Page impressions for the Shropshire Star’s website have gone up by more than a quarter in seven months, new figures show.

An ABC electronic count during the month of November recorded 1,025,979 page views for ShropshireStar.com.

The total was up 27 per cent on the previous audit of the site, carried out in April 2007, which counted 802,241.

A total of 100,497 unique users visited the site, a five per cent increase on the previous ABCe report, which recorded 95,612 in April.

On average, there were 6,005 unique users per day, up 13 per cent from 5,299. The daily average number of page impressions was 34,199, up 27 per cent from 26,741.

The rise comes after in-house video content was increased on the site, along with the introduction of an online fantasy football game, greater use of picture galleries and Google maps being added to illustrate key stories.

The site reaches an audience across Shropshire, Mid-Wales and beyond.

It delivers the latest news and sport for the region as well as search facilities for local and national job vacancies.

The leap in traffic also comes after the Midland News Association newspaper worked with MNA Digital, the company’s online arm, in incorporating online to the newsgathering operation.

James Shaw and Tom Moore, the newspaper’s video journalists, produce daily video reports on all the big news and sports stories in the region.

Visitors are able to join discussions on local topics with the popular comment system. Users can also look for a new home or motor with the site’s property and cars sections.

The count was conducted by ABC electronic, the industry owned, not-for-profit organisation which audits newspaper and other publisher websites.