We’ve been doing this for more than six months now, so I figured the readers are entitled to some kind of progress report. Of course, it’s always good to know that people in Maywood and beyond are paying attention. Here are a few highlights and milestones we’ve experienced these past six months:
MARCH 2013
Since day one, our intention of becoming the most comprehensive, qualitative source of news, information and analysis for Maywood automatically put us in a market with one competitor–us. (But before we get big-headed, that’s more a testament to the deep need for information in the Village than it is to how special we are).
APRIL 2013
In April, we experienced our first significant spike in views and visitors and we’ve managed to sustain that momentum ever since. Since April, we’ve attracted no less than 1,200 visitors and 4,400 views a month — numbers we’re looking to increase twofold over the next six months. Remember, the more people visiting and reading, the more informed our community becomes.
MAY 2013
On May 8, 2013, Robert Herguth, a journalist with the Better Government Association, perhaps the most visible watchdog media organization in Illinois (see Fox 32), references The Village Free Press at his blog “Investigators’ Notebook”. Not bad for the second month writing. By the way, the story to which he refers is tagged in the photo below. Look it up in our search box, or just click here if you feel like reading it again.
Also in May, the West Suburban Journal, one of the weekly newspapers in the Proviso Township area, referenced the same article as Herguth in its May 9, 2013 edition.
JUNE 2013
We collaborated on some content-sharing with Neighbors, the free monthly magazine that circulates throughout Oak Park, River Forest, Bellwood, Berkely, North Riverside, Forest Park, Hillside, Maywood, Melrose Park, Westchester, Elmwood Park, Franklin Park, Northlake, Schiller Park and River Grove (among others). In exchange for gracious editor Tina Valentino’s photography, she got a VFP story in the June issue.
SEPTEMBER 2013
Neighbors featured a VFP story its September 2013 issue.
Also in September, we established a formal partnership with a neighboring publication, the Forest Park Review (hats off to editor Jean Lotus and publisher Dan Haley), to share content that’s common to both Maywood and Forest Park. Beginning next month, we’ll begin covering District 209 affairs for publication in the Review and on our site. On September 3, 2013, the Review announced our collaboration in a short editorial that was published on its website and in its print newspaper:
Help me make the next six months even busier than the first by becoming a partner or donating in the fight to keep Maywood informed.
Michael Romain
Editor/Publisher
Wonderful Michael, keep up the good work, the Village press is going to be known everywhere before long…don’t forget we would like to be informed on the crime in Maywood, you said before you were going to try to partner with the Maywood/broadview/Bellwood police dept…we need to know what’s going on in our streets…I know the forest park review reports on their crime and doing a good job of it.