LION webinar series tackles programmatic advertising, copyright, metrics and more

LION Publishers is offering a monthly webinar series that will tackle programmatic advertising for local independent online news sites, navigating legal issues surrounding copyright and fair use, managing website metrics, and localizing free content available from national news sites.

The webinars are free for LION members, and only $15 for non-members.

* May 16: Programmatic advertising for local independent online news publishers, with San Angelo LIVE Publisher Joe Hyde.

Hyde, publisher of local independent online news site San Angelo LIVE in Texas, will talk about his success with using programmatic advertising to supplement local sales.

Hyde turned to programmatic to supplement his revenue when the price of oil tanked, severely affecting the local economy in his part of Texas.

He'll talk CPM rates, choosing among advertising networks, and how to maximize "revenue per visit" to your site.

* June 22: Copyright and fair use for journalists, with American University Professor Patricia Aufderheide.

When is it OK to take a picture off the web for your post? How much of someone else's piece can you quote when you are doing a news roundup? Can you use someone else's infographic design for your own work if you change the colors and the data are different? When do you have the right to complain — and collect — when someone else takes your stuff? What should you do if someone else claims you infringed on their copyright? U.S. copyright journalists permits a remarkable range of unlicensed use of copyrighted material under the doctrine of fair use. But in this fast-paced climate, it can be nerve-wracking to make the right call.

Aufderheide has worked with colleagues at the Washington College of Law at American University for more than a decade to clarify how fair use works with professional groups, including journalists. She helped to facilitate the Set of Principles in Fair Use for Journalism. In this webinar, she will address questions you have after reading the Principles and seeing how they match up with your own practice.

* July 18: Making sense of metrics for local independent online news publishers, with Metrics Shift Editor Jason Alcorn.

Alcorn, editor of Metrics Shift and a local news consultant working with news organizations, nonprofits and foundations to help build a more informed citizenry, will talk about the metrics that should matter most to local independent online news sites, how to best use Google Analytics and whether indie publishers should consider other tools to measure traffic and engagement.

* Aug. 17: Free content for local publishers from national partners, with TucsonSentinel.com Publisher Dylan Smith.

Smith, chairman of the LION Publishers board of directors and publisher of the TucsonSentinel.com in Arizona, will talk about free content available for local independent online news sites from both national nonprofit and for-profit news organizations.