The New York Times has just discovered hyper local news coverage.
BEFORE the days of the printing press, town squares served as the main forum for exchanging community news and gossip. Now comes the virtual town square. Across the United States, citizen bloggers and deep-pocketed entrepreneurs are creating town-specific, and even neighborhood-specific, Web sites where the public can read and contribute items too small or too fleeting for weekly newspapers. Suburban towns across the greater New York area are joining in, giving residents a new way to avoid traffic snags, find a lost dog or just vent about a local hot-button issue.
While I think there are some real awesome ways to use hyperlocal news, and some great ways to monetize this type of thing. I’m a bit suprised because well I would rather read about regional issues than what’s going on in my neighborhood.
Originally posted on January 14, 2007 @ 8:37 pm
David – Hi. Just found your site through WorkBoxers (which I’m sorry to say I haven’t visited in awhile). I’ve been browsing around your site and noticed this article on local news sites. I have a particular interest in creating such a site (I actually already have a niche site in a local area).
Since you mentioned it, I’m curious to know how you would monetize a local news site? Adsense? Something else?
I’ve subscribed to your feed, so I’ll probably be reading a lot more in the days to come.
Thanks,
Frank
Frank,
Sorry to say I haven’t updated WorkBoxers.
I would definetly be available to help you create a local news site.
Adsense is great but local ad sales is by far the best way to monetize a local news site.
Feel free to email me anytime via the contact form and we can chat.