HomeTown Times.com - Full Feed

Editorial Policy

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:14:35 UT

What we Publish
We are happy to publish news, events, announcements, and any other local information that is of interest and helpful to the local community. It can encompass anything you might find in a printed newspaper, magazine or newsletter, including up-to-the-minute news. We also publish business spotlight articles about local businesses in the area. If you have a business that you would like us to write about, please contact us at spotlight@hometowntimes.com

How We Operate
Each Hometown Times news publication is a community center for local news, and is open to the public. All submissions are received by local editors and reviewed prior to publishing. Each site has a minimum of one editor dedicated to the site. The editor and up to 3 journalists live, work, and play in the community.

Additionally, we have a managing editorial staff that monitors the content placed on the sites, and manages the process of sharing content across multiple sites.

Where We Get Our Content
Our content comes from you. When we all participate as a community, we all benefit. Try as we might, we cannot be everywhere to cover every event that happens in the area, so we depend on you to submit announcements, press releases, and story ideas. Additionally, we are happy to publish press releases and community information from official Public Information Officers of official organizations without edits. We also canvas the web daily for news, blogs, and information that might lead to great story idea, but in the end its you, the community, that keeps us busy every day.

Editorial Policy
If you have something to announce, or anything to say, please send it to us at editor@hometowntimes.com and it will be published, subject to the following editorial guidelines:

HometownTimes is driven by public participation. It is where YOU can shine. We provide an outlet for you to reach a large audience in your town when you need it most. We freely accept content from everyone, and will treat all input with equal respect.

HometownTimes does NOT itself editorialize. We believe that bias already has a way of creeping into the news even when the writer has the best of intentions. For this reason, we do our best to avoid expressing any opinions of our own. Opinions expressed on this website are always opinions of our readers, not HometownTimes.com.

If you disagree with any opinion published on this site, the best answer is to submit an opinion of your own. We will give all submissions equal respect.

Our intent is to serve our readers. If you can read this, this means you. We publish all contributions unedited unless we find the content objectionable, mean spirited, grammatically challenged, or well known to be simply false. If we do receive content of this nature, we will ask the author to edit the submission and offer suggestions, with the full intent to refine and publish.

Our policy applies to any entity, business or personal. We provide a level playing field, open to all contributors. Anyone is free and encouraged to submit content to the site, but nothing is published without our approval, to ensure we have a clean, informative resource for your area.

Our site is supported by advertising from local businesses. Submissions intended to advertise a business may be published at our discretion.

Although we reserve the right to refuse content for any reason. It is our ultimate goal to avoid doing so.

Tips on Submitting Content to Us - What we Can and Cannot Publish

We can publish press releases, media advisories, and announcements that are free and pen content intended for the media to publish.
We can publish options or “letters to the editor” written by you.
We cannot re-publish articles from other media outlets. They are the property of the publication or the author. Those require permission, and if obtained, written authorization from the source should be included.

Writing 101

Style, grammar, punctuation, and consistency are all very important to producing a quality publication. We appreciate your best efforts to fit within the quality of articles that you see on the site today. The less amount of time our editors need to spend “editing: your article, the more likely it is that it will be published quickly.

Here are some ‘Dos, and Don'ts:

Do target your article to fall in the range of 100-300 words.
Don’t use all caps. It’s very hard to read words in all caps and doesn’t come across as professional.
Do send pictures along with your articles.
Don’t over use the bold, underline and italics features. It becomes distracting. As a rule, through, italicize book titles, media outlets (magazines, newspapers, etc.) and movie titles.
Don’t use multiple exclamation marks and use single ones sparingly.

And once more, just to be crystal clear: Opinions expressed on this site are not necessarily those of the HometownTimes.com staff.

Online Advertising Outpaces Other Media

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:47:10 UT

Online advertising outpaces other media

Internet Advertising Spend is Historic

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:43:42 UT

internet advertising spend

Sponsor a Newspaper

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 15:07:00 UT

Want to see a HometownTimes newspaper covering your community? We are pleased to announce our sponsorship program. Hometown Times will build, maintain, and operate a fully functional community newspaper for your community or hometown, and you can enjoy exclusive advertising as well as profit sharing benefits.

This is a great way for you to give back to your community!

Our approach to sponsorship is a true partnership arrangement. We take care of the logistics and the management, you help cover the costs, we both share in the profits.

Here's how it works:

With your financial support, HometownTimes will build, maintain, and operate an online newspaper in your community. You need only sit back and watch it grow!

We will hire and manage a dedicated editor who knows and lives in the community
We will build a pipeline of local community news
We will sell advertising in the community to offset the costs
You will enjoy exclusive advertising rights for your industry
You will enjoy priority advertising for up to 3 businesses.

Ideally, the community should have between 10,000 and 100,000 residents. Your HometownTimes community newspaper will be up and running within 60 days.

Sound interesting to you? Contact us for more details

Current Publications

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 21:11:46 UT

Currently there are 12 hometown internet news publication sites in operation.
We receive over 20,000 visits per month across these sites.
Please take a moment to visit these sites.

BUSINESS ADVERTISERS TESTIMONIALS
"We’re a small business, just starting out and every advertising dollar is precious. We listed our business with CummingHome.com and currently 53.04% of the hits on our site come from the link on CummingHome.com."
Terry Siville curbit.biz .

...According to my web site tracking statistics in the past 30 days 40% of my traffic has come from CummingHome.com..........I highly recommend your service....and it’s a great source of local news and information......”
Allan Edmond Computer Medics of Lanier

“WOW! .......this is above and beyond my expectations....I thank you so much."
Jim Wood Owner Concerto Networks Cumming, Georgia

Careers at HometownTimes

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 03:26:24 UT

At HometownTimes.com we realize that it's the people that make the company strong. We are blessed to have some of the nicest, most genuine people you will ever meet working for Hometown Times.

We are currently looking for people in the following areas:

Sales
If you are an experienced salesperson, you realize the value of having a good product to sell. We are looking for people like you to help our company grow, and we will pay a generous commission for sales

Writing and Editing
If you have great writing skills, let's put them to use! At this point, we are not offering paid positions for writers and editors, but we will soon, so feel free to drop us a line with your resume and we will definitely keep it for the future.

Submit all career inquiries to careers@hometowntimes.com

About Us

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:26:14 UT

Advertise

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:22:58 UT

For as little as $49 per month, your business can be a part of this growing new advertising solution. Compare this to any other medium and you will see that we are without a doubt the best advertising deal anywhere.

Front Page Ads - We have limited ad spaces available on the front page. All ads are standard size, 170x60 pixels, and are hyperlinked to your website.

Section Sponsorship - A popular new option, section sponsorships give your business incredible exposure with a giant 728 x 90 banner across the top of any particular section page.

Article Ads - We have an ad manager that rotates article ads through all of the articles on the site. Article ads receive from 2,500-4,000 views each week. Article ads come in 3 sizes, 170x60 pixel "Ads Above Articles", 160 x 600 pixel "Tower Ads" and 300 x 250 pixel "Anchor Ads", All ads are fully animated and are hyperlinked to any website.

Content Contributions - This is by far the best bang for your buck. If you contribute content to the site of general interest, perhaps a simple article that increases awareness of your cause, we will review and publish that article, with credits, and a brief bio about you and your business or cause.

What Does A Licensee Get From Hometown Times?

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:08:16 UT

HomeTownTimes.com provides everything you need to get started and thrive. We’ll set you up with the software and technology systems you need and train you to develop relationships and alliances with organizations and businesses in your community. Next, we’ll support your every step on your way to success:

Exclusive License for one U.S. County to deploy an unlimited number of online newspapers covering that county.
One online newspaper up and running with rich, fresh content and significant traffic, ready to go to market.
Hundreds of content sources and articles, plus comprehensive training on hoe to get more.
Quickstart email distribution list AND ongoing biweekly email distribution.
Slick back-end interface that makes updating your newspaper a snap for anyone with an internet connection.
Constant technology upgrades to keep you current with the latest internet technology.
License to sell advertising in your market and keep 100% of the sales revenue.
License to sell advertising across any market in the USA and share the revenue.
Comprehensive sales, marketing, content acquisition, editing, and business operations training.
Hosting and full technical support
Sales and Marketing success toolkit (Order forms, Media Kit, CDs, "How to" Manual
Hands free advertising development, delivery, and placement.

Small Brands Big On Internet Advertising

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 18:45:25 UT

Increased spending by smaller brands will propel the internet to a greater share of advertising spend this year than the worldwide posters and outdoor sector, according to forecasts by ZenithOptimedia, the international media buyer.

Zenith predicts that global Internet advertising spend will increase 30 per cent to $24.1 billion this year and by 84 per cent to 2008. Smaller advertisers are driving growth, with companies in the 10 biggest categories spending a lower share of their budgets online than the industry average between 2001 and 2005.

Marketing on web search engines such as Google and Yahoo is popular with small traders who lack funds to buy exposure in the mass television or press and often want to target niche audiences.

As search advertisers typically pay when customers click on ads, the practice is praised as being more efficient at reaching buyers than traditional marketing, though critics say search is still vulnerable to fraud and inaccuracy.

But in the UK, where the internet's share of national advertising is highest at a forecast 12.9 per cent this year, search marketing is believed to account for more than half of all internet advertising spend.

Jonathan Barnard, head of publications at Zenith, said search and other web formats were bringing "new money" into marketing rather than merely encouraging advertisers to move budgets from traditional to new media.

The issue of how much new money the Internet generates is a strategic one for established media owners, faced with the challenge of building new media businesses without cannibalising existing units.

Barnard said, "Internet advertisers are often people who wouldn't have been able to spend on television or press anyway, so we think the Internet is creating some new demand."

However, he said there was evidence that the rise of the web as a low-cost alternative was also encouraging large brands to drive better bargains when buying television or press advertising, holding down growth rates in non-web media.

Zenith predicts global ad spend will slow from 6 per cent this year to 5.4 per cent in 2007 before a modest pick-up to 5.9 per cent in 2008 -- all measured at average 2005 currency rates.

Source: Rediff News October 05, 2006

Industry News

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:56:24 UT

What We Do

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:55:02 UT

Hometowntimes.com publishes *content rich* online news and information websites for small towns and counties. Each site is free to the reader and is the ultimate user's guide for newcomers and residents about everything they need and want to know in their community.

Our Business Model
At the local level, Hometowntimes has developed a proven formula for generating content, traffic, and advertising sales in an online media solution. At the global level, HTT enables entrepreneurial-minded individuals with no newspaper, advertising, or technical experience to own their own business and provide a much-needed service to their community.

Through our licensing program, the success of Hometowntimes.com’s current sites is being replicated in neighborhoods across the country with a goal to have several hundred news and community sites up and running nationwide over the next 24 months.

If you, or someone you know might have an interest in owning a piece of this new solution, contact us now

Disclaimer

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 22:56:13 UT

DISCLAIMER:

YOU AGREE THAT OUR COMPANY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS OR FAILURE OF YOUR BUSINESS DECISIONS RELATING TO ANY INFORMATION PRESENTED BY OUR COMPANY, OR COMPANY, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES. THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES WHAT SO EVER FOR TRAFFIC, PROSPECTS, SALES, OR PROFITS.

HOMETOWNTIMES.COM of HomeTown Times, Inc. must review each request and go through a process before committing to any licensee. The request of this information does not constitute a commitment from usor an obligation on your part whatsoever.Areas will be assigned on a first approval basis.You also acknowledge that HomeTownTimes.com is not a Franchise. It is a Business License to use our software technology, training, marketing system, and support as well as be linked together promoting together with the HomeTownTimes.com network.

Tired of the Hype?

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 02:08:08 UT

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Keep All Gross Sales You Make
Earn Profits from Sales Made by Others
Start, Operate, & Grow Your Business with a Proven Turnkey System
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Hold a Respectable, Professional Position as Publisher of Your Own Newspaper
Take Control of Your Future Before it Takes Control of You

Increase the quality of your life. Contact us now!

Non-Disclosure Agreement

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 02:56:44 UT

HTT Non Disclosure (35 KB)

What is a non-disclosure agreement?

A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also called a confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), confidentiality agreement, is a legal contract between at least two parties which outlines confidential materials the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict from generalized use. In other words, it is a contract through which the parties agree not to disclose information covered by the agreement. A NDA creates a confidential relationship between the parties.

Most NDAs are very standard language contracts. It basically just says that you agree not to tell people our trade secrets.