|
Written by Angela Kessler
|
|
Saturday, 26 June 2010 00:00 |
Last month, I asked for your opinions about the Catholic Chronicle since we changed formats almost a year ago. While I didn’t get very many responses, I was encouraged by what I heard.
But before I get to that, I’m excited to report that our online presence at www.catholicchronicle.org has been recognized as one of the best among Catholic publishers in the U.S. and Canada. The Catholic Chronicle won a first-place award from the Catholic Press Association (CPA) during the organization’s annual conference in June. The Chronicle was honored for Best Online Content Not Published in Print among all membership classes. The CPA is a professional organization with a membership of 275 Catholic publishers of newspapers, magazines and books in the United States and Canada.
 In the announcement, the CPA said the Chronicle’s website has a “crisp clean look. The site loads fast and is easy to navigate. The writing is simple and to-the-point, in a journalistic style, that while unadorned, gets the news across quickly to the audience. Nice job of covering breaking news.”
I’m sure those who have visited our site have noticed the same features. If you haven’t been to our site, be sure to take a look to see what you have been missing. With daily updates, www.catholicchronicle.org carries news that the print edition doesn’t, and it brings the latest Catholic news to you in a more timely fashion than the print edition.
Our success online is not only measured by what other professionals think, but in traffic to the site that continues to increase every month. In fact, in the first five months of 2010, www.catholicchronicle.org has logged more than 1.2 million page views. In other words, more than 240,000 times a month (or 8,000 times a day) our site is being accessed by readers all over the world.
Online readers come to us from a variety of different sources. Many may have it set as the browser’s home page or access it directly from a bookmark. Others come to us through links on other sites, through an RSS feed or a direct link from a blog, Twitter or Facebook. Regardless of how a person gets there, the fact remains, that the online edition of the Catholic Chronicle is a powerful source of news and information pertaining to the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Toledo and beyond.
We at the Chronicle would argue that we are in fact attracting a new audience online while continuing to serve our traditional audience in print.
This brings me back to the comments I asked for last month.
I received only one phone call from a woman who expressed concern about the elderly people who only have access to the print edition. She said she fears they are missing out by not going online. The caller then admitted that while tech savvy, she doesn’t visit our site either. In response, I first ask anyone who hasn’t gone to www.catholicchronicle.org to take a look. Our home page offers headlines and the first few lines of stories posted in chronological order, with the newest at the top. A simple click of the mouse takes the reader to the full story. Just a few minutes a day can give the reader a sense of what’s new.
Additionally, I suggest that anyone with a concern for those who do not have online access can help make that a reality for them. Could you arrange to take the person to the local library and teach them about the web? How about an invitation for dinner that comes with use of your computer? If you see a story you’d like to share, print it and take it to a friend.
On the flip side, we also find some online that don’t read the print edition. One person made this comment on Facebook: “I have to admit, I never pick up a Chronicle at church, but I LOVE the updates on Facebook.” (By the way, you are missing out on stories that are in print, but not posted online. Be sure to see what you’re missing by viewing the print edition online.)
But that’s not the part of her comment that really struck me. It was this: “I am much more connected with the diocese than ever before!”
The awards are great and tell us that what we are doing is recognized by our peers as first rate, but it is comments like this that really help us know that what we are doing is reaching people in a positive way.
We will continue to find ways to improve both the print and online editions of the Catholic Chronicle and always welcome your input.
Remember, the print edition is not published in July, but the online edition will continue to be updated throughout the summer. The next print issue will be at parishes Aug. 7-8.
|
|
Last Updated on Saturday, 26 June 2010 00:00 |
