Add Your Local Blog to WikiCity
WikiCity is inviting local bloggers to add your blog(s) to their city pages. The process is simple — you provide the URL of your blog, your blog’s RSS feed, and choose a category (News, Lifestyle, Sports, etc.) and hit the submit button. There’s a section for local blogs on each WikiCity page, right below the map and above the local Twitter feed section. Here’s what it looks like on the Wahoo, Nebraska page:
Here’s WikiCity’s news release about the new local blogrolls. Co-founder Pat Lazure tells me that submissions are added into the system immediately, but are later reviewed for relevance and appropriateness.
Why bother adding your blog? Two obvious reasons:
1. Exposure WikiCity may be fairly new, but if people take a liking to building out city pages they way they build out pages on Wikipedia, it could grow into a valuable local resource. And it could be a site that gets a lot of traffic from search engines, just like Wikipedia does. It’s not unreasonable to think you’ll gain some exposure from people clicking through to read your blog posts.
2. SEO Beyond the eyeball exposure, there’s the SEO benefit of having an extra link (or a couple) to your blog. I’ve mentioned before that linkbuilding can be tough for local blogs, so why would you pass up the chance to promote your blog this way?
Not familiar with WikiCity? It’s a local version of Wikipedia, with city guides instead of articles. That’s how I’d describe it. Here’s how WikiCity describes itself:
Much like Wikipedia, WikiCity is a free wiki, and anyone can contribute. However, WikiCity further differentiates itself because it is designed to promote local community, commerce, tourism, and everyday life within the towns it serves – thus welcoming content that is typically not suited for Wikipedia. Founded in late 2008 by Pat Lazure and Rohit Keshwani, WikiCity provides unique local content on places, events, and people who would be of interest to those associated with any of its 22,000 U.S. towns (for example: Wahoo, NE, Machias, ME, or Red Wing, MN). It serves these communities much like a local newspaper and business directory, yet using the same open source MediaWiki software that powers Wikipedia, any of its readers are allowed to contribute content.
Local blogrolls aside, it looks like an interesting concept that’s worth watching.
Hartford Bloggers List
Quick note for any Hartford-area bloggers out there: The Hartford Public Library has a small (but hopefully growing) list of Hartford blogs. I don’t see an obvious way to submit your link for inclusion, but there is a Contact link at the bottom of the page.
I’ve added this to the list of (Now) 39 Local Blog Directories — a collection of opportunities to get exposure and links for your hyperlocal blog.
Blog Marketing: The Shirt On Your Back
Blogging has been slow around here because I’ve been under the weather for the past couple weeks, but doing better now, thankfully … and finally catching up on saved items in Google Reader.
One of those saved items is Steve Sherron’s post, Marketing Tips For Your Hyperlocal Blog, in which he shares several ideas that are all good … but one that’s so brain-dead simple I’m slapping myself for not having done this with our local blogs. Steve runs Monroe Scoop and made this:
Seriously, why wouldn’t you put your URL on a t-shirt and wear it around town? Heck, why not make a bunch of them and give them out at local events or via your blog? It’s so simple, but seems to me that it could be so effective. Great exposure for your blog, you’re making people happy by giving them something for free, and they’re spreading the word further than you could’ve by yourself — win, win, win all around.
Great idea, Steve.
Local Bloggers Need More Exposure Like This
This is cool. Cory Bergman pointed out a couple days ago that Seattle TV station KIRO-TV is occasionally promoting local blogs right on its home page.
That section on the right called “Daily Double Shot” has a bunch of links that sometimes includes local bloggers. In fact, maybe hard to see on the screenshot, but the 4th story down links to the Vintage Seattle blog.
That’s the kind of exposure local bloggers need. Hope we start seeing more of it from major media sites, although I won’t be holding my breath. Well done, KIRO.
(Now) 43 Local Blog Directories
Can you help with this post? I’ve put together this list of (currently) 33 43 blog directories where a hyperlocal blogger might want to be listed and linked. Some require payment; some are free. Important: I am certainly not vouching for all of these; some I wouldn’t want our local blogs to come anywhere near! But it’s still a starting place.
Please spread this post around by email, Twitter, social media, however … and invite anyone who’s into local blogging to use the comments to add local blog directories that I’m missing.
Specific Regions
(I’m certain there must be tons more of these….)
Washington Post has a directory of DC-area blogs
CityPages.com has a directory of Minnesota blogs
Minnesota.com has one, too
Newsbobber.com also has a Minnesota blog directory
NYC Bloggers
Austin (TX) Stories
DFW Blogs (Dallas/Ft. Worth) – seems out-of-date or dead
San Diego Bloggers – ditto
Search Maryland blog directory
Paducah (KY) iBlog Directory
Lowcountry Bloggers lists a lot of Charleston, SC, area blogs
LocalMouth’s British Blog Map – pretty cool!
Best Blogs Asia
Boston Weblogs
Boston Blogs
Citizen Rain – aggregator of Seattle neighborhood blogs
Hartford Blogs, from the Hartford Public Library
BayNewsNetwork, from UC Berkeley’s Knight Digital Media Center
Oakland Local blog directory
Local Blog Directories
Outside.in – a blog directory mashed up with local media content
PlaceBlogger
Blogs by City – looks like it hasn’t been updated since 2005 (sheesh)
feedmap.net – spammers have ahold of this one
Loaded Web
WikiCity – technically not a local blog directory, but a wiki-based collection of city guides that invites local bloggers to add themselves to a city blogroll
InOtherNews.us – directory that lists only local news/journalism blogs/sites across the U.S.
General Blog Directories
Best of the Web has a Regional category in its directory.
Blogged.com also has regional listings.
EatonWeb Local News blogs – looks like a strong page
Blog Catalog
Blog Digger
Bloggapedia offers a regional blog directory.
Bloggeries, too.
Blogarama has a “community blog” directory, but a couple thousand blogs are all piled into this one category. How about some regional categories there, blogarama? (And you, too, Blog Explosion.)
Geeky Speaky
LSBlogs – scroll down and look for “By Location” in the left nav column
Globe of Blogs
Blog Universe
Blog Flux
Blog Hub
Blog Hints
Grokodile
Regator: Local Interest blogs
Now it’s your turn to add more in the comments, and I’ll update this post accordingly.
5 Ways to Grow a Local Blog
This is a guest post by Koka Sexton, a hyperlocal blogger in Concord, California. Koka recently launched the Mayor of Concord, a local blog focusing on his city and surrounding area.
I have been blogging for a long time and about six months ago was struck with the HyperLocal Blog bug. I wanted to use my talent to write about the news and events in my area that seemed to be missing from mainstream news. Traditional media like newspapers have so many restrictions placed on them by management that many stories that should be published never see the light of day. A local blog helps fill that gap and I am happy to share some of my tips on promoting and growing a local blog.
1. Using Twitter To Spread the Word
After the initial launch of the site, I set up a special Twitter account just for the blog. I use this Twitter account to announce new posts on my site as well as feed news from around my immediate area to my followers. At first I had one follower (thanks, Dad) but after a few weeks I saw my numbers growing in mass and this is how I helped kickstart that growth.
Follow the people in your area
I used a Twitter application called Monitter to see anyone in my area that was using Twitter. Depending on where you have a local blog there may be 20 people or 2000, but whatever the number, start following them. Get to know the people in your area and ask them for story ideas. It was surprising to me how many of the people I initially followed had something they wanted to say through my local blog.
I then turned to another Twitter application called Twollo. This service auto-follows people based on keywords you specify. For some people this may seem excessive, but I used it to track keywords like my city’s name, surrounding cities’ names and other keywords that were specific to my area — for example, “oakland riot” or “BART Police”. I found that many of the people I started following also started following me in turn and then started re-tweeting my stories to their friends. All of this created a snowball effect and my exposure to people in the area grew quickly.
The key to using Twitter is to stay connected to your followers. Take the time to thank people for following your local updates. Ask them for input and let them know if there is something they want attention called to, that you are available. All of this will help you connect with your followers on a deeper level and push more readers to your local blog.
2. Using Craigslist for Traffic
I wasn’t sure how this was going to work out for me but it turned out to be great. I went to the local section of Craigslist and posted a couple snippets in the “rants and raves” section talking about a local blog post I had just written. Within an hour I saw that people were visiting my site from the rant and people were leaving comments. I did this for a couple weeks when I wrote a post that I wanted to draw some new readers to and it hasn’t seemed to fail me yet. You can get even more creative and write a long story in the rants and raves section as a standalone post and leave the last sentence as, “If you want to know more about what’s happening in your city check out www.yourlocalblog.com.”
3. Let Your Readers Know You Care
Not always but more often than not, when people leave a comment on my site, I will either comment after them in response answering a question or just saying thanks for the comment. I have also emailed the people directly if they leave an email address, letting them know how much I appreciate their readership. People want to know that they are heard, and by connecting with your local blog readers, they are more likely to return regularly and turn your site into a community.
4. Local Content is King
You should write about things going on in your community. Some of these stories will come from your readers. (Make sure you have an easy way for them to contact you.) I know a local blogger that has a police scanner in their house and they post on police and fire activity in the area almostin real time. All of these are things that a local reader community wants. Some stories I pull from the newspapers and give my thoughts and opinions in ways traditional reporters are not allowed. The idea is to start a discussion about your city or neighborhood and let those discussions carry the post to a new level.
If there is a new mall being built or the streets are flooding in an area, grab a picture and put something up about it. These are things most news agencies could care less about, but your readers will be thankful. You will see the comments come in and your local blog will take on a life of its own.
5. Local Advertising
Currently I do not charge for an ad on my site. I have taken a donation or two but nothing I would consider advertising dollars. Start with the places you frequent most. What’s your favorite restaurant? Write something up about them and next time you go in, let them know about it. They will appreciate it and, in the times I’ve done it, they have told their family friends and other businesses about your website. All of which could get other businesses interested in exposure through your local blog.
Final Thoughts
I have enjoyed getting to know the other local blogs in my area and have talked with the local newspaper about my site, as well. The best thing you can do if there are other local blogs in the area is start a dialog with them and see if there are things you could do together. Sometimes this doesn’t work and they see you as a threat, but don’t let that discourage you. Blog on and keep writing about your area.
(Here’s more information about guest blogging for Hyperlocal Blogger.)
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