By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com
Some of our sharp-eyed readers might have noticed an advertisement on this website thanking our readers for 1.6 million views in 2023.
Since that ad was built in early December we had another 100,000 clicks on the website, bringing our yearly total to 1.7 million. Last year, we got 1.1 million views.
More eyes are on our free website each day.
Yet we’re still waiting patiently on more local advertisers to climb aboard and support our endeavor to inform the public.
News isn’t free. We’re not beggars, but we often feel like the little paper boy in “Newsies” who coughs feebly and asks a stranger to “Buy my last pape, sir?”
In the weeks after our 2021 launch several asked if we had considered a business model built on subscriptions, but looking around at our numerous digital counterparts in Arkansas — magnoliareporter.com, hopeprescott.com, mysaline.com, and salineriverchronicle.com, to name our favorites — the consensus appears to reflect that an advertising-based revenue model is the way to go. Each of these websites has been doing exactly what we do — for longer than a decade — yet they all seem to be doing just fine based on the quantity of advertisements on their sites.
We’re here to admit, we’re not doing that great. Sure, 2023 was better than 2022 and we anticipate brighter years ahead, but unfortunately it seems that the majority of local businesses does not need to advertise.
We’re not giving up yet. Besides, we’re having too much fun to call it quits. As more people take notice of what we do here, surely more advertisers will come. If it doesn’t happen, it simply wasn’t meant to be — not for Yours Truly, not for Clark County.
Our current advertisers get it, and we can’t thank them enough: As more and more people have their eyes on their phones, tablets or computers, the days of a printed newspaper in rural America are numbered (Sorry, Joe, but we had to say it).
Clicks aside, let’s delve into some other statistics proving that eyes are on us. We had just shy of 800,000 website visitors in 2023, compared to 478,000 visitors in 2022. It’s not quite double, but it proves that more folks are coming to our site and staying around for a while, and they’re clicking on more than just one story.
New readers we’ve attracted along the way often click on previous or related stories in order to be current with this digital journal. When they check out the real estate transactions for the first time, they’re curious and head down the rabbit hole of previous real estate reports. Ditto for any local government, school board or crime story we’ve covered that piques their interest.
Each time a reader clicks a new article, he/she sees a refreshed page with a different stack of advertisements. It’s the same concept as turning the page in a newspaper, only this — what you, Kind Reader, are looking at right now — is the future of local journalism. While you’re here, know that we Thank You.
Our readers rely on us as much as we rely on them. Likewise with our advertisers, who have all been gracious. We’re forever grateful to you all.
We’ve been runnin’ down a dream since 2021. In the upcoming year, we hope to continue flying the plane which we’ve been busy building along the way, and we hope Clark County residents and businesses will continue climbing aboard.
Here’s to a bright 2024.
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