Gorkana meets… MoneyMagpie.com
Jasmine Birtles, founder and editor of consumer finance site MoneyMagpie.com, talks to Gorkana‘s Ebunola Adenipekun about the site’s recent re-launch, why content needs to be all about making money and being the first site to write about how to cash in from buying lost luggage.
You launched MoneyMagpie in 2007, describing it as “a go-to-site for money-making ideas and guides to managing your money”. Where did the name come from?
We thought it up one evening as we were trying to find a fun, memorable name for a lively site about 
money. We were pretty impressed when we found it was available!
The site went through a relaunch this year. Tell us about that.
The site originally launched in 2007 and has been through a few redesigns since, but the one that we’ve just done is far more extreme than any of the others. We have changed the colours, the logo and the orientation. It’s now much easier to navigate, more professional looking and more targeted.
We have specific demographic groups that we have identified among our readers – parents, professionals, over-50s, students, the unemployed and disabled people – and now it is much easier to find the articles that relate to them.
How often is new content posted to the site?
We upload new content every day – articles, videos, competitions and pictures.
What are the main types of stories do you post?
We concentrate primarily on articles about ways to make money, although we also have a lot of content on how to save money, as well as a lot of ‘manage your money’ articles (investing, saving, insurance etc). We have regular competitions as well and our videos are on all sorts of subjects connected to money. We also have articles on clearing clutter and organising connected to our annual National Clear Your Clutter Day campaign.
When do you see most traffic on the site and what are the average weekly/monthly views?
Monthly uniques are around 250,000 (Alexa ranking is around 6,000) with 70,000 plus on the weekly newsletter. On the whole, our biggest traffic surges happen on Tuesdays when the newsletter goes out.
How big is the team?
There are about six on the team.
How can PRs help with content and how do you prefer to be approached?
Writing to [email protected] is the best way to contact us. We are interested in money-making ideas, products for competitions and, particularly, freebies to offer our readers. We try to include them where possible in our weekly newsletter.
What should PRs bear in mind when approaching you and your team?
We prefer to be contacted by email. We are a very small team and have very little time to speak to PR executives.
And finally, what has been your biggest scoop on MoneyMagpie so far?
We were the first ones to write about how to make money from the Disney vault. We have broken a few other stories about odd ways to make money including making money as a mourner and making money by standing in queues for others. I think we were also the first to write about how to make money from buying lost luggage at auction.
Jasmine Birtles was talking to Gorkana’s Ebunola Adenipekun
