Editors Journal: CaryCitizen Celebrates First Anniversary

Story by Hal Goodtree | August 1, 2010 |

Story by Hal Goodtree

Cary, NC – Some of you may have noticed a special 1 Year Anniversary logo flying from the CaryCitizen masthead. That’s because this week marks the beginning of our second year.

It’s really been a community project, so we thought we’d share a little info about the year past and talk about our goals for the future.

Statistically Speaking

CaryCitizen launched on July 24, 2009. Our first story was on Lazy Daze.

Since the beginning, we’ve relied on the community to spread the word. Thank you, pioneer readers, for helping us have a great first year:

• Story Views - 234, 693 (includes web views and email reads of our stories)
• Absolute Uniques – 55,669 (total number of unique visitors to carycitizen.com)
• Subscribers – 1,262 (includes Facebook Fans, email subscribers and Twitter followers)
• Ad Impressions – 469, 259 (number of times ads have been shown on the website)
• Click-Through Rate – .53% (national average is .25%)

Right now, we’re running at 22,634 Page Views per month. 52% of our site visitors come from Google search (we’re an accredited Google News source).

Keeping it Positive

Our mission is to tell the true story of the town everyday. It’s a story of families, hard work and accomplishment.

We published over 700 pieces in our first year about arts, food, history, events and the people who are making a difference in Cary.

Building Contributors

We’ve grown through the efforts of a growing staff of dedicated correspondents and contributors from across the community.

Our photographers crisscross the town almost daily covering sports, events and business. We’ve connected with talented writers in music, film and news. The Calendar is the first complete directory of events in town.

Sponsors, Advertisers and Civic Leaders

Thanks to all the businesses and public officials who have so generously supported our mission to bring fair, entertaining and useful news to the citizens of Cary seven days a week.

News From You

Many of our best stories start with a tip from a CaryCitizen reader. Community-sourcing the news is in our DNA. Keep those emails coming!

Year Two

Looking ahead, we have big plans for our second year.

We’ve gained accreditation from the NCHSAA (NC High School Athletic Association) are look forward to expanded coverage of fall sports at Cary High and Panther Creek.

Look for a monthly Fashion Report starting this week.

And, we’ve just begun to roll out our Shop Cary initiative – stories in the paper and signs in the stores promoting business in town.

Tell a Friend

Best thing you can do to support CaryCitizen is tell a friend. Still a few people in town who don’t know we exist.

Happy First Anniversary, CaryCitizens!