You may have noticed something different with Marion Online. Starting November 1, 2012, we have a slightly new look. While the site contains nearly everything the old site did, this new look comes with ability to offer some new features. Even with all the newness, our site is still completely free for viewers.
There are lots of small changes and tweaks and some larger changes. We also have plans for some new things in the very near future, which accounts for some of the “holes” you may discover on the new site.
Some of the new features that are up and running include:
- Revamped Photo Galleries
We’ve never been happy with how our photo galleries worked, but we are very happy now. Along with a new system that is easier for us and looks better for you, we are also bringing back galleries featuring photos from viewers. Right now we are looking for your Halloween photos, but we’ll expand this to include various images from our community’s talented photographers.The re-design will also allow us to place photo galleries right into stories. You can find an example with our story on the recent hot wing eating contest by clicking here. - Email Newsletters
A long, long time ago, Marion Online had a regular newsletter. Ok, it wasn’t really that regular, but it did go out once in a while. We have brought back our newsletters and they include daily and weekly news updates and a monthly (we hope) update.The daily and weekly news updates will come to your email box daily or weekly (obviously) and will include news headlines from the previous 24 hours or the previous week. These are automatic and you can make them stop whenever you want.The monthly newsletter will be an update on what is happening at Marion Online. We’ll highlight some popular stories from the previous month, talk about upcoming features, and hope to include special offers and giveaways only available to our subscribers.Don’t miss out! Sign up for the newsletters here!
- Popular Posts & Related Posts
We now have a little list of the most popular posts on Marion Online. The data is currently from the previous 24 hours, but this section will probably be tweaked a bit as we move forward.We also added an automated list of related posts below each story. While these results may sometimes seem odd, we hope they will help you find other stories that interest you. - Events Calendar Upgrades
We have revamped our Events Calendar, not only with a new look, but also with some new features. You can now add events to many of your personal calendars or Google Calendar. If you click on “Read More” you can find more details on each event including (for many events) a map of the location. - Social Media Tools
Below each story you will now find a bar of social media sharing links that says “Share the Knowledge” which will allow you to easily share our stories with your friends and family. Not a big social media user? That’s ok because there are also options for sending an email and for getting a printer-friendly version of the story.
What’s Next for Marion Online
We have a few more features that we are preparing for Marion Online. Things we are looking at include comments, more frequent contests, video, and more interaction with viewers. While these are all possibilities, nothing is yet set in stone.
As always, we invite your feedback and input into what we offer and things you would like to see. Feel free to send us a message through our Contact Us form anytime. Frankly, we’re sure we missed some things in our re-design. If you come across something that needs fixed, please let us know.
We Need Your Help
We have received a lot of response to the newspaper’s decision to start charging viewers to access their website. While we understand their decision, and know that it was not one made by local staff and reporters, we continue to operate a free site for the community.
To keep Marion Online free and operating, we rely on advertisers. That’s where you, the viewer can help. We need you to tell businesses that you come in contact with that Marion Online is important to you. We need you to urge them to spend some of their advertising dollars with Marion’s largest source of free online news and information.
If you would like information on advertising with Marion Online, just click here and fill out the quick form. We are no pressure people and won’t badger you into buying. Instead, we’ll provide you details on pricing and the value we provide.
