Starting a new regional portal site..any ideas?

[jmwebguy]

After designing site for many years and telling people "the way to get a higher PR and show higher on SEs is to link your site to other websites", I have decided to start a local portal website (links, jobs, event calendar, etc). I am planning to have some advertising banners, etc to make some money.

Has anyone else done anything like this? I am just trying to see if anyone can give me any suggestions. I know it will take some time for my site to have a high PR, but in time it will, but I am going to start marketing this soon.

I am trying to find some good traffic generating link sites to advertise my site on.

[rogerd]

To jump-start your regional portal, I'd recommend getting links on general directories that list regional resources, and also try to find local sites (small biz pages, personal pages, non-profit sites, etc.) that will link to your directory.

You'll have an easier task if you get a decent amoutn of content out there before you start promoting. If your site looks like it's under construction or underpopulated, people may be reluctant to link to or list it.