-- Patricia F. Doering, Editor

NEWS FROM THE EDITOR
Patricia F. Doering

Happy New Year! This is the time of year when many of us "take stock"--in ourselves, in our personal lives and in all of our endeavors. We believe that an objective look is important because without objectives one can simply flounder without flourishing. Someone once said that you need to ".... look back before you can go forward."

In today’s world of hectic living, of complicated life-styles, of tumultuous upheavals and worldwide threats--not only to America but to our environment as well--we need to stop -- we need to relax -- we need to reflect -- to envision -- to revitalize. The beginning of a new year seems to bring about a willingness to do just that, if we allow it. And so in our case and that of Second Hand News and this website, we wish to share where we were when we began, where we are now and what we hope to accomplish in the future.

In July of last year, we finalized negotiations with the City of San Diego’s Environmental Services Department which primarily called for a total redesign of our existing website. At the end of June, 2004 the site had received only 57,190 hits. Following extensive redesign which included a later addition --our brand new Discussion Board -- statistics jumped to an all-time high of 212,153 by the end of October. The new design included the addition of several sections: books, pawn shops, furniture, swap meets, recycling and reuse, special events and extensive expansion of our Thrifty Links section.

Part of the increase in visitors may have been due to our efforts with a company called "Go Click" where visitors are brought to your site on a "per click" basis which you pay for via Go Click’s recommendations. We are still analyzing the results of this endeavor but we believe statistics increase when we have this effort fully funded.

We also spent time writing online articles and distributing them through a variety of services on the internet. Many websites are looking for newsworthy and well-written articles on a variety of subjects. Some of ours included "Second Hand Shopping," "A History of Halloween," "How to Buy Resale" and one or two others. Getting articles out there, though, takes time and it is difficult to track results.

The most time-consuming effort on our part involved the creation of the Discussion Board where we had hoped San Diegans would start chatting about antiques, thrift store finds, rummage sales, vintage clothing, books and lots of other stuff! It didn’t happen. Or at least it hasn’t happened to the extent we would like. We were surprised by that because launching this board was the most exhausting, time-intensive effort we were ever involved in. And it is fairly easy to use. Over a two-month period we received only 455 visitors with only 18 posts. So for 2005, we must find a way to expand that.

In 2005, our objectives for this site remain simple: let as many San Diegans as possible know that this site is up and running, that it is the only site of its kind in this area, if not in all of Southern California and so far, all of it is free! We plan to more aggressively market bargainlink.com this year and we hope to post a chart listing thrift stores which accept all of that junk you have in your closets (name of thrift, charities involved, phone numbers etc.). In addition, if all progresses as planned we will launch a new Salvage Exchange Board, in cooperation with the City, where you can buy, sell, or trade construction-like materials, instead of sending them to the landfill. We will indeed be busy; hope you are as well! Enjoy the New Year; stay healthy and happy! And above all, be safe.