WWW.VINDY.COM Newspaper offers expanded content to Web subscribers

New features include archives of all locally written stories.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Vindicator is offering a full copy of the newspaper on its Web site.
Visitors to www.vindy.com can choose to subscribe to view the entire paper or continue to view the popular free daily content that's been available free of charge for more than three years.
People who subscribe to the regular paper seven days a week can add the online subscription for $5.05 a month. Those who don't subscribe to the paper are being charged $10 a month.
Subscribers to the online edition have two ways to view the paper.
Users can read one story at a time using an index that lists stories under topics such as local, sports, tributes, entertainment and business.
Users also can view a digital edition in PDF format that reproduces the look of the printed edition. Stories, photographs and ads are positioned as they are in the regular paper, and users can click on individual items they would like to see up close.
All four editions of the daily paper are available.
Online subscribers also will have access to archives of all locally written stories that have appeared in the paper since 1999.
Receives many requests
Jason Holmes, The Vindicator's new media director, said newspaper officials expect the online subscriptions will be popular with local residents and former area residents who have moved away.
"We get e-mails and calls almost every day from people out of town who want to subscribe online," he said.
The new Web site was launched Monday. The online edition already has subscribers who live in Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee and other states.
Although given an updated look, the free version of the online paper retains the content it has had the past three years. Besides stories and classified ads, it includes information on weather and stocks. Daily reader polls and community bulletin boards also remain.
Holmes said that he's planning other "exciting new changes" in the near future.
Each month, the Web site has between 1.2 million and 1.5 million pages viewed and about 70,000 unique visitors.