News : 9.26 x 12 = 111.12

While talking to one of our readers tonight she reminded me that nothing is free...especially online news sites.

Just for kicks I Googled (I know Googled is not an official word but I bet you know what I meant!) the average cost to pay for an online newspaper.

The average rates just went up from $6.00 per month to $9.26.

Now like we said, we aren't a newspaper, and you all get that, however in some ways we have considered becoming more like them to help pay the bills.

If we charged everyone a subscription fee, well, we wouldn't need to ask each year for your support.

However, we know that there are some of our readers that might be away at college or some on a fixed income that may not be able to afford the luxury of a monthly fee to read our website.

So, as long as we can, we intend to keep this a free site.

Of course, doing this goes against everything that the business would tell you to do.

By doing this, it gives us more flexibility in not only keeping this free but in just being that neighborhood reporter we talked about yesterday.

One of the reasons we DON'T charge for obituaries is that neighborly feel that we have. We feel like, when you've experienced a loss, the LAST thing you need to do is pay us for letting all of your family and friends know. To us, that is the least that we can do for you.

We LOVE the flexibility to lend a hand to everyone in the community when you need a bit of coverage, that's why we're here.

But to help us provide what this is, a community service to you, we need your help.

We aren't asking you to send in $111.12, the amount of that monthly online fee others charge, just so that you can read our news. We LOVE the ability to keep this service free and available to anyone in the community AND around the world.

We figure it this way.

We are doing our part to put Vinton on the map.

We now know that the towns of Cedar Rapids, and Waterloo have THEIR news people reading Vinton Today for stories.

We did our annual analytics of the site, and found that we have readers not only here in town, but a ton of them in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and of all places Chicago!

Now I'm not sure about you, but I'm thinking, the small town of Vinton is making a splash in these towns, hopefully because it brings a touch of our small town into the lives of the people there, probably because they miss it.

Now, in return, we aren't seeking advertisers FROM these big cities, maybe at some point we will, but for now, we prefer to keep Vinton Today all about OUR area.

We want the readers to see our Vinton stories and to see advertising from this area.

After 5 years, you have done a great job of supporting this website and keeping it all up and running.

So really, this is just another reminder to do your part, if you can't send in the $111.12 subscription rate of online newspapers for a year, do what you can.

Again, it's simple, just click here to donate online or send your check to: Vinton Today Fundraiser, P.O. Box 477, Vinton, Iowa 52349

And again, we thank each of you who have already given!