The Trade Arabia Network and Online Services Director Rana Lababidi talks about Trade Arabia and the future of internet and online news:
With much of the print media and television channels going online, how does Trade Arabia position itself at the forefront to attract maximum ‘clicks’ or ‘hits’?
Trade Arabia carries business news a nd trade information on GCC and MENA. The portal also carries world news including technology and economy.To attract maximum visits on a daily basis, news is being updated on an hourly basis which print and television media cannot duplicate.
Several countries in the GCC region vie to become the ideal centre for conducting business. How does Trade Arabia help Bahrain retain and maximise its position regionally?
Since the editorial and technical components of the portal is headquartered in Bahrain, important news that promotes Bahrain as GCC’s business hub to the region and the world, is being given detailed emphasis by the portal.
While Trade Arabia reaches a wide section of readers from worldwide, in which region is the maximum number of readers based?
Trade Arabia’s large number of visitors is coming from the United States and the Levant, particularly the GCC. However, we have noticed that visits from the Indian Sub-continent and China are on the increase.
As a gatekeeper, how do you ensure that the content on the portal is factual and also interesting? What kind of stringent standards have you set for yourself and the editorial team to maintain the integrity of the content?
Trade Arabia with its own editorial department is also getting support from other Al Hilal Group member publications such as Gulf Daily News, Akhbar Alkhaleej, Gulf Weekly and The Gulf that are known for their editorial integrity and honesty. These journalistic standards have also been set by Trade Arabia editorial department. As always in the news business, content is double checked and sources confirmed before uploading them online.
What recognition has Trade Arabia received so far in the industry?
Trade Arabia received the 2009 Bahrain e-Content Award for e-Media Category.
Your business depends largely upon IT infrastructure. How does Bahrain fare in terms of online set-up and services?
Bahrain fares fairly well when it comes to IT infrastructure, however, internet connectivity/ carriers must be continuously improved for the Kingdom to compete with the big leaguers such as the U.S., India and other countries of Asia with well developed internet facilities.
In the face of severe competition from other publishers, what challenges do you face in retaining your readers and driving traffic upwards? What kind of data do you have on the user’s profile?
The challenges of retaining viewership lie on the upload of fresh news and other business information. In addition our daily Search Engine Optimization efforts - various search engines have been updating their source applications and algorithms without informing the online publishers and netizens or internet users.
How does the future of online news appear for the next five years?
In five years, we envision online usage and news readership to increase dramatically as IT and mobile infrastructure particularly in the Middle East becomes more mature coupled with the propagation of IT education at the grassroots’ level.
