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Paul Balcerak commented on the blog post Newspaper bloggers — how do you promote? 16 hours ago

Paul Balcerak added the blog post 'Questions on Digg practices and ethics' 16 hours ago

Paul Balcerak commented on the blog post What's your policy on moderating/editing blog comments? Jul 17

Paul Balcerak left a comment for Will Sommer Jul 17

Will Sommer left a comment for Paul Balcerak Jul 17

Paul Balcerak commented on the blog post Blogging challenge Jul 17

amy.nickelson left a comment for Paul Balcerak Jul 11

Paul Balcerak commented on the blog post Fishin' for tips: SEO and general Web site optimization Jul 10

Profile

What news organization do you work for?: Sound Publishing

Which of these best describes your day job?: Web Developer

About Me:: Working as the assistant editor of Dynamic Media for Sound Publishing in Washington state. Our company owns several community newspapers in the Puget Sound region; we have a total circulation of more than 1 million people, which is more than the big metros in the area. I'm working on search engine optimization (SEO) as we develop our Web sites. Check them out via our hub site, listed below.

Website:: http://www.pnwlocalnews.com

Paul Balcerak's Blog

Questions on Digg practices and ethics

Before I get into my Digg queries, let me just thank everyone who commented on my last blog, which turned out to be my most popular ever (eight comments!). In the time since I posted the blog and started implementing changes, peak-day traffic has been up on the sites I manage, though I can't definitively say the two are related. Whatever the case, things are looking up. OK, so...… Continue

Posted on July 24th, 2008 at 2:51pm — 1 Comment (Add)

Fishin' for tips: SEO and general Web site optimization

If there are any Web developers on the network willing to drop me their two cents, I swear I'll give that person's site a few hits. Not because I'm desperate; because I find myself hungry for input on the issues of SEO and Web site optimization (re: getting tons of hits) on a daily basis. I started a new job about a month ago as a kind of Web developer/manager. In a nutshell, the company I work for owns about 30 newspapers, each of which has its own… Continue

Posted on July 8th, 2008 at 9:24pm — 8 Comments (Add)

Election '08: Who's giving to whom and how much

In light of newly-christened flip-flopper Sen. Barack Obama's announcement that he'll not be taking public campaign funds, I thought it might be helpful to pass along a link originally given to me by one of my college professors. OpenSecrets.org's Presidential page has a nice little tool that keeps track of who's been giving how m… Continue

Posted on June 25th, 2008 at 1:36pm — No Comments (Add)

Just FYI, we're up here trying to SAVE OUR SONICS

Congrats to former Sonic Ray Allen, who, along with his Boston counterparts, destroyed the L.A. Lakers last night to capture his first and the team's 17th NBA title. In the meantime, the city of Seattle's fight to keep carpetbagging Sonics owner Clay Bennett from moving the team to Oklahoma City continues to go almost completely unnoticed… Continue

Posted on June 18th, 2008 at 10:30am — No Comments (Add)

Things I shouldn't have said — Welcome to The Lock-Box

... I will take those remarks and tuck them away, away in a tiny "lock-box", where all bad thoughts go. --Darrell Hammond playing Al Gore on SNL, 2000 One thing I love about good old-fashioned journalism is the practice of recognizing a mistake when one is made, correcting it and moving on. Recently, both the L.A. Times and… Continue

Posted on June 13th, 2008 at 12:35pm — No Comments (Add)

Comment Wall (12 comments)

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At 2:51pm on July 21st, 2008, Will Sommer said…: Guess I misread the part about having a bigger circulation than some metros. Hope all's well with your site!

At 4:23pm on July 17th, 2008, Will Sommer said…: Thanks for the link, Paul! Useful stuff. I liked how that writer talked about how randomly the internet decides what posts will be popular and which will go unnoticed.

I see your site has more visitors than the metro papers--nice!

At 5:24pm on July 10th, 2008, amy.nickelson said…: Hey Paul,
I'm in the exact same spot you are with Facebook. We're still unpublished and I'm thinking, "Well, what good is this gonna do if no one friends us?"

Initial ideas include adding a "Find us on Facebook" link on our paper's Web site and to all of the email signatures for reporters and editors. And putting something similar in the print edition, maybe A1 teasers for a while. (As my editor spews his lunch over the idea.)

I'm toying with the idea of some kind of contest too, like the first 20 people to friend us on our our Facebook page get a summer swag bag. That would be relatively cheap for us to put together and might get the ball rolling.

I think part of the key to keep people coming back to the Facebook page will be highlighting content that is a bit different than what the paper's site offers. Maybe some video clips, photos that didn't make the cut on the paper's Web site, etc. Sort of like a "behind the scenes" look at how we operate. Ten million dollar question is how to keep this fresh along with the regular site management duties.

You got any promotion plans?

Let me know how you do with digg. I Farked for my first time yesterday. Put up a story about a local cop who started a bar brawl. I checked on it 5 minutes after posting, and it was already buried on Page 32 of incoming story links and only had two hits. Hmmm. Yeah. Not so much help. But forging ahead nonetheless.

Let me know how it goes for you.

At 1:08pm on July 10th, 2008, Jonathan Weiss said…: You're very welcome, and of course feel free to email me any questions you come across!

At 12:46pm on July 9th, 2008, Jason Molinet said…: Hey Paul:

I'm a former Newsday reporter who started his own online media company. Buildnclick.com is one of my offerings. We specialize in Internet solutions for small businesses. And that includes SEO. As a publisher myself I understand your needs better than most. If I can help, let me know.

Jason Molinet

At 4:47pm on July 8th, 2008, Megan Hansen said…: Life's pretty good. Just when things start to get boring it throws a curve ball. There was a massive house fire last night. I was there to capture all the action.
Where are you living these days? Did you ever end up out on the peninsula?

At 10:01am on July 3rd, 2008, Megan Hansen said…: Hey Paul!
I see you're not at the Central Kitsap Reporter anymore. When did that change take place? Are you liking your new job? Next week will be my one year anniversary with the NVN! It doesn't seem like it's been a year since graduation!

At 3:10pm on May 2nd, 2008, John Taylor said…: Geez, Paul -- everything's sort of purple here.
But you're damn right about the food prices at Safeco. And waaaaay too much garlic. Whatever happened to hot dogs, for crying out loud?

At 6:26pm on April 25th, 2008, J.Joyce said…: Paul,
Thanks for hitting me up. This site is clean, and John did hook it up. I did chat with Marqise a few times. Seems like a real good guy. Invite him on here.
Take care, hope all is well with you.

At 3:43pm on April 17th, 2008, Rebecca Hennessy said…: Excellent MSNBC matrix you recommended, Paul. I've forwarded it on. Thank you!

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