Bits & Pieces: Tag, you’re It!

For every article we publish, we assign what are called “tags”—essentially, labels that act as a classification system and help readers find the information we post. Hence, when you Google “Arkadelphia News,” our site gets top billing. It’s no surprise that our most commonly used tags include obituaries, Arkadelphia, Ouachita Baptist University, Henderson State University, Arkadelphia Police Department, and Welch Funeral Home. All these institutions provide the bulk of the content published on this website, but there’s more to the picture than our two beloved colleges, crime and death. We’d love to see Arkadelphia Public Schools, City of Arkadelphia, Gurdon, Caddo Valley, Clark County Sheriff’s Office, and other local institutions top the list. In a county of 30,000 residents there should be no shortage of community news to be shared with a local media outlet. Again, let it be known that: 

• Not everyone uses Facebook to seek out information
• Algorithms do not dictate how our readers see articles or advertisements
• Your organization’s Facebook page likely does not attract thousands of readers each day; this website does

Our objective is in our motto: Connected To Your Community. We strive to be a hub of local information: a place where, once a day, our readers can browse a selection of articles and leave feeling informed about the community in which they work and live. The entire community could benefit from this website with a little help from our friends at school districts, municipalities and other organizations. Give us your news. Put your organization’s name at the top of our classification system. Tag, you’re It!

Bookworms: Henderson State University’s Huie Library is offering a Blind Date with a Book in time for Valentine’s Day. Books near the front desk are wrapped in brown paper to conceal their cover, with genre descriptors attached. Blindly select your book as a “date” for Valentine’s Day. Community patrons are welcome. No card? No problem: Get one for $5.

A sign on the pedestrian bridge spanning North 10th Street invited us to dine at Chic-Fil-A or Starbucks, telling us to “enter at fountain.” We left hungry, and now our feet are wet.

Ozzy the Chocolate Chihuahua sez: Leash your dogs before takin’ ‘em out or pen ‘em up real good. Daddy been reportin’ too many dog attacks lately. Two mailmans got hurt in one week in Clark County. Dat’s two too many, and I don’t even likes the mailman!

We’ve been experimenting with the way we use the em dash. For 20 years we’ve punctuated each side with a space — as that’s how the Associated Press uses it. But we kinda like it without the space—just don’t turn us in to the AP police. It will be a hard habit to break, as the em dash is probably our favorite punctuation mark.

Two of our five advertising zones are fully booked. We have 29 spots available with prices starting at $100/month. Our advertisers fuel The Arkadelphian. Tell our customers where you have seen their business advertised. Need to advertise your business? Email editor@arkadelphian.com to get started today.

Joel Phelps is publisher and editor of arkadelphian.com. Opinions expressed in this column are his own. No apologies if that fountain joke went over your head. Contact Phelps by email at editor@arkadelphian.com.