Last week, I received a phone call from someone with the Tennessee Press Association who shared with me that Times-News Online received a first place award in the annual round up of newspaper ideas and marketing projects. I was skeptical at the time because I know all of our shortcomings and while we are building out our new design for the coming year, it was especially satisfying for me to get the official news today that our website has indeed one ‘Best Overall WebSite’ in the state of Tennessee beating out the Commercial Appeal in Memphis.
This new website was quite a departure for our company as we technically have two websites – one free and one paid. More importantly, it was a departure into a website that facilitates a more social relationship with our readers. We now have over 4,500 active participants who share comments, stories and photos with us on a variety of subjects.
We have lots of great ideas for the future and we can’t wait to take the curtains off the new work for the coming year and despite all our shortcomings, it’s important for me to recognize everyone who works so hard on this project. Most newspapers outsource all of their software development to parent companies or third-party organizations. All of the programming and software development for Times-News Online is custom coded and managed by our staff including Sam McConnell, Eric Franklin and Randal Clendenin (thanks also to Eric Miller and Jacob Cain). Can’t forget the strong arms in IT either – Thanks for your hard work too Dan Strickler, Jeff Rogers and Brent Robinson.
Kudos also to Ted Como, Don Fenley, Rain Smith, Roger Davis and Keith Wilson who also give of their time, support and expertise in fields of journalism and management to move our projects forward and deliver a quality of reporting and news gathering that continues to attract large audiences.
Our reports are also indicating some great results too with over 130,000 unique visitors last month to Times-News Online. Our best ever with 3.4 million pages on that site alone.
Ok. Enough of the self-promotion. All our guys did a great job, but things are getting ready to be much better. Thank you Tennessee Press Association and I should also say congratulations to Andy Barnes and his staff at Times-News for placing first, second and third place for ‘Best Internet Banner Ads.”
You may download the entire winners list by clicking this link.