Digging a Digital Grave

In this day and age messing up on the Internet can have irreparable consequences. One day you’re in, the other day you’re out, and the results of one missed step often spells doom for an entire online enterprise. One of the key factors when running an Internet venture is the number of users you have; this determines amount of ad-spots you can sell which in turn governs you´re revenue.

That is why I cannot, for the life of me, understand SVD.se´s latest Internet move. What it says, in short, is that if you´re not a subscriber (to SVD´s paper issues) you´re not allowed to read the articles on their webpage. It sounds in theory as a sound move, however if SVD.se keeps this up, it will surely be the end of the online venture. Here´s why:

1. In Sweden we have a few different news sources, DN.se, aftonbladet.se, expressen.se to name a few. Minute differences in wording may set them apart, but not enough for anyone to have a unique USP. That is, whatever SVD.se is reporting on I am sure to find it on DN.se. SVD is not unique enough to support this move! 
2. Even if I actually was a subscriber I doubt I would spend time finding my subscriber account, nor would I create it. It is simply too easy just to go to DN.se! 
3. When you have made one user turn away, you will never get the user back! 

It’s quite simple; SVD.se are digging their own grave, and for some reason they seem not to understand it. A months subscription will set you back 273 SEK. Currently SVD has about 600 000 paper subscribers, compared to DN who has about 900 000. To add insult to injury, SVD already tried and failed with an SVD-app for mobile devices, which collapsed miserably after just a few months of service. Additionally SVD.se - last year - passed DN.se, with about 1 587 000 unique weekly viewings, compared to DN.se´s 1 500 000 views per week for the month of May 2012. I hope SVD publishes the same survey for May 2013. The numbers will NOT be as favorable.

So, SVD.se please put away the shovel before it’s too late. If not – you may not have a website to publish to by the end of this year!