• The Nieman Journalism Lab, Thursday, April 9, 2009 9:15 AM

The Wall Street Journal is planning a "premium initiative" to sell "narrower information services" at a higher subscription rate to subsets of its readership, according to Alan Murray, executive editor of WSJ Online. Among the first offerings of this tiered-premium service will be energy coverage and a news service for chief financial officers, say insiders.

Murray advises other publications to put niche-oriented online content behind a pay wall. Sure -- it may be easier to identify those opportunities with financial news, but he uses the example of a local newspaper that could charge for coverage of high school sports, which has a loyal fan base. To sweeten the deal, the paper could offer downloadable photos of games only to subscribers, he says.

What not to charge money for? Exclusive news that will be repeated elsewhere. Also keep the most popular material free, in order to build traffic that can be turned into ad revenue.

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