By Staff
Early next month, we'll be taking a major leap forward with our online presence.
Around 6,000 people (called "unique visitors" in the industry) visit one of our web sites each day, whether they're checking out the news on nilesstar.com, dowagiacnews.com, cassopolisvigilant.com or edwardsburgargus.com.
But our web sites are seriously out of date. We are currently using 1996 technology to serve 2009 readers, who expect more interactivity, more frequent updates, video and audio content, and a cleaner design. Our web visitors will be getting that and more when our new sites launch.
On July 1, we will also start a new daily product for our readers – a daily e-mail news update that will be sent out each morning with that day's news. Readers can sign up for the free e-mail newsletter and it will be sent to their inbox each morning with links to the stories of the day, the latest obituaries, sports scores, and more.
If you'd like to sign up for the e-mail newsletter, please go to http:https://www.leaderpub.com/ and click on the button that says "Sign up for FREE daily news updates."
When the new sites and the new e-mail newsletter launch, we will also begin "web-first" publishing, meaning stories will be available online as soon as they are done, rather than waiting to load everything at once after the printed edition is sent to the press. We have been publishing some breaking news stories as they've occurred recently, but now I've directed the newsroom that as soon as the new sites launch, we should be publishing stories to the web as soon as they are ready.
Whenever I tell people about going "web-first," or adding new online products, one of the common questions I get is usually, "Won't that hurt your newspaper?"
It's a problem publishers have been wrestling with since the advent of the modern online news site. And while a lot of publishers might disagree with me, I've never worried about the online product denigrating the print product.
I've said it before, and it bears repeating, that we have two primary duties as a newspaper: to connect readers to information and advertisers to consumers. The form that takes, or the medium used, isn't as important as the quality of both the information and the connections to consumers.
The new web sites, as well as the new daily e-mail news update, will improve our ability to connect our information to readers and our advertisers to new consumers.
Off the Water
Our newest print product, Off the Water, continues to grow its following, and I'm very pleased with how it has been received. As you might remember, in April we launched a new monthly newspaper covering the lakeshore communities between Grand Beach and St. Joseph, and we are including stories on and distribution in the wine country and Buchanan.
Since the first issue came out, I have received countless e-mails, calls and "through-the-grapevine" compliments on the product. What we're learning about creating a dynamic feature product like Off the Water may even translate into changes with our weekly news products to better serve the communities of Cassopolis and Edwardsburg.
Our primary duty remains to serve our readers, which is why we're not afraid to experiment with new media and different formats to find out what you prefer.
If you ever have a comment on anything we're doing at Leader Publications, I encourage you to e-mail or call. My e-mail address is bryan.clapper@leaderpub.com and my direct phone number is (269) 687-7700.