Some small changes coming to RBS

There are two kinds of problems in business: good ones and bad ones. And there’s no in-between.

Good problems are a sign of a sound business, like a factory that can’t keep up with demand. Good problems are fun to solve. You can use whiteboards and dry erase markers.

Bad problems need drastic changes, or are a sign the business is in trouble. For example, too little revenue to cover the rent, or a competitor that makes a business obsolete (Blockbuster’s doomed business model comes to mind, and the competition from Redbox and Netflix).

We have spent the past two months brainstorming ways of fixing the good kind.

But let’s back up for a moment. For the first year we were in business, we sold almost no ads. That means no ad revenue. We had only one reporter. That was not much of a business. Most people told me it would fail.

But now, thanks in large part to a seasoned head of our ad department, the advertising inventory in the email and website is almost full for the first quarter of 2010. So we have a problem: We want to keep growing the revenue and using those funds to hire more editorial staff, but we have no more real estate.

So we are adding a new feature to the email that should let us entice more retail advertisers. It’s a simple idea, really.

Starting next week (we hope), those of you who see the email in HTML will notice a deal of the week once a week. We want to vet any potential advertisers to make sure the deal is really something our readers would care about, and, if it is, we hope it drives traffic and sales.

We will also be adding a new editorial section on foreclosures. I’ve tried reading the notices in the Times-Dispatch and Style Weekly, and it’s hard to tell what’s for sale, and at what price.  Darn lawyers.

The notices also don’t tell you why a property is in foreclosure. As with all new sections, it will take a while to get up to speed, but it should be very helpful data, and we hope it helps both real estate professionals and casual investors who may be watching for the right price on a deal.

Please let us know what you think of these ideas by emailing Editor@richmondbizsense.com.