Ad Trends in Seattle’s Hyperlocal Scene
The Neighborlogs blog has an interesting look at some of the current hyperlocal advertising trends happening across Seattle’s very active hyperlocal blog scene. Where ad types are concerned, it’s very reminiscent of the Internet’s early days:
Almost all activity that advertisers pay for on Seattle community news/hyperlocal news sites is standard display advertising — banner ads, tile ads, etc.. There is some experimentation with affiliate stuff via Amazon, etc. but it’s a waste of inventory usually at this relatively small scale. Another waste of space at this level is AdSense.
The post also looks at pricing, sales, self-serve trends, and innovation. Good stuff.
Run a News Blog? Check out InOtherNews.us
If you run a local news blog or web site and are looking for some extra exposure, check out InOtherNews.us. It’s a directory that specifically lists U.S.-based hyperlocal blogs, and it has specific rules about only including news-based blogs. From the “About” page:
The (loose) criteria are that the sites serve as a “replacement” or supplemental news source in areas where the local newspaper or broadcast companies are dropping coverage. The scope can be local, state or national and be niche or broad-focussed — it just needs to be a journalistic endeavor with a newsgathering mission and not part of a corporate media site. However, no hate-speech sites please, such as a community site that serves only to bash a certain group or political figure or to spread unverified/false information.
I’ve added it to my list of local blog directories post. It’s good to see more sites trying to collate local blog resources.
Our Best Hyperlocal Content in 2009
In the last post here on HLB, I shared the most popular posts on this blog, Hyperlocal Blogger. What I want to talk about in this post is the most popular content on the four hyperlocal blogs that my wife and I run. Those blogs are:
Richland Real Estate Blog
Kennewick Real Estate Blog
Pasco Real Estate Blog
West Richland Real Estate Blog
I’ve explained this before, but if you’re a new reader, it’s worth knowing that these are not your typical, news-oriented local blogs. Among the different types of local blogs, ours exist in part to help promote my wife’s real estate business. We don’t chase ambulances around town and don’t report much hard news at all. We mostly report news about the local schools, local events, local businesses, and so forth. But, ironically, some of our most popular posts across the four blogs in 2009 were the ones that did report hard news.
Our Most Popular Content Types
I’m not going to list the exact posts that drew the most traffic to each blog, mainly because I know there are competing real estate agents (with blogs) that read this blog, and I’d rather not give them too many specific ideas for what they should be writing about. But I will share the types of posts that brought the most traffic to our hyperlocal blogs.
Methodology: I found the top five posts written in 2009 on each of the four blogs, for a total of 20 popular blog posts about Tri-Cities, Washington. And then I put those posts into categories as best I could. There’s some overlap, of course — a story about something important happening at school could go under “News” or “Schools,” so I did my best to classify according to the real intent of the post.
Results: Here’s the breakdown of the most popular content in my hometown:
- News / Hard News: 7 posts out of 20
- Events / Things to Do: 6 posts ” ”
- Schools: 3 posts ” ”
- Businesses: 3 posts ” ”
- Sights: 1 post ” ”
I’m both surprised and somewhat not surprised to see News/Hard News as the top content type. Surprised because we don’t write much content like that … but not surprised because I’m well aware of the thirst for local news online these days. (See Why Local Blogging Works and Why NOW is the Best Time to Start a Local Blog.)
Our Top Sources of Local Content
One more thing I’ll share: where the traffic to our four blogs came from. Here’s the chart…
I’m not at all surprised that search engines sent 73% of the traffic to our local blogs. Referring sites (like Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, Bloglines, etc.) sent 17%, and direct traffic was 9%. (The “other” category made up the final 1%.) As I mentioned in Why Local Blogging Works, local web sites are often poorly optimized and search engines love a good blog. To me, this shows the importance of knowing at least the basics of blog SEO and making sure you’re keeping search engines in mind as you create content.
(And that begs the question, would a post or two about SEO for local blogs be helpful? Please let me know.)
Final Thoughts
Even though our local blogs aren’t very traditional, I think their performance in 2009 actually helps prove some of the traditional points about hyperlocal blogging as a whole. People are looking for local news online, and hyperlocal blogs can fill a void that more and more newspapers and TV/radio stations aren’t filling (due to layoffs, lack of profits, etc.).
While I don’t see us changing the approach of our blogs, this information only piques my interest even more toward starting a local online news site, one not bound by a desire to promote Cari’s real estate business. I’m curious to see what might happen.
I’m also curious to hear from you: What types of content worked best for you in 2009? and Where did your traffic come from? Comments are open. Let’s talk.
Most Popular Posts of 2009
At the end of each year, I like to dig through my blog stats to see what happened and why over the past 12 months. I wrote a really long, navel-gazing post on my SEO blog, but I’ll spare you that here on Hyperlocal Blogger.
Instead, how about a look at the top 5 blog posts published in 2009? Here you go:
- (Now) 40 Local Blog Directories
- Pros & Cons: Big City Blogging vs. Small Town Blogging
- How To Find Free Photos for Your Local Blog
- How to Create a Local Newswire for your Blog
- 5 Ways to Grow a Local Blog
That last one is a guest post, so I’ll use this opportunity to remind you that I’m interested in publishing more guest posts in 2010, so contact me if you’re interested.
I should add, too, that several of the most popular posts of 2009 were written in 2008. All of the articles in the Starting a Hyperlocal Blog series continue to get a lot of traffic long after they were posted.
The thing that excites me the most about where this blog is right now is the number of active commenters. When I invited everyone to talk about your local blog, we had close to 40 comments. And there are plenty of other posts that hit double figures in comments. Thank you for your contributions here — as a group we all make each other better local bloggers.
All the best for you and your blog in 2010!
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