We at The Times are constantly exploring new ways to attract new readers and new advertising programs that will help our local businesses.

Over the summer we held a half price subscription sale for Fountain Hills and Rio Verde residents that can receive home delivery. We signed up more than 80 new subscribers. That means at least 160 new readers each week that can potentially read the ads on our pages.

This week, we introduce our newest option for business operators to consider for spending their advertising budget.

It’s a full page of coupons anchored by a weekly column that will feature one of our local clubs and organizations. The column should certainly be well read.

How do you like it?

This is the first of a series of weekly coupon specials that are being offered by local businesses. There are a total of 15 coupons each week that you should read to take advantage of these great buys.

The 15 participating businesses will run a new special each of the three weeks their ad runs.

And one day during the three weeks that their coupon appears, they will sponsor The Times On-line’s 4:30 News. As the sponsor they will offer an extra special price reduction on one item or service from their store or office.

The Daily Special will also be announced on the video version of the 4:30 News.

We have been looking for ways to better interact our website with our print edition. This is a first step of many changes you will be seeing on our website this fall. One of the reasons we became one of the first 200 weekly newspapers in the country to go on-line in the 1990s was we saw it as a way for a weekly newspaper to offer daily news and advertising updates without the expense of  printing at least five editions each week.

The 4:30 News debuted in 2004 and we added the video version in 2007. Honestly, advertising has been slow to come to The Times Online. Obviously you need a reason to go to the website. There are a number of potential distractions when you go online such as email, Twitter, Facebook and the rest of the social media network.

But we have had very positive feedback about this new option and the sales of these coupons went very quickly. In fact, we already have coupons sold for the next three-week period.

So take advantage of these coupon specials, and be sure to watch the 4:30 Video News Monday through Friday for the Daily Specials.

Let me know what you think of this promotion.