2006 Draft Day Coverage Strategy

The 2005 NFL draft day coverage on 12 Seahawks Street was a HUGE success last year.

How good was it? Let me put it this way -- The amount of traffic generated last April was the most in this blog EVER. It even dwarfed the traffic generated by the Super Bowl coverage.

But I have to hand it to you contributors - you all played your repective roles in the process, stayed true to your commitments, and thus provided the most in-depth and up-to-the-minute coverage of the Seahawks draft pics ANYWHERE.

Seriously. Some sites did very well providing current lists of the draft picks. Some sites provided excellent depth about the players, but it was the next day before we saw the article. This site had the best of both worlds, because everyone did their job, and the resulting content was easily navigated by visitors as well.

So, here we are in 2006. What is in store this year? Much of the same. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

1. We will have a completely open and free draft day chat blog set up - no registration, signup or fees required. It's as fast loading, footloose and fancy-free as can be.
2. On the main site, we will have a topic posting for each draft pick, with links to scouting reports and background information for each draft pick as they become available.
3. The main topic on the site will serve as 'welcome screen', and a constantly updated index to all the other draft pick topics.

But the success of this year's coverage depends on you, the contibutor. Here is how you can participate:

First of all, I would like for contributors to place "dibs" on a draft pick or picks to be responsible for featuring. Do this on the comments to this thread. No ifs, ands, or maybes, just commit concretely to the pick you'd like, so the other contributors see clearly what picks are left and respond accordingly.

Here is what you have to choose from:

DAY ONE
1 (31) ADP
2 (63) ADP (will announce Darry Tapp?)
3 (I forget the number) JoSCh

'Contingency' position and cover trades and resulting picks: OPEN
Maintain welcome post and links to pick threads: OPEN

DAY TWO
4 (128) Gumbostu
5 (163) Gumbostu
6 (200) JoSCh
7 (239) ADP
7 (249) Bokonon

'Contingency' position and cover trades and resulting picks: OPEN
Maintain welcome post and links to pick threads: OPEN

Once you know what picks you have, your respective jobs is to be alert to the Seahawks' turn to make their pick and announcement for your selections, and post a new thread reflecting this announcement with the players' name mentioned. You might even have a new post ready, so all you have to do is type in the name of the player and immediately post. This way others can comment immediately on the pickup. Don't get caught up in commenting on the selection just yet, you have more work to do.

Next, you need to go back and edit your post. Add a picture, and a brief comment if you like. Repost the thread. Go back and edit the post again.

Now, go surf the net and find good information on the new Seahawk and copy the links over to the post you are editing. As soon as you have some good stuff, publish it again. As long as you keep finding good information about the new pick, keep coming back and posting it to the official thread. Feel free to comment at this point as well.

The whole objective in this organization is to keep topics contiguous, double posting to a minimum, all the while keeping the information as up-to-date as possible. It will enable visitors to get information and comment in real-time.

We also need a volunteer to maintain a thread "always on top" that serves as the introductory 'welcome screen' with links to chat and other features. Most everyone on the Seahawk universe will be looking for draft info, so *please* keep off-topics to an absolute minimum.

If you guys can help with this it will be ABSOLUTELY COOL. Last year, draft coverage put this site on the map. Not to mention it's a whole lot of fun.

If you are a new contributor, and a little rusty on posting pic and links, don't worry about it. Check out the "How to Blog" in the Nav menu, and dive in anyway. We help each other around here.

I can't wait. So which pick(s) do YOU want? Please use the comments area to volunteer for specific picks and/or duties. This post will be updated to reflect your commitments.

Thanks again, and GO SEAHAWKS!

(to comment, click the green number to the right of the title above)