A New Year resolution worth reading

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Amy Mayhew

Happy New Year, everyone!

It’s difficult to believe that The Holly Express will celebrate its third year in keeping Holly community residents on track with local news in 2012!

And in the spirit of New Year resolutions, I’ve decided to upgrade the site – just give it a bit of a facelift, revamp some of the features, and expand a few of the services we offer.

I’ve always liked how the site is relatively easy for readers to navigate, and while I don’t wish to change that so much, I do want to freshen and update the look and function of it, so we will be moving to a new and updated template.  

A new feature we will be rolling out is a classified section. Using a wide variety of categories, those wishing to advertise garage sales, sell old furniture, or anything that typically goes into a classified section of a traditional newspaper will be able to do it for a fraction of what it would normally cost.

We’re also going to be adding a much easier community calendar module so that readers can more easily add their own events. As editor, I will still review them before they post, but for the most part, the burden of posting will be placed upon the person adding the event.

The new version of the website will also have a new and affordable ad feature for businesses, and while the details are still a bit sketchy even to me, it will provide businesses with a way in which they can better market their business or products through The Holly Express.  After all, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Look for more details about this exciting feature in the weeks ahead.

All of the other features – video streaming, timely and accurate articles, coverage of area meetings, sporting events and school happenings, obituaries, registered blogging and more will continue to be a part of The Holly Express.

For the last 2- ½ years, I have held off on charging anyone a single penny for reading any and all of the news on The Holly Express. And while I currently depend upon advertising dollars to pay the bills, hire occasional freelance writers, and keep the website up and running, it’s simply not enough.  With the new and improved site will come a nominal yearly subscription fee – less than $1 per week, but enough for me to be able to expand some of my services and improve The Holly Express.

To all of the loyal readers on The Holly Express, thank you for your continued readership. Our goal is to have the new website up and running by May. In the meantime, if you have any comments or suggestions on ways in which I can continue to improve the online format of The Holly Express, my door and ears are always open.

Have a happy and prosperous New Year!