People in the Estevan area have been turning to the Estevan Mercury for news in print since 1903.
But a new trend has emerged in recent years: it has become their place for online news as well.
The Mercury’s website, www.estevanmercury.ca, received 2,301,901 page views in 2019, which was an increase of nearly 900,000 hits from the 1,409,327 page views recorded in 2018.
The Mercury’s website averaged more than 6,300 page views per day last year as well.
The busiest month for the website in 2019 was in November, with 265,700 page views.
Deanna Tarnes, who is the publisher and sales manager for Estevan Mercury Publications, marvelled at the “staggering” growth experienced by the website in 2019.
“It’s great that people are coming to the Estevan Mercury’s website for their news,” said Tarnes. “We strive very hard to have everything up as it happens, and it should be the first place that people look when they want to know what’s going on.”
People who visit the Mercury’s website can look forward to not only finding the stories on local and regional news and sports, but they can expect to see provincial, national and international news and sports stories as well, thanks to the feed that the Mercury has from the Canadian Press and the Associated Press.
There is also an events calendar with coming events from a wide variety of organizations in the region. People can post events on the calendar for free.
The obituaries that appear in the Mercury’s classifieds section each week can also be found online.
Digital copies of the Estevan Mercury and Southeast Lifestyles are on the website, which is perfect for those who are out of town and still looking to see everything that is in both papers each week.
Information regarding the Mercury’s upcoming promotions and contests will also be found online.
The Mercury has seen a surge in digital advertising in the past couple of years, with many local businesses turning to www.estevanmercury.ca for their advertising needs, in addition to advertising in the Mercury and in Lifestyles.
“It’s a great place for advertisers to put their message out, because it is in the palm of everyone’s hands,” said Tarnes. “It’s on their laptops. This is the place people are going to find out what’s happening. So what better place to align your message than with your local news?”
Also a big factor in the success of the website is the Mercury’s Facebook page, which has more than 5,940 likes. Stories are shared on the Facebook page several times a day, and Facebook plays a big role in the amount of people visiting the site.
David Willberg, who is the editor for the Mercury and Lifestyles, said it is critical to find diverse and engaging content for people to read.
“You’re going to find the breaking news stories from the police, city council and the fire department. But we’re also going to be your source for stories on business, sports, recreation, culture, tourism, education, health care agriculture, the energy sector and so much more. We’re going to have it first, we’re going to have it right, and we’re going to have it better than anyone else.”
Visitors to the Mercury’s website can also look forward to finding a wide variety of human interest stories involving people from the community.
And they can find local businesses promoting their products, services and upcoming sales.
Willberg said the success of the Mercury’s website is a total team effort, and everyone at Estevan Mercury Publications has had a role to play in the growing traffic online.
“We’re going to continue to publish articles on our website, and so we’re going to give you reasons to keep coming back several times per day.”
Tarnes noted that people are constantly telling her that they turn to the Mercury first for their online information.
New things are in the works this year. The Best of Estevan contest will be returning in a few weeks, and they can look forward to another big giveaway this summer.
