[ COMMEMORATIVE EDITION ]
After 5 years, WITH TODAY'S INAUGURAL Sunday edition of Starbulletin.com, 1,450 editions of the online version of the newspaper have been published since March 18, 1996.
Bulletin Web site
shows no signs of
slowing down
Starbulletin.com Sunday
edition debuts todayStar-Bulletin
It started first as a Monday-through-Friday publication, according to Webmaster Blaine Fergerstrom, with a Saturday edition added on Sept. 5, 1998.
Starbulletin.com averages more than 5.25 million "hits" a week, with roughly 65,000 weekly visitors viewing 1.2 million pages.
The newspaper's Web site quickly grew to become a popular cyberspace news outlet. In 1997 the American Journalism Review ranked starbulletin.com 20th online paper in the country, winning over the Christian Science Monitor, MSNBC, Fox News, Chicago Tribune, C-Net, News.com, MacWorld, Pathfinder and the Detroit Free Press. Most recently, the 100 Hot Web ranking site listed Starbulletin.com the 49th most popular news site.
In 1998, starbulletin.com was a finalist in the Editor & Publisher EPpy Award competition for newspapers with circulation under 100,000.The Web site is featured on the online network of the Starbright Foundation, founded by filmmaker Steven Spielberg and retired Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. Starbright World, a private online network for seriously ill children, is available in dozens of hospitals. Starbulletin.com is also featured on Govspot.com, a national Web site that focuses on local government in the 50 states.
Fergerstrom, who oversees the site along with Assistant Webmaster Ken Andrade, said the Star-Bulletin's Web site has experienced phenomenal annual readership growth since it was first started five years ago.
"Our readership is worldwide, with a heavy expatriate population," he said. "Roughly 65 percent of our readers aren't even here."
Fergerstrom said: "Most readers are loyal. They read the online edition three to five days per week. Many subscribe to the paper and read the online edition daily."