Today I met with a newspaper advertising salesperson over lunch.  He began the meeting by paging through some information regarding his newspaper.  Audience, age, income, gender, education, etc. etc.  Then he came to one section where he showed his newspaper having more monthly readers than the largest local radio station.  Then, the idea light went off for this blog.

Being close to our firms' web statistics I know RealLivingHER.com attracts around 200,000 visitors monthly.  The number one radio station in Columbus, Ohio, WNCI 97.9 boasts over 187,000 listeners/month according to the audit material he provided.  We do better than the #1 radio station in town!  I was impressed by the numbers and had never thought about it that way.   

So.... The next time a consumer or builder/developer (struggling to pay a salesperson to sit in a model) approaches you and asks how many times you'll advertise his product in the newspaper, share the stats. 

The point is that we should begin looking at our sites as the true mediums (just like radio, tv, newspaper, etc.) that they have become.  If you've done a good job with your site and attracting visitors, you don't need to rely on others as much as we have in the past.  Also, the next time you are approached by a traditional media salesperson, bring your stats.  When solicited the ability to advertise in a publication at $xx silly price per ad, turn the dialogue around and sell that salesperson ad space on your site!