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Independent Newsmedia launches real-time, interactive calendar of events at YourValley.net

Event site keeps you IN The Know --- no matter where you call home

Posted 8/11/20

Independent Newsmedia is providing communities across the Valley of the Sun a free and interactive resource helping event promoters during the time of the novel coronavirus.

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Independent Newsmedia launches real-time, interactive calendar of events at YourValley.net

Event site keeps you IN The Know --- no matter where you call home

Posted

Independent Newsmedia is providing communities across the Valley of the Sun a free and interactive resource helping event promoters during the time of the novel coronavirus.

And as of Dec. 1, it will be the only way the community can submit their announcements for online and print publications.

As the landscape of events has changed dramatically because of the global outbreak of COVID-19, Independent Newsmedia leadership knew immediately a pivot to day-to-day event listing would evolve.

“We have two missions at Independent Newsmedia: The first, to provide nonpartisan conscientious journalism in all the markets we operate. And, second, to provide an avenue for our local advertisers, the mom-and-pop shops that make up the backbone of America,” said Charlene Bisson, Arizona publisher at Independent Newsmedia.

“We’re in this together.”

At Yourvalley.net, the flagship website of the Arizona division at Independent Newsmedia, the general public -- along with event promoters -- can publish free events online with a digital audience of 575,000 monthly users.

For Ms. Bisson, providing access to what is going on around residents of the Valley may not be the hard news some have come to expect from Independent journalism, but a key community service otherwise.

“While we do offer paid placement, a larger and prominent online presence for a modest fee, the key for us, is to engage with the community,” she said.

Starting Dec. 1, this  online  method will be the only way to submit calendar event items to run online at YourValley.net. Calendar submissions through this method also will apear in Indepdendent Newsmedia's hyperlocal publications across the region.

Online event promoters have access to

  • FREE online posting with a photo and brief description.
  • Bronze level at $25 a month including premier placement at online calendars, a total of 250 words, E-mail and web links from your posting, SEO boost, logo, and mapping.
  • Silver level at $45 a month including up to 500 words, eight photos posted online, 12 keywords, SEO boost and video.
  • Gold level at $200 a month: unlimited premier placement throughout yourvalley.net.

Independent Newsmedia built its digital identity around the #AZNEWSMEDIA hashtag and has since launched the #AZNEWSMEDIALINK -- an event site built for the digital age.

“Just as we built our digital news audience, we aim to build our event audience to help connect people during these difficult times,” Ms. Bisson said. “Our day-to-day lives have changed tremendously, we as a news organization, are evolving with those times.”

--- Charlene Bisson

Go to AZEVENTLINK and use promo code AZNEWSMEDIA20 for 20% off a level package.

About Independent Newsmedia

The company has operated in Arizona since 1970 and publishes daily community newspapers at YourValley.net in Anthem, Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, Buckeye, Glendale, Goodyear, Florence, Litchfield Park, Peoria, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Sun City, Sun City West, Surprise and Town of Paradise Valley.

Independent Newsmedia also owns Valley Newspapers, a state-of-the-art commercial printing plant. The company is owned by a nonprofit trust and designed to maintain independence. The organization has no shareholders, no dividends are paid and all after-tax profits are reinvested in its mission of impartial community journalism.

Editor’s note: Mr. Thornton is Arizona executive editor at Independent Newsmedia. He can be reached at tthornton@newszap.com