How RichmondBizSense.com has built an audience

RichmondBizSense.com editor Michael Schwartz talked with Full Disclosure’s Roben Farzad on scaling the digital journalism upstart.

The business news site, which started in 2008, has a staff of six and is profitable. It focuses on real estate news and mid-market deals.

“We’re growing every year and we’ve been doing it for 12 years,” said Schwartz.

The website’s news content is free. “Information is knowledge and power, and business people, our readers, need information every day,” said Schwartz.

Its website and morning email both have ads, which are local companies. “That’s a huge chunk of our revenue,” said Schwartz.

“Our idea is that everyone in town with influence is reading this site. And if you want to have your name in front of their eyeballs, you need to be here,” said Schwartz, who added he is skeptical of the paywall model for local newspapers.

Its sister site, in Denver, is also going well. “But it’s a more competitive market,’ said Schwartz.

To listen, go here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.