A full year of The West Nip Voice

The most read news source in West Nipissing.

This week marks the one year anniversary of the launch of The West Nip Voice.

Since then, I have published 131 articles bringing you the latest on West Nipissing political news. Since launching, this website has grown exponentially. Over 700 people now subscribe to receive the articles directly in their inbox.

Most news articles are consumed by well over 1,000 readers while some breaking topics reached several thousand in 2024. Combining the reach on social media, I estimate that our coverage is reaching at least a quarter of the local population on a regular basis.

These numbers continue to grow month-to-month despite targeting a niche marketplace (West Nipissing has a population of only 15,000 with less than 12,000 adults).

While comparing the reach and engagement of other online news media and the by-monthly reach of print newspapers I believe that this website is now the most read news source in West Nipissing. Most importantly, our coverage is leading to real change and often forcing important conversations to be had.

My goal for the next year is to continue reporting on the important matters. I will continue to report on the latest at city hall but I do want to start covering more non-political news stories. One of my objectives for the coming months is to provide more content and on a more consistent basis.

While I cover these topics out of my own curiosity and self-imposed moral duty to inform the public, I do sacrifice many hours per week watching and re-watching council meetings, reading hundreds of pages of materials and doing my research to make sure I have the facts correct. Hosting this website also comes with additional costs. So in the near future, I will explore ways to cover these costs and at the very least make this enterprise financially viable long-term. This may involve small advertisements or subscription options for those who may be interested in advanced articles or additional content while supporting this local news source. But whatever avenue this website takes it will always be transparent.

To those who have followed along and frequently shared my news articles, thank you. To those just subscribing, welcome along.

The West Nip Voice is a regular newsletter covering issues in West Nipissing and the surrounding area. Please consider becoming a subscriber.