PureThink Offers College Newspapers New Tool to Bolster Ad Revenue

PureThink Offers College Newspapers New Tool to Bolster Ad Revenue

Free classified ad portal, StudentTrader.com, seeks to help student newspapers recoup lost advertising revenue.

HERNDON, Va. (PRWEB) December 15, 2005 -- In an effort to help college newspapers boost shrinking ad revenue, PureThink today unveiled its plan to partner student newspapers with its free classified ad portal, StudentTrader.com.

Through this partnership plan, college newspapers would offer local advertisers the ability to buy local, non-intrusive ad space on StudentTrader.com, a free cyber marketplace for college students. StudentTrader.com provides a forum for college students to buy, sell and barter books and other items with students on their campus, and also allows advertisers to reach one of the most sought-after demographics.

Partnering college newspapers can use StudentTrader.com as another revenue source, keeping a percentage of the proceeds from the online advertisements and paid job postings for their specific school, offsetting the revenue lost to free ad portals.

In addition, PureThink would provide college newspapers with essential tools to translate their print ads to an online version for posting on the newspaper’s web site. In return, partnering college newspapers would provide marketing and advertising assistance to StudentTrader.com by promoting the portal’s free services, building usage at the specific school and generating more revenue that can be shared with the newspaper.

The mounting success of free classified ad portals such as Craigslist, Yahoo Classifieds and Google Base is taking a toll on newspapers large and small. Student newspapers, in particular, rely on classified ad sales to help cover operating expenses, and are taking a hit as the trend towards cyber shopping via these free ad portals continues.

“Unfortunately, college newspapers are losing classified ad revenue as the trend is gearing towards free classified ads and they typically do not have the Internet presence to implement an advertisement-based revenue model like that being used by Google and Yahoo,” said John Mark Suhy, PureThink Vice President of Technology. “They’re feeling the pinch as consumers move on-line for a large percentage of their buying, selling and trading needs. That’s where StudentTrader.com can help.”

About StudentTrader.com
First made available in 2000, StudentTrader.com is a free online resource for college students to buy, sell and trade books and other items with students on their campus and nationwide. A new version of StudentTrader.com is expected to be released in February and will offer a new barter system. To learn more go to www.studenttrader.com.

About PureThink
Based in Herndon, Va., PureThink is an innovative software company providing cutting-edge solutions for businesses small and large. These solutions and service offerings include building corporate Intranet sites, providing custom Web applications, modifying existing systems and constructing new technology infrastructures. To learn more go to www.purethink.com.

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Press Contact: John Mark Suhy
Company Name: PURETHINK LLC
Email: email protected from spam bots
Phone: 703-862-7780
Website: http://www.studenttrader.com