Scotland's new newspaper posts impressive first-month traffic

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A new newspaper launched in Scotland last month has recorded 400,000 page impressions on its website in its first month. The Caledonian Mercury site attracted 200,000 unique users over the same period, founding editor Stewart Kirkpatrick, told Journalism.co.uk.

In comparison the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic (ABCe) figures for the regional press suggest an average monthly unique user/browser figure of 1,679,568 for the Scotsman's website between July and December 2009.

The paper is designed to be a web-first title with print editions produced to supplement online content, rather than on a regular weekly or monthly basis, the former Scotsman.com editor said prior to its launch in January.

The title will soon expand the number of sections it publishes and take on more writers, according to Kirkpatrick. The site currently features 10 niche news areas, including politics, heritage and 'biz tech'.

The site is also building its social media presence with more than 1,000 Twitter followers and 600 Facebook fans. Last week it launched an online focus group tracking how voters' opinions of the political parties in Scotland change during campaigning for the forthcoming election.