Happy New Year From Salisbury News

What an incredible year 2013 has been. Let's get right down to what some of you will be most interested in.

In 2013 Salisbury News reached more than 18,400,000 views. When we told you we had traffic in the millions, we meant it. When we told you we were DelMarVa's leading source for news and information, we meant it. 

In fact, so much so, get this. I received a message from Governor O'Malley asking if I had a State Press Pass. When I replied, I stated that to date we had not been given the honor of such an invitation, even though we had surpassed 18,000,000 hits. 

The very next day a representative from his Office sent me the formal documents and we sent them in for a background check. We were accepted and if this doesn't mean a whole lot to some of you, it certainly means a whole lot to us. Salisbury News is now Mainstream Media, as we should be. We have worked extremely hard 365 days a year for the past nine years and deserve to be respected as such. Salisbury News helped break the ice for Bloggers and we'd like to thank Governor O'Malley for such an honor.

Aside from all the news and information we have delivered, we have reunited hundreds of animals with their owners this year. Our Advertisers have once again helped make the lives of many local people much better by being there for them during difficult times. We're not saying what we've done publicly but know we are out there making a difference through advertising revenue, "Paying It Forward" as usual.

A good portion of the year I lived in Salisbury in order to qualify to run for Mayor. Regardless of the final numbers, it was an honor to meet thousands of you face to face and I want to express the following. I knocked on your doors and not one of you slammed the door in my face. Each and every one of you allowed me the opportunity to express what I felt was best for the City and quite frankly there was absolutely no question about it, the majority of citizens are fed up. Don't you let the final numbers tell you any different. Nevertheless, my running for Mayor has opened the eyes of thousands of people who now question the process and that's a very good thing for future elections. You just never know what might happen the next go around.

Now, it's important I share the following information with you. Salisbury News is NOT Joe Albero. Salisbury News has enjoyed this incredible success because of YOU and our Contributors. Yes, we have turned incredible numbers traffic wise but don't think for a second that I could put up more than 94,000 articles all by myself. We have published more than 515,000 comments, spammed more than 66,000 comments and rejected more than 250,000 comments. You probably have no real idea what it's like to try and keep Salisbury News comments in real time. Let me assure you, it's a lot of work and it's not at all easy. For that, I want to thank our Contributors for helping me sift through such an incredible volume of comments by reading each and every one of them and processing what we feel fit.

Then there's YOU. For many years I had been out driving around whenever I'd get a call about a fire, an accident, a crime scene and so many other situations. Today, because of YOU, I can spend a LOT more time with my Family because YOU send us images and details. Many of you tip us off on incredible stories and forward them to me. I truly cannot thank ALL of YOU enough for that. We're able to deliver real time news and information about roads being closed, schools in lock down and the list goes on and on.

So many of YOU have taken in literally hundreds of animals, sent me pictures and information allowing us to reunite each and every single one of them with their owners, usually within the first 20 minutes. THINK about that for just a second. Do you have any idea just how successful that is. It means there are so many people on this Site that a lost or found animal is reunited that quickly. There's no specific time of day or night we publish lost or found animals. We immediately publish this information and someone ends up recognizing the animal and contacts the owner.

In closing, 2013 proved to be an incredible year all around. Our Advertisers have enjoyed unbelievable success because of the traffic we achieved. Again, where else can you advertise for $100.00 a month and reach so many local people. Our ads aren't buried deep in a section of our Website like every one else. Your ads are on the home page each and every time. They show up on every article you click on. If you'd like to enjoy the same success in 2014, contact me at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349. Help us "Pay It Forward" throughout the entire year and not just at Christmas. 

Happy New Year to ALL of you and we Thank You so very much for ALL of your support.