Northcliffe starts major phase of regional web news network revamp

Northcliffe Media has today rolled out ten revamped websites, signaling the start of a major phase of redevelopment across its regional news network.

The remodeled sites are part of plans to revamp 55 existing sites and to add 35 new regional websites under Northcliffe's 'thisis' brand.

The sites launched today covering regions in Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Cornwall, Essex and Plymouth follow the successful relaunch of the pilot site for Hull last month.

The remaining 79 sites will all be live by mid-September, with Northcliffe launching a fresh batch each month.

This first mass roll out of 'next generation' sites was based around the publisher's higher traffic sites, Robert Hardie, content strategy director for Northcliffe Media, told Journalism.co.uk.

Major changes to navigation and increased search engine optimisation are at the heart of the redesign, Hardie added, as lessons were taken on-board from the recent redesign of the Daily Mail website and the Hull pilot.

"We've been saying to our editors that having the next generation site isn't the end, it's just the beginning - it's a sustained evolution.

"The results we have got in terms of SEO are really quite dramatic. The way our previous platform was built was before the rise of Google. We weren't getting that long tail effect."

Journalists at the titles have also been trained to write search-friendly headlines for both mobile and online content, he said.

The new sites also include improved accessibility for user interaction. Although no additional dedicated UGC sites like Hull's YourMail site have been added.

"UGC isn't just something we do on sites like YourMail - you could say every one of our sites is a user-generated site. The signs [from YourMail] are very encouraging at this stage. However, just because something works in Hull doesn't mean it's going to work in Swansea or Plymouth," Hardie said.

The revamped network will include a combination of sites geared towards specific urban, regional and hyperlocal audiences, depending on the nature of the region, he said.

"The key thing for us is it [the thisis network] enables us to extend our brands and our footstep beyond areas that already have an affinity with one of our newspapers," he explained.

"We have to be honest with ourselves and say not all of our newspaper brands mean something to every one in our audience. That is very important for us editorially and for advertisers."

Content from the publisher's job, motoring and property portals will also be integrated across sites in the new network.

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