Business news at the heart of online investment

A major online investment by independent publisher Lancashire Business View includes a new-look state-of-the-art website to boost its news service to the county.

The new site will make it even easier for businesses to share their news with the multi-media company’s growing audiences.

It is part of a programme of improvements designed by the company to further strengthen its position as the prime source of Lancashire business news, information and intelligence - in print, online and through its growing number of events.

As well as the award-winning Lancashire Business View print magazine, the Blackburn-based multi-media company delivers an online news service to its readers and is also behind the highly-acclaimed Red Rose Awards, an annual celebration of excellence across the county, as well as a host of conferences and other corporate events.

The website aims to champion, inform and give a voice to Lancashire’s commercial community and includes a hugely improved LBV Hub membership platform – making it easier for companies and organisations to share their news and views.

Lancashire Business View appointed Chorley-based digital agency Bespoke to undertake the project. The site is now live after months of behind-the-scenes work.

One of Lancashire Business View’s main aims is to connect the county. Richard Slater, who chairs the company, said: “The investment in this new website reflects the growing hunger for positive and informative news, views and opinion from Lancashire-based authors among Lancashire-based readers.

“We launched LBV Hub ten years ago to help businesses connect with their peers and it has grown at an incredible rate.

“Starting as an online platform for sharing news, we have since launched networking events for Hub members, added pages in our bi-monthly magazine dedicated to promoting Hub content, and we’ve employed an LBV team member dedicated to the Hub.”

Richard added: “LBV Hub had outgrown the technology we had in place and so a key requirement of the new website was to better serve our growing membership.

“Now we’re pleased to present LBV Hub members with more options to share their good news, insight and opinion with the county.

“The website also gives us an opportunity to continue to grow and develop our daily news service at a time when other publishers are shrinking their coverage of Lancashire’s business community and the topics that matter to it.”

Bespoke says the new website aims to improve navigation of editorial content while also introducing a new two-tiered version of LBV Hub.

Bespoke co-founder and CEO Steve Brennan said: “Lancashire Business View has become a huge brand within the county, representing a real connection point and champion of its business community.

“While it’s essentially a media site, we’ve taken a strategic approach, based around user needs, and applied commercially-based UX features to the new version to help users find what they need from the site more easily, whether that’s news, opinion, advice or features.

“As huge fans of the Lancashire Business View brand and everything it stands for in the county, we’re really pleased to have been called on to re-vamp the site and hope its community of users and readers like the new look and feel.”