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The BusinessDesk.com exploring options for a North West launch |
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Wednesday, 23 July 2008 |
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The BusinessDesk.com, a regional business news web site which launched in Yorkshire last November, is considering its options for a potential move into the North West.
The site, which offers a daily e-newsletter supported by a comprehensive round-up of business news stories in Yorkshire, is keen to expand beyond its Yorkshire base into other regions.
The editor David Parkin, who was the business editor of the Yorkshire Post for seven years until his departure in 2007, told How-Do it was “a bit early to be discussing the North West as we’re still establishing ourselves in Yorkshire.”
However, How-Do understands that a number of editorial and commercial staff at titles including Insider and Crain’s have been approached to sound out potential interest in helping to launch a North West edition.
 Parkin
The BusinessDesk employs five staff: four editorial and one sales. Events are handled though an associated company.
Parkin said the company was funded by the management team and private investors and had additional debt facilities provided by the Yorkshire Bank. He said that response to the launch last autumn had been better than expected and that the company was currently breaking even – significantly ahead of the business plan forecast.
Revenue is derived from sponsorship of the daily email, banner ads, site sponsorship and events.
The site has around 6,500 registered users and attracts around 12,000 unique visitors a month said Parkin.
The site would face substantially more competition in the North West than it does in Yorkshire. In Leeds, the Yorkshire edition of Insider currently issues a weekly e-newsletter and Parkin said he is yet to see any issues of the Yorkshire Post’s nominal daily service.
In the North West, both Crain’s and Insider publish a daily newsletter with Insider also offering an additional dedicated Liverpool newsletter. The MEN has also recently started offering more frequent business e-newsletter updates while the Daily Post has also recently increased its business coverage.
Parkin said he acknowledged the “more competitive environment over here” but added that he felt that any offering from The BusinessDesk, “which is purely web-based, would be different.”
The company's web site was created by and is managed by Rippleffect.www.thebusinessdesk.com
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