Published: May 10, 2008 11:53 pm      

MARREN: Taking our writers to the Web

Advertising this column is easy, it appears every week, so people know what to expect, or at least where to expect it. Advertising a new blog is a whole other story.

I recently started a blog you can get to from our Web site — www.lockportjournal.com — that not only centers on our newsroom happenings, but general commentary on everything from stamp prices to landscaping to big screen TV installation. Like any other blog, it’s free-flowing with sort of a set or parameters, but it’s not uncommon for a blogger to comment on something random that struck you.

Besides the obvious mention in this column, you’ll probably see some other in-paper promotion of my blog and others at the Union-Sun Web site. It’s not easy getting started, though. You can try and build awareness through your site, but if you’re there already, you probably know about the blog.

Here’s a look at some of the blogs you can tap into at lockportjournal.com:

n SlugLine: It’s my newsroom blog, which has a name that I hope is sort of catchy. Here’s the explanation on that from my blog: “Those in the newspaper world — and maybe elsewhere — know that when referring to a slug, we’re not talking about the slimy creature. We’re also not talking about your slow-moving co-worker, who’s also a slug on the company softball team.

A slug in the news biz is what you titled the story you’re working on. Everyday I call out into our newsroom, “Send me your slugs.” It’s a request for our reporters to send me the stories they are working on. That way I can put together tomorrow’s paper.

So each day, well at least on weekdays, a major portion of this blog will be dedicated to what we’re working on for tomorrow’s edition of the Lockport Journal. You’ll get the SlugLine. Get it?”

n Tim’s Take: Group sports editor Tim Schmitt discusses everything sports — obviously. What you’ll find cool if you check it out over the next few weeks, is Tim and Channel 2 sports anchorman Matt Pearl have an “Anchorman” Challenge under way, where they pick the series winners in the NHL playoffs. Schmitt is in the lead, I believe. If you check him out, there’s also a lot of funny commentary, photos and even video.

n Sunny Side Up: Chatterbox columnist Julie Obermiller has created Sunny Side Up, which serves as an extension to her in-paper Tuesday columns. She’s posting like crazy, which is good news for fans of her column and her nose for community news. She’s got great sections on coming events, Relay for Life 2008 and just general chatter. It’s really a good clearing house for all the good news that’s not fit to print.

n Lynnemarie’s Everyday Connection: Much like Julie, Lynnemarie has taken her Wednesday column and expanded all the positive stories to lockportjournal.com. She’s just getting started, but I can already see she’ll be tackling such topics as food and wine, parties and even NASCAR. Both ladies already have some online followers and comments to their daily posts, so word of their blogging is spreading.

Dialog host Scott Leffler gave me the idea of having our community columnists write a blog, as an extension of their regular column. It was a great idea. I opened the offer up to all of our columnists and Julie and Lynnemarie took me up on it. I appreciate that. Now we just need our readers to check out all of our blogs and offer some comments.

Managing Editor Tim Marren’s column appears every Sunday. He can be reached at 439-9222, ext. 6238, or marrent@gnnewspaper.com.