This one is for the numbers people.

Part of my week is to take a look at the numbers not only for the printed newspaper but also for our online presence.

I seem to always shake my head, in awe, while I am reviewing them. It amazes me that in a one-month period (September 11 – October 11) we have had 216,054 visitors to our sight. We average some 6,969 visitors per day. The highest day was on Wednesday, September 16, where we peaked at 7,017. I didn’t need to go back to look at what might have been in the paper that day, I knew it was the day after the primary elections.

During this time frame, those coming into our site, come from 92 countries and territories. 210,133 from the USA and it then recorded numerous other countries. The ones that are looked at, with a bit of sadden but lots of pride, are the 18 from South Korea, 16 United Arab Emirates, 8 Pakistan, 5 Iraq and 4 Kuwait. Some who comment should remember who is reading their local newspaper and have something positive to comment on, at least once in awhile.

Page views for that thirty-day period hit a whopping 1,089,517 (yes that is one million) with an average of 5 pages per view.

And just what are all these visitors reading? In the order of numbers for the top six: Obituaries, local news, briefs, editorial page, sports and weddings.

The only way that this gets better is that our print edition continues to remain the same with a readership of over 26,000 daily and 30,000 on Sunday.

One hmmm thought, our visitors slow down on Saturdays and Sundays and the peak time when people come unto the site is between 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. One would assume that a good number of people are clicking into their local newspaper while at work.

I am just glad that these numbers are all there, curled up with the paper in hand or sitting with your laptops – I know that for the vast majority of people – we are there for local news, information and local sports and will continue to be.