School Newspapers Online

The Kirkwood High School journalism program had dabbled with the web for three years before finding School Newspapers Online. Thanks to the help of Tom and Jason, we are now confidently publishing scholastic journalism to our site. They have helped make our leap an easy one with excellent support and service. The site allows you the flexibility to do as much or as little as you want in the area of site modification. The site is professional and easy to navigate. More than anything, Tom and Jason have made the transition to web journalism a positive one for my kids and me.

When we researched our options to determine which company to use for our transition to an online newspaper, School Newspapers Online immediately grabbed my attention as the most professional, feature-laden, user-friendly, and aesthetically appealing. The one-time set up pricing paid for itself after two months of saving money on what we would have spent on printing. The yearly subscription is completely reasonable and generating ad revenue is very simple on the site. With very limited web programming or blogging experience, I have learned to organize, design, and manage the site in a very short period of time, and have been able to teach my staff how to run the paper themselves. Anytime I am uncertain about a feature, add-on, or widget, (which has been often during this learning experience) I send a quick email to Jason, and I usually have the information, advice, or solution I needed and more within a few hours. I have been completely satisfied and pleased with this service. Our school and community is buzzing about the new online newspaper; the students have never been so excited to be a part of journalism, and we feel our new medium has allowed us to get better every single day.

School Newspapers Online gives added credibility to our student newspaper. The professional layout options are bar none to any other option for student publications. With very limited web programing experience, I had no problem catching on quickly and teaching my students how to use the site. It is a great tool to use to keep students up to date with the most current trends in the journalism industry. The user manual, which is provided, is written in simple language and walked me through putting our paper online. I appreciate the customer service given when I have a question. I have called and received a personal call back from Tom within an hour. In addition, Tom and Jason answer emails with the same timeliness. No matter the question, big or small, they always seem happy to help. I am impressed with their promptness!”

We chose School Newspapers Online because it was the first service that really seemed to cater to school newspapers that wanted to use the internet as its primary publishing medium. Also, the fact that is was built around the robust WordPress engine ensured us that the medium would be reliable and would grow as technology changed. Ultimately, however, all that proved insignificant. The reason we remain with School Newspapers Online is because of the responsiveness of those behind the service. We know we can count on School Newspapers Online to help us when we need it in a remarkably quick and personable fashion. You do not deal with a bureaucracy; you interact with your partner. That’s why our paper will remain with School Newspapers Online.

We received out NSPA critique yesterday for lhsimage.com and after only a few months online we received an All-American with four marks of distinction! The staff is so excited and I could not be more proud of how hard they have worked. And, we could not have done it without Jason and Tom. Thanks so much for all the help and support!

I first heard about School Newspapers Online through a monthly newsletter from the National Elementary Schools Press Association (NESPA). Someone had passed on the info to them and the description really caught my attention. Having been a newspaper advisor for 11 years, eight in print and three on the web, I’ve always wanted to find a hosting service that gave complete freedom of control in design, as well as a streamlined process to do it. Once I got there and took a look around, I needed no further convincing. I signed up right away, and haven’t looked back since. (I do look back and wonder why this wasn’t available before. Oh, that’s right. It wasn’t… until School Newspapers Online came along). Currently, there is no other service out there that matches. Pricing is fair, and customer support can’t be beat. I really like the one-on-one attention to details that they give each customer. As if we were the only school they had to deal with. There’s just… “SNO” other!

I would highly recommend School Newspapers Online as they fulfill everything they say they will do. Their designs work, they offer timely help, their site stays up, and it is very cost effective. Our school of 1200 started the Online Totem in mid October, and we have had great reviews from our community, especially Grandmas and Grandpas. Everything is working well for us. I know your school will enjoy working with Jason and Tom at School Newspapers Online.

As the advisor for our school paper, I can honestly say that putting our paper online has entirely changed my perception about what a school newspaper can be and do. Removing the hassles, the expense, and the waste of a hard copy newspaper has liberated me to help students with what I believe matters most … producing solid journalistic writing and creating a quality publication. The features that allow the readers to comment on articles, respond to surveys, and easily write the editor have made the paper a popular student watering hole. Tom and Jason have kindly answered every one of my questions and helped me on numerous occasions, and the handbook is quite user friendly. Finally, I must add, the paper looks great. It looks professional and polished and everyone wonders how we did it. Well, we didn’t do it…but that’s our secret.

I used a SNO site last summer at a scholastic journalism summer camp for high schoolers and met with tremendous success. By the end of the first day, the band of newbies was posting online content on the site. By the end of the week they were well on their way to becoming experts (even teaching me a thing or two), posting bios, stories with hyperlinks, photos galleries and interactive graphics; they created and embedded blogs, audio slideshows, podcasts, videos and more. These students had zero experience when they walked in the door. But because of SNO’s attractive, effective design, out-of-the box-usability, ability to accommodate a wide variety of multimedia content, detailed step-by-step how-to manuals and an extremely patient, experienced and helpful staff, the students were able to create a polished, professional site that positively dazzled. Because the SNO site took all the worry out of design, set-up, operation and maintenance, my students were able to focus on the fundamentals of journalism. Also, SNO’s basis in WordPress provides students with real-world experience in a widely-used Web publishing platform that will serve them well, personally and professionally. Thank you, thank you, thank you, SNO.

This was our first year with an online paper, and we couldn’t be happier with SNO. Going “live” was painless as there was so much support available to us both online and through direct contact. We’re looking forward to an even better year next year and will be happy to continue with this great company.

We have a large group of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders who were able to expand their communication skills, critical and creative thinking skills, and explore the vast world of multimedia journalism this year. The School Newspapers Online features were very easy for our students to learn, explore and have fun with! It made our journalism program a truly practical and innovative one!