Black liquor is black gold, but how to cash in?
Black liquor, for the uninitiated, is a byproduct in the creation of pulp from timber that will later be made into paper. This substance is captured used to power the mills that make the pulp. Because it is a byproduct of trees being torn to shreds, it is a 100% pure biofuel. (This is not to imply it is 100% environmentally friendly). In 2004 Congress passed a bill giving a tax credit to companies that add a percentage of plant-based fuel to the diesel they use to power their businesses.
Seizing an opportunity, paper companies began to add a small percentage of diesel fuel to the black liquor already powering their mills. At very little cost, these companies began to save millions in tax deferment. The loophole remains open, but Canada and other papermaking countries have become more vocal in their complaints of government subsidies and unfair trade practices. Congress is having another look at the legislation and President Obama has even spoken on the need to amend the situation.
The black liquor issue has generated a lot of buzz among paper makers and has probably helped keep the industry afloat during recent economic hard times. Watching the metrics on our site, we could see the importance of the issue among our audience. Every story/blog/poll/etc. we ran on the topic was gobbled up.
My first thought was do something to capitalize on this. We took all of the coverage we could find in our archives and did a write up on the whole mess with links back to all of our old stories. Within a matter of days, we had quadrupled the traffic on the papermaking section of our site. This was another quick win, that reused existing material and generated a ton of traffic.
The next step is a bit more difficult – selling sponsorships around this content to monetize the effort. Our advertisers supply the paper industry worldwide. And even though the traffic is there, it may appear tainted since U.S. papermakers are the only ones benefiting.
So how do we do it? I’m open to suggestions.
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