NewsCow.net celebrated it’s very first birthday this weekend, May 10 to be exact. Hard to believe, we know. At some points it wasn’t clear if we’d make it past the first few weeks.
Getting our name out there proved the tough part. Many a story interview or sales call started with an uncomfortable sequence that began with the words “Now wait a minute, you’re with who? Hmmm…. What’s the web address again.”
We were simply looking for a catchy, funky name that was short for News Cowley when we came up with the NewsCow. Seems some folks never get it right, we’ve heard NewsCal, NewsCowl and even reports of one man in search of NewsCrow.
Not sure what it was he was smoking.
Eventually people started taking notice of what we were doing. Very shortly we’ll eclipse the one-million mark in terms of pages viewed, something of which we’re proud.
We owe KSOK Radio in Arkansas City much thanks for mentioning us whenever they can and linking to us on their web site. They send us at least 1,000 readers per month just through Web traffic.
NewsCow owes thanks to its sponsors, too, especially those who signed on early not knowing how long we’d be around. In the next month or two we expect to name a number of new backers and officially launch our County Wide Classifieds. We believe the future is bright.
It’s pretty clear to us that our presence in the market is felt. We see local reporters with other news agencies double-timing it like never before to be first with a story and it makes us chuckle.
It only proves to us that our idea is good one: News when it’s happening and all of our stories when we’re done writing them, not later that night. We know no one likes to wait, and who wants ink on their fingers anyway?
A final tip of the hat goes to the part-time, makeshift staff that makes the Cow go. Judy Welch, Dakotah Davis and Brian Bird have all put a big chunk of time into helping us succeed.
Judy and I have spent a lot of time chasing down the news these past months. I can tell you there have been days she kept me and the site pushing ahead when stopping for a breath would have been a lot easier.
We look forward to year two and years beyond and hope you continue to read as often as you can get back. We do what we do for our readers, knowing you’re out there keeps us going.
Going forward we promise to stick to the same philosophy that’s gotten us here: First with the news when we can but always first with the most complete and accurate story possible. We’ll always make that extra phone call.
It’s been a great year.
Thanks,
Shane
