Who can make Hyper-Local News work?

I have looked at many hyper-local news networks over the past few years and many of them had some of the same qualities and features.....but none of them really succeeded in their plan to take over the online hyper-local news space.  A lot of them either went out of business, re-vamped their idea, or sold the site to another hyper-local network.  There are some like Patch.com which are still operating, but have such a high operational cost that they lose millions each month!  So far nobody has the right answer, and hopefully that changes in 2012.

If the answer isn't found in 2012 it won't be for a lack of trying!  So many people are trying to build the right network and there are so many existing companies re-vamping their business model that I predict an online local news overload in 2012.  But the question still remands on what is the right formula on creating a huge hyper-local news network that is profitably.   I won't clam to know the formula, but I can tell you a few problems or issues that will need to be answered to get it done:

1) Local Ad Revenue

Many hyper-local sites are basing most of their revenue off of the sales of local advertisements and a lot of them are expecting way too much money and going about it all wrong!  The first mistake I see on most of these sites is when they divide up the areas, they do not take into account what a normal sales area would cover.  They have the areas split up into "hyper-local" news areas and then when they try to obtain local advertisements they usually cover too small of an area and do not reach enough people to satisfy the local business owner.

Another huge mistake is they predict too much money out of the sale of local advertisements.  They don't take into account that when selling on such a local level that the ad prices go way down compared to a regional ad.  So they do not set up the right budget per town or area within the network causing them to lose money even though they might be making good progress. 

Some how the local ad revenue model has to be figured out and fast or none of these sites will be turning a profit anytime soon.

2) The Hyper-Local Network Staff

This is a huge issue with many of the hyper-local new sites and networks....who runs the sites, how do we pay them, and how do we find them!  It is really important to get the right people writing the stories and covering the local events, but how to you find them?  Also, once you have found the right type of people what is your model for paying them (keeping in mind how much you can have as overhead cost compared to what you hope to make out of each site)?  These are really important questions because you can keep your cost down, but you might not find the right people.  But then if you find the right people and they cost too much your site loses money no matter how good the content.

Then comes the question of once you have your writers, local editors, site editors, etc. who will sell the local advertising or national advertising?  Some have tried to have the local editor sell the advertising or even  be in charge of getting leads and neither have worked out.  Some have tried have a sales team based in other cites to call into the local communities to obtain advertising and they hasn't worked either.

Once you figure out what the correct staff is and the correct cost of the staff in comparison to the income of a site you will finally have the winning combination.


I think that once those two main issues are truly solved then someone is going to have a real shot at creating a hyper-local news network that will work and be profitability.  Until this happens you will see many hyper local news sites appear and disappear overtime along with many underwhelming sites.  I know OurTown is working in a new "formula" this year to try and figure out these issues, but it is going to be interesting to see who wins this race!

Your OurTown Superhero,

Chris 

Year End - OurTown.com

We only have a few more days until the new year and I wanted to wrap up this year with a look back at OurTown over the course of 2011 and our focus on the future!

This year was a rapid year of change for OurTown.com!  We have added many features, many local editors, expanded our reach (to the UK!), had many site changes and so on.  I just want to highlight the major changes, additions, and departures.

New Features:

Over the course of the year we added and changed many features to keep our local editors with the best possible features to help them produce great content.  Below is a short highlight list of some of these changes:

- New "upload" feature which allows our local editors to upload PDF's, PowerPoint's, and any other type of document that would not be considered a news article.

- New "Comment Counter" to help show our local editors and viewers which stories were popular and held a great conversation.

- New "Manage Islands" feature that allowed our local editors to curate their pages faster and easier.

- We changed our video feature from a "YouTube Insert" option to a "in-house" build full video feature that allows our local editors (and viewers who submit video) to upload many different types of video and to properly SEO tag every individual video.

- New "Social Media Bar" which allows our users and local editors to connect their stories and content to many different social media sites including - Facebook / Twitter / and Google+.

- Also, we added a new "Language Converter" which allowed our users to select from many different languages across the world to view our site with!

Site Changes:

Also, during the course of this year we made some major changes to the structure of OurTown and how it operated.  Below is a short highlight list of these changes:

- OurTown expanded its reach and area listings to the United Kingdom!  We have sites now in Seaford, Newhaven, Peacehaven, and Lewes within East Sussex. We plan on continuing to put our main focus on the expansion of sites within the United States, but will also concentrate on building our presence in the United Kingdom!

- OurTown also went back to its business plan of an 80/20 split of the local ads between the local editors and OurTown Media.  We had talked about many different plans that would help build a true revenue stream (to help sustain a hyper local network, unlike Patch.com), and we felt that this split would be the easiest and most fair to everyone involved.

- Also, at the end of 2010 we were building a completely new site for OurTown, which took a lot more time than expected and ran into a lot of "road blocks".  We still plan on putting out a new design in the new year and also to continuous work on feature and site changes that will benefit OurTown, the local editors, and the viewers!


People Changes:

I also just wanted to briefly touch on the fact that we have added many new local editors, but also had some departures do to many reasons.  Our goal during 2011 was to figure out the true definition of the person who can run their own OurTown site.  We focused on keeping our good local editors who built and maintained their sites within our guidelines and who also shared the same goals.  As for the rest we slowly deactivated their sites and returned to recruitment to add local editors who would help the site! 

The Future:

OurTown.com has come a long way since we put the site live at the end of 2007 and we have learned many things throughout our journey.  This coming year will be no different!  We have much to do and to learn and plan on introducing new changes to the site within the first couple of months in 2012.  Are only hope is that you join us through our adventure in 2012 and we believe that it is going to be a great year!

We hope everyone had a good Holiday and hope that everyone has a great New Year!

Thank you!


From Everyone at OurTown.com !

Future of News !

Listeners of the World,

Today I woke up and immediately opened up my laptop to find out our voting results on the many issues and candidates up for election in my state.  Then I proceeded to grab my iPad2 and BlackBerry to head into work.  On the way in I continued to check the morning news on my BlackBerry to find out the what was going on in my city besides the local elections.  Once at work I opened up my iPad2 to check out my daily alerts to see what was going on in the Tech community and to see if there was anything really neat happening.  Then I turned to my computer and sent a friend a link about the voting results.  To say the least things in the news and information industry have changes a whole lot over the past decade.  The real question now is how are they going to change over the next decade!

Many people have projected and predicted how the news industry will evolve - Newspapers will die out, news will go hyper-local, news will become more social, online video will rule the day.....but, what will come true, and what will just been seen as a fade when we look back.  I would like to think some of the predictions are not too hard to figure out if they will come true or not.  Newspapers have seen a steady decline over the past decade and have been scrambling for years to come up with new ways to compete, but I think everyone (even me) can see the end of Newspapers is near.  More and more people are preaching social this and social that and it seems like everyone belongs to a social network, so why not have news become more social?  Also, online video is huge and not to mention everywhere, so why wouldn't news become more online video centric?

All and all it seems the future of news is moving more online, social, and video centric everyday.  With more online news sites popping up, and with YouTube and Facebook being two of the biggest sites on the web, I think that we will soon see an online video social news movement!  Only time will tell if this is all true or if the these notions are just silly.  I for one believe that news will have to become more social and video centric and that is why at least with our online news site we are moving in this direction.  The fun part of actually seeing the next step with news is yet to come, and I for one cannot wait!

Your OurTown Hero,

Chris

Media in the New Year!

Listeners of the World,

It is now 2011 and I believe that media will be bigger than ever this year! With all the new advances in technology and in the way that the news is delivered....... more and more people are getting involved. Their is more online news sites, more people reporting and sharing the news, and more ways to receive the news. We are becoming more connected and aware as a nation!

Now there are many different sources of news out there (TV, newspapers, online, mobile, etc.), but I believe we will see a clear winner this year.........online/mobile news! Online has been building steam for many years now, and I think that this year it will completely take over in all facets. Even bigger Newspapers (WSJ, Post, Tribune) have been working on and providing online versions of their paper. And now with TV starting to fade from traditional viewing to online viewing, so will the local news. You will see more people accessing the local news site than watching it on TV!

By the end of 2011 you will see a majority of people using the internet for everything.....watching their favorite TV shows, shopping, socializing (Facebook, Twitter), and most importantly finding their news! One may wonder that by the time 2012 gets here if there will be the need for human interaction at all, or will it all be done electronically?

Your OurTown Superhero,

Chris

Game Break Anyone?

Listeners of the World,

In today's world you will find piles of work, stress, uncertainty, and boredom around every corner at all hours of the day! A lot of times you feel as if you need to take a "time out" or break and just clear your mind so that you can re-focus. Well some people sit and stair, read the news, surf the net, update Facebook, or do one of the many quick non-meaningful tasks to help clear ones mind - sometimes you forget to have fun in that moment. That is why I always try to play a fun, yet quick game that helps me to clear my mind and reboot!

That is where GamesJr.com comes into play. It is a fun site with many new and classic games on it that can keep you busy for hours, or for that 5-10 minutes you need to clear your head. You even have the option to just play the games without registering or logging on! This gives you the max time to just go to a site, click on a game and start playing.

Right now we are in the process of continuously adding games and adding our "Facebook App" into their directory so that you can even play our games without ever leaving Facebook. To help us with this please click HERE. So the next time you feel yourself needing a "time out", why not play a game!

Your OurTown Superhero,

Chris

Is Social Media Enough?

Listeners of the World,

One may wonder is social media enough of a marketing tool to only focus on Facebook, Twitter, linkedin, and etc or do you need more? That is a question that many small businesses and major marketing departments are asking themselves. I know because I have asked myself this question over and over again within the past few months.........and the verdict is still out!

Many small start-ups with little to no marketing budget have done wonders using just social media sites to create relationships and to promote their product. They have been able to create the same amount of audience that some companies have spent thousands to obtain. But the question is still there for if this is enough as they grow!

Now the bigger the business the bigger the NO on this question! It took a long time for many of the bigger businesses out there to even recognize social media as a marketing tool. Now they are creating positions just for social media (social media marketing, community manager, etc) to help keep their companies up with the latest online trends. But is this them phasing out other marketing strategies to focus in on social media?

The real answer is both depending on where you are at with your business! I think that only using social media while your business is starting up is a great idea to help save money and to help manage time. This way you can focus most of your time to building your brand and making relationships instead of investing money you don't have into different marketing schemes that don't work out. Once you have build your brand and actually started making money you can focus on hiring marketing firms, marketing associates, etc to help expand your brand!

In the end I think before you answer this question you should take a look at where you business is in the marketplace, because sometimes the answer will be yes and sometimes the answer will be no!

Your OurTown Superhero,

Chris

4 Part Social Marketing Series.

Listeners of the World,

Today I start a 4 part series on how I have used social media marketing to my advantage. I have operated on what is considered a low marketing budget and I have found different ways to help get your name/brand to the masses. Below I will list the different sites and how I've used them to try and spark greatness!

Facebook - Every business small or large should have some type of presence on facebook. It is now the number one visited site and is closing in on about 500 million users. Now there are many different ways you can use facebook. You can create a user account, fan page, group page, or use the API and create different games and applications to be used by facebook users.

For those who want to take the route of creating a user account I would suggest the following:

- Update and comment daily on your status and those of your friends. This keeps your brand in their news thread and on their minds.

- Post interesting and meaningful links, events, and pictures that relate to your business or brand. For example I post multiple story links a day that will link my friends to OurTown.com.

- Make a lot of friends, but be choosy! Facebook only allows each user account to have 5,000 friends, so you will want your friend people interested in your field of work/brand.

- Link, link, link! Make sure that you have everything linked to your facebook page: your site, blog, twitter, digg, etc. The more options you give the users, the better of you are!

For those who want to take the route of creating a Fan Page I would suggest the following:

- Get someone tech savvy involved to enhance and spice up the page with some HTML coding. This will help make your page stand out from your competitors.

- Make sure not to update too little or too much. Updating too much will annoy your fans and drive them away, while updating too little will make them forget you even exist. I would recommend about once or twice a week.

- Have friends help you! This is a great time to take in your own friends list and send out your page to your friends. Then ask them to forward it on to their friends and so on. This is a quick and easy way to gather fans in the beginning


For those who want to take the route of using the API for games and apps I would suggest the following:

- Make sure it's fun, easy, and working! Now this kinda hits all types of games and apps you can put on facebook.

- Make sure to update these games and apps on a regular basis to keep the users interested and on their heels.

- Make sure to tie in these apps or games to any user account, fan page, or group page you may have.

Now remember the more you have on facebook the better! I would recommend combining a user account with a group page and applications, while also combining a fan page with a group page and applications. Either of these combination's would help out any business with expanding their client base and brand. Make sure to check back later in the week for my next installment!!

Your OurTown Superhero,

Chris

More of what's to Come!

Listeners of the World,

I hope everyone found our last post very exciting and helpful to seeing a little portion of what the new OurTown site is bringing to the table once launched! I wanted to keep that vibe flowing so I decided to give some incite on another new feature of OurTown...........Social Media Integration! In this post I will dive in and explain all the new functionality coming to the site involving Americas new favorite past time.......Social Networking/Media.

Now first thing is first, and I guess that "thing" is Facebook which happens to be first among sites! Over the past year Facebook has become the number 1 visited site on the Internet making it the most important site to integrate with. We have done a lot of different things with Facebook, including our OurTown page, and Group page. But, we are not even close to being done when it comes to our local editors and Facebook!

On the new site each local editor will have an option to log on to Facebook from within their OurTown admin using Facebook Connect. From here you will be able to download events, photos, stories, etc to be shown on your OurTown page and to upload them to be shown on your Facebook page as well. Thus fully connecting your Facebook friends to your OurTown page and in turn you are getting more viewers right away. We also plan on using Facebook to connect all the local editors together to give a social forum that will include local editors, home office, and OurTown viewers!

Now on to the second social media craze...................Twitter! Where Facebook is good at a lot of different things, Twitter offers something that is invaluable to our local editors which is instant posts from OurTown to Twitter with the posting of a new story on OurTown! This will be great and keep all the stories very fresh for the viewers considering they will see a tweet for every story. You will also be able to see the tweets on each of the OurTown pages!

Now this is just a little look into what is coming on the new OurTown site! My next post will focus in on another new part of the OurTown site.

Your OurTown Super hero,

Chris

Blogging and OurTown !

Listeners of the World,

Who out there has seen something, heard something, or had an important issue in their life that they wanted other people to know about? Well if you are a human being that would be all of us! We always have different events going on in our lives and a lot of people like to share their life with others - Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin are just some of the social media sites that we use to do this. These sites are great for sharing parts of our lives, but not great for sharing stories, articles or big chunks of information. That is where most people would start blogging! Blogging is great for getting your opinion, ideas, or just a nice story out to the world. The only problem with blogging is getting your blog to be popular enough for people to read it so that what you write actually matters! Well I have an alternative to blogging and that is OurTown. OurTown.com gives you a site where you have full control over what goes on it. You can put up pictures, events, videos, stories, news, and even different Twitter and Facebook widgets! Now you have a blogging platform where people will be able to see your articles, stories, pictures, videos, and etc. And once you have the platform to unleash your ideas and stories, the sky is the limit!

Your OurTown Superhero,

Chris

2010 and OurTown!

Listeners of the World,

It is now 2010 and I hope that everyone had a great New Year! We here at the home office are very excited and busy with this new year for we have much work to do! We will be releasing a new version of our site in the early spring. We will also be recruiting more local editors to help fill out our map to bring the most news possible to our viewers! Also we will be adding more contests and fun games to OurTown to not only make it a great news site, but to make it fun and exciting as well. We will also be expanding the functionality of the site to make it easier to use Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. So as you can see we have a lot to do and little time to do it in, but we are up to the challenge! I will be letting everyone in on our progress over the next few months with more blog posts to come.

Your OurTown SuperHero,

Chris

Check us out on Facebook!

Listeners of the World,

OurTown is now connected through Twitter, Facebook, blog spot, and soon to be with Digg and Linkedin. We are trying to connect our site with all social media to keep the freshest news and updates flowing to the people who need to hear about it. This will be a big part of our new site where you will be able to sign in and upload pictures from Facebook while updating your tweets from twitter at the same time. We believe this will make it the one stop shop with news, friends, and stories. If you enjoy this blog we invite to become out friend on Facebook to keep up with even more happenings from OurTown.com.

Your OurTown SuperHero,

Chris