TheStreet.com wants to boost site traffic

Amanda Fung of Crain’s New York Business writes that business news and investing web site TheStreet.com needs to increase its site traffic to catch up with other online financial news sites.

Her story was partially based on an interview with Steven Elkes, the site’s new executive vice president of mergers and acquisitions.

Fung wrote, “The 11-year-old site, co-founded by rambunctious TV celebrity and stock picker Jim Cramer, has traditionally catered to professional, savvy investors. Today, most of its content is free to consumers, while some specialized offerings are subscription-based.

“The site trails behind a number of rivals, including well-known behemoths such as Yahoo Finance and Dow Jones & Co. TheStreet.com logged just 2.1 million unique visitors in February, compared with a whopping 11.9 million for Yahoo and 5.4 million for Dow Jones, according to Web research firm comScore Media Metrix. Mr. Elkes hopes to change that.

“He built the finance and legal operations from scratch at women-oriented site iVillage, where he worked for almost a decade. During his tenure, he steered iVillage through more than 10 acquisitions and an initial public offering. He eventually worked his way up the Silicon Alley darling’s ladder to become chief financial officer in 2004. When NBC bought iVillage last year, Mr. Elkes managed the integration of both companies and then moved on to join a small online marketing provider, Azoogle, where he established its legal, finance and human resources operations.”

Read more here.