About

We’re a team of enthusiasts that report on important news across the whole of the Isle of Wight.

Started in September 2005, we’ve been going over four years and in that time have built a considerable loyal community of readers – they pass us tips about stories and add their own comments to the stories we run.

What we’ve heard from VB readers is that they trust us.

__Innovation
We try to use technical advances to get our readers closer to the news and events.

We’ve been reporting live from significant Isle of Wight town council meetings as far back as February 2007.

Here’s a few examples of our live reporting of events at Isle of Wight council …
- Live coverage of Full council vote on proposed budget cuts
- Live coverage of Cabinet Committee discussing the future of Island’s theatres
- Live coverage of Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting
- Live coverage of a particularly contentious planning application

As well as tweeting from Bestival as far back as 2006, we also delivered live video broadcasts from Bestival in 2008 to give those unable to attend, a flavour of what they were missing.

Our coverage of the Vestas sit-in, that started as a small, local story, expanding to a long running international story.

_Accolades
We’ve been very gratful of the praise that VentnorBlog has received from many circles.

One of the most stunning accolades was from Judith Townend, senior reporter, Journalism.co.uk, who picked VB’s coverage of the Vestas sit-in in her Best New Media of 2009, sitting alongside The Observer.

Most recently we were delighted to hear at a public meeting on the Island that many people on the Island say, “I don’t believe it until I’ve read it on VentnorBlog.” We couldn’t be more and flattered.

_We love our readers
It’s our readers that make us feel special and we’re very proud to have a very active, engaged community around VB.

The level of comments has really pleased us with the current total (as at 1.Mar.10) standing at over 18,000, an average of over two comments per story.

_Success for our advertisers
Our running costs are supported by business advertising and donations from readers.

We’re pleased that those who have advertised with us, have received considerable boosts for their businesses.

For example, log supplier, Whitefield Wood Yard tell us that they’ve had an amazing response to advertising with VB. The orders have been flowing in all winter and not just for logs, but other services they provide too.

Similarly, The Rex Piano Bar say that advertising on VB turned their business around in a short space of time.

_Growing traffic
January 2010 was our busiest month on record with over 160,000 visits to the site, boosted no doubt by our continuous coverage of how services were affected during the heavy snow.

If you’d like to get involved with VB, as a contributor, donor or advertiser do get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.