HOT PURSUIT

Some exciting things are happening with the Steele County Times, and I’d like to share some of them with you this week.
This week we’re going out to an expanded audience as nearly every household in Steele County will be receiving the newspaper. In the newspaper industry, we refer to it as a “sample copy,” where we send the paper to everyone whether they are a subscriber or not. It’s a gift to our friends who cherish local news.
Our primary mission is to provide quality community news with the best interest of Blooming Prairie, Ellendale, Medford and Owatonna as well as the rest of the county in mind each week. We think we provide a dynamic newspaper filled with hometown news for our readers every week. We don’t want anyone to miss out.
But that’s not all that’s going on.
Along with the great print product we produce each week, we are always looking at opportunities to enhance the ways we reach the community.
We are launching an indoor digital newschannel network with the help of a company that has become the largest indoor digital billboard network in Minnesota. Right now, the company has over 250 venue locations that feature indoor digital billboards. About half of them are partnered with newspapers.
Basically what happens is digital screens will be installed in various businesses like bars, restaurants and service places. The screens will feature captivating hyper-local community content, including advertising from local businesses. This is a different way for businesses to reach clients.
We expect this to hit by early May if not sooner. Stay tuned for more about this as it gets closer.
Within the next month, we will be revealing our newly revamped website at www.steelecountytimes.com. This has been in the planning stages for the past several months. You are going to find a website that’s easier to navigate and be able to pull up local news, a lot of which is not hiding behind a pay wall. 
February was a pivotal month for our website. We reached a record number of 38,000 unique visitors and nearly 1.5 million hits in what was a shortened month (28 days). The viewership has been climbing steadily over the past nine months.
Besides the beefed up website, we will also be adding another new and exciting digital option. Later this spring we will launch a news app where readers can get local news and sports as well as community notifications with just one click. This will offer fast access to information.
A news app is particularly exciting because you will get breaking news and other information exclusive to Steele County. We want to keep you up to date with news that impacts you and your community. Again, we will share more about this once it’s ready to go.
I’d also like to remind you that we are now serving Steele County from two great locations: Blooming Prairie and Owatonna. We recently opened a second office to better serve our readers in Owatonna. We are located at 109 W. Rose St.
As you can see, the gift of local news comes in many shapes and sizes. We are excited to offer you various options to keep you informed about the greater community of Steele County.
We’re never sitting idle. We love going in hot pursuit of providing the area’s best option for local news coverage.