Announcing What’s New At The Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News!

So, my actual 20th anniversary as the owner, publisher and editor of this publication has passed (it was Feb. 25), as has the actual party to celebrate my 20 years of owning this publication and the ribbon-cutting for our new office here in Wesley Chapel, which was held on March 6. For a complete recap of that so-much-fun party and all the thanking I have to do, click here.

Part of the reason we had the party was to introduce our readers, advertisers and friends to what’s happening not only with our new office, but with some of the plans we have to expand and enhance the news and information we’ve been offering the residents of New Tampa and Wesley Chapel the past two decades.

As I mentioned in this space the last couple of issues, we have taken over the second floor of the building that still has Carlos Flores-Gordon’s outstanding Milorian Studios TV, audio and website production studio on the first floor in the Brookside Professional Center, the office plaza located just east of the traffic light and entrance to Saddlebrook Resort Tampa on S.R. 54 (a little more than a mile or so east of both Bruce B. Downs {BBD} Blvd. and I-75), in front of the beautiful Brookside residential community.

Well, we’ve been in that office for a little more than a month as I’m writing this and we’ve definitely hit the ground running on the plans for how we want to expand what we already do.

During our party on March 6, more than 100 people took tours of our new office, as well as of Milorian Studios and those tours culminated with an opportunity for those in attendance to be recorded on camera in Carlos’ professional TV studio. Those recorded comments ran the gamut from business owners raving about the outstanding results they’ve had as advertisers in our publications to readers threatening to choke me out if I didn’t stop singing karaoke outsidew (just kidding….sort of).

As you’re receiving this issue, the continuous loop of all of those comments (and some of ours, too) are being posted on our website — WCNeighborhoodNews.com — so you can see not only how professional Carlos and his studio and equipment are, but also why we’re confident that we are very soon going to be able to do so much more to help promote you and your business, in conjunction with Milorian Studios.

So, What About Those Plans?

I also told you last issue that general manager Nikki Bennett and I have been working with consultant Jerry Hurley of Business Sense Solutions for several months to figure out the best possible way(s) to expand what we do in to serve you better.

We’ve talked about publishing some additional magazines, increasing offers through social media, as well as starting a truly local webcast that would be shown on our website and several other possible additional revenue streams, but what we kept coming back to was that we already have the publications that more people in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel read and that more businesses want to advertise in than any other a) because we’re directly mailed to more homes in our distribution areas than anyone else and b) because of our superior editorial content.

Therefore, we’ve decided that, beginning April 1, we’re going to offer businesses who sign new, one-year (13 issues if you advertise only in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel, 26 if you advertise in both areas) agreements additional bang for their bucks by offering more feature stories about your business than ever before.

You’ll still get just one “full-length” feature of one-half-to-one-full-page in length per year, but instead of just one or two small (200-300 words) “Neighborhood Nibbles & Business Bytes” items in addition to that feature, your one-year agreement also will now include up to three additional “Spotlight” features that will each be a full 1/4-page in length, with at least one full-color picture each.

That means that every three months or so throughout the year, you’ll be able to focus on one aspect of your business, your own Chamber event or anything else.

But, in order to do that, we’re expanding our staff. We’re always looking for more paid freelance writers, but now that we’ll have so many more business features to write, our need for more business “correspondents” is greater than ever before.

The work isn’t easy and you won’t get rich doing it, but if you enjoy what you read in these pages every month and believe you can write on a deadline, we hope you’ll let us know asap. If you’re interested in a freelance writing position, email your resume and one short (600 words or less) writing sample to Matt@NTNeighborhoodNews.com. Or, visit WCNeighborhoodNews.com.