Valley newspapers add online account manager

by AMANDA NEWMAN of the Canby Herald

CANBY, Ore.—Stacey Osborne is taking a step into the future, and bringing five newspapers along with her.

As the new online account manager for the five mid-Willamette Valley publications of Eagle Newspapers, Inc., Osborne will help bring local advertising to the Web and usher in a new era of video advertising.

The five newspapers—the Canby Herald, The Newberg Graphic, the Molalla Pioneer, the Wilsonville Spokesman and the Woodburn Independent—are in the midst of a Web site transformation that will allow them to take advantage of modern Internet tools such as videos, photo galleries, reader comments, e-mail updates and more. Osborne will handle the advertising component of the sites.

“To me, there’s nothing better for communication in a community than the local newspaper,” Osborne said. “What other place are you going to go to locally to find any information about your community?”

Online newspaper advertising, she added, is a great deal. “It’s the best exposure out there—everyone has a computer nowadays.”

Osborne is new to the newspaper business but has about 15 years of marketing experience under her belt, in a variety of roles. She worked in sales and graphic design for TransWestern Publishing and was marketing director for RB Rubber in McMinnville.

When she heard about the position with Eagle Newspapers, she said, she was excited about the opportunity to reach five communities and to explore the world of online advertising. “It was very exciting to me,” she said. “It was something I wanted to be a part of.”

Osborne said she is especially looking forward to the possibility of video ads, which she said should be available three or four months down the line. “That’s a whole new ballpark,” she said. “I’m really excited to inform people about that and get (it) going.”

She is also eager to “get out into the communities,” meet existing clients and make new contacts. She has 20 main advertising spots to fill across the five Web sites, along with additional slots on breaking news stories and e-mail updates, but said she doesn’t think she’ll have any difficulty finding takers.

And she shouldn’t have much trouble relating to the communities she will work in, with their many golf courses and rodeo events. A former barrel racer, Osborne says she loves horses, rodeos, golfing and spending time with her family. A native Oregonian, she lives in McMinnville with her husband and three children, ages 18, 16 and 12.

As the new Web sites debut throughout the summer, she’ll make her presence known in the communities.

Five Willamette Valley newspapers add features to updated Web sites 

by John Baker, editor, Canby Herald

CANBY, Ore.—The Canby Herald has launched an ambitious project to not only revamp its Web look, but to present the news, sports, features and other content on the Web site in a new and energetic way.

The first step in that process, of course, was to completely change the look of the Herald’s web presence, a process that culminated mid-month with a quiet rollout of the new site.

The Herald is the flagship property in a project that will also encompass sister Eagle newspapers in Woodburn, Newberg, Molalla and Wilsonville.

The Canby Herald’s new Web site design will provide readers with an easier navigation of the site, a fuller range of services and more opportunities to participate and advertise.

A few of the new components are the ability to comment and rate stories, photo slideshows with some stories, an easier and more functional submission ability, breaking news alerts and more. It won’t be long until we add video and audio capabilities to the site as well.

There’s too much new going on with the Canby Herald Web site to mention it all here, but rest assured it’s a site with a lot more horsepower under the hood than our previous site.

“The news staff is very excited about the site’s capabilities to instantly get stories and photos on the Web, allowing us to be more reactive to local news and events,” said John Baker, editor of the Canby Herald.

“This is a huge step in the right direction for us as a community newspaper and once we add the audio and video capabilities to the site, it should be a lot of fun for the staff and our readers.

“Once we’re all up and running, which should be in a matter of weeks, we’re going to try to expand our coverage to include more regional and county stories that will be of interest within our network,” said Baker. “This is a chance to do things like we’ve never done them before and in a way that very few community newspapers are doing them now. It’s a project filled with opportunity and we’re thrilled to be up and running.”