New website launches today

Newspaper readers will have a different online experience beginning today as The Commercial Review launches a new website.

The web address will be the same — thecr.com — as it has been since our original site went online more than two decades ago. But the site will have a new look and many new features with our new website host, BLOX Digital.

The site change is another step in the integration of The News-Gazette (Winchester) and The News Times (Hartford City) into The Graphic Printing Company. When we purchased those papers, they were already using BLOX Digital. The Commercial Review was with a different site host. 

With all of the changes and challenges that come along with purchasing two newspapers, it didn’t make sense to add another in the form of a new website. Now that we have a better handle on operating three newspapers, the time was right.

The change will not only mean a new look for thecr.com. It will mean updated websites across the company. With thecr.com now updated, winchesternewsgazette.com and hartfordcitynewstimes.com will follow with updates to the new system as well. Using one platform will help us post faster and support subscriptions across all three papers.

Changes for readers

Probably the biggest change visitors to our website will see is that there will be metered access.

Each visitor will have access to a limited number of articles per month. (That amount may change from month to month.) This accommodates those who are only visiting to look at a single obituary or article.

Once a visitor to the site has reached their limit on articles for the month, they will be prompted with a subscription offer.

Another major change will be to our “Today’s edition,” which will now be known as the e-edition. For years we have simply uploaded a PDF of the daily paper that folks could read and download. 

The e-edition will represent an upgrade. Readers will still be able to download the newspaper in PDF form as they always have. But the e-edition will offer more interactivity, allowing readers to search by keyword or name within the document library if they are looking for something specific.

We encourage readers to take some time with the e-edition and explore the new features.

Beyond those two items, the site will have a new design. It is intended to provide a better display of our top recent stories while still keeping access to news, sports, family (now known as “lifestyle”), opinion and obituary content on the main page.

Changes for staff

On our end, the management of the website is much more user-friendly. It allows us to customize stories, add photos more seamlessly and, hopefully, create a better reader experience.

The site also improves the process of optimizing our site for search engines. When folks interested in the news of Jay County and the surrounding area go hunting on a search engine, we want them to find our site at the top of the list. The SEO tools built into our new site will help with that process.

The site will also provide us with vastly more data about our website than has been available in the past. We’ll be able to instantly see a snapshot of what’s being read most. This will help us guide decisions about content as we move forward.

How to gain access

Subscribers already have full digital access and will just need to activate their login.

They will log in for the first time by entering their phone number and their last name in all capital letters. Once logged in, they will be prompted to create a password.

We will not have access to passwords, so make sure to keep track. There will be a “forgot password” tool on the site for those who need it.

Anyone who has trouble logging in should call us at (260) 726-8141. We anticipate there will be challenges with the launch. There typically are. We’re ready to help you work through the process.