New looklocal a gateway to easy news access

MBOMBELA – Caxton CTP’s digital aggregator, looklocal has been relaunched with a fresh look-and-feel, broader editorial content and more opportunities for local businesses.

Readers in the Lowveld should be familiar with Looklocal Lowveld, one of about 40 regional Looklocal websites. “Initially launched in 2011, the offering has grown in popularity and since then both consumers and advertisers have requested more functionality from the site which has led to the upgrade and relaunch,” says Marc du Plessis, general manager at NAB Digital.

Did you know?

Lowveld Media and its print and online products form part of the Caxton CTP group. You can still read all the news from the Lowveld on our our title sites.

“With 83 current hyper local sites such as lowvelder.co.za integrated into the new looklocal.co.za, the site offers the most up-to-date community news content, showcasing the top-nine news stories across all communities. Other editorial categories feature sport, entertainment and lifestyle news, and now a new addition – international news stories.”

Caxton Digital’s Chris Louw adds, “Caxton local community newspapers are responsible for all editorial content on www.looklocal.co.za

“We have a staff complement of about 250 journalists around the country to ensure that we break news first, whether it’s local or international. Each team on the ground is intimately connected to its respective community for up-to-the-minute news updates that can be uploaded instantly.”

“The combined online and print recipe works for us,” says

Du Plessis, “our local newspapers are consistently offering relevant news and information, and with the online looklocal offering, the synergy complements the model even more. The looklocal sites offer the ‘immediacy’ factor, which is what our readers want.”

Head of Caxton’s digital projects, Richard Knowler, says that the site’s improvements also enable it to provide news relevant to the reader’s geographic location.

“The software behind the site will pinpoint the user’s location and localise content relevant to that area, no matter from what platform the user is accessing the site. The refreshed site also boasts a new directory model and updated search engine optimisation functionality.”

The advantages to advertisers of the updated Looklocal development, include among others, that smaller businesses can have access to more effective lead generation and are able to upload more content than before, including video.

“National businesses can also have the benefits of local advertising,” says Knowler. “As the network continues to grow, we’ll be able to offer more functionality to advertisers and readers alike, including more location-based advertising than ever before.”

The revamped site has its own dedicated Facebook page and Twitter account.

In addition, Caxton Digital has launched www.localnewsnetwork.co.za, a repository of all available local community news sites and Get it magazines.

Enquiries: NAB on 010-492-8390. Alternatively, follow @NAB_SA on Twitter or visit and like the Facebook page.