Regional business news website TheBusinessDesk.com claims to have reached the milestone of 50,000 registered subscribers across its three regional versions.
The site, which provides local business news for Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham, now employs 12 journalists out of a total staff of 18.
TheBusinessDesk.com was founded by Yorkshire Post business editor David Parkin in 2007 with private backing and expanded from its Leeds base into Manchester a year later. Its operation in Birmingham was established last year.
The business operates online, via mobile, wen and email newsletters and makes money from sponsorship, advertising and events.
Parkin claims the site is growing its user base by around eight per cent each month by responding to the demand for free, quality regional business news delivered digitally.
The number of registered users for the Manchester site was boosted significantly in June, the company claims, following the closure of competitor Crain’s Manchester Business.
‘We now have very favourable readership and growth levels that outstrip our main competitors with our audience growing by over 33 per cent in the last quarter, and, crucially revenues are up by more than 100 per cent on the same period last year,’he said.
‘Our move to target the West Midlands region in the first quarter of this year is really paying dividends and we now have a proven business model that is working in multiple locations,’he added.
Parkin claims the three websites are visited by more than 250,000 business people every month and readers viewed around half a million pages in the past month.
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