Announcements & Events: You're Better at Them

If you're reading this, you've already recognized West Islip Patch as a resource for community news, events and dialogue.

Quite possibly you have at some point e-mailed us a press release, or asked us to post something on our events calendar.

Disclaimer: We love hearing from you. We're happy to help. But humbly we think - actually, we know - you could do a better and quicker job promoting your releases and events than we can.

Posting your events and announcements directly is the most effective and efficient way to get visibility on West Islip Patch.

Whether it's a yard sale or a (we hope not) notice that your pet has gone missing, you could post it directly on the site.

To post events to the site for free: Navigate to the Events page and click the Add an Event button on the right side of the page. Tell us all of the details about your upcoming event, then click the Post My Event button at the bottom of the page.

That puts the event directly onto our calendar. The end result is the same as if a Patch staffer had posted it for you. The only difference is, when you post it, it goes up right away.

If you send it to us, then you might have to wait until we're done reporting on the local government meeting, hanging out in a courtroom waiting for a disposition, meeting with community members or something else that we Patchers are always doing.

To post announcements to the site for free: Simply click the Announcements option under the News tab on the home page (or any page of the site). On the right side of the screen you’ll see the Add an Announcement button.

This'll you take you to Patch’s new announcement form. Once there get your brag on and tell the community all about your child's sports league win or your civic club’s new members. When you’re ready, click the Publish My Announcement button, and it'll go live to the site immediately.

With just a few clicks, you could tell the community when you get married, have a baby, graduate or make the honor roll.

You could also write a public thank you, provide details about your group's upcoming event, publish a political news release or ask for volunteers.

(We have a whole bunch of categories you can choose for your announcement; you'll see for yourself when you submit one.)

For extra visibility, add a photo. And if you e-mail us the link, then we could help give you even more exposure.

We often feature announcements with photos on the homepage and in the West Islip Patch daily newsletter. In addition, we visit our events and announcements pages daily to help us plan news coverage for the week.

We're much more likely to have your event or issue on our radar if it's already on our page.

Bookmark this page for future reference. And if you have any questions, e-mail the editor at kaitlyn.piccoli@patch.com.