There Has Been A Lot Of News In Five Years – And We’ve Been Proud To Cover It
Hello neighbors,
At 6:07 a.m. on March 13, 2013, LevittownNow.com went live for the first time. Our stories involved a police dog’s visit to a Falls Township elementary school, the push to get sidewalks along New Falls Road, a crowbar assault, a fundraiser, and the bust of a big copper theft ring.
One-by-one, you clicked our stories, gave us feedback and tips, signed up for our email newsletter, and gave us a ‘like’ on Facebook.
Our small team worked long hours and hit the streets selling advertising, looked for stories that mattered to you, went between local government meetings, and tried to answer as many of your inquiries as possible.
In return, we worked with local businesses, answered your questions, and provided “everything you need to know.”
The long hours, short weekends, phone calls at 1 a.m., vacations spent on my laptop, and support from our core team – Amanda, Erich, Ingrid, and Paul – have helped turn LevittownNow.com from an idea I had with a colleague to a full-fledged business. Due to our core team and a larger group of freelancers, we have been able to provide the latest headlines to you every single day since March 13.
That’s not an easy task.
At the time of our launch, I had just left a position at a corporate-owned local news outlet and turned down a job at a newspaper chain in the region, your support meant the world to me and it still does.
Due to your support, we’ve been able to get 32 million page views, publish more than 14,200 stories, and consistently have had more interactions on Facebook than any other Bucks County news or information page since we launched in 2013. You’ve raised thousands and thousands of dollars for local nonprofits, brought home 17 missing people, helped police catch 44 wanted persons (that we know of), and reunited dozens of missing pets with their owners.
We enter our fifth year in business with enthusiasm and a renewed spirit to grow our business and community.
We want to do more and help serve the Levittown area even better.
Our main tasks at hand will be building local advertising revenue, revving up our content offerings, growing our In The Know Club (as low at .19 cents a day), and expanding the services we offer to other local businesses.
For a team as small as ours, these tasks won’t be easy, but I’m confident that we can accomplish them with your support.
Local news and working with small- and medium-sized businesses remain our top priority and all tie together with our goals for 2018. We are committed to bringing our readers local news and content that no other publication can provide. Based on comments from our readers and advertisers, you’ve noticed our commitment to local news.
Last year saw major changes in the Bucks County media landscape and caused me to rethink my plan for our fifth year. In those rethought plans, I am aiming to take a bit more of a backseat on the content side and focus more effort on the business end.
Small, locally-owned publications aren’t immune from revenue trouble that has challenged major digital outlets and newspapers around North America. Advertising revenue from small businesses and classifieds that once propped up local news are being lost to online giants like Facebook, Google, and online marketing companies. Sadly, that trend is not bound to reverse itself this year. That’s why signing up for our In The Know Club is so important. We have a 95 percent renewal rate and give members breaking news text alerts, offer monthly raffles, and many other exciting bonuses. This year, the In The Know Club will begin offering quarterly events.
In the coming weeks, we will be starting a drive to grow our In The Know Club to 500 members by summer. That’s less than .5 percent of all of those local residents who read the site on a monthly basis. We are aware the In The Know Club isn’t for everyone and not every family can afford it, but we appreciate every reader who has helped sustain our robust news organization.
This month’s In The Know Club contests for March include chances to win tickets to see “This Is Us” star Chrissy Metz at the CURE Insurance Arena and the Bucks County Fraternal Order of Police’s Annual Country Show.
Sign up for the In The Know Club by clicking here!
One area we will be proudly doubling down on is our support of nonprofits. Last year, our company donated more than $25,000 in advertising, services, and support to Bucks County nonprofits. This year, we hope to expand that and work even closer with our local partners who work day in and day out.
I could talk all day about our future and ideas we’ve had to help make our business and community stronger, but I don’t want to drone on and take up more of your time.
I want to finish by sending a huge ‘thank you’ to all our core team, our advertisers, our In The Know Club members, all those who have shared a tip or photo, and those who have sent us a compliment, concern, or complaint.
Again, thank you!
Tom Sofield
Publisher/Editor


