Situation: When Tyler Paper decided to offer their online users a community photo gallery, they were looking for a product with a natural entry point into their online edition and newspaper. They found what they were looking for with Spotted, Morris DigitalWork's photo-blogging tool.

Approach: Tyler developed and implemented an intensive marketing plan and added a freelance program for Spotted photographers. The freelance photographers are compensated on a sliding scale, based on a percentage of the photos they sell, rewarding photographers who sell more. Additionally, Spotted photographers pass out Spotted cards at local events as a way to bring non-viewers to the Tyler site for the first time. As a result, the community is requesting Spotted photographers attend specific events, even though they have the opportunity to cover the event themselves.

Outcome: Spotted page views on spotted.tylerpaper.com have generated an average of 30% of Tyler's traffic since launch, with page views running around 400,000 per month.

"Our advertising and photo sales have more than covered the investment in the technology from month one," says Bret McCormick, vice president of Web enterprises for TylerPaper.com.

McCormick says that Spotted also creates opportunities for serendipity, such as the time when one of Tyler's Spotted photographers was covering a local 10K charity run. A group of spectators had assembled off to the side of the finish line with a big banner saying "Claire Hodges Will You Marry Me?". The photographer captured the couple finishing the race, the father handing the ring to the son, the son dropping to bended knee, and, ultimately, the proposal. Tyler reverse published the photos to the paper the next day, allowing the gallery to tell the whole story without printing a word. Whimsical fun only made possible because of Spotted. Claire Hodges' engagement gallery generated 16,000 page views in one day.

"From baby pictures, pets, football games, Christmas parties and memorials of loved ones, our readers are choosing to chronicle their lives through our photo gallery," says McCormick. "Our staff has gasped, laughed and been in awe at some of the heartfelt submissions our readers have posted. The social networking phenomenon is powerful as Spotted weaves itself into the fabric of our content. Contests, with the winning photos published in the paper as the reward, are an emerging favorite of our readers and a surefire way to generate page views."

Company Info: Tyler Paper is an independent newspaper owned and operated by the Clyde family. Tyler, Texas is the center of a demographic market area consisting of approximately 225,000.