Traffic is what we all live and breathe by. Today’s hyperlocal blogging tip may actually be just plain common sense more than a helpful tip. However, if you are not an experienced hyperlocal blogger, I think this may help you.
Where do you get your news from these days? Most likely you have a wide variety of sources. I’d also bet that most of it is online. In my case, I get 90% of my news and information online from various sources.
As a hyperlocal blogger, you are competing with other local sources for site traffic. Your local newspaper is one of your competitors. Your local paper may also have an online presence. They also have paid staff and resources that you do not have. If you take a hard look at their content, it’s also mostly news type content. It’s content that is here today and gone tomorrow I like to say. If a bank in your town gets robbed, that’s a current event that may capture a lot of traffic in the present moment. In 2 weeks, how many people are going to search for the robbery? Not many.
The news outlets have a mindset that you do not have to participate in. Editors are notorious for the midset of “If it bleeds, it leads.” You on the other hand are free to write about the raffle at your local high school that will benefit a local charity. This is basically reporting a niche article in your community. The interest in this article will mostly come from the school itself, employees, student and parents. The local charity will also be very interested in your article.
Create Unique Content For Your Hyperlocal Blog
If you are smart about it and place proper keywords and tags and proper links, your niche article can appear in the serps from now on for many various searches. Over time, your article can be viewed many more times than the armed robbery article that was hot for a day.
It can be very hard for you to compete with the local news outlets for breaking news stories. On the other hand it is very hard for your local news outlet to compete with you for stories that contain unique content about small niches in your community. The news outlets do not have the time, staff or resources to chase those type stories. Remember, they have a different mindset and this is your opportunity to create unique content for long term traffic.
Do not disregard the small stories in your community, there is an audience for almost every article you post on your hyperlocal blog.
Always take advantage of breaking news stories if you can. Never lose an opportunity to get in the thick of things with breaking news. If you will put forth your main effort on unique content in your community, you can win the competition for long term website traffic and a very loyal following of readers.
I'd also add that if these focussed articles have long term value, maybe they offer tips and advice, then link to them from the side column of your site.
These links will then appear on every page of your site.
Maybe call it something like 'Selected Articles' this will help long-term SEO and let readers find the articles in a click
Excellent point Craig, internal linking is very helpful.
My first time here, come from Allyn Hines blog…man this post is gold for me, I need to do better with my own local blog, which I am active with and have plans for it.
I am going to be reading more here, at least for the next half hour.