letter to readers: AnnArbor.com marks first anniversary, reflects on year of rapid evolution and encouraging results

Our mission from the start has been to create a new media company that offers serious, credible journalism online 24/7 and twice a week in print - and to support that local reporting with a business model that makes us financially viable for the long-term.

We also promised that we would be of, by and for the community, giving our readers a voice and engaging them every way in the development of AnnArbor.com.

As we sit here a year later, we are greatly encouraged by the audience we have built, by the award-winning work our journalists have done, and by the value that both readers and local businesses tell us they find in our advertising.

Over the past year, our staff of 35 trained journalists has covered big stories, including President Barack Obama’s commencement speech at the University of Michigan and the arrest of Hutaree militia members accused of plotting to kill police. We’ve brought you an in-depth, five-part series on hidden poverty in Ann Arbor, and we’ve brought you day-in, day-out beat reporting on local government, education, police and courts, business, health and neighborhoods.

In the most recent Michigan AP contest, members of our staff won nine awards for news and sports reporting, a reflection of our commitment to serious journalism.

Our coverage has helped us build a substantial and growing readership. Our online traffic has grown from an average of 115,000 unique visitors per week last August to an average of 209,000 uniques a week last month.

According to Media Audit, a company that measures media readership across the country, AnnArbor.com now has the greatest local reach of any online news site in America. It’s encouraging to find ourselves in that position in our first year, and we thank you, our readers, who have put us in that lofty position.

Our print edition is holding its own at a time when newspaper circulation continues to decline nationally. We saw some decline in circulation in the months after our launch, but our circulation has stabilized and even begun to regain ground since spring, when we significantly beefed up our efforts to sell subscriptions.

Taken together, our readership online and in print means that we reach 69 percent of adults in Washtenaw County on a regular basis. That large audience and our unique advertising model are generating positive results for local business that advertise with us. The core of our online advertising revolves around contextual marketing messages, or “Deals,’’ which help people connect directly with information they’re most interested in from local businesses. The Thursday and Sunday newspaper continue to allow businesses to reach customers with more traditional print ads.

We are often asked how our business model is performing. As a privately held company, we do not disclose our financial results, but we can say that our advertising revenue - particularly online revenue - has been growing at a healthy pace and that we’re encouraged by the progress we’re making on that front.

When we launched a year ago, we said we were going to be a different kind of media company - as committed to community engagement as to journalism. We have dedicated ourselves to creating a culture of openness to the community in a variety of ways.

We have about 70 community contributors who provide content in lifestyle areas ranging from pets and parenting to food, faith and books. We welcome readers to comment on our website, and put a great deal of time and energy into moderating that conversation. People also can post news tips, press releases and opinions on our Community Wall.

Our Community Space on the first floor at 301 E. Liberty St. is another good example of engaging the community. This storefront space is open to the public and offers comfortable seating, computers, free wi-fi, locally roasted coffee and a conference room that can be reserved by community groups. We host a variety of events there, from training sessions for our contributors to panel discussions, musical performances and book club meetings.

Our commitment to community engagement also has fueled the growth and development of both the website and the newspaper. Since our launch, both have changed and improved dramatically, driven by your feedback.

One of the early and most notable changes to the website came with the introduction of the “Top Stories’’ feature. Under our “river of content’’ format, stories flow down the page as new stories are posted. We heard clearly from some of our readers that this format made it hard to understand what the major stories were, or to find an important story as it moved down. We responded to that by creating a Top Stories module that showcases the top news and keeps it there as long as it remains newsworthy.

There have been many other changes and additions to the site. Since launch, we’ve added an Entertainment and Event calendar and a restaurant guide. We’ve added new platforms for real estate, apartments and, as of last week, autos. We’ve revamped our pages focused on micro-news from Ann Arbor’s neighborhoods. We’ve also expanded our coverage throughout the region, adding pages that focus on news, sports and community life in Ypsilanti, Saline, Chelsea and Dexter.

A year ago, we were an unknown commodity, awaiting your judgment. Since that time, you have given us so much feedback, guidance, encouragement - and yes, blunt criticism. We have taken it all in and improved vastly as a result of it.

We thank you for your support, and for your patience as we have worked to find a new way to sustain journalism in a rapidly changing world. We have never pretended to have all the answers, and though we’re pleased with the progress we’ve made, we know we have much work yet to do.

Rest assured that as we move forward, we will continue to improve, and the people of this community will remain at the center of everything we do. We enter our second year with optimism and enthusiasm, and we thank you for coming along with us on this ground-breaking journey.

Matt Kraner President and CEO

Laurel Champion Executive Vice President

Tony Dearing Chief Content Officer