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Spoof Beckham story boosts weekly’s web hits

A series of fluke story timings gave a weekly newspaper an unexpected surge in online hits when readers believed that footballer David Beckham had signed for a local club.

The Stroud News & Journal had more than 114,000 web hits after it published a story about a mock press conference at a primary school where the “breaking news” was Beckham signing for Forest Green Rovers.

On the day the story was due to be published, the paper’s sports editor got a message to say a new player was being signed later that day by the club and published a teaser piece on it, telling readers to look out for the announcement.

So when the story on the mock press conference dropped onto the website with the headline “Beckham signs for Forest Green”, which was followed by the real news that the football star was leaving Paris St Germain, the website racked up the hits.

Anyone searching Beckham on Google that day was presented with the SNJ’s headline as the top story.

Editor Sue Smith said: “We are always looking at ways to attract more people to our websites, then out of the blue along comes a gift like that.

“This is a nice part of the world though – I am sure the Beckhams would love it if they are looking for pastures new.”

The mock press conference was run by the paper to teach the school pupils about journalism and two children played the part of David and Victoria Beckham.

The fake story reported that Beckham had signed for Forest Green, which is in the fifth tier of professional football, in return for an endless supply of ice-cream from a local company in Gloucestershire.

12 comments

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  • June 5, 2013 at 9:44 am
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    Editor Sue Smith says: “We are always looking at ways to attract more people to our websites.” I know times are tough but have we really sunk to that?

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  • June 5, 2013 at 9:51 am
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    114k hits means nothing when they get fed up of being fed a lazy story. How many of the 114k users have visited since? I would guess at hardly any. There is nothing ‘spoof’ about this, its a fake story that is a desperate and laughable attempt to get more users to the site & flies in the face of the local press being ‘trusted’

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  • June 5, 2013 at 10:57 am
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    And how many of the 114k clicked on an ad on the site? None, woud be my guess.

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  • June 5, 2013 at 11:18 am
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    Local newspaper sites increasingly try and get these ‘junk’ hits – ‘world of the weird’ and all kinds of celebrity nonsense, which get page impressions.

    Thing is – who are the viewers? Well, people from anywhere around the globe. Do local advertisers want to be sold space on the back of traffic like that?

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  • June 5, 2013 at 11:33 am
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    It looks like the surge in web traffic was a happy accident rather than the cynical ploy others have suggested. Sometimes you just get lucky with this sort of thing and you have to appreciate it for what it is – a fluke that causes a temporary spike.

    I wish HTFP and others would stop using the term ‘web hits’. What you actually mean is page views, which are very different from hits.

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  • June 5, 2013 at 11:50 am
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    114k ‘hits’ means absolutely nothing and add no value to advertisers, or the credibility of the title. If anything, spikes like this slow down page load times for legitimate viewers and advertisers. The real analytics should be unique visitors, repeat rate and time on site. Then tell me its worth shouting about!

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  • June 5, 2013 at 12:11 pm
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    Read as: “144k people/bots click on a misleading link that takes them to a destination page they have never visited before and never will again, while slowing down the site for real users and advertisers.”

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  • June 5, 2013 at 12:25 pm
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    Sorry folks – I meant 114k. And where is the article on the site about the player FGR were set to sign…no mention anywhere??? That really was a ‘teaser’ piece!

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  • June 5, 2013 at 2:06 pm
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    Might try that.
    Beckham signs for Wibblington Wanderers has a ring to it.

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  • June 5, 2013 at 4:19 pm
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    Knowledge of digital terminology amongst ‘paper folk is as archaic as the mind set of most publishers these days.

    It really is time for out with the old and in with the new!

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  • June 12, 2013 at 1:51 pm
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    All valid points, but of course the new strategy for most papers, belatedly embracing all things digital with a fervour not seen since the Tulip Mania, relies on the poor bloody advertisers being even more ignorant of how the internet actually works than the papers’ executives are, ie. extremely. As a very wise man once said (I’ve an idea it was Ogilvy, of O&M), “Half the money spent on advertising is wasted, but no one knows which half.” And by the time the advertisers work it out, the executives will have moved off to polish another seat a little further up the Pyramid of Shamelessness.

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