Time for a progress report about the Albemarle Observer. It’s been about six months since we started our revolution to build a better news outlet in our neck of the woods. 

The community has invested in our news site, so you deserve to know what we’ve been doing. 

Thanks for your faith and financial support.   

Lately, we average between 25,000 to 30,000 views per month from around 17,000 visitors. Our coverage area includes Chowan, Perquimans, Tyrrell, Pasquotank and Hyde counties. Local leaders have asked us to expand into Gates, Bertie and Washington counties, so I expect our growth to continue.   

To further our mission — please sign up – FREE – as a subscriber. The benefit of being a subscriber is that our stories are directly emailed to your inbox. Sometimes we post a lot, so the story that appeared at 7 a.m. may be pushed down in the huddle as other news comes into view on the webpage.   

Also, by subscribing – FREE – it boosts our web traffic numbers, which attracts potential advertisers and helps Google recognize our presence more effectively, which will pay dividends down the road.  Reminder, we don’t sell your information, there’s no “cookies” or weird geofencing or slow-to-no load ads that take forever to upload the page — no paywall either.

Advertisers — we reach more people and we are far more affordable than overpriced and out-of-touch legacy media. Contact us today for rates — mileslayton1969@gmail.com

Other things to note – we are creating videos such as this latest one about the Farmers Market. We’ve done Facebook Live broadcasts, primarily for weather events.  

We’ve done podcasts and will continue to do more and more of that as we become more comfortable with being on camera and the technology needed to make those chats pop.  

Praise be to God, the number of people visiting our website and the views per month has been growing by leaps and bounds. 

Because of a long career in journalism, I’m VERY familiar with the web traffic for many news outlets – so based on these numbers, I know that more people have been turning to the Albemarle Observer as their news source. Yes, knowing what I know about the web traffic to some news outlets, it is tempting to do a victory lap, but the war has not been won. 

Goes without saying — we live in what’s called a news desert – a region with either no local newspaper or one that’s understaffed or no-staffed – those are called ghost papers that exist in name only, primarily to collect the revenue from legal ads. Given time, these news outlets will close and collapse because of greedy corporate management, outdated distribution models and poor news judgment – a trend that we’re seeing nationwide.  

We care about our community, so we created the Albemarle Observer out of a desire to post timely news about local government and our small towns. We were the first to report on many of these stories.  

As such, here are our top 10 stories:  

• Remembering Charlie Creighton: A Legacy in Edenton
• Jim Parrish: A Legacy of Kindness and Service in Edenton
• Celebrating Thomas Wood: Lawyer, Community Leader, and Historian
• Tyrrell County Budget Debate: Key Highlights from Meeting
• Community Mourns Loss of Jim Parrish, A Dedicated Christian
• Fire Reported at Captain Bob’s in Hertford
• Proposed Bill Threatens NC Shrimp Trawling: Key Details
• Judge Rules on Tyrrell County Confederate Statue Lawsuit
• Edenton Shooting Investigation: Two Hospitalized at Shopping Center
• Public Record: Tyrrell County 2024 Unpaid Taxes List 

A few other stories that deserve Honorable Mention: 

• Community Grieves Loss of Captain Bob’s Restaurant
• Dodge Challenges Hyde County Officials on Taxes and Governance
• Impact of Timbermill’s Wind Turbines: Light Pollution Angers Locals
• NC Senate Sticks It To Commercial Fishermen
• James Cahoon’s Impact: Leadership and Advocacy in Tyrrell County

We’ll say again – THANKS for your faith in the Albemarle Observer.  

Subscribe/Donate

If you want to subscribe — FREE — check out our website at https://albemarleobserver.news/

If you want to subscribe – you can enter your email address at the website or send it to us at albemarle.observer@gmail.com and we will gladly add you to our growing subscriber list.

You can also donate by going to the Donations page by clicking here or send us a check at Albemarle Observer, C/O Miles Layton, 205 E. Church St. Apt. A, Edenton, NC 27932.