On April 11, with the help of my good friend Peter Mallory, my dream of a daily on-line newspaper for Southeast Volusia became a reality. Now here we are, one day removed from that four-month anniversary and NSBNEWS.net has received more than 40,000 hits. And according to my software data, the individual items on this Web site have been hit a collective 1.7 million times. There are those naysayers out there who say this won't work. That there are too many old people in New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater who don't even know how to use the Internet. Sorry, I don't buy it. NSBNEWS.net is a viable news source for people of all ages. It is also a great advertising source for local merchants.
We have plenty of media choices here in Southeast Volusia -- the Daytona Beach News-Journal (paid daily metro), the Orlando Sentinel (paid daily metro), Hometown News (free weekly based in Fort Pierce with a local office in South Daytona) and even the Observer (free weekly) is coming back. There is also the Pennysaver (free weekly shopper), the Orange Peel Gazette (free weekly shopper), several real estate shoppers, a few monthly magazines and a couple of radio stations.
The advantage NSBNEWS.net has over the others is the daily focus on local news. Sure, weekly papers have lots of local news, but the real stories have already been reported. Plus, we provide civic and club news. There's certainly no shortage of space.
We are as environmentally green as can be. There's no littering your driveway with freebie newspapers in plastic bags that sit there and rot until the next garbage pick-up when you bend down and throw them in the can at the curb. I know the drill very well that sales people give advertisers as reasons why they should advertise with them: That the paper is directly sent to the home.
Really? I live on North Dixie Drive. Hometown News isn't dropped in my driveway, front yard or porch. Neither was the Observer's former free weekly supplement, The Breeze. For that matter, I don't get the Pennysaver either. I do get the twice-monthly Orange Peel Gazette mailed to me because it runs my advertisements. And in the mail, I get the News-Journal's "Focus," a weekly supplement highlighting News-Journal stories and features for non-subscribers.
People have asked me recently how I feel about the Observer coming back. At first I was concerned about advertising, but that will take care of itself. But after talking to several people, I realized it's a different medium. Besides, nobody will beat our rates.
What really counts in the long run is the news product, its relevance, freshness and depth of reporting. I don't have deep pockets, but I have my God-given talent and determination to succeed.
I know that in my heart that my experience as an award-winning journalism speaks for itself. I worked very hard at the News-Journal for eight years. Then I was editor of the Observer, when it was a daily for seven months. I have another seven years working for a big metro in suburban New York and was a city editor at a daily in Massachusetts.
The good thing about NSBNEWS.net is there's no real overhead. I have nearly two dozen volunteer community writers and even a cartoonist, Lonny Russell, who take pride in their contributions.
Besides Peter Mallory, the other community columnists are Capt. Budd Neviaser, Tia McDonald, Darlene Vann, Rosi Karnes, Mike Visconti, Styron James, Col. Irving Davidoff, Sandy Roberts, Kelly Azzinaro, Jim Tharp and newcomers WC Denmark, Catherine Forrester, Gerry Tatham and Deborah Alonzo.
I am working hard to continue developing my media kit and rate card and whenever possible, try and meet new people to get the word out. I'm in the process of working with the city of New Smyrna Beach on signage to advertise the Web site and I'm covering as many events as I can. And if that's not enough, I have a bolder re-making of NSBNews.net, which includes more graphics and an archiving system as well as more audio visuals, including additional videos and photos.
Whether people want to accept it or not, newsprint media is dying and advertisers are going to the Internet where on-line newspapers provide more instantaneous news -- not only with words, but also sight and sound.
New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater, Oak Hill and the unincorporated areas of Samsula, Bethune Beach and Silver Sands have people of all ages who want to know what is happening at home, across Volusia County, in Washington, the world; in business, Hollywood and sports arenas. The target audience is emerging families and advertisers understand they are particular about spending wisely, especialy in this economic downturn.
There's a reason why the News-Journal is for sale and the Observer folded. Anyone can open something back up. Sustaining it with building rents, unemployment insurance, printing and distribution costs add up fast.
At NSBNEWS.net, we bring all of the news home to you on your desktop or laptop. You don't have to worry about putting on a robe and bending over to pick up a freebie newspaper with boring and inane government coverage and grip and grin photos that are old - either to throw away or turn a few pages and then line the bird cage.
Remember, the news never stops and neither does NSBNews.net.