Letter from Publisher

January 1, 2010

Dear Potential Advertiser,

I am pleased to inform you that the Chestertown Spy is officially open for business.  Since we went “public” with the Spy on June 3, 2009 we have had over 16,000 unique visitors, who have come to the site 60,000 times, viewed 210,000 pages of content, and watched over 3,000 video clips.  Given that our market population, (which we consider to be the Greater Chestertown community) is approximately 8,000, we believe these are exceptionally strong results, demonstrating clear and impressive evidence that the Chestertown Spy is very quickly becoming an an integral part of the community.  It is also a healthy indicator on how much interest there is in Chestertown from local residents. as well as those from out of the market which represnted 20% of our viewers.

While the arguments for advertising with the Spy are compelling from a business point of view, I also wanted to highlight a few things that go beyond the traffic data:

• The Chestertown Spy was created to be a community asset, using the full power of the internet to provide local news coverage, promotes citizenship, and create a forum for more thoughtful conversations about regional concerns to take place.
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• We are not a blog.  The Spy is directed by and staffed by professional journalists with exceptionally high standards for accurate reporting and fairness.
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• The Spy is locally owned and engaged.  The Chestertown Spy intends to be active in the community through philanthropy, special event promotion on the website, Spy-sponsored community programs, and 50% discounts for non-profit advertising.  The Spy is also a member of the Kent County Chamber of Commerce.
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• Finally, while the Chestertown Spy will not turn its back on controversy, our primary mission is to celebrate and protect one of the most uniquely authentic communities left in the United States.

Thank you for considering the Chestertown Spy in your marketing plans.

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Dave Wheelan
Publisher