Newspaper's website redesigned, enhanced
By Charles Batchelor STAFF WRITER

Newspaper's website redesigned, enhanced

ChesterfieldObserver.com has been redesigned, offering several new, free features that are more reader-friendly. Visitors will be able to sign up to receive an email when a new issue is posted.

"We expect the searchable archives to be very popular," says Publisher Greg Pearson. "From now on, we'll maintain all of our articles online, which was not offered to readers in the past."

Like more and more newspapers, however, the weekly newspaper will begin soon charging to read the current issue online. A oneyear subscription will be $24.95. There will be no charge to read the newspaper's previous issues or search its archives.

Readers will also have the option to view a version of the printed newspaper page online, with the ads and photos in place. "This is a unique feature that will be popular with many of our readers," predicts Pearson.

Beginning on May 3, the current week's newspaper will be only available online to those who pay for early access. "Everyone will still be able to see the headlines and the first few lines of each story, but otherwise we will be restricting access to our online version by one week to subscribers only," explains Pearson.

Visitor choosing not to subscribe can turn to the online list of the more than 60 locations where free copies of the newspaper are available, or they can simply wait one week or less when all articles move into the free archive.

"The new website serves many purposes including sending those readers to our free print paper," explains Pearson. "We want our readers to see all of our news and all of our advertising."

"Any ad larger than our smallest display ad is put on our website at no additional cost to the advertisers," says Carol LaLiberte, director of advertising for the weekly paper. "With the new search function and archives, our advertisers get more exposure

than ever. As a bonus to our advertisers, the ads are formatted so they can be seen by the Internet search engines."

Readers can click the newspaper ads displayed next to the news articles for a larger view. If an ad has a website listed, the ad will be linked to the advertiser's website.

In March - the first full month since the newspaper went weekly - ChesterfieldObserver.com recorded over 11,000 unique visits (411,190 hits) to its website, with over 30,000 pages viewed.

Starting with the May 3 issue, anyone attempting to access the current week's newspaper will be given the opportunity to subscribe to ChesterfieldObserver.com online, using a credit card, at $24.95 per year. The reader will choose a password that will allow immediate access to the newspaper for a year.

"We realize some online readers will be disappointed to find they have to pay for the latest week's stories," said Pearson. "However, we think this method is fair both to our online readers and to the advertisers in the print edition that support this community service. And, overall, it's a much more useful website to our county now."

Chesterfield Observer prints 47,000 copies (with 35,600 delivered to homes via the mail each Wednesday). The paper has become the third largest non-daily newspaper in the state and the second largest newspaper by circulation in the Richmond metro area.