NEW FEATURES ON "THE SCOOP"

Staff Reports

LINCOLN COUNTY -- Lincoln County's first online newspaper has rolled out new things for our readers to check out.

First, and most important, we've made our ads bigger so everyone can read them. We'd like to thank our advertisers for their support over the past eight months as we've made several changes to the Web site to make it easier for our readers to navigate.

As of Dec. 1, 2008, we've added a community calendar link. Submitting items for our community calendar is easy. Simply email them to mail@thecarolinascoop.com and we'll put them on the calendar.

Our E-News recently started as of a couple of weeks ago, and it's a hit. You can send emails to the same email address above and put "subscribe" in the subject line.

The next feature we've added goes more in-depth with Lincolnton Police. "Arrested Developments: The Official Lincolnton Police blotter" lists the time, incident address and incident. We're the only news organization highlighting both Lincolnton Police and the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office.

And finally, there's "Beyond the Squared Circle," which takes an in-depth look at the world of professional wrestling; specifically, the Lincoln County-based Millennium Wrestling Federation.

"Over the last eight months, we've had a tremendous amount of success with our advertisers and our readership," said publisher Jon Mayhew. "Our readership continues to grow each day."

Where The Carolina Scoop was averaging 150 hits per day, seven days per week, the number has now jumped to more than 200 hits per day. Mayhew credits the E-News and the breaking news aspect for the increased readership.

"We're getting a lot of good feedback about the site," said business manager Elizabeth Mayhew. "We recently changed the site to allow for easier reading."

The Mayhews say more changes are in the works as The Carolina Scoop heads into the Christmas holiday.