Written by Josh WarburtonSo this month marks a significant milestone, both in the history of The Independent, and in my own life. February’s edition marked the completion of 19 years of publishing, which I started when I was just 19 years old. Yep, it’s easy math folks, I’m old! It’s gone out on-time, the first Friday of every month for 19 years – except for a period when we published it twice a month (and what a lot of work that was).
Did you know that The Independent was originally The Revolution? I started it with three partners and never thought that I’d still be doing this nearly 20 years later. Maybe five years, but never 10, I’d think to myself. But here I am, starting my 20th year!
So why do I still do it after all these years? Well, for one, I still can. That’s to say, I’m still in business, and if anything, we are doing better than ever. Revenue is up over last year primarily because of the acceleration into the digital realm. I’m not sure just when the web dollars generated will take over the print dollars, but I can see that train a comin’…and fast.
Southern Utah has historically been a bit behind the times, and that was certainly the case with advertising on the web. Ten, even five years ago, local companies just weren’t willing to spend their hard earned dollars on internet ads, at least not in very large amounts. That completely changed here in the last two years. These days most companies we talk to are either interested in, or already doing web advertising.
Our site, SUindependent.com, has been averaging about 70,000 unique visitors a month for a few months now; that’s about double what we estimate the print readership to be, which is also nearly at its all-time high.
I also continue to have a zest for publishing; largely due to curiosity about changes in the publishing industry and anticipation for what will come next. I really enjoy our new model of operation. Our online entity filters large volumes of daily content down into our monthly print publication, where you will find a combination of unpublished upcoming event articles as well as what largely amounts to the “best of” our online content in opinion and news. It’s a much better method of insuring the best possible print edition.
It’s hard to say what the next year, or 19 will bring, but it’s sure to be exciting, so thanks to all of you for being along for the ride. Happy reading!
