One of the first rules in dealing with customers — whether you’re promoting nails, nuts or newspapers — is to under-promise and over-deliver.
And we kept this rule in mind when we — with little fanfare — launched our reworked Web site earlier this week.
Our old one wasn’t bad, mind you. It was the No. 1 local Web site in Clark County. So we were humming along quite nicely.
Still, it was in need of improvement.
So our relaunch was relatively quiet. We kept thinking: Under-promise and over-deliver. And the way to do that is to have a soft launch.
Restaurants do this all the time. They open their doors with little fanfare, work out the bugs, then begin large advertising campaigns (with The Columbian, of course) to let everyone know they’re ready.
That was our approach as well.
On Tuesday, we swung the doors open.
Wow!
Now, I won’t say I was wrong on this soft opening approach, but it has gone pretty dang well. Honest!
And if numbers are any indication, we’re getting some great traffic. Folks appear interested.
Want proof? Before the launch, we were getting about 60,000 page views and 14,000 unique visitors a day.
As a comparison, a local blogger with a Web page might get 500 page views and 100 or so unique visitors. Before all my blogger friends e-mail me, these local blogger numbers are just estimates. I’m sure a few local bloggers do much better than this.
But back to our numbers. On our launch day, we went from 60,000 to 100,000 page views and went from 14,000 to 30,000 unique visitors.
We don’t expect those numbers to hold, but, my goodness, sweet success.
Now, why do so many people come to our site? On one level, it’s because of the reputation we’ve built over the past 100-plus years as the local newspaper. No one else brings you the depth and perspective of local news.
And our newspaper’s reputation has transferred to our Web site. Our site brings you that same depth and perspective of local news.
But our Web site can do much more. And it does.
One of the key aspects of our new Web site will be to build “communities.” We’ll be able to create interest groups for folks who want to talk, discuss and debate their particular interest.
In a small way, we’re doing that now. If you’re reading a story online, you have the ability to comment on it, as do others. In a very real way, you’ve formed a community or group that’s interested in discussing that topic.
The same is true with our blogs.
For now, our upgrade has created a more stable site. It should work smoothly on a regular basis. Also, you now have the ability to do things like rate stories, create a personal wall and upload your photo if you want folks to know you look just like George Clooney.
I would encourage you to register on our site. One can view our site without registering, but registering opens up so many more doors.
If you want to comment on a story or be a part of these emerging communities we’re building, registering will be necessary.
There’s much more, of course. You should head over to www.columbian.com. and take a peek. In the upper right-hand corner of our home page is a place you can click on to take a tour.
Let us know what you think. And after you’ve registered, you can comment on what I just had to say. I’m usually around to talk with you.
Lou Brancaccio is The Columbian’s editor. Reach him at 360-735-4505 or lou.brancaccio@columbian.com.
