A week later in print, you need to know not just what's going on but what it could mean for your credit union, like the NCUA's lawsuits against the investment banks that sold the bad mortgage-backed securities to the corporates.

We want to help you see the future by covering possible trends such as “Microsoft Kinect: From Living Rooms to CU Branches?”as well as credit unions' next competitors. (Hint: It's not the community bank on the corner.)

We're also working to give more credit union executives a voice in our pages and online. We've added the Vox Populi (translation: Voice of the People) feature at least one issue a month. This asks various credit union executives at all levels and different types of credit unions a single question to get the industry's take on a particular issue. Credit Union Times is also seeking out differing opinions with our new Forum Focus, the first of which focused on the viability of the branch.

Another way to have your voice heard in the pages of Credit Union Times and online is to write us a letter to the editor. We enjoy getting feedback from our readers; otherwise it feels like we're just putting information into a vacuum. We work to get people thinking and talking and stir discussion. Email me your thoughts on anything credit unions at [email protected].

CUTimes.com has also been made over for easier navigation and better presentation of information. We're trying out different formats from video to slideshows.

Editorial staff and correspondents are producing articles you won't see anywhere else for our website, like “Mega-Trends Will Remake the Industry.” We are taking very seriously our tagline, “Trusted News for Credit Union Leaders.” We want to serve the forward-thinking credit unions and their employees to help them continue to progress their institutions and the industry.

You'll also note on CUTimes.com that below every article is an opportunity to comment on the issue discussed. Please make use of it, and while you're posting a comment you can sign up to receive others' comments via email.

The new CUTimes.com has been live four months, and here's what we can tell from Google Analytics:

• Visits are up 13% over the previous four months and up 29% from the same period in 2010

• Unique visitors are up 20% from the previous four months, approaching 65,000 unique readers over the 30 days ending June 28. Uniques are up 35% year-over-year.

• The average page views per visitor are up 13% year-over-year and the average time on site is up more than 13%.

• Anything to do with corporate credit unions and interchange are top priorities for our online readers.

That's the data dump, so what does that mean? More readers are visiting CUTimes.com. They seem to be happy with the new site, and more readers are using more of it. The figures also verify our editorial news judgment (not the other way around) that we're hitting on the key credit union issues of the day.

We're very pleased with these numbers and what we think they mean. Now that it has been implemented for a while, you tell us what you think CUTimes.com needs more or less of. The same goes for Credit Union Times magazine.

Our reporters and I are often at industry events. Let's do coffee or lunch and talk about credit union issues and the information you need to push your credit union and the industry into the future.