New technology that blends its print publication to the digital world will be introduced this week by the Houston Herald.
All print ads will now be displayed on its website — houstonherald.com — with several additional features online for those looking for advertising information. The Herald is using technology developed by a California firm, PaperG, which was named one of Forbes’ “100 Most Promising Companies in America.” The company works with about 200 newspapers in the United States to help advertisers become more effective in reaching customers.
Locally, the Herald began working last year with PaperG to use the technology and train its staff to use it.
Print ads will be available on the Herald’s website — under Flyerboard on the home page. Several features are designed to help readers locally and across the country. Each ad is displayed with several features:
•A form to contact the advertiser.
•The ability to print the ad, share it on all popular social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as send it by email.
•A map that shows where the advertiser is located.
•A direct feed that allows advertisers’ Facebook and Twitter feeds to appear with the print ad.
The technology also allows someone to do an online search to find particular goods and services. For example, someone looking for a product can do a search and can find it using a search engine, such as Google.
The Herald’s digital portfolio has grown over the years to include desktop computer and mobile products. Readers interact in several ways: Its website turns the weekly newspaper into a daily publication with updates throughout the day. In March, the website had nearly 750,000 page views.
Its Facebook site has more than 3,700 likes, the weekly newspaper is available as an e-edition online, news alerts are sent by text message and every newspaper published since 1949 is available in its digital archives.