Three years ago, the Christian Science Monitor decided to go “digital-first” and learn to swim in the new media environment. It’s a strategy that’s paid off as the paper abandoned its 5-day-a-week print paper for a weekly magazine (that’s now available on the iPad and eReaders) and Web content.What the Monitor didn’t do was try to compete with breaking news television or Web aggregators like the Huffington Post. Instead, it stuck to its mission of providing contextual analysis and original, global content. It also decreased its use of multi-media platforms, including video (the site still has some video but now works with a production partner), and included polls and quizzes that tickle intellectuals.By doing this, the Monitor has been able to grow its page views to 42 million a month (8 to 10 million are unique views). And both ad sales and content sales grew by 50% in the last year.It’s a strong Model that other news sites should look to. Most of us can’t be the New York Times and evolve into a large, multi-media news conglomerate in order to stay relevant. But we can play to our strengths, charging premium prices for signature content. And given that people often troll the Web for more in-depth analysis on their favorite subjects, it’s a great way to play to strength of online media without becoming a software company.