Hyperlocal News Roundup

by Matt on Oct 31, 2008 in Industry

(This has been a lost week in so many ways. Not a bad week, just lost. One of those weeks where you don’t get done anything you wanted to get done.)

newsstandOn the bright side, I’ve been discovering a bunch of new hyperlocal-targeted blogs — some about blogging, others just about the industry in general. I’m going to start posting the occasional recap of interesting things about the industry, even if they don’t specifically deal with local blogging. My logic is that, if we local bloggers want to be at the heart of the hyperlocal movement, we need to know what’s going on in the rest of the body.

The New York Times tackled the subject of hyperlocal real estate blogging this week, with a very positive piece on how agents and brokers are using their local blogs to gain business:

For brokers, blogs are, of course, a handy marketing tool: they’re economical, practical and easy to update. But for prospective buyers, a sophisticated blog — one with more than an agent’s plea, “check out my new listing” — can help potential buyers forge a connection to a faraway community, learn the landscape of an area and, ultimately, make informed purchasing decisions.

There’s a great quote a couple paragraphs later from a real estate agent who blogs about his local area: “If you’re going to sell a home in the mountains, you’re going to have to sell the mountains.”

Neighborsville, a new site which aims to be a hyperlocal portal of sorts for neighborhoods, has announced that they’re opening up a limited beta of their first neighborhood — the Willow Glen neighborhood in San Jose, CA. Good luck to Ryan Kuder and crew.

American Towns announced a major jump in traffic in the 3rd quarter of this year — 80% over Q2 and six times better than traffic levels at the end of 2007. Revenues and user-generated content are also up. American Towns calls itself “the fastest growing site in the hyper-local space.”

Your Turn: If you know of any hyperlocal-related news, please let me know in the comments!

(photo courtesy zoezelka via Creative Commons)
Share

You might also like:

  1. Hyperlocal News Roundup
  2. Hyperlocal News Roundup
  3. Hyperlocal News Roundup
  4. Hyperlocal News Roundup


October 31, 2008 | Filed Under Industry 

Comments

2 Responses to “Hyperlocal News Roundup”

  1. David Mihm on October 31st, 2008 6:05 am

    A little birdie told me there might be even more coverage of HyperLocal blogging in an SEL column next week…keep your eyes pealed :)

  2. Matt on October 31st, 2008 9:57 am

    Oh, really? :) I’ll look forward to that.

Leave a Reply (please use your real name; company names & other keyword-based names will be deleted)