Website facelifts and management maneuvers
| Rudolph Muller | May 31, 2009 | No comments |
Rudolph Muller
Rudolph Muller is the editor at MyBroadband and covers telecoms and broadband news. Rudolph comes from an academic background, but left the University of...
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Local websites get fresh look while experienced online managers are becoming a valuable commodity
The local Internet market is showing strong growth, with a 25% increase in local website visitors over the last year, according to the latest Online Publishers Association (OPA) statistics. The OPA reported that local websites served over 11-million unique visitors in the last three months.
This strong growth and inevitable move of advertising revenue from print to online in future is encouraging media houses to enhance their online presence. The last three weeks have seen upgrades to two of South Africa’s biggest websites: News24 and Business Day.
South Africa’s biggest website – News24 – has adopted a new look which is more in line with the trend set by the rest of the group’s websites like Fin24 and Sport 24. News24 still brings users up-to-date news, weather and financial indicators, but it now has a more modern look and wide screen format.
Business Day also recently got a facelift, boasting a more content rich online presence. Business Day now provides users with the latest news, local and international stock exchange figures, embedded video files and weather.
The increased investment in websites and online services is also good news for professionals in the website market who are now head-hunted to help companies with their online strategies. Two high level moves in the local website space recently took place.
Brian Khumalo recently replaced Carlos Henriques as the Mail & Guardian’s General Manager. Henriques replaced Matthew Buckland, the previous GM who moved last year from the Mail & Guardian to head up 24.com’s publishing and social media portfolio.
In a surprise move Colin Daniels, publisher at the Times Online, announced that he will be leaving Avusa and join the Auto Trader group to run their digital business. It is understood that Daniels will assist the company to jack up their online presence.
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