We may only be in March, but already News Shopper has taken two very bold steps forward with our website this year.

First of all, in January, we launched our fantastic new Your Shopper section.

The fact you are reading this blog means you have probably had at least a brief glance at what Your Shopper offers.

To put it in a nutshell, it is a way for you our readers to contribute content to our site.

The content can be in the form of news stories you have written, pictures, comments, likes and dislikes about where you live you can even have your own blog on our site.

Your Shopper is a combination of some existing sections which were running successfully on our site and some new ideas or at least some new approaches to how we gather content for our site.

Aside from providing greater freedom and greater choice on the kind of material you can contribute, we also now offer more ways to submit content. You can now use your mobile phone to send messages and pictures.

Your Shopper is a bold step forward because we are moving away from simply providing news and comment to our readership. We are saying this is your section', it is what YOU want it to be.

Look around other newspaper websites and you will struggle to find another one that offers the same level of interactivity as News Shopper. As web editor I firmly believe that engaging our readers as much as possible is vitally important.

The second bold step we have taken is with another new section called Your Self. This can be found inside the Your Shopper part of the site.

Your Self lets you have your own personal profile page, right here on our site.

I have yet to find another local newspaper site offering anything similar to this.

Your Self provides a route for you to write about yourself, keep everyone updated on what's happening in your life and hopefully a way for people to make new contacts through the News Shopper site.

The potential of this section is huge, and I hope people find it both useful and interesting.

If anyone has any questions about the News Shopper website, any comments to make or most importantly any ideas for how we can be even more interactive, I would love to hear from you.

Email me at sbull@london.newsquest.co.uk or click on the Add Comment button below.