TEASERS (Nov. 1999 - present)

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This week, we're launching one of our first big efforts to expose the Post-Dispatch Web site's readers to community groups they might not be aware of -- teasers.

You all read about these when you filled out your online application for a Web site, and you may have heard more about them during your training. Here's a mockup of what the teasers are going to look like, on the right.

In a nutshell, every time a Post-Dispatch reader clicks through the Communities section to one of the topical and geographic categories of Web sites, he or she will see a little box pop up that lures him or her into what Community Group X is doing -- a picture, a link to the group's Community Web Site, a couple of sentences giving a sense of what the group is about. All the community groups in our network that want to be "advertised" with a teaser will join a rotation and will pop up now and then on our community pages.

Here's what we need from every group that wants a teaser to appear:

A copy of your logo, or some other simple image you'd like us to use. (If you've incorporated the image into your Web site, we'll grab a copy of it off the Web ourselves.)

About 20-30 words that describe what your group is about, or what it's doing, or pose a question or a challenge that might draw people into the life of your organization. (A couple of examples from other groups -- from the Archdiocese of St. Louis: "Want to learn more about the Catholic faith? Want to find your nearest Catholic parish or school? Check out the website of the Archdiocese of St. Louis." -- From the Rotary Skyway Farm Foundation: "The Skyway Adventure: An hour and a world away for the people of our community including the underprivileged, disabled, gifted and elderly." -- From the Ethiopian Community Association: "Share the culture and tradition of Ethiopia through immigrants/citizens of Ethiopian origin")