Your news, your views

Managed Service

Education, Government & Politics

Arlington advertisers: Here's the bottom line. YourArlington had an excellent year in 2013 -- in terms of news, audience and revenue. Reporting stories that were in-depth and consistently ahead of the competition, the site drew the most readers in its seven-year history. Its monthly averages: 15,600 unique visitors and 477,000 page views. What do these numbers mean? Those surfers could be seeing your advertisement -- and improving your business. Arlington advertisers who took advantage of this traffic in 2013 were some names you know -- Leader Bank, Computer Cafe, Arlington Friends of the Drama and ACMi, the Arlington cable-TV studio. Political candidates last year took advantage of the site's low rates, too -- Kevin Greeley, Jud Pierce, Kurt Fusaris and Matt Pallett. In the past, selectmen and school candidates have raised campaign visibility in this way. So have such businesses as Swifty Printing and Bettinson Insurance. What more could advertising at YourArlington mean for you? If you supply the ad, the publisher will change it as circumstances shift. For example, to maintain interest, the Friends of Drama swapped out its ad in midstream during the three-week December run of "Legally Blonde." Spectacle Management, a concert promoter, signed on for a six-concert deal from August into April, and its ad changes for each new event. More options are planned for later this year. Beyond our border For business that may want to think beyond Arlington's border, consider this: You have an opportunity to advertise at two neighboring sites. YourArlington is a partner with InsideMedford.com and CambridgeDay.com. Together, the three had an average of 67,000 unique visitors in 2013. The breakdown shows the Medford site averaged 38,000 unique visitors and more than 600,000 page views each month. The Cambridge site averaged 14,050 uniques and 34,300 page views monthly. Since it was founded in 2006, YourArlington has offered very low rates to advertise -- an average of $3 to $5 a day, depending where an ad is placed on the site. Those rates will be rising by 40 percent this year, from $4 to $7 daily. Before they go up, you can lock in your ad at the current rate. The same is true of rates with partner sites. The current rate to advertise with YourArlington and InsideMedford -- Leader Bank did it for all of 2013 -- is $160 a month, or about $5.20 a day. That two-site rate will be rising this year to $224 a month. The rate for all three sites -- which Spectacle Management is paying, less a discount -- is $200 a month. That will be rising to $275. Interested in advertising at current rates -- before they rise -- contact Bob Sprague, the publisher, here >>

arlingtonmanews.com