ROBERTSDALE — If the only constant in this world is change, Gulf Coast Newspapers can boast constancy and inexhaustible striving toward cutting-edge applications and local, local, local content.

While staffers at GCN remain the same, positional optimizations should benefit readers, advertisers and employees. Former Director of Operations Bill Atkinson, and former Executive News Director Sheila Propp have earned the titles of publisher and associate publisher, respectively.

GCN President Bern Mebane said the titles are more representative of their roles and abilities.

“We are really excited that the two of them are working with the company,” he explained.

“Bill has lot of experience with a number of markets in print and online, and Sheila has a depth of local knowledge and a solid news background.

“The combination of the skills these two bring is outstanding,” Mebane added.

Propp said that the team and goals make for a cohesive effort.

“He (Atkinson) is very gregarious, positive and knowledgeable,” she said.

She plans to embrace some of the changes between her new position and her former position, according to Propp.

“That means fostering content improvement — making the papers better in every way so that people want to read and subscribe to them,” she explained. “As associate publisher, I’ll be working with Bill and with the papers as a whole.”

“One advantage is that I’ll be able to get out in the community more, and I’ll be learning more about the advertising side of our business.”

Atkinson also looks forward to changes in position, quality and options, he said.

“Sheila is a lady that I have great deal of respect for,” he said. “She’s one of the most open-minded individuals I’ve worked with…she’s somebody who’s got great instincts, plus she’ll argue with you.”

“We both believe that if we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it right. She’ll head up the editorial piece of this pie, and I’ll do revenue and business.”

As for quality, he has high hopes for the future, he said.

“We’ve put the focus on delivering content in real time,” according to Atkinson. “We have community news directors in each community to accumulate and deal with news in respective areas; we still don’t do it as well as we should, but we’re working on it.”

He also explained that GCN will continue improving and adding facets.

“If there’s anything we do know as a news source, it’s that Web is where we’re going to put a major focus,” he said.

Mebane added his awareness regarding the benefits of options in a large, diverse county.

“Our emphasis is on the communities and people of Baldwin County,” he said. “We remain committed to print, but we also want people to have the ability to access their local news and advertising, and our advertisers, their customers, by any platform they choose.”

“It’s important for people to have choices, and these promotions are a part of that. That’s how we plan to keep growing.”

Propp agreed that changes are for the better.

“We’re working on the website to make it more visually pleasing and fresher looking every time people come to visit, so people should tune in frequently,” she added.

Atkinson believes that the company continues to follow trends and offer satisfaction for current demands.

He explained that 47 percent of adults use their mobile devices to get local news and that during his work as director of operations, the company’s website traffic has jumped 2,325 percent.

“In June 2010, we were at 3,301 visits; by September 2011 we were at 80,050 visits,” he said with excitement. “We have increased from 107,704 page views in June 2010 to 187,216 page views in September 2011.”

Mebane said he’s impressed with the figures and with performance.

“The goal of all this is to serve the people and businesses of Baldwin County even better, to get more news to the residents of Baldwin County that they can’t get from other sources,” he said. “We want to be the local news source of choice as well as the best vehicle for businesses to reach their customers.

“In a day when the Internet has made daily papers and TV stations into commodities, we have been able to go the other direction. Our total unique-visitor audience has grown more than 15-fold in the past year with the innovations and expansion of BaldwinCountyNow.com, thanks to the efforts of these two. But, we think we can grow even more,” Mebane said.

Atkinson expressed an important part of improving the future: understanding the past. While originally from Tennessee, he had worked for Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. daily newspapers in Texas, then with Mebane at weekly newspapers in Maine; he said Mebane invited him to join the Gulf Coast Newspapers team in 2010.

“When I first got here, because Gulf Coast Newspapers had left itself in somewhat of a challenging situation, we had pretty much lost some of our identity as community papers,” he said. “We had lost sight of what we’re supposed to be in the community.

“I was brought in to identify problems. I worked with Sheila to develop some content strategies; we started last November and really tried to meet the needs of the community. In speaking with more and more people, many readers were looking for county content instead of individual cities; so much of the county has a purpose, no matter where you live,” Atkinson said.

While content changed, presentation was updated to reflect the advancements within.

“Changing times called for change in format,” he explained. “We made it easier to hold and easier to read.

“With the Web, we are a daily news source. If you’re not finding it in print, you will find it on the Web. There’s room for more photos on the Web and the sky is the limit, where the paper is limited.”

He said the changes that started within the company will come to fruition as he takes an active role inside and out.

“I had to find the weaknesses and overcome those; now, as publisher, I can be part of the communities and help the communities,” he explained. “To have a good community, is to have a good newspaper, and to have a good newspaper, is to have a good community.”

“I’ll be able to get more out and more involved. I have a very soft heart when it comes to providing resources for non-profit organizations. What they do is a service, and I want to open ourselves up to them.”

I will work internally and externally. We’ve made our changes, now it’s fine tuning … pushing things up, not daily, but hourly. We are fine-tuning our direction and will always embrace change, not fall behind.”

“One thing I do know,” Atkinson said with a smile, “Baldwin County is one of the most unique places on earth. When I get off work, I feel like I’m on vacation. It’s got some of the friendliest people, and the staff at GCN doesn’t get nearly the recognition they deserve. They’re a great group, a strong team, and that’s  what is going to make this happen.”