By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Herald launching a new and improved Web site
Placeholder Image

Starting today, the Effingham Herald’s Web site will take on a whole new look.

The Herald will be including, in addition to the stories and information on the people and places of Effingham County, more photos and now, even video. And also will be including a wide array of reader submissions, particularly photos and weblogs, also called blogs.

“I’m very excited about our new Web site,” Herald Publisher Karen Tanksley said. “We will not only be able to include stories that are in the Effingham Herald, but with our new Web site, we can bring you breaking news. We now have the ability to compete with dailies and other media by posting stories on the Web site instead of waiting to bring you that news on publication days.

“It also gives our readers the opportunity to become much more interactive. Post a blog, respond to a story one of our writers has posted or download a photo you want to share with the readers on our photo gallery.”

The online address for the Web site remains www.effinghamherald.net.

Visitors to the Herald’s Web site have been able to follow a link to the new site, where they have been able to get a sneak peek at what’s about to be offered. Herald staff, along with the Morris Technology development team, have been working on the new site for several weeks. Herald staffers also now have video cameras at their disposal and also digital voice recorders.

“With our old site, stories only stayed up for an issue and with no archives, once they were gone from the site, they were gone,” Herald Editor Pat Donahue said. “Now, we’ll have searchable archives for our readers and Web site users.

“What I really like is our readers and site visitors will be able to add, under our ‘Community’ section, their own photo galleries and blogs to the Herald site,” Donahue said. “That makes it a true Community section.”

The blogs will be monitored and the Herald print edition will feature selected reader-submitted blogs and photos.

“We really hope our readers not only visit the new Web site but also take part in it, too,” Donahue said.

The new Web site also could be good for business, in more ways than one.

“This also gives our advertisers another way to get their message out,” Tanksley said. “We will have several sizes and types of advertising venues on our Web site.”

Visitors to the site today will be able to see video from such events as the Relay for Life, the Olde Effingham Days festival, and the Effingham County-Ware County and South Effingham-Hephzibah baseball games.