The cost of news going up, quality is going down

Thanks again dear readers for all your emails and support. It's welcomed! As you all know I NEVER name names online or off. Your input, info and photos are all anonymous so thanks for sending them in. Both a Register and Bee advertiser and another reader wrote today:

"Did you notice that the cost of an issue of the R&B has jumped 50% from .50 cents an issue to .75/issue?"

You're right! With circulation declining, paper size decreasing and general apathy among readership... It's not the best time for such a huge increase. Have you seen how many papers are going unsold and being trashed?

And as I pointed out to those who wrote, yes, the photos of the newspapers in the recycle bin are real. A former advertiser asked me if this was common practice - and I said yes, all unread and undistributed newspapers are typically recycled. Not all of them are however. Sometimes carriers will simply dump papers in a trash bin rather than recyle them. Papers that go unsold are often taken home to be used for fireplace starters, cat box liners or garden mulch. The photos posted on this website are just the tip of the iceberg and don't show all the newspapers or inserts that often get pitched.

I agree. If you're an advertiser you do need to think about where your advertising dollars are being spent. You might be better off investing in a webpage and advertising in something like the Piedmont Shopper. Ask Jimmy Farlow if his investment in a webpage paid off. www.sipsofamerica.com. I think you'll see it has and his business has picked up significantly since I redesigned his webpage. I'm also going to be showing local businesses how they can get online and start increasing their business with an internet presence.

What are my credentials? Gee....an association/membership online with Seth Godin's Triiibes.com for one. I'm co-authoring a book with 80 of the top internet marketers in the world to show small businesses and entrepreneurs how to create a web presence and make money on the internet. Best of all - it'll be a free guidebook you can download from this site. For those of you interested in more info, I'll be teaching a class later this fall on the same topic. Email me for more information.