Quarter two of 2008 has seen a leap in website traffic for Basingstoke Business news with unique visitors up 53.47% on Q1.

The continued rise in traffic is the result of a number of initiatives:

• Increased syndication of news from third party news websites.
• Increased level of interest coming to us from local businesses.
• The growth of the business directory.
• Content is optimised for search engines when posted for increased exposure - search engine traffic is up 12%

We are currently working on a new version of the site which should be up and running in the next couple of months. This will move more towards a general business portal for Basingstoke and we have new interactive features coming.

The hope is that as more people sign up to Basingstoke Business News, the more interactive the site will become, with the potential for you to post your own business news.

Thanks for your continued support.

Craig

A multimillion pound deal to finance the management buy-out of Hollybourne Hotels, owners of The Red Lion Hotel in Basingstoke, has been funded by Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets.

The Hollybourne Group, which has hotels in Basingstoke and Alton and an annual turnover of £7 million, has become renowned for offering first class venues for business conferences, corporate events and weddings. (more…)

Today saw the official launch of Inspire 08 at The Anvil in Basingstoke, with speeches from Councillor George Hood, Mayor of Basingstoke; Phil Wilding of Business Link; James Hague of last years Business of the Year - Daisy’s Dairy (pictured) - and Andrew Finney, leader of Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council.

Inspire 08 promises to be bigger and better than last years event event for Basingstoke & Deane, with seminars and network opportunities with the highlight being the Inspire 08 Business Awards, with four added categories for 2008 to cover:

• Business of the Year
• Exporter of the Year
• Rural Business of the Year
• Sustainable Business of the Year
• E-Business of Year
• Basingstoke Business Personality of the Year
• New Business of the Year
• Business Woman of the Year
• Employer of the Year

Basingstoke-based businesses are being encouraged to enter the Inspire 08 Business Awards with some encouraging words from James Hague, who spoke about the opportunities his business had derived from winning last years award.

As ever, the event will be covered heavily in The Gazette and there is also the Inspire website, with contact details for your business entry, or for sponsor opportunities and table reservations for the event.

Picture below, Councillor Andrew Finney.

Tonight saw the Institute of Directors networking event at Basingstoke Museum, Milestones, with over 100 local business people attending to network and to listen to a selection of speakers discussing Basingstoke past, present and future.

Introduced by Mike Loftus, Chairman of Destination Basingstoke, the audience first heard from Roger Broad, from the Institute of Directors. Originally a local lad, now living in Guildford, his fond memories of the borough from his youth were compounded by the current successes of local businesses and the risks involved in success, which we continue to take.

He was followed by Mrs Mary Fagan, The Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, who spoke highly of Basingstoke & Deane, and of the county of Hampshire as a whole. As well as past glories, Mrs Fagan also listed the current positive news from around the county and why Hampshire continues to be a successful place to live and do business.

The next talk was by Tony Curtis, Chief Executive of Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council, who discussed why Basingstoke is in such a strong position as a borough. From a business perspective, it was positive to hear someone in his position talking about the financial strength of the Borough and why it is “run like a business”, and he certainly had some interesting facts and figures to back up his claims.

Finally, Councillor Andrew Finney, the newly elected Leader of Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council, discussed his vision for the town, with ambitious plans to build on the existing strong foundations. This included working more and more in partnership with public bodies and local business and plans to develop a strong identity for Basingstoke on which to build, both locally and on a world stage.

Also at the event, on the streets within the Museum, were local businesses selling local produce and products and many delegates were on hand to network, and to sample a taste of Hampshire commerce at a local scale.

Visit the website for more information about Destination Basingstoke or the Institute of Directors.

Destination Basingstoke, home to the PERK staff incentive scheme has had a revamp with a new website by Basingstoke Web Agency - The Escape.

The website has been a flagship for the successful PERK scheme, as highlighted in the Basingstoke Gazette recently, and this latest version of looks set to grow the scheme quickly, with the company able to update the PERK scheme offers and directory quickly through a website content administration system. (more…)

Another month, another increase in traffic - up 19.8% on April and we are finding an ever growing source of news to add to the website making our website a central source of business news in Basingstoke.

As mentioned last month we are also rebuilding the website at the moment. This will take a good 2-3 months, so any feedback you have now is very welcome.

After some feedback from Basingstoke & Deane Council, we will also be extending the directory and news to incorporate the whole of the borough into Basingstoke Business News.

Finally, if you are a techie, you can now keep up with our news feed via Twitter.

The Basingstoke Gazette reports this morning on intended plans to push forward the redevelopment of The Malls Shopping Centre in Basingstoke town centre.

The centre, which has constant speculation regarding redevelopment, has recently attracted some large names, including Primark, to sit alongside the success of Festival Place, which opened in 2002.

Newly elected Councillor, Andrew Finney, is behind the scheme, and keen to push the major stakeholders, Property company St Modwen, but the local council has concerns that St Modwen is not properly involved in the project.

Cllr Finney indicated St Modwen bosses are unwilling to invest the funds needed for a major rebuild of the centre. He said: “They’re content to hold the investment in The Malls in the form they currently hold it and they are generating the level of return they would want from The Malls in the current climate.”

But he added: “We are confident we are going to get more out of them.”

Another increase in traffic for April for Basingstoke Business News - up 25% on March and 217% on April 2007.

Thanks for the support and keep that Basingstoke News coming.

We have also decided to re-invigorate the website with some new ’stuff’ so if there is anything you’d like to see, please contact us.

Basingstoke is getting set for the start of a brand new online radio station with imminent launch of radiobasingstoke.com at 1pm on Wednesday 1st May.

Radio Basingstoke is set to give north Hampshire bands and artists of all genres a new and unique opportunity to showcase their work online around the globe.

Bands and artists are being invited to have the chance of having a half-hour programme dedicated to their work on a show hosted by Radio Basingstoke’s Station Manager, Lee Williams, who will interview the artists and play their promotional CD’s on air. The programme will air three times over a two week period at different times of the day.

The CD will also feature as their “Artist of the Week” on a new website to be launched soon.

Radio Basingstoke is a joint venture by local music management company Astrid Music Management and Public Relations consultancy Headline Promotions Press & PR, will play music of all genres round the clock and,
whilst there will be some presenters, there will be less chatter and more music.

Though the radio station is funded by commercials, these will be kept to three minute segments each half hour.

Station Manager, Lee Williams said:

Radio Basingstoke is a community radio station, at the heart of our local community, and support of local artists is part of our mission. During our early days, until such time as we obtain sponsorship for some programmes, we will ask for a contribution of £200 from our featured artists. Once we obtain commercial sponsorship then there will be no charge!

Artists wishing to showcase their work can submit details by e-mail to john@radiobasingstoke.com

Asked if he was confident of the future of Internet radio, Williams said:

A recent report claimed that internet radio has hit the mainstream. More than 8 million people in the UK listen to web-based radio services every week and nearly 2 million download podcasts on a weekly basis, according to a survey that suggests internet radio has hit the mainstream.

Commissioned by the industry’s audience research body Rajar, the Ipsos Mori survey last autumn found that more than 12 million people have listened to the radio online and 8.1 million listen every week either through live streaming or “listen again” services.

Ipsos Mori found that 75% of users do not listen to less live radio as a result of listening again online, with 50% tuning into new shows as a result.

For Radio Basingstoke, this is good news. Williams (pictured with John Hicks, MD of Headline Promotions, Press & PR) said:

This survey proves what we in the radio industry already knew! We are looking forward to the forthcoming launch of Radio Basingstoke on 1st May and this news is very positive for us.

Tasked more about the use of “community” in their mission statement, Williams explained that two local schools, Bishop Challoner RC School and Costello
Technology College, are working on weekly shows produced by groups of students. In addition, local presenters will be featured and there will be
extensive “what’s on” coverage, through the website and on-air programming. Further, local job opportunities will be featured to help jobseekers.

There are also opportunities for the general public to become involved. These range from being able to text requests to the station (0787 401 6433) through to
volunteering to master their new MySpace presence at www.myspace.com/radiobasingstoke.

In particular, the station will heavily feature news of what is happening
in the local community so anyone with an upcoming event is asked to e-mail full details to events@radiobasingstoke.com.

For a radio station for north Hampshire, the name Radio Basingstoke was an obvious choice. Williams discloses though that it was actually a close run
thing with “Amazingstoke” until it was found that an enterprising author has already registered amazingstoke dotcom. However, he was happy for the
station to adopt it as part of their logo which will soon be displayed prominently around the district.

This is not the first time Williams and Hicks have collaborated. They are co-founders of the award-winning CMR Nashville Radio, Europe’s leading country music radio station.

Radio Basingstoke will be found on www.radiobasingstoke.com through your PC, internet radio and many popular mobile phones.

Another rise in traffic for quarter one of 2008 for Basingstoke Business News with well over 2000 unique visitors looking at nearly 5000 pages.

This shows and increase of 16% up on quarter four of 2007 and a year on year increase of 2400%. You can see more stats here.

Thanks to everyone that has supported this project. Please keep the stories flowing in and the traffic should continue to increase.