Pros & Cons: Big City Blogging vs. Small Town Blogging
by Matt on Jan 26, 2009 in Blogging, MY BEST POSTS
Does it matter where you live? Or, is hyperlocal blogging the same in Portland as it is in Paducah?
I believe hyperlocal bloggers in big cities have a vastly different experience than those of us in smaller cities. Better in some ways, worse in others … but different for sure. I think there are pros and cons to both, and would love to hear your experiences based on where you live now as a local blogger. First, my pros and cons, and then you take over in the comments.
Blogging in a Big City
Pros:
- Content Options. As a big city blogger, you have lots to write about: pro sports teams, diverse arts & entertainment options, lots of restaurants and businesses to write about, etc. There’s also police activity happening at all hours of the day, which equates to good content for news-type blogs (see below).
- Blogger Networking. A basic element of blog marketing is reaching out to similar blogs and creating conversations and relationships. This is easier in bigger cities where there are likely several other local blogs you can connect with.
Cons:
- Blogger Competition. The flip side of the “Blogger Networking” item listed above is that you’re competing for traffic. If your hyperlocal blog is just a hobby, you probably don’t care. But many hyperlocal bloggers have specific goals in mind, and too much competition can hamper your chances for success.
- SEO Competition. My gut tells me that big city local bloggers get less traffic from natural search/SEO than small town bloggers do, because there are more web sites in larger cities — many of which have had SEO work done. Plus, government web sites in bigger cities are usually much stronger, more trusted, more optimized, etc., than small town government web sites. So, it may harder for local blogs to get search visibility on local topics. See below for more on this idea.
Blogging in a Small Town
Pros:
- Slower Pace. I suppose this could be a “con” to a big city blogger, but I’m glad there’s not as much going on in our area as there is in Seattle, for example. I might feel differently of local blogging was our career, but it’s not; it’s something we do when we can to help with my wife’s real estate business. It’s good that there’s not a constant stream of news, events, activities, etc., for us to be blogging about. The slower pace is good for what we’re doing, so I consider it a “pro” of being in a small town.
- SEO/Visibility. One thing we’ve learned with our four local blogs, is that we can almost pick any term we want to rank for, write about it, and get search traffic from the major search engines. In smaller towns, there are fewer web sites competing for local search terms, which opens up a traffic source for a small-town blogger. Our government web sites are, for the most part, terrible. Many local businesses don’t have web sites, or have poorly optimized web sites.
Cons:
- Blogging Vacuum. Where big city bloggers usually have several other blogs to connect with, that’s not always the case in small towns. Where we live, for example, there are other bloggers … but they’re not necessarily writing about stuff that offers a logical connection to our blogs. Some are other real estate agents, and it’s not exactly smart business from an SEO perspective to be promoting and linking to their blogs. Others are just not “linkable” for a variety of reasons.
- Community Closeness. In smaller towns they say that everybody knows each other. It’s an exaggeration, but you get the point. I’ve found myself not wanting to say certain things on our local blogs because of personal connections to the people who are directly or indirectly involved in what I’d be writing about. I feel like big city bloggers probably don’t have that concern, at least not as often as those of us in smaller towns.
You tell me… Did I miss the boat on big city vs. small town local blogging? How do your experiences differ, or are they similar? What would you add to my lists?
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12 Responses to “Pros & Cons: Big City Blogging vs. Small Town Blogging”
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For the most part you are correct. One other thing I’d add as a con for small town bloggers is a more limited readership. The flip side of that would be a pro for big city bloggers. But there is one variable that changes some of your pros and cons.
Where I live, Adams County, Pa., sits the most famous battlefield in the World. Gettysburg is a tourist hot spot so the competition for search marketing for “Gettysburg Pennsylvania” a key search term for my Gettysburg Blog, is pretty stiff. The competition are the umpteen tourist companies and local attractions that are competing for that term alone. More long tail terms are easier to get, but the traffic won’t be as good so I’d qualify your distinctions here by saying “typical”. Gettysburg is really not a typical small town.
Matt, every now and then I write about this topic on one of my blogs. I always recommend a local blog as a vertical niche within a niche or a community service project. Here are five ideas you can use in your upcoming panel at SMX.
BlogContentProvider.com
Hey Matt,
I think you got it right. I think there is something else to add as a potential pro or con about small town blogging. As a hyperlocal blogger in a small town, you’re a lot more likely to know or have a fairly close connection with the people and businesses you are writing about. This could mean a more personal take on life in your town, but it could also get you into hot water if you ever write anything negative.
Something to think about.
Miriam
I think blogging from a larger city allows you to carve a geographic niche out of the total. Get the most vibrant (or maybe the most “nichey”) neighborhood first.
That’s a good point about size of readership, Allen — but I’m not sure it’s necessarily a negative in all cases from the small town angle. You could say it’s a positive to have a smaller readership and be able to make real connections with these people, or something like that.
But I understand the point you’re making for sure. And thx for the link.
Miriam, Rich – thank you as well for sharing your thoughts.
When it comes to search engines, I’m not seeing a major issue here in Boston. My site does not rank at all well for generic terms such as “Boston,” but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because people doing searches on terms like that tend to be tourists who’d just be turned off by murders, explosions and inside jokes about long-gone state officials.
But, search on “Lander in the Morning” or “Steve LeVeille” (two local radio guys who’ve been laid off recently) and my site comes up really high. Specific is good and here bloggers can have an advantage over government sites and sometimes even media outlets – since our posts often have higher word density, inbound links from other local sites – and links from related posts on your own site.
We own a number of city-specific websites and have been lately focusing on developing out http://www.vancouver.com. The time and human resources needed to run and manage a city level website are definitely much greater than for a small town.
It would be nice to find a way to work together with more niche based blogs as blogging/ social media gain even more importance with each passing day.
Adam – that’s a good point about outranking city/official sites. I’m making that point when I speak about local blogging next week at the SMX West conference. Agree with you 100%.
Samiam – have you found any local bloggers to connect with in Vancouver? I’d think they’d want to work with you as long as the arrangement is good for both sides.
Interesting read. Every time I think I might run out of topics, I pepper them with just cool stuff. Basically as a “I’m sharing with you”. I’m more of a writer, that is focusing on living here in my; town. Instead of a city blog. However, I’m on the revitalization of our downtown and this info was really helpful.
Thanks for the read!
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