Post marks 1st anniversary of new Internet presence

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J.K. Murphy
Executive Editor

For the nation’s newspapers, the timing couldn’t have been worse.
In the climax of 2003’s ongoing “story of the year,” the villainous Saddam Hussein crawls out of his hole, arms raised, the antithesis of the brutal, strong-arm dictator who ruled Iraq for the last quarter century.
The capture occurred Saturday night, but the news didn’t break until Sunday morning, after the nation’s newspapers had put their premium editions to bed.
In the old days, newspapers would have recalled the journalists, the pressmen and the carriers to publish a special edition. Newsboys would “hawk” the paper from street corners.
Today, we turn to the Internet.
Sunday’s Daily Post had been printed and delivered, only to become obsolete by the time people were awakening the next morning. But by noon that day, the Post’s Web site had been updated with the latest from Iraq, Washington and the world. Six Associated Press stories and three images of the disheveled ex-dictator were published electronically at www.gwinnettdailypost.com.
The Post publishes online all of its news/editorial content of each edition. In cases like Sunday morning, the online version offers the fastest conduit of news dissemination.
For the past year, the Post has partnered with RealNet Solutions as our Web provider. While the Post had previous manifestations of Web presence, this week marks the one-year anniversary of our partnership with RealNet.
Over this year we have fine-tuned the site, with many of the ideas for improvements coming from readers. Archives were added. Currently, readers can search all stories published this year. By the end of this month another 35,000 stories from previous years will be added to the database. We encourage users to send us more ideas and suggestions so that our online presence will better suit their needs.
RealNet and the Post have continued to improve presentation, but stuck with the original strategy of not beleaguering readers with annoying “pop-up” or distracting banner advertising. No advertising appears on the “home page” and only one advertisement is attached to each news story.
This is just one way the developers of the Online Edition have streamlined the product to accommodate the needs of the readers. “We hoped this would bring us a high level of readership” said Paul Martin, executive developer and President of RealNet CMP of Buford.
Based on numbers, the strategy is working. In March, the site was attracting 10,000 readers a day. Recent figures show that number has climbed to between 17,000 and 25,000 each weekday.
“We’ve had to upgrade our Internet hardware and software twice during our first year to handle the intense demand,” Martin said.
And the presentation is catching the eye of other newspapers, as well. Our sister papers, The Rockdale and Newton Citizens, use the same format produced by RealNet. Martin has been contacted by other newspapers across the nation looking for help to “clean up” their Web sites. The RealNet format is recognized as a readable online newspaper with a productive, non-intrusive advertising format.
There was a time when prophets said the Internet spelled doom for print publishers. Instead, newspapers have embraced the technology, capitalizing on the benefits of both hard copy and electronic journalism.
We are, after all, still a “news” paper, regardless of whether the package is delivered to your home or downloaded to your hard drive.
J.K. Murphy is executive editor of the Daily Post. Contact him at 770-963-9205 Ext. 1300 or jk.murphy@gwinnettdailypost.com. <-->