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TheBusinessDesk.com expands into north west

Posted: 08/09/08 By: Laura Oliver
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Business news website TheBusinessDesk.com has launched a new site covering the north west of the UK.

The move sees the expansion of TheBusinessDesk.com network following the launch of a site for the Yorkshire area last November.

The new north west service, which will cover the business community in Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire and Cumbria, will feature news, company results and announcements, and industry comment.

Plans to expand TheBusinessDesk were boosted by the success of the Yorkshire site, David Parkin, group managing editor (pictured left), told Journalism.co.uk.

"We were always ambitions to expand, but the success of the Yorkshire site, in terms of the interest that it created, made us keen to roll it out in the north west.

"The advertising revenue [from the Yorkshire site] was very strong - it came in well ahead of our expectations. A lot of people said it would work in the north west, so the launch is both in response to demand and the figures from Yorkshire."

According to a release, the Yorkshire service has an average of 150,000 page views and 50,000 unique visits a month and the new site is expected to double these figures within the six months.

The new site will offer a daily news alert service, which delivers business updates before 9am by email or SMS.

"People in business are short of time, but they want as much information as possible, and they want to access it in as easy a way as possible," said Parkin, who was previously business editor of the Yorkshire Post.

A series of senior appointments to the site are to be announced in the coming weeks, according to Parkin. Current staff include Sheryl Moore, former Manchester Evening News business editor, and James Graham, former Yorkshire Post deputy business editor.

Parkin acknowledged that the site will face more competition from business titles in the north west than it does in Yorkshire, but said the online-only nature of the service could 'provide something unique' to a business audience.

"We are purely online, that's all we do. All the other players in the area have a print product to support," he added.

"We think it can work in every region in the country. We've got to see how it goes in the north west, but we don't want to stop here."

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