Happy 10th Birthday to Us!

Ten years ago today – on Dec. 11, 2007 – the first stories were published on The B-Town Blog,Â with the hopes of providing an effective, frequently-updated, professional online news and events source for Burien and its fine residents.

We were Burien’s first localÂ blog, and one of the very first in the entire Northwest.
On Dec. 11, 2007, we posted our very firstÂ two stories, linked below for your flashbackian pleasure:

First created as a hobby by Scott Schaefer, the blog grew organically over the next few years, with Scott posting local news stories, event listings, arts events, photos and more, before being asked if he “sold ads” (what???). He then sought and received excellent business mentoring advice from Northwest marketing legend Larry Coffman, as well as one of the founders of Starbucks – Zev Siegl at the SBDC at Highline College.
Then, the amazingÂ Janet Grella met Scott at a Burien Farmers Market during the summer of 2008 and asked “what’s a blog?” Janet came on board as our first “Sales Diva,” and helped turn a hobby into a full-time biz by selling ads to many local businesses.
Since 2007 – and well over 14,000 posts, over 7 millionÂ Unique Sessions and more than 18 million Pageviews later (whew!) – we’re stronger than ever, averaging this yearÂ 105,887 Unique Visits and nearlyÂ 356,000Â Pageviews per month (as per Google Analytics so far for 2017), up an excellentÂ +53%Â growth in impressions over 2016.
In addition to our ever-increasing traffic, we are continuing to build a fast-growing social media network as well. As of Dec. 11, 2017, our Facebook Page has 12,614 Followers, and our Twitter Feed goes out to 6,253 Followers.
And if you like getting all your B-Town news in a FREE daily digest, please subscribe to our email newsletter, which will arrive in your email inbox at 6 p.m. every day:Â http://eepurl.com/blthaf
We couldn’t have done any of this without YOU, our great Readers – your community spirit, your involvement in the blog, and especially your continued support of our wonderful Advertisers and all the local non-profits that we help!
Oh, and we’ve had some great help along the way – a huge Tip O’the Hat to the following team members (hopefully we’ve listed them all, and if we didn’t include someone we apologize – it’s been 10 years!):

Theresa Schaefer, Sales Manager. Scott’s wife is the newest member of the team, having joined in April, 2012. Most recently she served as a member of the Victorinox Swiss Army Sales Management team. Theresa is a veteran sales and marketing professional – with deep customer service experience at Nordstrom – who is ready to help market your business.Â Email her for our Media Kit.
Jack Mayne, Associate Publisher/Senior Reporter. Jack Mayne has done about all there is to do in print journalism. He has been city editor of the Seattle P.I. back in its glory days, edited the Journal American in Bellevue and Valley Daily News in Kent in the 1990s. Before that he was a freelance international journalist and reported from South Africa, China, visited over 80 countries and even covered a colonial war in the 20th century between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the desolate Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. He got his start at the Vancouver Province, thence to The Associated Press, becoming chief of the New England bureau, but a desire of AP to send him to Buffalo, N.Y., drove him back to Seattle. With writing for print becoming quaint and dated, Jack has now set his sights on Web journalism and has become an important member of South King Media’s network.
Michael Brunk, Photographer/Technical Guru. With a love of photography that spans more than 20 years, Michael has fond memories of film but wouldn’t give up his digital SLRs for anything. His checkered past includes stints as a monthly columnist for a nationally published magazine on telecommunications and technology, and several years reviewing movies. He’s also been known to dabble in community theater. His main qualifications are a large camera, and a love of coding/technology. He also builds and maintains the code that runs our sites.
Mark Neuman, Writer/Marketing: former real-world Journalist, TV Host, Producer and Marketer, Mark is an old friend of Scott’s going back to when they worked on their high school newspaper together (West Seattle High’s “Chinook”). Mark has interviewed two US Presidents, cops, cooks and cartoonists, authors and artists, senators, singers, scholars and senior citizens, along with the first Mayor of Burien and a local man running for State Superior Court.
Elston Hill, Photographer. Elston and his wife Jackline often send us some of the most amazing, beautiful photos we’ve ever seen, and we are proud to showcase them!
Isabel Herbruger (aka “Photos by Isabel”). Our youngest contributor who also happens to be an excellent Photographer! Check out her outstanding work here.
Chris Scragg, Puget Sound Weather Geek. Now a student at Arizona State University, for a while Chris served as our hyperlocal weather forecaster, aka the Puget Sound Weather Geek.
Joy Steele, Columnist/Sales Manager. Joy took over managing sales for a while, and also wrote numerous humor columns while wearing bunny slippers (all true!).
Cliff Rowe, Columnist. Cliff is a retired journalist and journalism professor. (He practiced both in a time before journalists and what they produced were considered “enemies of the people.”) He and his family have lived in the Shorewood area of White Center (then Burien) since 1969 when they returned to the Northwest after seven years in the Chicago area. There, following graduate school, he wrote and edited with the Chicago Sun-Times and with Paddock Publications in the Chicago suburbs. On moving here, he was with The Seattle Times for 11 years before turning to teaching journalism at Pacific Lutheran University for 35 years, retiring in 2015.
Blake Messer, Marketing Consultant, Newfangled Commerce. Blake is an expert in marketing, and helps us manage our growing Daily Digest Email Newsletter and Advertising.
Colton Townsend and Connor Talbott of Tall Town Design. These guys ran our recent, popularÂ B-Town’s BEST Awards promotion, which resulted in increased traffic and many happy local business owners!
Ralph Nichols, Senior Reporter. Ralph specializes in public policy and legal issues, medical matters, and business profiles. For several years, he was an editor, reporter, and columnist for the Highline Times. Previously he worked in the Seattle area, Alaska and Idaho as a reporter for daily newspapers, United Press International, and trade publications; as a state capitol bureau chief and columnist; and a public relations writer and project manager.
Greg Wright, Writer/Editor. Greg has helped us a lot over the years, mostly for our sister sites The SeaTac Blog andÂ The Waterland Blog.
Bart Bryan, Sales/Video. Bart sold ads and hosted several great videos for us.
Rachel Lusby, Writer. Rachel has written numerous feature stories and reviews for us.
Todd Christensen & Wendy Quesinberry, Quesinberry & Associates. Todd & Wendy are partners in LOL Dudez, LLC (dba South King Media), and they designed our wonderful logos and helped with web design.
Shelli Park, Reviewer. Shelli is a local Artist who has become our main Reviewer, especially for Burien Actors Theatre.
Virginia Wright, Phoenix Tea. Virginia created and maintains the Burien Culture Hub, which is featured in our main menu.
Shawn Underwood, Humor Columnist.Â Twenty-five years of living in Burien gives this Humorist much fodder for her writings. All of her stories are true, or at least have a grain of truth with no added embellishments. Or something like that.

And of course our awesome Big Picture Interns over the years:

ALL-LOCAL “MOM & POP” INTERNET PUBLISHERS
The B-Town Blog is part of South King Media, a network of six local blogs for the area, and is managed by Scott & Theresa Schaefer (pictured above), who live, work, play and spend their money right here in B-Town. That’s right, we’re a true, indie, and all-local “Mom & Pop” internet business!
Of course we very much appreciate the ongoing support of the dozens of local businesses who count on us to market their messages to our engaged Readers. And if you’re interested in receiving our Media Kit/Rate Card, please email Sales Manager Theresa Schaefer here, or call our officeÂ at (206) 248-2565.
We’d also like to remind any potential Advertisers out there to shop around and ask for actual, independent proof of website traffic statistics (ie: Google Analytics) or independent circulation stats before buying, because you deserve honesty, transparency and professionalism.

Again – THANK YOU for reading our blog, supporting our Advertisers, giving us feedback (yes, commenting will be returning soon), and being engaged with your community through us!

Oh, and stay tuned for a big announcement soon!

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