Long-time readers know by now that I pen a short column every Sept. 1 celebrating the official anniversary of the launching of OnMilwaukee.com in 1998.

Honestly, I know that these words have become a little repetitive over the years, and for that I apologize. You already know how grateful I am to our hard-working staff, to our long-time and brand new clients, and to our friends and families for supporting us as we continue to make new media great media here in the city that we love.

But this year is a little bit different. Depending on your perspective, it's either been a short hitch or a long haul since I've been self-employed -- technically 11 and a half years since we began building OnMilwaukee.com, LLC -- but I've never experienced anything as a business owner like I have in the last 12 months.

Though we've been spared the worst of it, it's been a bloodbath out there for old-school media. And really, new media hasn't fared a whole hell of a lot better.

I get a lot of calls these days from unemployed journalists looking for work. Most of them are newspaper guys, and in Milwaukee, there are plenty of out-of-work print people. Some of them come from TV, radio and online, too. Obviously, we can't -- nor would we want to -- hire them all. But, I think what is prompting these veteran reporters pick up the phone is the belief that the future of media is online.

That, and the fact that during this very challenging economic climate, we have neither cut staff for budget reasons nor implemented any furloughs for our salaried employees. We haven't diminished benefits, either. In fact, in the last year, we've actually added employees and improved our benefits -- ignoring strong advice not to do so.

I'm not bragging. Far from it. My business partner Jeff Sherman and I have taken a frugally operated company and tightened our belts -- personally, too -- even more than normal. Yes, revenue is down from our best year in 2007, though if a few chips fall on our side, we project to break even -- or maybe turn a small profit again -- by the end of '09. And during this recession, breaking even is the new profitability.

I'm not being glib. Print media, and not just in Wisconsin, is taking a bath right now, as outlets continue to struggle with monetizing their online product and paying incredible overhead costs. I won't say that we've completely figured it out, but after 11 years, we're certainly on the right track.

That's because we're not resting on our laurels. We move swiftly enough at OnMilwaukee.com to recognize trends and act upon them before the rest of the pack catches up. In the last year, we not only increased our coverage of Milwaukee entrainment and lifestyle news, we also developed a companion product called The In Click Network. The In Click Network lets us quickly launch aggregated content sites that can serve both vertical and horizontal niches.

That means 50 city sites (and counting) like OnMadison.com and OnGreenBay.com, but also sites that are completely geographically independent, like SwineFluReporter.com and TheNewParentBlog.com. Of the nearly 150 sites we've launched so far, some are doing very well, while others are just getting started. In addition to the aggregated RSS content, these sites can also take syndicated content that we write for OnMilwaukee.com.

In other words, all my cheers and jeers that you read about my iPhone not only show up on the pages of OnMilwaukee.com, but also on the iPhoneDailyReport.com.

We've also continued to push our Web development business in the last year, reminding clients that all the technology you enjoy on OnMilwaukee.com can be repurposed for external customers. We continue to hustle in every component of our business: our core magazine product, but also in consulting and developing new applications like The In Click.

Internally, we're embracing social media even more than ever. While our Talkbacks, Readers Blogs, interactive articles and polls were Web 2.0 before anyone called it that, we've also integrated Twitter feeds directly into our articles and blogs, and we now tie our increased promotional events right back into those same tools.

Why? Because we have to.

As much as we all love Milwaukee, it's also a funny place to operate an independent media company. You'd think that after 11 years and more than 250,000 unique visitors per month (using our most conservative metrics), we'd be legit to every media buyer in town. To many we are, but to others, we're still justifying not only our product, but our entire industry. Fortunately, those agencies are catching up to the vision we had in the days before Google, Twitter and Facebook -- this year, we've seen some of the largest ad buys in the history of our company.

Of course, if you read the internal memos from those media companies that are cutting staff, they all blame advertisers and the economy, yet refuse to take any responsibility for their losses. We're doing the opposite: streamlining, adapting, innovating and educating.

It's not that advertisers aren't advertising, they're just demanding more accountability and results -- and we're working hard to exceed their expectations.

And that's exactly why I remain bullish on our future. As agile as we are at spotting trends, we're also feeling the economy turn around in tangible ways. Just like the six months after Sept. 11, 2001, we watched the pretenders fade away and the contenders come away stronger. I know that, years from now, we'll still be living the lessons we took away from the last 12 months.

Now, we're poised to do some great things over the next year and beyond. This fall, veteran media columnist Tim Cuprisin joins our staff, and soon, you'll start reading theater reviews from Damien Jaques, the best performing arts writer in the city. We're continuing to explore new content offerings, including a statewide, stand-alone sports site, if it makes sense, and we've added to our already great sales, promotional and programming departments to keep cranking into our 12th year of business.

Finally, and I apologize for sounding like a broken record, we couldn't do it without you: the loyal readers, partners, clients and friends of OnMilwaukee.com. You are the people, who through your readership, praise and even constructive criticism, press us to grow and improve.

On behalf of our entire team, thank you for continuing to read and support OnMilwaukee.com. I'm just as energized, albeit a little older, than I was on Sept. 1, 1998. I really believe the best is yet to come.