Editorial: One Month in the Books

The Portland Beacon has now been live for one month. I posted the first article back on August 22nd.

The kind words of support and encouragement I have received since then have been truly amazing. The number of people who have told me how our community needs this type of news source has validated my decision to start this venture, and I thank you all.

The reach of this site, thanks to social media, has been incredible. Thanks to many shares, the post about PHS Homecoming court reached 4,400+ people. The articles about the Benjamin brothers and Doug Logel each reached 2,200+ people. The Facebook page already has 491 followers. For a small-town news site in it’s infancy, those numbers are incredibly promising.

I am also thankful for the advertising support of Frewen Realty, Grand Hearing Center, and our newest advertiser, Amy Kahn from Portland Clinical & Therapeutic Massage. Also to Pete Hoffmeyer, AJ Guilford and Jody Watts for their help in covering Portland Football. You guys rock!

I am also thankful to those who have let me interview them for our pieces so far, and some still in the pipeline.

I am excited to announce that Ryan Hearld has volunteered to help write for the site. I hope to have his first piece posted in the coming days. Ryan has some great ideas and I hope you will love his work.

As we move into month number two, I once again ask for your help. Please keep sending me your story ideas. Please consider volunteering to write stories. Please consider advertising your local business here. If you do not own a business, please consider contributing financially to the site as well. To continue to grow The Portland Beacon as a free site to readers, and to provide the level of news coverage our community deserves, I need your continued support.

Thank you!