As some of you probably remember, we reworked WilmingtonBiz.com last year. In doing so, we added a new registration system that requires readers to pay for unlimited access to our content.

Since then, people have asked us if the change affected readership.

It has, but in a good way. This is what Google Analytics tells us:

• The number of unique visitors to WilmingtonBiz.com increased 35.96 percent from 2013 to 2014 – a jump of approximately 77,000 total visitors over the course of the year. Unique visitors are the number of distinct visitors that come to a website.
• Our page views increased by 13.15 percent from 2013 to 2014. A total of more than 1 million pages were looked at on our site in 2014, compared to 893,000 pages in 2013.
• We did not experience even a temporary dip in traffic to our website when our new system was put in place.

A big benefit of our new system is that it has allowed us to greatly grow our email distribution list. This means that the news we report on each day and the emails we send are reaching more people. Businesses that have purchased ad space on our emails and our Insights contributors are getting more exposure, too.

That doesn’t mean everyone is happy with the subscription change. We still hear from people who aren’t sure they want to pay for our content. We understand, but we’re certainly not alone in charging people to read online content – the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and most Business Journals around the country provide a few free articles a month, but charge for unlimited access to their online articles.

And of course, we’re happy to help anyone who runs into difficulty with our registration or subscription system. Please contact Circulation Manager Nancy Proper at 910-332-0068 or [email protected] for assistance.