Eureka-Wildwood Patch: One Year Ago (video)

A year ago today, I dug into learning about the technological capabilities of this new, online community resource called "Patch." Today is technically my one year anniversary with the news site.

Between then and when the site was launched last November, we built the free directory listings for businesses, schools, nonprofits and religious entities into which you've been tapping. The directory, now called Places, became the most comprehensive online directory for our area. It is anchored with immediate mapping services, making it super easy to spot the locations of participating listings. Let those entities listed know how they are doing by posting reviews and deciding how many "stars" to give each one.

Business owners and organizational managers can claim their related listings for free, and then add photos, videos, coupons, special offers and anything else they'd like customers and patrons to know.

We also created our first content and set up the Facebook community, which now is a large community of nearly 800. Since launching, we added Tweeting and blogging.

Many readers indicate they appreciate and use our calendar of events. Have you checked it out for daily and weekly possibilities? If you represent a group that needs to communicate public functions, you can create your own calendar entry or announcements—it's all complimentary as a community service.

And don't forget that a classifieds section awaits all on Patch who are looking for good bargains.

Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to Eureka-Wildwood Patch in the variety of ways possible.

Please review this video, which highlights our community. Many of you may not have seen it prior. Please e-mail any feedback and new suggestions you have for the news site to Julie.Patton@Patch.com. Let me know what you'd like to see more of, or what type of content and articles would most benefit you.

Following is a reproduction of the initial column that accompanied the video.

Hi, I'm , your editor for Eureka-Wildwood Patch. It's an honor to be able to cover our community in one of the most customized, local ways possible. 

After several weeks of preparation, support from you for the first Facebook page devoted specifically to Wildwood and Eureka, and many conversations about future news and events, our very own Patch is live.

We will provide you with local news, events and business developments that are exclusive to and .  Consider Patch an objective voice for, and from, our community that is available for you 24/7. Through our team of writers, we'll post useful items every day, including breaking news, sports, features, columns, city government updates, announcements and other interesting tidbits all about Wildwood and Eureka. 

Check out our robust calendar of events, and our new directory listings for local businesses, schools, institutions, groups and organizations.  It's all fresh information, based on work done by local researchers. In fact, this directory represents the most comprehensive listing available online for Wildwood and Eureka.

The Eureka-Wildwood Patch site is an online community where you also can react and interact.  Feel free to add your own comments to items posted there, or to ask questions and engage with other Patch readers.  We hope you will write restaurant reviews, add your own photos or videos, post classifieds and share details about the community events you plan.  Your opinions and comments are not only welcome, they're essential.

We also hope you will join our Facebook conversations and sign up for breaking news and daily or weekly notifications.

Please feel free to comment on everything, and e-mail me with story ideas, concerns or good karma. Reach me through comments on the site, e-mail at Julie.Patton@patch.com, call me at 314-873-8014 or drop a line on Facebook and Twitter.

Be sure to engage with Patch so you don't miss a thing!

See you soon.