The Herald Three Years In
As the Hayward Herald turns three, we take stock of the last year: how we've grown, what residents care about, and where we're going next.
As we move from the height of summer toward our warm Californian autumn, it's time for us to take stock of the last year of the Hayward Herald. This has become something of a tradition so we can let our community know how we're doing, what we've learned, and what we have planned for the future. A lot has happened this past year, but we continue to stay true to our mission to deliver local Hayward news that you won't find anywhere else.
We Keep Growing
For those who may not know, the Hayward Herald started in August of 2023 as a way for me to share what's been going on at City Hall with people I knew. What started as a one-person Substack with snarky commentary has matured and solidified into a stand-alone website with a small but mighty team of volunteers. Let's look at how we've grown since the last time we checked in.
- 1,060 Subscribers To Our Newsletter
- 22,000+ Unique Views
- We Earn ~$226/month from 38 Paid Members
Compared to last year, we've added almost 300 subscribers, increased our subscriber revenue by over 50%, and likely increased our unique views—Substack's views were definitely inflated, with some individual users "Viewing" a page hundreds of times.
The Hayward Herald has no sponsors, no grants, and no accountability to anyone but our community. We serve our neighbors and rely on them for financial support. If you're able, consider supporting local news you won't be able to find anywhere else.
Our social media presence has continued to grow, as well. We've reached thousands of people on Facebook and Instagram and partnered with some great members of the community. It's helped us build a local network of friendly businesses and organizations so that we can expand our reach in Hayward.
What Do Residents Care About?
Naomi Powell
Our data center article by Naomi Powell has been our most popular article by far. Drawing on months of steady reporting from the Herald, Naomi dug deep into the process to explain why the Stack Data Center was approved, what the city got out of it, and what processes have changed to keep it from happening again.
Andrea Jiménez
When a beloved local restaurant is in trouble, the residents of Hayward definitely take notice. This article by Andrea Jimenez took a closer look at a South Hayward fire that put local restaurant Red Chili in a precarious position. We hope the good folks at Red Chili are able to reopen soon.
Collin Thormoto
When the City Council announced plans to finally undo The Loop, locals got excited. Collin Thormoto covered what is changing, why it was chosen, and what the City Council actually supported—something apparently not reflected in the official minutes.
Change Isn't Always Easy
The Herald saw some big behind-the-scenes changes. In January, we moved off of Substack and onto Ghost. The new platform is fantastic and we're in a better place because of it. But if I was going to do it again, I'd do it differently.
We lost all of our Google Indexing, meaning that search engines have a harder time finding our content. We also didn't transition our pledged users and left some money on the table. So in a lot of ways, January was almost like starting from scratch, but it looks like we've made up for lost time.
We also added some great contributors to our ranks. We republished content from The Pioneer Online at CSUEB in an effort to share with Hayward what's happening up on the hill. We also took on some great volunteers, including Andrea Jimenez, who will be joining Mission Local soon!
Finally, we expanded our coverage to include local arts, culture, food, business, and breaking news. Some of it was popular and others were less popular. But we want the Herald to grow into a full community news outlet with something for everyone. We tend to focus on local politics, but there is a lot happening in Hayward we'd love to cover—let us know if there's something you'd like to see!
Not All Experiments Are Successful
An important part of growing is trying new things, even if they don't always work. We've experimented and we're grown up enough to admit that some things didn't turn out like we'd hoped.
Our Hayward Voices speaker series was a lot more work than we could realistically handle. Between securing a venue and speakers, coming up with interview questions, and other coordinating work, it was too much. It's still something we'd like to do when we've grown enough to handle the extra work, but for now it's been put on ice.
We also experimented with the Zine this year. We hoped that we'd be able to sell them at local stores and make a little bit of profit, but it was trying to be both a premium product for fans and bring in new readers. That was too much to put on one zine, and we realize that was a mistake.
Looking Ahead
Even with some missteps, we keep putting out local news and writing for Hayward residents. In the next 12 months, we're not only going to keep writing about Hayward politics and talking big ideas on Over The Loud Speaker, but we're going to keep trying new things.
The Hayward Herald Zine will return! We've gone back to the drawing board to figure out the best way forward. We've got a plan, a new volunteer, and the desire to stay in print. There may be still be some stumbles, but if we're lucky you'll the results before the end of this calendar year.
We polled our subscribers about Hayward Herald merch—thank you all for being so patient with email issues 🤦♂️—and we're using the results to inform our next steps. We're still figuring out what those steps are, especially with fulfillment, but we promise we haven't forgotten.
We're also hoping, as always, to expand the team! We've had some lovely volunteers who weren't able to stick around. which makes it harder to truly grow. So we're going to focus on clarifying the jobs that need doing, calling for volunteers, and convincing people to help us invest in our city.
But regardless of anything else, we'll continue covering what's happening in Hayward. We care about this city and we continue to rely on our neighbors for support. If you haven't already, consider subscribing or becoming a member. Your money directly supports local journalism in a city that has been a news desert for far too long. And if you can't support financially, consider reaching out to become a volunteer.
In the meantime, see you around town!
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