Monthly page impressions for the website of Britain's biggest selling regional newspaper have topped the four million mark – a rise of more than 60 pc.

West Midlands daily the Express and Star has also seen a year-on-year rise in web traffic, according to the latest ABC electronic figures.

A total of 4,065,728 page impressions were recorded in April, compared with 2,513,019 in November at www.expressandstar.com.

At the same time, the number of unique users rose to 315,368, an increase of more than 33pc. The site now gets on average 19,967 daily users.

Year-on-year the site has seen large levels of growth with page impressions up 308 per cent on the 1,317,337 recorded in April 2007. Unique users were up by 94pc on the same period.

Express and Star editor Adrian Faber said: "The rise in traffic is a reflection of the efforts of the online team and the quality of the newsroom's work.

"The newspaper remains at the core of the business but everything we do online can only help raise the profile of the Express and Star.

"We are continuing to explore ways of making best use of new technology for the benefit of our readers."

The company says a "strong mix of news and sport" was behind the surge, backed up by photo galleries and videos.

The site also attracts user-generated content with April's FA Cup semi-final appearance by West Brom providing much source of online debate.

The Express and Star and its website covers Wolverhampton, the Black Country and wider West Midlands area.

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