What has 42,000 visitors and you don't have to leave your house to see? Read on

Well you have heard me talking about big changes coming for a while now.  They are finally here.  This week we unveiled our shiny new website.  

Who cares?  Businesses and people create new websites everyday. True, but if you have followed ours in the past, it will be like getting your first car when you were 16.  You just sat in the driveway, pushing every button not knowing what they did, but you were so excited just to have a new car.  That is exactly how we feel about our new website.

Our new site is filled with bells and whistles that will make it more user friendly.  We have so many new features I am not sure where to begin.  The thing you will notice first is the layout.  The look is more pleasing to the eye.  You will notice a red ticker towards the top.  On the ticker, we will be able to put breaking news, upcoming events and closings to keep you up to the minute. 

You will see a wide bar that includes news, sports, obituaries, schools classifieds, about us, extras and Chisago Lakes Living.

Let’s start with the classified section.  with our new site, you can now place classified ads online.  In the past you could submit the ad, but we would have to call you for your payment.  Not anymore, you can place an ad and pay for it all at the same time.  Another really cool feature in the classified section is adding a photo.  Let’s say you were selling a 1999 Chevy Venture Van (I am by the way, give me a call if interested), you can place your ad and upload a photo of your vehicle that will appear in both the newspaper, the Search Shopper and online.  Pretty neat.  It is not limited to vehicles, you could do this with a house, antiques or just about anything you are selling.  Give it a look, you will be impressed.

In our “Extras” section, you will find a ton of new stuff.  You can click on any of the following for up to date news on:  box office, crosswords, entertainment news, exercise videos, flight tracker, gas prices, horoscopes, jobs, lottery news, mortgage rates, a cool music player, online games, quote of the day, suduko, sports scores, stocks and world news.  Pretty impressive for a small town newspaper website.

Another feature we have added is called Chisago Lakes Living.  You will find some really neat articles that have topics ranging from automotive to fashion to finance and family living.

We soon will be starting another really neat section on our website called “Ask an expert”.  You will soon be able to ask an expert in various fields questions that they will respond directly to.  The good news is these will be local experts who know exactly what you are asking because they live among us.  I will let you know in a week or two when the “Ask an expert” is up and running.

On the old site, you would have to click on a tile ad that would bring you to this week’s Search Shopper.  Now, if you scroll down our home page, the Search Shopper is right there in the body of the homepage.  Just click on the Search and an electronic version of the Search will pop up.  You can print individual ads as well as click on website or email addresses in the ad and you will be directed to them accordingly.

Word is getting out folks.  Last week alone, our unique visitors total went up by over 3,000!  We had a total home page view count of over 42,000 last week alone.  If you have ever thought about advertising on our website, I would urge you to do so.  Just ask some of the present advertisers if they are satisfied with their results.  You could have 42,000 people looking at your ad per week if you were advertising on the site.  

This weekend, North Branch is celebrating Winter Fest.  On Friday, there will be the presentation of Many Flags of North Branch.  

Saturday, the excitement really builds beginning with the ever-popular Freeze Your Bunz 5K run/walk.  The race begins at 10:30 at the Sunrise Prairie Trail.

Ice sculptures will decorate Central Park all day on Saturday.  The park will also host family fun games along with turkey bowling.  There will be a family ice skating event where your kids can skate with Frosty the Snowman at the public rink.  

On Sunday there is a great Omelette Breakfast held at the American Legion that runs from 8 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.  Bring your sleds, hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate and give us some white stuff so people can slide with Frosty.  

Remember the medallion hunt will be all weekend long. Clues are posted on the North Branch Chamber website.  Finder of the medallion will win a cool $300 dollars, with a WinterFest button.

Well you have heard me talking about big changes coming for a while now.  They are finally here.  This week we unveiled our shiny new website.  

Who cares?  Businesses and people create new websites everyday. True, but if you have followed ours in the past, it will be like getting your first car when you were 16.  You just sat in the driveway, pushing every button not knowing what they did, but you were so excited just to have a new car.  That is exactly how we feel about our new website.

Our new site is filled with bells and whistles that will make it more user friendly.  We have so many new features I am not sure where to begin.  The thing you will notice first is the layout.  The look is more pleasing to the eye.  You will notice a red ticker towards the top.  On the ticker, we will be able to put breaking news, upcoming events and closings to keep you up to the minute. 

You will see a wide bar that includes news, sports, obituaries, schools classifieds, about us, extras and Chisago Lakes Living.

Let’s start with the classified section.  with our new site, you can now place classified ads online.  In the past you could submit the ad, but we would have to call you for your payment.  Not anymore, you can place an ad and pay for it all at the same time.  Another really cool feature in the classified section is adding a photo.  Let’s say you were selling a 1999 Chevy Venture Van (I am by the way, give me a call if interested), you can place your ad and upload a photo of your vehicle that will appear in both the newspaper, the Search Shopper and online.  Pretty neat.  It is not limited to vehicles, you could do this with a house, antiques or just about anything you are selling.  Give it a look, you will be impressed.

In our “Extras” section, you will find a ton of new stuff.  You can click on any of the following for up to date news on:  box office, crosswords, entertainment news, exercise videos, flight tracker, gas prices, horoscopes, jobs, lottery news, mortgage rates, a cool music player, online games, quote of the day, suduko, sports scores, stocks and world news.  Pretty impressive for a small town newspaper website.

Another feature we have added is called Chisago Lakes Living.  You will find some really neat articles that have topics ranging from automotive to fashion to finance and family living.

We soon will be starting another really neat section on our website called “Ask an expert”.  You will soon be able to ask an expert in various fields questions that they will respond directly to.  The good news is these will be local experts who know exactly what you are asking because they live among us.  I will let you know in a week or two when the “Ask an expert” is up and running.

On the old site, you would have to click on a tile ad that would bring you to this week’s Search Shopper.  Now, if you scroll down our home page, the Search Shopper is right there in the body of the homepage.  Just click on the Search and an electronic version of the Search will pop up.  You can print individual ads as well as click on website or email addresses in the ad and you will be directed to them accordingly.

Word is getting out folks.  Last week alone, our unique visitors total went up by over 3,000!  We had a total home page view count of over 42,000 last week alone.  If you have ever thought about advertising on our website, I would urge you to do so.  Just ask some of the present advertisers if they are satisfied with their results.  You could have 42,000 people looking at your ad per week if you were advertising on the site.  

This weekend, North Branch is celebrating Winter Fest.  On Friday, there will be the presentation of Many Flags of North Branch.  

Saturday, the excitement really builds beginning with the ever-popular Freeze Your Bunz 5K run/walk.  The race begins at 10:30 at the Sunrise Prairie Trail.

Ice sculptures will decorate Central Park all day on Saturday.  The park will also host family fun games along with turkey bowling.  There will be a family ice skating event where your kids can skate with Frosty the Snowman at the public rink.  

On Sunday there is a great Omelette Breakfast held at the American Legion that runs from 8 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.  Bring your sleds, hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate and give us some white stuff so people can slide with Frosty.  

Remember the medallion hunt will be all weekend long. Clues are posted on the North Branch Chamber website.  Finder of the medallion will win a cool $300 dollars, with a WinterFest button.