Contributing to Patch - A Primer

Would you like to post events, announcements and blogs to Merrimack Patch?

Keep this article handy each time there is something you'd like to share with our community.

To post events to the site for free: navigate to the Events page at the top of the home page and click “Add an Event” on the right side of the page. Tell us all the details about your upcoming event, then click “post my event” at the bottom of the page.

That puts the event directly on our calendar. The end result is the same as if a Patch staffer had posted it for you. Note that it sometimes takes a few minutes to verify, and show up. Don't worry, though. It's in there.

The only difference is, when you post it, it goes up quicker.  If you send it to us, you might have to wait until we're done reporting on what the Town Council is doing, photographing an event, meeting with community members, or something else that Patch editors are always doing.

To post announcements to the site for free: simply click the Announcement option by hovering your cursor over the news tab at the top of the homepage. On the right side of the screen you’ll see the button “Add an Announcement.” This will you take you to Patch’s announcement form. Once there, get your brag on and tell the community all about your child's sports league win, your civic club’s new members, or preview an upcoming event (different from a calendar event listing). When you’re ready, click “publish my announcement” and it will go live to the site immediately.

With just a few clicks, you can tell the town when your daughter gets engaged, your son becomes a dad, or graduates college, or when someone gets promoted at their job.

You can also write a public thank-you, provide details about your group's upcoming event, or ask for volunteers. (We have a whole bunch of categories you can choose for your announcement; you'll see for yourself when you submit one.)

For extra visibility, add a photo. If you email us the link, we can help give you even more exposure.

To blog: Simply click the "Want to blog on Patch?" button below our Local Voices column on our homepage, then click "post on Patch," and fill out the required fields. When done, hit "save and preview" and then submit it to us. At the chance you receive an error message, ("oops!" is one we see from time to time), just e-mail the editor at carolyn.dube@patch.com to see if things look good on our end, or to trouble shoot for you. We recommend that you do not write from scratch in on the website, but rather cut and paste int

Reminder: Bookmark this page as a reference.