Day 1:
Wednesday, July 9

Presenter:
Tracy Record


Tracy and husband Patrick Sand co-publish the West Seattle Blog - westseattleblog.com, the only daily news source for Seattle’s largest neighborhood. Tracy launched it in December 2005 with the intention it would be “just” a blog - noting that while many people were blogging IN West Seattle, no one seemed to be blogging ABOUT West Seattle. A year later, a devastating windstorm threw much of West Seattle into blackout mode for days, and readers’ hunger for neighborhood-specific information steered the site into news mode. Over the ensuing year, coverage expanded to everything from traffic tieups to coyote sightings to development issues, and readership grew - currently at (May 2008, Google Analytics) nearly 5,000 visitors and 15,000 pageviews daily. With proceeds from a “pledge drive” in August 2007, Tracy and Patrick turned WSB into a business, starting ad sales a few months later.

That went well enough that Tracy quit her job as assistant news director of KCPQ-TV in December 2007 and has since worked full time gathering, shooting, writing, reporting, and editing news and information for WSB — with the help of contributions from all over West Seattle. Favorite reader-provided description for WSB: “A revolutionary resource for local information.”

In this workshop, Tracy will share the real-world example of “do what you love and the money will follow” — provided you heed and embrace the feedback and response to what you are doing, and understand why people are finding value in it!

More about Tracy

Tracy is a 25-year-plus veteran of Web, TV, radio, and newspaper work.