The importance of LOCAL

is the future of the net local?

[pdonovan]

In the process of launching a community news site in my small rural community that I hope to support with advertising (along the lines of <sniped URL>), I wonder if others have discovered the keys to selling ads to local businesses whose customers are also primarily local.

Some say that the future of the Net is local. Billions are being poured into geolocation (top-down targeting schemes). My strategy is different, more bottom up, starting with excellent local content that reflects the trend from representative democracy, expert-info model, to participatory democracy where the media must play a facilitative role.

Many if not most local businesses probably believe that Internet advertising is only for people doing e-commerce. How can I help them see beyond this belief?

thanks

[edited by: NFFC at 2:20 pm (utc) on May 26, 2003]
[edit reason] No URL's please [/edit]

[rcjordan]

>I wonder if others have discovered the keys to selling ads to local businesses whose customers are also primarily local.

My sites do a pretty fair job of it, so, yes, it can be done. It's been my experience, however, that you are going to have to both dominate the serps (not too hard for small rural areas) and have iron-clad proof that you have traffic that has the potential to convert to sales. We do that with lead generation.

Also, be wary of setting your focus too narrow, you need a certain amount of critical mass. In my area, also generally rural, I found that I needed to think "regional" rather than local.

[takagi]

No experience myself, but what about discount coupons visitors can print own their own printer. That would prove they did see the add on your site.

See also threads like Keyword Popularity [webmasterworld.com] and How to on New SE Promotion. [webmasterworld.com] and search for 'coupon'.

[sagerock]

rcjordan is absolutely correct, from my perspective. Years ago I started a city site that never paid for itself. The problem was that it was too small. Interestingly, I've seen sites for that city come and go. It is just too small of a market. But when I started I felt that I didn't have what it took to conquer the big cities in my area - Cleveland and Akron.
Looking back, if I had started there I might have had a completely different outcome. I probably wouldn't focus on an area under, say, 1 million people.

[Jenstar]

There have also been many town/city sites that have come and gone for my area as well. It seems the focus is too narrow to be supported by local advertising (and some of the ad rates I have seen were insanely high).

The few I have seen work used it for tourist marketing - attracting site visits from tourist who are planning to visit the area and are wanting to know more about what to see and do.

The problem with small towns is most people who live there already know everything there is to see and do. And when they do visit local sites on a regular basis, it is for local news online. Unfortunately, any sort of online news source needs to be updated frequently, which costs time and money.

[pdonovan]

Thanks, well taken. But--if everybody knows everything in small towns, how come our local weekly newspaper, widely detested for its slipshod reporting and dinosaur editorials, is able to pull in $4000 worth of display advertising each week?

My passion is excellent local content and reporting. Webmastering is only a means. Thanks to open-source content management tools I can be much more efficient than the newspaper, plus more participatory. But I realize selling ads is not going to be easy, as people have been trained to think of the Internet in terms of Cyberspace, Google, Amazon. There are a few successful independent small news sites out there who are making it on ads. My experience so far shows that it is commitment to place and community that may be paramount.

[Jenstar]

A local newspaper still has a much broader reach, and even though you or I may prefer to read local news online, there is a huge percentage of people who still like to sit down with their printed newspaper over coffee. While readership is declining, I think it will be quite some time before most community sites online will be able to pull in anywhere near the same kind of advertising revenue as the traditional print newspaper in the same town.

And there still are many people out there who don't have internet access yet, believe it or not ;)

There is also the catch-22 - to get decent rates for advertising, you need to have the local traffic to your community site (and keep them returning). But to get that local advertising revenue, you need to do offline advertising yourself. Otherwise, people would never know you exist - not too many people do independent online searches for their community, unless they are searching for something in particular.

Do you plan on being a competitor for the newspaper in terms of news and content? If so, you might be able to get higher numbers of visitors who return frequently, but it also means a lot more work on your part.

[kpaul]

While readership is declining, I think it will be quite some time before most community sites online will be able to pull in anywhere near the same kind of advertising revenue as the traditional print newspaper in the same town.

The thing is, the independent's can do things better, cheaper and faster. What you need to do is offer things that the newspaper can't or won't offer.

The newspapers can be taken down. It will happen eventually.

would love to hear how your story progresses.

thanks,
kpaul

[pdonovan]

You are right kpaul about better, cheaper, faster. The content AND the ads. Myself I would prefer to read paper rather than a computer screen, but do not have the million dollars it would take to start up a competitive print newspaper.

People in my little county do not go to Google for information about local businesses. If they do, there's not much to be had.

[kpaul]

Then it's part of your job to show people that Online is better ;)

Seriously, though. Part of my master plan would be to run it online only for at least 6 months to gain momentum. Eventually you'll have enough money coming in to fund at last a print weekly. Don't really need to own the press - have someone else print it.

It won't be easy, but it's possible. Remember David and Goliath! ;)

[kpaul]

People in my little county do not go to Google for information about local businesses.

Part of my plan would be to train them about search engines, the internet, etc.

If you could find the space and computers, I bet offering a monthly 'free internet beginner's class' would bring people to you. And after the class they'd (hopefully) believe in you and your site for the time you took out to help train them.

Just some thoughts...