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You've been sent a story from New Voices (http://www.j-newvoices.org/): Green Jobs Philly Paul Glover, Editor, GreenPlanners http://www.j-newvoices.org/578/ A Philadelphia web entrepreneur will spearhead a new website and quarterly publication to cover "green" jobs, grants, and economic initiatives by local businesses, universities and nonprofits. CONTACT INFO Paul Glover GreenPlanners 140 W. Sedgwick St. Philadelphia, PA 19119 (215) 805-8330 E-mail Website Twitter Philadelphia’s eco-economy is featured in this bimonthly newsletter sent to thousands of local officials, organizations, businesses and job seekers.  The focus of GreenJobsPhilly is on grassroots initiatives because most new jobs in a tight economy will be created by small local businesses. This site also makes it free and easy for Philadelphians to offer and request green jobs, services, grants and loans.  Plans are to translate content to Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese.  Check back for future news and updates. • July 2010 • June 2009 • February 2009 • November 2008       Paul Glover, Editor at Green Jobs Philly, has written a book about his initiative. “America’s neighborhoods can employ themselves to reduce living costs, while rebuilding toward balance with nature—without waiting for either government or Wall Street. By doing so they take power over food, fuel, housing, health care, planning, and finance. They build a solid future for the next generations.” Green Jobs Philly News Becomes A Switchboard for Greening EconomyJuly 2010 Five years ago, there were quarterly ‘green’ meetings in Philadelphia.  Today, there are several daily, says Paul Glover, whose Green Jobs Philly News serves principally as a compiler of ‘green’ news.  “It provides a lively and efficient digest of Philadelphia’s economic greening,” he says, “but we have created original content, too.” Articles from GJPN have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia City Paper, and Grid magazine.  These drive more traffic to the website, and Glover noted he has scooped other media by meeting innovators at festivals and in parks, prompting stories by mainstream press.  Green Jobs Phillly News’ subscriber base of current emails reaches over 7,000.  Many others visit the site via links, RSS feeds, forwarded emails and searches.  During the past 23 months, he has issued 21 editions of the News.  He estimates his web version receives about 120 hits per day, and double that number subscribe to his RSS feed.  By his estimation, the News is viewed 12,000 times per month. The News is now distributed via Constant Contact, giving Glover statistics for the number of times an email is opened and the usage.  It shows a 22 to 25 percent open rate, or roughly 1,200 to 1,400 of 7,000 subscribers, he says, as well as a 32 percent click rate.  “Our opens rate [the percentage of people who read the email from GJPN] is nearly the highest among all sectors tabulated, and our clicks rate [the percentage of people who click on a link within an email] is higher than any other sector.”  That is, Constant Contact has indicated GJPN’s click rate is higher than the average for other categories, such as education-, sports-, or news-themed newsletters, says Glover. He also noted that 12 percent of visitors remain on the site for more than 15 minutes, with dozens browsing for more than an hour. “We’re action-oriented, providing links to new local initiatives, prompting readers to help create good news.”  He adds that the letters section reflects enthusiasm for the News and a reliance on Glover for connections and advice. Despite those statistics and anecdotes, Glover has found it difficult to sell online ads for Green Jobs Philly News. Glover also describes himself as a serial entrepreneur:  “I start organizations,” all of which fit in with greening the Philly economy, he explained.  Among these is the Patch Adams Free Clinic for primary care and green jobs training; Philadelphia Regional & Independent Stock Exchange (PRAISE), which gathers capital of all kinds for eco-development; Philadelphia Fund for Ecological Living (PhilaFEL) which gathers donations for installation of green technologies in lowest-income neighborhoods; and Neighborhood Enterprise SchoolTeachers (NESTS), which rewards and credentials low-income neighbors for teaching neighborhood kids. Green Jobs Philly News often links to these organizations, which Glover often starts and then hands off to others to run on a day-to-day basis.  There’s no conflict of interest, he says, since this is “a new medium that is different from hum-drum media.  There’s no bad news.” He also delivers speeches to religious, civic and professional groups about green jobs.  Green Jobs Philly News continues to evolve, says Glover.  He has reserved the domain trabajosverdes.org (which translates to green jobs) and is preparing to launch content in Spanish soon, too. “I’ve done good for others,” he said, “but haven’t been as successful” financially himself.  He also wishes he had greater technical and advertising-related skills: “If I could get a partner who can help with advertising, fundraising and is an internet-savvy person, the site could be solid and reliably permanent.” Green Jobs Philly Gears UpJune 2009 Green Jobs Philadelphia News continues to gain subscribers, with more than 5,200 people now signed up to receive the monthly e-mail publication - a nearly 25 percent increase since February. The Green Jobs Philly website had 3,720 unique visitors in May, up from 889 uniques when GJP launched in August 2008. The newsletter serves to market GreenJobsPhilly.org, a digest of everything green-related in the Philadelphia area. Project manager and site founder Paul Glover updates the site, which functions primarily as an aggregator, as often as news and information come in. Glover, the one-man showman behind Green Jobs Philly, is also working to create local microbusinesses that will help green Philadelphia and build on his New Voices-sponsored website and newsletter. Green Jobs Philly is also providing original content - Glover has written 18 articles and linked to hundreds of stories and new initiatives. He and the site also work as a switchboard, linking job seekers with companies and individuals offering employment. About 550 people have registered to be able to offer and/or request jobs. Of those, 348 people sought jobs, 221 uploaded resumes, 48 offered green jobs, 30 offered green services and 28 sought grants. To help evaluate the impact of his site, Glover has contracted with Constant Contact, an e-mail marketing company that also provides web services to small firms and groups. Constant Contact reports that Green Jobs Philly’s “click through” rate - the percentage of site visitors who click on a link to open it - is 33 percent, about six times higher than average for websites monitored by Constant Contact. “The site is ‘sticky,’” Glover says. “Many of my subscribers are on it for over an hour.” Glover reports that all his GJP stories have been copied or linked to by a number of blogs. Several magazines also have reprinted his articles. Glover has made his New Voices’ Year Two match, consisting of $1,000 from in-kind donations, $1,000 from speeches, $2,400 from teaching at Temple University, $400 for a January 2009