Riceville, IA- The tough economy is forcing businesses to cut back where ever possible. One of the most common cuts is in advertising.
In the last decade we've seen a massive expansion of all media to the web, but for publisher's of small town newspapers like in Riceville, the internet is tough sell to local businesses, and now they’re pulling the plug.
You can find just about anything at the touch of a button these days. From shopping, to weather, even your local hometown news.
Riceville recorder publisher Dan Evans says the papers website gets plenty of attention.
"So people are looking at the sit, we're getting anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 people looking at it monthly."
Evans says despite the numbers, the web is a tough sell to local business owners. Many would rather put their money in what they consider the more trusted hard copy edition.
"So people are very satisfied with advertising in it because they know people are going to read it the internet on the other hand, it's a lot of people that are living outside of the area that are using that."
Evans and his wife own seven newspapers, he says the economic pinch is hurting him in other areas besides advertising.
"We've got higher printing prices you know to print our newpaper, we don't have a press here so we actually get printed on another area and those prices have gone up the last year."
In his smaller papers, he's looking to cut costs wherever possible, that's why he's shutting down a few of his papers websites.
"Personally I would have liked to kept going and everything but the way the economy is right now, I'm just watching every penny and you have to this year."
Evans is taking part of the blame, saying he could have tried harder to sell his websites, but if there is enough demand in the future, they could be back online.
While some small town newspapers are cutting back on the web, we talked to others in the area that are working to expand online content.
The Riceville Recorder website will shutdown at the end of the month.
