Welcome to the "new" and "improved Bluffton Icon!
That's right! New and improved. You see, we are experience growing pains: lots and lots of people are sending us stories and story ideas; lots of businesses are advertising and more are in the pipeline; lots of people are joining us each new day as a first-time viewer. Lots of them.
We now average 350 "unique" viewers on our lowest view day of the week - Sunday! That's our low count. Over the past 30 days we experienced over 4,000 unique viewers!
Now the problems: There's no book that tells us how to expand. We simply experiment, view other web sites for ideas and try things. Some things work; some things flop. We've had an experiment site testing some of these ideas for the past month, and finally decided, let's go live with it.
It's important to thank Ryan Lowry, our tech guy for all of these changes. He makes the impossible look easy.
Some important words about advertising. We believe our new home page will enhance our advertising options. All our right column advertisers continue to rotate, but we will show only a handful at a time. Each time you refresh the screen the advertisements will change. This allows us to highlight our advertisers better. That's important because they pay the freight.
Once you move off the home page... and our research shows us that the vast majority of you check 3 pages each time you log on...you will see every advertiser on the right column.
Our new look also enhances our display ad capabilities. You'll notice a display ad on the top right column. In the past six weeks we've been bombarded with display ad requests. Now we can satisfy that demand. These rotate also.
Garage sales. Say no more. We print them free and more and more viewers are sending them. We've created an easy way for you to review the garage sales and all our classified ads, which take an important spot on our home page.
Videos. That's right. Stay tuned. We'll soon show you parades, interviews, Oscar painting the mural, sports action, you name it. We may even record a council meeting!
We continue to tinker with the home page and with other enhancements. There are glitches. We are working on them.
Our intention remains unchanged: We want to provide Bluffton with the best up-to-the-minutes news, features, photos, advertising and everything else that moves in our town.
As always, your comments, words of encouragement and ideas are encouraged.
Mary and Fred Steiner
Stories Posted This Week
Sunday, May 4, 2025
Saturday, May 3, 2025
- Pirate baseball win vs. Tigers
- Bluffton softball edged in battle of Pirates
- Committee meetings scheduled for Bluffton Council
- #1 recommended attraction in NW Ohio is in Ada
- Mental Health Awareness event with Seth Gehle
- Ohio highway patrol promoting motorcycle safety
- Recap of Bluffton Board of Education meeting for April 2025
- Weekend Doctor: Antidepressants in the long term
Friday, May 2, 2025
- BHS seniors exhibit art at Gallery 323 through May 7
- What's in your weekend?
- Pirate softball blanked by Lancers
- Pirate baseball blanked by Lincolnview
- Laman Promoted to VP Retail Credit Manager by CNB
- Local land conservancy hires first Executive Director
- Steiner to present Swiss Family Migration program on May 21
- 850 Days of Caring volunteers will pitch in for Hancock County
Thursday, May 1, 2025
- Angel M. Langhals owned LFE/API Meters
- Allen Co. task force targets target sex and human traffickers
- Blessing of the Bikes, May 4
- Metzger honored at 2025 Black Swamp Council meeting
- Volunteer invitation for Bluffton Pathway Count in May
- Pirate tennis edges Ottawa-Glandorf
- Bluffton EMS station staffing goes 24/7 on May 1
- You are what you eat: Link to immune system
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
- Observation deck added to Motter Park cascading pools project
- Bluffton Women in Business meet May 15
- Four sportsmen stock 200 trout at Buckeye Lake
- Pirate girls, boys 2nd at Minster track quad
- Pirate baseball win vs. Riverdale
- Pirate softball loss vs. Riverdale
- Field reports from NW Ohio wildlife officers