By Guy Chapman – Navarro County Gazette
Can you believe the Navarro County Gazette has been around for three months already? It’s been quite the ride for us, and we appreciate the growing support from you.
As we’ve grown and started to gain a readership, we’re now ready to expand our content with some great new ideas that we hope you’ll enjoy and find valuable as a Gazette reader.
Before we get into the new changes, I wanted to reiterate one very simple, but important thing:
Subscriptions for the Gazette remain free. There is no paywall, we will not be charging you to read our content, and you can have our news delivered direct to your personal inbox by adding your e-mail to the form located at the bottom of our main page.
That said, we are a business, and if you like us, and support what we do, we are offering a few à la carte (separately priced items) features designed to enhance your reading experience with us.
- Advertising – The most basic and straightforward of any payment feature, we offer low rates and no contracts so you can pay as you go for as long as you want to advertise with us. Ads are designed in-house and are customized to meet your needs before approval and posting. Want to know our rates? E-mail us at news@navarrocountygazette.com for a PDF of our rates.
- Physical print copies of articles – We have heard the numerous reader requests for a physical edition of our content. While we’re flattered that you want to carry the Gazette on the go, we haven’t approached that phase yet. In the meantime, we are going to be offering physical copies of our individual articles.
Each piece will be designed as “keepsake” editions – Reformatted for easy reading with no ads or extra Gazette side content. Suitable for display, framing, or scrapbook purposes. CLICK HERE for a sample. We have also had requests for “Best of” magazine editions and that is something we are working towards.
- Celebrations Section: Birth Announcements, Engagements, Weddings, Anniversaries, Quinceañeras – Let’s be honest: People like sharing their positive life milestones with family, friends, and their community. Sure, social media is an easy way to reach a large audience these days, but are you truly reaching everyone?
The Gazette wants to bring back that sense of community pride and connection, so we’re introducing a new digital way of sharing these moments with our Navarro County readership. Easy to share and affordable, we’ll be sharing your life moments in a specialty section of the Navarro County Gazette website.
“But what about obituaries?“
We’ve gotten this request as well, and we recognize the interest in the feature. We also know obituaries are expensive, and emotionally difficult to write after losing someone.
We want to offer something different and more affordable.
The Gazette is offering an all-new “Celebration of Life” feature. This service gives family and friends an opportunity to share stories of their loved ones in a more personal manner. Whether a beloved family memory, an example of a generous nature, or something more light and humorous that defines someone’s personality, we are taking a more cathartic approach to not listing off a series of end of life statistics, but an opportunity to share the stories that gave that life meaning. We want to the Gazette readership to have the opportunity to know your loved one as well.
- Donations – If you like what we do, and want to see us continue to provide the quality content you already enjoy (as well as allow us to explore new features and options), we are taking donations on our new Patreon page and new Buy Me a Coffee donation page (or just click on that cup of coffee in the lower right of the screen).
“So what is this going to do?”
While the Gazette is a labor of love, we do have to consider a cost of living and treat this as a job. That includes keeping bills paid (and lights on), upgrading the backend for new services, features, and storage space, our time for researching and writing new content, marketing materials…. The standard “running a business” expenses.
It is our hope that at this point, we have a become a proven and quality news source worth the investment to see continue.
Donations can be one time or recurring, and as low as $5 a month. What do you get out of paying extra for an already free subscription service? Our bonus features range from a personal “Thank you,” to being added on a “Contributor Wall of Fame” to let others know you support a locally owned and locally operated business, and behind the scenes access to our interview process. As we expand, we are planning on adding video content for interviews and history pieces to provide local news in another new format.
The more you help, the more we grow, the more we provide.
- Editing services – Do you like the quality of the Gazette‘s written content? Do you need help with a press release, an editor’s eye on your own work, or suggestions on how to make your content read as engaging and professional?
We’re offering editing services to make sure your written word gets the message across to your viewers. Contact us for our rates.
Additionally, we now accept payment via cash, check, or on PayPal and Venmo via our news@navarrocountygazette.com e-mail address.
Thank for the last three months. We look forward to continuing to serve the community and the people in it.
Please be sure to support those that support us here at the NCG and check out our Advertisers:
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