Five Things You Can Do To Get Into Five Things in Westford

Hello Westford! If you read Patch, chances are you probably wake up each morning and read Five Things, our daily morning planner for today and the next few days in town.

If you have a great event or news item or cause and would like to get it in Five Things, here are Five Things you can do in no particular order to increase your chances.

#1. Submit an Event: If you have a free Patch account (all you need to do is go to westford.patch.com/join and put in your e-mail address), it's really easy to add something to our Events Calendar!

To submit an event, just go to westford.patch.com/events or the "Events" tab on the top of the home page, click on "Add an Event" and fill out the rest. It's completely free!

If you have any questions, e-mail editor Andrew Sylvia at andrew.sylvia@patch.com. E-mail him the links of your events on the events calendar as well!

#2. Submit an Announcement: Like submitting an event, submitting an announcement is also very easy, and all you need is a free Patch account (see above).

To submit an announcement, just go to westford.patch.com/search/announcements or scroll over the "News" tab on the home page and click on "Announcements" and then click on the button that says "Add an Announcement" and fill our the rest. 

Again, Andrew is happy to help. E-mail him with questions or with completed links.

#3. Add Pictures: Everybody loves pictures! And if you've got a free Patch account (sensing a theme here?), you can add your pictures to Patch.

You can add pictures or videos to any event listing or announcement by clicking on the "Upload Photos and Videos" button.

Likewise, you can add photos and videos on their own by going to the Pics and Clips Gallery at westford.patch.com/pics, which can also be found on the Homepage at the "Pics and Clips" tab at the top of the screen.

Also, make sure to add captions!

#4. Do 1,2 and 3 as Often As Possible: Patch is meant to be a 21st century online gathering place where you can share your news and information, and we want to help encourage that with Five Things.

Folks who submit events and announcements directly get preference, especially with photos, and especially if they can do it frequently. Don't worry though, we'll still try to fit everyone in and we aim to feature most content submitted by users on the front page.

#5. Submit Unique, Local Things: Obviously, anything in Westford or with a tie to Westford gets preference as well.

However, if it's the same thing every week, that probably won't draw folks' attention.

If you have a recurring event or announcement, try to customize it in some way for each date, even if it's a small. That way, people will take notice, which is what we want to help you to do with Five Things.