Many newspapers have had to downsize staff of close up shop all together once more people started to get their news from the internet.

But a local Monmouth County newspaper has avoided the competition and gotten stronger over the past 20 years utilizing a very simple solution – don’t have a website.

Dan Jacobson is the editor and publisher of the triCity News, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this week.

“People thought I was crazy. I didn’t listen. I didn’t care and so far, I’ve been right,” says Jacobson.

Jacobson says that he believes that he owes part of the paper’s success to staying off the digital landscape.

“We stayed offline. We stayed off the internet. We didn’t cannibalize ourselves,” he says.

The triCity News is a free, weekly paper that contains a mix of commentary and reporting on Red Bank, Long Branch, Asbury Park and the surrounding areas. And it can only be read as a hard copy.

“That’s like newspapers of old. And I see people of all ages picking it up, which is also unusual. And so we found this niche. And I just thought the internet was a losing proposition,” says Jacobson.

Jacobson says that the paper is so successful that he is able to sell full-page ads inside the paper.

When the triCity News first opened inside a building in downtown Asbury Park, the street was lined with vacant storefronts. Jacobson says that some would argue that the paper’s incessant trumpeting of city's potential played a big role in the city's economic boom.

“I always envisioned Asbury Park would transform the region. It would be the economic and cultural engine of the region. And it's happened,” says Jacobson.

The triCity News is available at newsstands and various businesses across eastern Monmouth County.