As if to prove that the Washington Post‘s multi-platform strategies are the way to go, the latest Nielsen//Net Ratings show that visits to newspaper Web sites rose 7.7 percent in the second quarter of this year, compared to the same period in 2006. Experts interviewed by Media Life attribute that growth to the current push by papers to make their sites into multimedia town halls–that is, to give the reader something well beyond the print experience.

Even so, the online revenue model remains elusive, as demonstrated by the New York Times‘ rumored decision to drop its subscription service, TimesSelect.