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Comment changes

By Howard B. Owens

Our comments section has changed just a bit.

Users who have photos uploaded to their profiles will now have their pictures appear with their comments.

We've also added a system for you to vote for comments. Right now, under each comment an up and down arrow appears. If you like a comment, vote it up; if not, vote it down.

Unrelated, sort of, overnight, there was a technical glitch with the server and comment threads on a couple of posts were lost. If you notice some comments from yesterday are missing, this was nothing intentional.

The Batavian site update

By Howard B. Owens

This morning you're seeing a slightly revised home page for The Batavian. It's no radical change -- we didn't get away from the basic layout, which has proven an easy format for readers to read and a successful model for the ads of local businesses -- but the design is a little cleaner.

We also added a long- and much-requested feature, a Facebook "like" button on stories (we need one on individual comments, too, but that will take some time yet to institute).

The other significant change is how ads are displayed. Except for the few premium positions on the site, the ads will now randomly shuffle on the page every time you load the page.  

In other words, you visit the home page and then come back later and reload it the ads on the left and the right that are part of the shuffle system will all change locations.

It's a random redistribution of the ads on the page ensuring each local business's ad gets mathematically equal appearances at each position on the page, from the top to the bottom.

Previously, I had to manually move the ads around about once a day.  

Giving ads an equal distribution should in itself lead to more clicks on ads. Also, the human eye is naturally drawn to things that change on a web page, so people who visit the site will see a different order of ads each visit.  

One last note, there was some bad code in the old site's layout. The new site has a fresh set of code controlling the layout, which should add (and initial feedback seems to be indicating this is true) a bit of improvement in the home page's load time.

Thank you to our IT guy, Nick, a Batavia resident, for his work on the redesign. We have more improvements to the site planned.

Most-viewed posts on The Batavian for July 2011

By Howard B. Owens

Here are the most viewed posts for July 2011:

July was a record traffic month for The Batavian, beating out records set in August 2010.

Visits: 335,359
Page Views: 601,325
Unique Visitors: 81,875

For comparison sake, the August 2010 numbers:

Visits: 256,391
Page Views: 443,330
Unique Visitors: 70,638

I knew I hadn't posted the most-read posts for a little while, but was surprised to find I hadn't done it since January. After the jump, the missing months.

June 2011:

May 2011: 

April 2011:

March 2011:

February 2011

Love The Batavian? Thank a sponsor.

By Howard B. Owens

It's always gratifying when I'm at some public event and a fan of The Batavian comes up to me and tells me how much he or she loves the site. The word "addiction" pops up frequently.

Often times I remind the fan, "If you love The Batavian, tell our sponsors."

With out the local businesses who support The Batavian, the site wouldn't exist.

So, please, when you shop or dine, try to support a local business first, and the local businesses you should support first and foremost are the ones that help keep The Batavian going.

To help you in your quest to support sponsors of The Batavian, here's an updated list:

A.D. Call and Sons
Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle
Alabama Hotel
Alberty Drug Store
Alex's Place
Alli's Cones and Dogs
Baker's Frontier Kitchens
Barrett's Batavia Marine and Sporting Supplies
Batavia Downs
Batavia Muckdogs
Beds 'n' Bones Pet Lodge
Beverly's Florist
Bohn's Restaurant
Bontrager's Auction
Bontrager's Real Estate
Bourbon & Burger Co.
Carlson's Studio
CASA
Cedar St. Sales and Rentals
Center Street Smokehouse
Classic Home Improvements
Clor's Meat Market
Cookies & Milk
Computer & Phone Repair
Crazy Cheap Cars
Cruiser's Creamery
D&R Depot Restaurant
Dan's Tire
Delavan's Restaurant and Tavern
The Detail Shop
Dupont TV
Empire Tractor
The Enchanted Florist
Espresso Salads and Subs
EZ Budget Insurance
Fastec Automotive
Fedora's Diner
Ficarella's Pizzeria
Foxprowl Collectibles
Genesee Community College
Genesee County Emergency Services
Genesee Country Farmers Market
Genesee Dental Group
Genesee Graphics
Gilmartin
Glass Roots
Grammy's Laundry
Greens of LeRoy
H.E. Turner & Co.
Hardcor Audio
Hawley's Hots
High Voltage Tattoo
Holy Family School
I.R. Systems
The Insurance Center
J. Leonard McAndrew
Jagged Edges Salon
John's Service Station
Ken Barrett
KleenAll
Kraving's Kafe
Kreative Design Kitchen & Bath
L.C. Mosman
Lamb Family Medicine
Larry's Steakhouse
Lathan Tree Service
Le Roy Hearth and Home
Lei-Ti Campground
LPL Financial
Main St. Pizza Company
Making Memories of Travel
The Mane Attraction
The Manor House
Mark Lewis Agency
Matteo & Mullen, CPA
Max Pies
Michael Tomaszewski
Millennium Computer
Minty Wellness
Next Level Fitness
Nothnagle - Danielle Torcello
Nothnagle - Frank Minuto
O'Lacy's Irish Pub
Oliver's Candies
Optique
Pauly's Pizza
Pellegrino Auto Sales
Planned Parenthood
Present Tense Books
Pudgie's Lawn and Garden Center
Red Osier
Russell Marchese, DDS
Scofield Roll-Off Service
Scratch Bakery
Select Collision
Settler's Restaurant
South Beach
South Main Country Store
Stafford Trading Post
Southside Deli
Terry Hills
The Finishing Line
Tim Kabel Building
T.F. Brown's
Valle Jewelers
Viking Valhalla/Rose Bowl
Windy Woods Custom Design
West Main Wine & Spirits
WNY Fireplace Outlet
Yassess Construction
Zoom N Groom Dog Grooming

The Batavian gets national attention after tweet by Brad Paisley

By Howard B. Owens

A tweet by country artist Brad Paisley has turned a local event into national news.

On July 23, Paisley played a show at Darien Lake and 14 people were arrested and another 56 received citations for alleged underage drinking.

Paisley's tweet: "Quite a performance in Darrien Lakes (sic) Saturday. We also played music..." 

And he included a link to a local news outlet.

The tweet has led to coverage in CMT, Country Weekly and The Tennessean, among others, as well as debates and discussions on country music radio about underage drinking and media outlets that publish such information.

For the record, Paisley's link went to this story on The Batavian: Brad Paisley fans arrested in droves at Darien Lake.

Coverage across the nation linked to The Batavian (even if the stories kept referring to our online-only site as "the local paper" and "the local newspaper." (Thanks to The Tennessean for correcting its references to The Batavian.)

I only mention this as a factual correction to coverage in another media outlet. Another news outlet based in Batavia left these facts out of its coverage of how national media is reporting on the arrests. Not to brag, but it wouldn't even be a national story if not for Brad's tweet, and the tweet was a response to coverage on The Batavian, not elsewhere. Just so you know.

NYC bound

By Howard B. Owens

Shortly I'll be on the road to Buffalo to catch a flight to New York City.

While I'm gone, breaking news will be covered by Billie and WBTA.

I return Sunday.

In NYC, I'll be the guest of the New York Times and New York University for an event called the "Hyperlocal Conclave."

"Hyperlocal" is this made-up word that all of the news industry uses now without really understanding what it means to describe news sites like The Batavian. I think what we do is just good, old-fashioned -- the way newspapers used to do it -- local journalism. But it's such a radical concept -- to concentrate coverage on just one community, even though it's very old school, that the industry had to give a name to the business model.

The Batavian is unique among "hyperlocal" news sites in that it actually makes money -- not a lot, but we keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. There's only a handful of other sites in the United States that can make the same claim. So, when these conferences come up, I periodically get invited to talk about how and why we can get sponsorships from, say, more than 100 local businesses.

Obviously, I'm proud what what we've done with The Batavian and continue to be grateful for the support of the community, readers and advertisers. Thank you.

While in NYC, my short stay will be concentrated in the area around NYU, which I think is Greenwich Village/Soho -- an area of the city that I've never seen much of before.

Here's my title

By Walter Reed

This is my information I want to share on The Batavian.

Make a change.

Tutorial: How to embed a video on The Batavian

By Howard B. Owens

We used to have a series of tutorial videos, but they became outdated. For some time, I've wanted to remake them and this weekend got a chance to start on that project.

Since we have so many questions on how to post a video in a comment, I thought that ought to be the first topic to cover.

A weekend off, more or less

By Howard B. Owens

My parents are flying into Buffalo tonight and will be spending Saturday and Sunday in Batavia. Much of our weekend, then, will be taken up with showing them the beauty and wonders of Genesee County. We'll do some sightseeing on Saturday, and on Sunday, Billie and my mom are going shopping and I'm taking my dad to the Batavia Muckdogs game.

Alecia Kaus, a local freelance journalist (she shoots a lot of news video for Buffalo and Rochester TV stations) will monitor the scanner for us and report anything that needs to be reported. If something big breaks, well, we'll figure out how to handle that if it happens.

Of course, I'll still be around and check in on the site from time to time.

It should be a beautiful Saturday and we're hoping it doesn't rain on Sunday. Have a nice weekend, and to all the dads, Happy Father's Day.

The photos are from a short little drive I took this afternoon. Top, a cloud disperses the sun's rays over West Main Street Road, and below, a duel stand of trees on South Main Road (which, as many times as I've driven down this street, I've never noticed before).

Welcome to The Batavian: Lisa Ace

By Howard B. Owens

We've hired new marketing and sales coordinator at The Batavian.

She's Lisa Ace, a resident of Batavia who has a wealth of experience in marketing and graphic design.

Ace, originally from Utica, moved to Batavia 13 years ago to attend GCC. She stayed after meeting Chris, a native of Stafford.

After they got married, they decided to stay in Genesee County.

Ace has worked locally at the Batavia Daily News and p.w. minor in marketing and graphics. She's also done free-lance work for a variety of clients.

She has a degree in design from Buffalo State College.

Her hobbies include making beaded jewelry, baking and her two cats.

Ace replaces Ethan Thompson, who has accepted a one-year scholarship for a Christian education opportunity in the Adriondacks.  

So, best wishes and congratulations to Ethan and welcome, Lisa!

The Batavian Challenge: Polls open at 6 a.m., so go vote

By Howard B. Owens

The Board of Election site provides a complete list of polling places in Genesee County.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., so if you're registered to vote, there's pretty much no excuse not to show up at your polling place today.

Even if you're fed up with the race, turned off by the robo calls and the greasy commercials, go vote. Turn in a blank ballot if you must.

This is shaping up to be a VERY tight race. Unlike any congressional race in this area for a long, long time, your vote carries more weight and counts like never before. Don't miss you chance to cast a ballot that really matters. Genesee County voters, especially, could make all of the difference in the race.

Here's the lastest on The Batavian challenge (pledges paid to local charities if Genesee County leads all counties in the NY-26 in voter turn out):

The Batavian, $100 to the Genesee Justice Foundation.

Jeff Allen, $100 to Care-A-Van Ministries.

Dan Jones, $26 dollars to Care-A-Van Ministries and another $26 dollars to the USO.

Dave Olsen, $25 tor GJ and $50 for The Loyola Recovery Foundation.

Joanne Rock has pledged $25 to GJ.

Lorie Longhany, $26 to the Child Advocacy Center wing of Genesee Justice.

Ricky G. Hale, a local plumber, has pledged $100 to Genesee Justice.

District Attorney Lawrence Friedman has pledged $1,000 -- with $500 going to the Genesee Justice Foundation and $500 going to Justice For Children GLOW Foundation. Any other members of the legal community like to step forward?

Ken Mistler pledged $100 for Volunteers for Animals.

County Clerk Don Read has pledged $100 for Crossroads House. 

James Renfrew has pledged $50 for Genesee Justice.

Chris Charvella has pledged $50 to Loyola Recovery.

That's more than $1,700 in pledges.  

Genesee County is counting on you to vote today.

The Batavian Challenge: An election in the national spotlight

By Howard B. Owens

Three or four years ago I was in Washington, D.C. to speak at some journalism conference and I stopped into the office of Reason, the libertarian magazine. A good friend of mine, Matt Welch, had recently moved to D.C. to become editor-in-chief of Reason.

I ended up going to dinner with the entire Reason crew, which included, at the time Dave Weigel, which is how we met.

Dave is now a national political correspondent for Slate Magazine (an online magazine).

Because of a piece Dave did about Jack Davis, I figured out that Dave was apparently hanging out in WNY. I got in touch with Dave and said, "You really need to come out to Batavia, the heartland of the district."

Late yesterday afternoon, I got a call from Dave. He was on his way to Rochester for yet another dreary campaign event but decided his limited amount of time might be better spent in Batavia.

I called Bill Kauffman, Elba resident, nationally known political/history author and former Reason editor, and it was agreed we'd all meet at O'Lacy's (I would have loved to have taken Dave around to more places and shown him more of the town (though I did show him our "urban renewal" project), but he was on a tight schedule.

Dave interviewed co-owner Kent Ewell, above. Below center is Bill Dougherty with Bill Kauffman.

That's a long way of saying -- yup, the eyes of the nation are on the NY-26.

And our goal is to get the people in Genesee County out to vote on May 24. Let's show the nation we care about who is elected to represent us.

It's a close special election, every vote counts, so vote.

If Genesee County leads the district in voter turn out, The Batavian will donate $100 to Genesee Justice.  

Other pledges made so far: 

Jeff Allen has offered to match it with $100 to Care-A-Van Ministries; Dan Jones has offered to match it with $26 dollars to Care-A-Van ministries and another $26 dollars to the USO; and Dave Olsen is offer a $25 matching donation for GJ plus donate $50 to The Loyola Recovery Foundation.

Lorie Longhany has pledged $26 to the Child Advocacy Center wing of Genesee Justice; Ricky G. Hale, a local plumber, has pledged $100 to Genesee Justice and challenged other business owners to step forward with pledges; JoAnne Rock has pledged $25 to Genesee Justice.

District Attorney Lawrence Friedman has pledged $1,000 -- with $500 going to the Genesee Justice Foundation and $500 going to Justice For Children GLOW Foundation. Any other members of the legal community like to step forward?

Ken Mistler pledged $100 for Volunteers for Animals.

County Clerk Don Read has pledged $100 for Crossroads House. 

In round numbers, we're up to $1,650 in donations. Who wants to step forward today and make it $2,000?

 

Photo: Visitors to The Batavian office

By Howard B. Owens

Late this afternoon, I returned to my office and no sooner had I sat down and put my fingers on the keyboard of my laptop then I hear a voice from downstairs, "Howard?"

You know, sometimes how you think you hear somebody calling your name but nobody is? This wasn't one of those times.

I walked over to the top of the stairs and Jim Lewis tells me his son, 10-year-old Nick, spotted me walking into the office and wanted to say hello.

So I invited the Lewis trio up to the office, and with a fan of The Batavian like Nick, well, I thought he should get his picture on The Batavian.

With Nick and Jim is Adrianna, 8. Both Nick and Adrianna are students at John Kennedy.

The Batavian Challenge: Let's get out the vote on May 24

By Howard B. Owens

In a special election, voter turnout is usually low.

That means, your vote counts more.

All eyes are on the NY-26 special election. Let's show the nation Genesee County cares about who is elected to represent us.

The Batavian has pledged $100 to the Genesee Justice Foundation if Genesee County can lead all counties in the NY-26 in voter turnout. 

In response, several others have pledge donations to various charities:

Jeff Allen has offered to match it with $100 to Care-A-Van Ministries; Dan Jones has offered to match it with $26 dollars to Care-A-Van ministries and another $26 dollars to the USO; and Dave Olson is offer a $25 matching donation for GJ plus donate $50 to The Loyola Recovery Foundation.

New donation offers: Lorie Longhany has pledged $26 to the Child Advocacy Center wing of Genesee Justice; Ricky G. Hale, a local plumber, has pledged $100 to Genesee Justice and challenged other business owners to step forward with pledges.

We're now up to $423 in pledges for local charities.

Can we get it to $1,000? Who else wants to jump in? Leave a comment or email me at howard {at} thebatavian dot com (let me know if you don't want your name used).

Remember, this is about getting out the vote, not about who you're voting for. If you don't like any of the candidates, you can always just turn in a blank ballot. That sends a message, too.

UPDATE 9:22 a.m.: District Attorney Lawrence Friedman has pledged $1,000 -- with $500 going to the Genesee Justice Foundation and $500 going to Justice For Children GLOW Foundation. Any other members of the legal community like to step forward?

UPDATE 10:15 a.m.: Ken Mistler just pledged $100 for Volunteers for Animals.

UPDATE 10:40 a.m.: County Clerk Don Read has pledged $100 for Crossroads House. That puts us up to $1,623. Any others?

The Batavian Election Challenge: Let's lead the district in voter turn out

By Howard B. Owens

Special elections are normally sleepy little affairs where turn out is low and hardly anybody outside of the district really cares who wins.

The NY-26 special election is getting national attention.

Let's show the country that Genesee County cares about who is elected to represent us.

Regardless of who you support, be sure to vote next Tuesday.

If Genesee County can achieve the highest voter turnout as a percentage of registered voters of any county in the 26th district, The Batavian will donate $100 to the Genesee Justice Foundation.

If others would like to sign on to the voter challenge pledge to benefit Genesee Justice, or the charity of your choice, send me an e-mail (address in the footer of this Web page) or leave a comment.

Remember, it's not important who you vote for. It's important that you vote. If you want to abstain, at least turn in a blank ballot.

The Batavian now part of 'Authentically Local' campaign

By Howard B. Owens

If you happened to scroll to the bottom of the home page within the past few days, you might noticed the little emblem to the left showing up there.

A couple of months ago, myself and a couple of other local site owners started a Facebook group where we could discuss business and content issues among ourselves -- an industry group, if you will. Up until then, there really was no central location for independent local site owners to gather.

One of the members, Debbie Galant, co-owner of Baristanet, based in New Jersey, and one of very first local, online-only news sites, mentioned she owned this domain name: authenticallylocal.com and shouldn't we use it to promote not only local ownership of news sites, but local ownership of businesses in general.

For launch, 30 local news sites, including The Batavian, signed on to the Authentically Local campaign.

Regular readers know how heartily we push the idea of shopping first at locally owned businesses. When you shop local, more of your money stays in your local community were it can do the most good, and you're helping your friends and relatives enjoy a better quality of life.

Well, it turns out, I'm not the only local news site owner who thinks that way.

The difference for The Batavian is that so far we haven't faced the intense competition some of my colleagues are dealing with from well-funded national chains. For them, Authentically Local is a chance to remind readers and advertisers that with their sites, advertising dollars stay in the community, and that the owners are partners as well as neighbors.

These are values Billie and I share, but it's a critical message for the sites facing competition from the "Walmarts of the news industry," as Galant has put it.

Locally owned businesses in Genesee County are welcome to add the badge to their own Web sites.

Taking care of business

By Howard B. Owens

Sorry for the lack of posts today.  

This morning after covering something in Le Roy (will post tonight or tomorrow), I realized that if I went back to the office and started posting I'd get stuck in the office all day. I had very important business matters to attend to today, so I decided I just had to make that a priority and make sure that work was done.

Now, I'll start posting.

Introducing 'Milestones'

By Howard B. Owens

We've added a new section to the site: "Milestones."

It's a place were you can post those important events in your life or the lives of friends and relatives, such as births, engagements, weddings, graduations, dean's list, military service, promotions, etc.

To post to "Milestones" you must be registered and logged in. Once logged in, go to the "Create Content" link and then click on "Blog Entry." Tag your post "milestones" and once it's saved it will automatically show up in that section.

Social media for local businesses

By Howard B. Owens

Local businesses can now use The Batavian to help promote their social media marketing efforts.

Glance down the right side rail of local ads and you'll find two boxes, one with links to the Facebook pages of local businesses and another to promote the Twitter feeds of local businesses.

Social media is becoming a powerful tool for small businesses to connect with customers and one of our primary goals at The Batavian is to help local businesses use the Internet intelligently.

Besides offering the best online advertising program in the region, working with local businesses in their social media efforts helps us further that goal.

If your business already has a presence on Facebook or Twitter, call Howard Owens at 260-6970 to find out how to get a link added to our Facebook and Twitter boxes. And if you haven't put your business on Facebook or Twitter yet, call us and we'll help you get started. We can even manage your social media efforts for your business.

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