Enhanced Web site launch Monday

Sunday, April 15, 2007

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- The Fort Scott Tribune is now more informative, entertaining, interactive, and easier to access, with Monday's launch of the new Fort Scott Tribune Online at

www.fstribune.com.

The Fort Scott Tribune Online is redesigned to provide up-tothe- minute information in an interactive medium for the community.

The Fort Scott Tribune Online, featured as a showcase project at the Rust Communications Publishers' meeting in February in Cape Girardeau, Mo., is blazing the trail for Web site design and capability among the approximately 50 Rust papers across eight states.

The process of revamping the site started in November 2006, with the addition of Tabatha Beerbower, special projects manager to The Fort Scott Tribune and Nevada Daily Mail staffs. Beerbower researched Web site capabilities and efficiencies and initiated many new ideas for the site.

"Tabatha is a great asset to the company," Julie Righter, publisher and part owner of The Fort Scott Tribune and the Nevada Daily Mail, said. "She has been instrumental in breaking new ground for The Fort Scott Tribune, the Nevada Daily Mail and Rust Communications."

Righter added how impressed she is with the staff taking on new challenges. "Tabatha has stepped out of her comfort zone in setting up the site and creating features such as the multi-media presentation of Gordon Parks," Righter said. "The Fort Scott Tribune staff has stepped out of their comfort zones to write blogs, and movie, music and book reviews. We are growing as a staff."

Rust Communications, the parent company of The Fort Scott Tribune and the Nevada Daily Mail, agrees. Beerbower and Righter have maintained constant communication with Rust Communications throughout the site development process and have received reinforcing feedback.

"It is nice to see you having fun while doing things which are hugely important for the franchise," Wally Lage, vice-president, Rust Communications, said. Besides improved coverage, the Web site features a world of interactivity, not just for, but also with, the community.

"The life of the site will be based on community interactivity," Righter said.

The site will remain a dependable source for news and sports coverage, obituaries and records and opinion columns. New to the site are the eTribune virtual newspaper, entertainment reviews, blogs, community information and calendar and interactive photo galleries and multi-media presentations.

The new capabilities are breaking ground in the small newspaper market and are opening fun, new services and perspectives to the newspaper's audience.

"People need to log on to see the new types of writing, like Kenny Felt's hilarious blog about his experience with a water moccasin in his toilet," Righter said. "This site is enlarging the scheme of the paper. It's a whole new medium to add to the community and reach a new audience."

The site adds capabilities to enhance the existing services of the newspaper.

"Fort Scott Tribune staff will be able to post late-breaking news and update story developments before the newspaper hits the stands, so readers will never miss a late-breaking news story," Fort Scott Tribune Managing Editor Robin Hixson said.

Readers can also register their e-mail on the site at no cost to receive daily headlines.

For community members wishing to subscribe online, an eedition, or eTribune, will be available as a paid subscription. The eTribune is a fully interactive, virtual newspaper. Subscribers can flip through the daily newspaper in its entirety online. All in-zone paid subscribers will have access to the eTribune by simply registering. The eTribune is available for a free trial for a one-month period after the site launches.

Interactively, readers can post comments to specific stories, respond to the editor, or e-mail the story. Readers can post comments to blogs, short for web logs, to create an interactive dialogue with Tribune and freelance writers. Readers will also have access to post events on the ongoing community calendar.

Additional features include photo galleries, including "You've Spotted" and "We Spotted," which features photographs from Tribune staff and gives the community the opportunity to post photographs. Photographs posted by Tribune staff are available for purchase through the Web site on products ranging from photo reprints to coffee mugs, buttons and mousepads.

A multi-media forum allows readers to view slideshows, videos and soundbites, adding an interactive element to the daily news and special events.

Beerbower will continue working with Rust Communications to add new features to the site, such as "Meet Your Neighbors," a virtual neighborhood service, and "Legacy," multi-media obituary tributes.

"We want this site to be more than an expansion, or a compliment, to The Fort Scott Tribune," Beerbower said. "We want it to be a community site as well. The site is designed to be the first place community members look to find what they want and need."

In the coming weeks, The Fort Scott Tribune will sell advertising space on the site. Businesses interested in reaching a mass audience should contact a Fort Scott Tribune advertising consultant.

For further convenience to Fort Scott Tribune readers, PayPal is now available as a payment option for subscribers and advertisers.