Linfitt's In The Loop

"IT IS a case of building things up, bit by bit," explained Stephen Linfitt, Managing Director of Xpatloop.com.

"There were some lessons to be learned from one of our predecessors. They took the '90s dot.com approach, pumped in millions in investment, employed a huge team and the operation went belly-up."

Linfitt was talking about the risky business of setting up a web-based information portal.

"When I first mentioned that I was looking to set up Xpatloop, people immediately pointed out that this venture had already been tried - and had failed."

More than two years down the line (the portal has just celebrated its second birthday with a party at the Hotel Thermal) and Xpatloop is growing well, according to Linfitt.

"We started small and have never taken on more work than we can handle. The website now attracts more than 12,000 unique visits per month, the majority from within Hungary. The fact that we are independently audited and companies like British Airways continue to advertise with us says something."

Linfitt explained that, like most media enterprises, it has taken time. He has had to build up his contacts and "get into the loop", so to speak.

Now the website offers everything from daily news and events, through sports and culture to chat pages. For an English-language newspaper like The Budapest Sun, with its own, highly popular website (which in the week of December 11-17 received 177,269 page impressions from 26,242 visitors), one may be forgiven for thinking that Xpatloop is the competition.

Linfitt doesn't see it like this, "It is a common misconception but I don't see us as being in competition with the publishers at all.

"Xpatloop is a media portal. I like to think that we work in tandem with the media. If you click on some of our news and features, you will see that they are direct links to the local media.

"We are in fact helping to drive traffic to websites like that of The Sun."

Linfitt went on to say that he has recently signed deals with news agency Reuters and Hungarian web portal, origo.hu. In the case of the latter, Xpatloop is now the portal's English-language partner.

Some changes are in the pipeline, though. "I am happy with the current format of the site - it works. However, there will be a slight redesign in the New Year, making it easier to navigate."

Linfitt also elaborated that he wanted to make it a place where people could meet and was considering a singles page, where one could advertise for "a chess partner, a tennis partner or even a lifelong partner".

He also said that he was pursuing the idea of setting up "Squash Sundays", in partnership with City Group Services and The Budapest Sun.

Whatever the early preconceptions about Xpatloop, Linfitt has established a niche in the market and made the venture work, although he was keen to debunk the idea that he himself was a "rich expat".

He explained that he wasn't on an expat salary, living an expat lifestyle. He continued by saying that, like the media in general, he made a living out of his job but not a fortune.

He believes that there will continue to be a need for a place where foreigners can be educated to be better guests and, likewise, Hungarians can learn about the expats living in their country."

Source: Budapest Sun