ridertown.com
August 1, 2003
Advertise Locally, everywhere!
While Ridertown is dedicated to serving St. Marys, Ohio, our message goes out well beyond the paperboy's route. A third of Ridertown's St. Marys Ohio email directory's 1500+ listings are former St. Marys residents now living out of town. And a perusal of our July stats reveals that Ridertown was viewed in (in order of hits): Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Brazil, Canada, Israel, U.K., Cocos Islands, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Turkey, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Costa Rica, Finland, Phillipines, Poland, Hungary and 22 other countries.
Does that mean that by sponsoring Ridertown your business will be swamped with orders from New Zealand? Probably not, but the odds are better here than with a television ad. And while the old media are also establishing an internet presence, Ridertown is still the original and most comprehensive St. Marys internet resource, and the only locally owned and operated news and information medium of any kind. Besides, we're cheaper. Price a continuous radio, television or newspaper ad for six months (as if there is such a thing), then check our rates below.
If you're not in Ridertown, you're virtually nowhere!
Almost Tee-Time!
The football famine is almost past, and fans will feast instead of fast - at last! - and Ridertown will feed the engorgement with gluttonous glee.
The Spring Street Journal. (Auglaize County's Only Locally-Owned Newspaper) provides the first and best print coverage of Roughrider Football, online with complete write-ups and color game photos by Andrews Photography a couple of hours after each game. In 2002 more than 17,000 football-starved visitors feasted their eyes on Ridertown during the Roughrider football season.
Ridertown Sponsors are eligible to multiply their online exposure by signing up for game sponsorships again this year. (Last year's articles are still viewable in the ridertown.com Archives section.) For a measly $10.00 per game, a Sponsor can have a banner link to his Ridertown Storefront Page (or existing web site) placed at the top of each The Spring Street Journal. write-up of the game. A banner graphic is also applied to each game photo. Sign up for all 10 regular-season games for $100 before the season starts, and your game sponsorship will be continued through all playoff games at no additional charge!
Don't miss this chance to sponsor Ridertown's coverage of a St. Marys tradition. The July 15 deadline to sponsor individual games is past, but full-season sponsorships are still available. Deadline for full-season sponsorships (including free sponsorship of any playoff games) is August 15 - the Chicken Bowl. Contact tracy@ridertown.com today!
Life Is Good - Hit Me!
Unique Visitors to ridertown.com in July 2003 outnumbered those same month previous year 5292 to 4326 (a 22% increase), extending Ridertown's streak to 35 consecutive months bettering same month previous year numbers.
FYI, "Unique Visitors" is a conservative counting method, recording only one request per remote computer per day. Computer stations that are used by more than one person, such as at businesses, libraries, schools, etc. will still only be counted as one visitor each day. Beware of other website claims for "hits" (requests for all file transfers including individual graphics). For example; in July 2003, Ridertown's 5,292 "Unique Visitors" resulted in 592,464 "hits."
Solid Advice for a Better Life:
Last month we told Windows users how to enhance their internet viewing by increasing screen resolution. (Click "July 2003" below to review.) Even more information can be made viewable on the screen by reducing the size of the text that is displayed. As promised, here is the pathway to follow to change your monitor settings and thereby lead a richer and more worthwhile life:
For Windows 98 (and up) users, the font size can be changed by following this path: Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Display -> Settings -> Click on the "Advanced..." button -> Make sure the "General" tab is selected -> under "Font Size:" a pull down menu lists the choices "Small Fonts," "Large Fonts," and "Other..." -> Select "Small Fonts" OR under "Other..." dial in a font size you like, and click the "Apply" button at the bottom of the prompt window. -> "OK" back to the Control Panel and "X" (close).
Of course, unless you already know how to do this, the above makes absolutely no sense - but at least it's not written in (merde!) French.
Thanks for visiting ridertown.com!
Chris Botkin
This Issue | July 2003 | June 2003 | May 2003 | April 2003 | March 2003
Have Your Machine Talk To My Machine
ridertown.com is owned and operated by Chris Botkin, a fifth-generation St. Marian born and raised who is active in local service organizations and a heck of a nice feller despite a dearth of perspicacity, pulchritude and luck. Ably assisting is Dave Stilwell who is busy with family and volunteering beyond any reasonable bounds of human endurance. We both have day jobs, too. Our goal for Ridertown is world domination, but we'll settle for dragging St. Marys kicking and screaming into the Information Age. Are you going to come quietly, or do we have to use earplugs?
If you're not in Ridertown, you're virtually nowhere.
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Virtual St. Marys, Ohio,
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