HN Web site grows popular

More people than ever are using www.heraldnewsonline.com for news and information.

During the past 12 months, more than 22 million page views were registered at the Web site operated by The Herald News, including 1.97 million during the month of April, a 4.5 percent increase over the previous month.

"These numbers reflect our increased emphasis on expanding The Herald News community to include those who rely mainly on digital media," said Larry Randa, publisher of The Herald News.

Roughly 20 percent of the page views came from Internet users who accessed obituaries.

And roughly a third of the total was recorded by users checking on news or feature stories.

The most viewed news story of the month was an account of Bolingbrook resident Drew Peterson's complaints that his neighbors were harassing his family. The fatal shooting of a Stateville prison guard drew the second highest page views.

A special photo gallery with pictures of the early April fire on downtown Lockport registered nearly 52,000 page views.

During the first four months of 2008, more than 7.7 million page views have been recorded at www.heraldnewsonline.com. That's an increase of 12 percent over the same period a year ago and nearly 7 percent more than the final four months of 2007.

"We're delighted by the response we've already received," Randa said. "But this is just the beginning. As we add more and more new innovations, we expect these phenomenal numbers to continue to grow."