going to go out and enjoy it. 

Kristen