BJ Murphy: Six months ago to today's announcement
Six months ago a small group of friends set out to change the local news model. We were tired of pop-up ads, tired of national news filling the pages and social media timelines of our local news source, and tired of having to pay for content readily available elsewhere. On June 27, 2018, we stopped complaining and started delivering.
We now have over 3,400 subscribers to the Neuse Newsletter - a daily 7:00 email with the latest headlines. In the last 30 days, our website has connected with 62,000 unique visitors and social media engagements have surpassed 100,000. All without a print product, without annoying pop-up ads, and by giving it all away.
Granted when we started, I was committed to beginning a weekly print product around the 12-month mark. However, the speed and accuracy of information during Hurricane Florence gave me pause to investing in an outdated news model. Now, we’re planning to double down on social and digital technologies.
Some say we’re in the news business. Some say we’re in the advertising business. I say we’re in the attention business.
Your attention is one of the most precious commodities you own at the cost of your time. Therefore, when we have your attention, we want to deliver exactly what you need to know to help you make more informed decisions.
Our defining moments in the first six months have been Hurricane Florence, Election Night’s five-hour-long LIVE coverage (Part 1 and Part 2), and the Kinston Christmas Parade LIVE stream. Our team is executing a strategy that will change the way news outlets cover our communities – by utilizing the platforms that garner your attention.
Since we’re committed to providing better value – even though our content is already free – today we are launching NeuseNews.com’s new 2.0 homepage. Our original homepage has been visited 50,000 times in the last 90 days, and we believe the format enhancements will drive page visits to new heights.
Beginning today, you can visit www.neusenews.com and catch a glimpse of all the Latest Stories, Featured News, Local Sports, Guest Columns, Obituaries, Matters of Record and Classifieds. And since 76% of our web traffic is mobile, the new site was designed with phone-viewer in mind.
Our new home page is more mobile-friendly than ever. Readers and advertisers now have the ability to purchase event promotion packages, help wanted ads, classified listings and more right from their phone.
Yes, now advertisers can click on an available space and reserve their spot in a matter of minutes through our secure checkout process via Stripe and PayPal. If you keep seeing a space that says “This ad space is available”, then that means so are your potential customers.
Simple.
Attention.
Without our advertisers, we cannot provide value to you. Please click on their ads, consider spending your money with them, and most importantly let them know “Neuse News sent you”.
Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for purchasing a Neuse News Hoodie. Thank you for supporting our advertisers.
We promise to exponentially build on this momentum in 2019. We love you. We thank you. And we are grateful.
