This is your site, live right now
Weather, news, TV and video are already running. The only thing missing is you.
Free to start. Paid when you sell.
Apply in a few minutes. We ask for your energy, not your money. We pick the best person for each town, and then it is yours to build.
Affiliate
A modest monthly fee keeps this for people who will work it.
You keep 40% of every ad you sell, rising to 75%
No card, no deposit. A small platform fee comes out of your earnings, by community size, and never more than you earned:
- 5,000 to 9,999 residents$39
- 10,000 to 19,999 residents$59
- 20,000 to 39,999 residents$89
- 40,000 or more residents$119
- The live local site: news, TV, video, weather, traffic
- 18 ad placements you sell to local businesses
- A sales toolkit: scripts, packages and a proposal builder
- Your name, photo and bio on the masthead
- Pin the top stories and publish original reporting
- Earn on other products your advertisers buy
- Affiliate dashboard Coming soon
- Daily newsletter tool Coming soon
- Reader analytics Coming soon
The more you sell, the more you keep
Each percentage applies to the dollars in that band, so selling more never lowers your pay.
Launch boost: for your first 90 days you keep 70% of everything you sell.
Build a real local site and keep even more
Your share goes up as you run a full site: a current calendar, fresh content, contributors, high school coverage, and food, money and fitness voices. Run a bare site and it stays lower. It is measured automatically, every day.
Needs attention
30% to 50%of what you sellStarter
40% to 60%of what you sellPublisher
45% to 65%of what you sellPro Publisher
50% to 70%of what you sellMedia Company
55% to 75%of what you sell- 📅Keep the calendar currentEvents coming up in the next 30 daysup to 2 pts
- 📰Publish fresh local contentOriginal posts in the last 30 daysup to 2 pts
- 🧑🤝🧑Add contributorsContributors who posted in the last 30 daysup to 2 pts
- 🏆High school sports coverageHigh school games and scores in the last 3 weeksup to 2 pts
- 🏈Pro and college commentaryGame takes and commentary posts in the last 30 daysup to 2 pts
- 🎸Entertainment and live showsMusic and arts events coming up, plus entertainment postsup to 1 pt
- 🍽️Food and drink bloggerFood posts in the last 30 daysup to 1 pt
- 💰Money and finance bloggerMoney posts in the last 30 daysup to 1 pt
- 🏃Health and fitness bloggerFitness posts in the last 30 daysup to 1 pt
- 🎙️A local podcastEpisodes in the last 45 daysup to 1 pt
Every new affiliate has 60 days at the Starter share while the site gets going. The share you keep for a month is the middle of that month's daily readings.
You run the town. We run everything else.
A fair split for what each side does.
We run
- Hosting, security and every update
- Sports, scores, standings and highlights
- News, TV, video and radio feeds
- Weather, radar and alerts
- 61 games and contests you can sell branding on
- Ad serving, invoices, payment collection and billing
- A sales toolkit, proposals and support
You run
- Sell the sponsors and keep them happy
- Keep the calendar and your local content fresh
- Add contributors, high school coverage and voices
- Be the trusted local face of the site
- No setup fee, no monthly bill up front, no minimum ad budget and nothing to buy. The small site fee comes out of what you earn and can never be more than you earned.
- You are paid on ads that sponsors have actually paid for. Refunds and chargebacks come out of the same month.
- One community per affiliate to start. A second unlocks after 90 days at Publisher or above.
- Use it or lose it: a community stays yours while it stays out of the Needs attention level. After 90 days there it reopens to other applicants, with 30 days notice to you.
- Ads that the network sells and that run on your site earn you 30% while they run.
- Your launch boost: keep 70% of everything you sell in your first 90 days.
- Local advertisers only. Every ad you sell must be for a business located in or serving your community. National brands are welcome through their local store or dealer, using that store's own page, so the Ace Hardware in your town is welcome and national Ace Hardware is not. No affiliate links, tracking links or affiliate programs (Amazon, travel, coupon networks and the like) in ads, spots, events or stories. The network runs those itself.
- Network placements: the network reserves the right to run Amazon Associates ads, travel and booking widgets, house ads and network promotions in the network strip on every page and in any placement that has not been sold, at its discretion and within the site templates. That revenue belongs to the network and is not part of your commissionable sales. A sponsor you sell always keeps the placement they bought, and network placements do not change what your sponsors bought.
These are the working terms and can change with notice. Have your own advisor review the agreement before you sign.
Your ad spots and prices
21 ad spots on every page, set up and ready to sell. Monthly prices depend on your community size.
| Spot | Size | Spots | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presenting sponsorYour name under the masthead on every page | Exclusive | 1 | $750a month |
| Weather sponsorA presented-by line on the forecast | Exclusive | 1 | $375a month |
| Sports sponsorYour logo and name on the Sports hero, team pages, game pages and standings | Exclusive, logo plus tagline | 1 | $375a month |
| Pick-Em sponsorTitle sponsor of the Pick-Em game with a prize banner and a thank-you coupon | Exclusive, logo plus prize offer | 1 | $300a month |
| Video sponsorA sponsor screen before every video and a sponsor strip under the player | Exclusive, logo plus tagline | 1 | $450a month |
| School sports sponsorPresenting sponsor of the high school sports page: scores, schedules and player of the week | Exclusive, logo plus tagline | 1 | $225a month |
| TV and Radio sponsorPresenting sponsor of the local TV and radio page: live stations, local news video and community TV | Exclusive, logo plus tagline | 1 | $225a month |
| Word game sponsorPresenting sponsor of the daily word games, with your coupon shown to everyone who solves the word | Exclusive, logo plus coupon | 1 | $225a month |
| Homes sponsorPresenting sponsor of Homes and Living: the lifestyle magazines, homes for sale and housing news | Exclusive, logo plus tagline | 1 | $300a month |
| Money sponsorPresenting sponsor of the Money page: markets, rates, financial news and calculators | Exclusive, logo plus tagline | 1 | $300a month |
| Contests sponsorPresenting sponsor of all the fantasy and pick'em contests, with your prize and coupon on every game (single contests can be sponsored for half) | Exclusive, logo plus prize offer | 1 | $375a month |
| LeaderboardBanner right under the section menu | 970x90, 320x100 on phones | 1 | $450a month |
| Native storyA sponsored card inside the Latest feed | Card with photo | 1 | $300a month |
| Rail boxTop of the right column | 300x250 | 1 | $225a month |
| Half pageTall unit that follows the reader down the right column | 300x600 | 1 | $375a month |
| BillboardWide banner between the news and the video | 970x250, 320x250 on phones | 1 | $300a month |
| In-articleInside every original story | 300x250 | 1 | $225a month |
| Community partnerA logo in the partner strip above the footer | Logo tile | 4 | $115a month each |
What you could make
List prices before any discount, and the earnings ladder applied. Illustrations, not promises.
| If you sell | Ads sold a month | You keep | Your fee | You take home |
|---|
Try the math
Pick an amount of ads sold in a month. This shows how the split and your fee work, not what anyone will earn.
Advertisers pay us, we bill them and send your share by the 15th of the next month.
More ways to earn
Ad spots are the core. These add to it.
Other products your advertisers buy
Earn 20% of what a business you introduced pays for our other products, for the first 12 months.
Ads we sell across communities
When we sell a network ad that runs on your site, you earn 30% of the revenue for as long as it runs there.
Income outside our ad spots
Events, your own newsletter, memberships, freelance writing, workshops and paid work outside our ad spots are yours to keep. We take no cut.
Bigger sponsors pay you more
Category exclusives and presenting sponsorships pay the most per sale, and every dollar you sell moves you toward a higher share.
Every sponsor can become a bigger customer
When a business you introduced buys another of our products, you earn 20% of what they pay for the first 12 months.
Deals and coupons
A local deals page and scratch-off contests that send shoppers to your advertisers.
From $49 a month
Loyalty rewards
A digital loyalty program with QR redemption for local shops and restaurants.
From $29 a month
Real estate partner
One agent or brokerage becomes the exclusive real estate sponsor of the community.
From $99 a month
Event promotion and ticketing
Promote local events and sell tickets online.
Per-ticket fee
Live on day one
You never start with an empty page.
Local news from everywhere
Every paper, station and agency covering your town, updated all day, with links back to the source.
Weather that fits the town
Alerts, hourly and 7 day forecasts and live radar.
TV, video and sports
Local stations, YouTube channels, team headlines and live scores.
Roads, food, events, schools
Automatic topic pages with a live traffic map, built for any town.
Your name on the masthead
An affiliate byline, photo and bio, so readers know who is behind it.
Pin stories and publish your own
Decide what leads the page and publish original reporting on its own pages.
How it works: energy in, money out
Towns are for people who use them. Here is the deal.
1. Apply, free
No card and no deposit. Tell us who you are and what you will bring. We read every application and pick the best person for the town.
2. Launch in 14 days
Add your headshot and bio, publish 3 stories, put 3 events on the calendar and set your teams. We show you every step.
3. First sponsor in 60 days
Use the toolkit to sign your first local sponsor. We bill them, you earn your share.
4. Keep it alive
Post every week, add sponsors, serve them well. Your share grows as you sell.
If a town goes quiet, we reopen it for the next person on the waitlist. That keeps every town in the hands of someone who is working it.
Where the ads go
The same 18 placements run across your site.
Apply to run Westland
Free to apply. We read every application and pick the person we think will do the most for Westland, usually within 2 business days. Once picked, you have 14 days to launch and 60 days to sign your first sponsor.
Ready to run the Westland Community Observer?
From $39 a month. Keep 40% to 75% of every ad you sell, as your site grows. Read the plain terms.
Apply to run WestlandNo income is guaranteed. Affiliates are paid their share only when advertisers pay.