The following is a guest post from Wendy Card, a hyperlocal community website builder in New Bern, NC. Wendy has found local success with a brilliant blend of old media (print) and and new media and has become a media force force in her local community. I invited Wendy to share her story here on [...]]]>

The following is a guest post from Wendy Card, a hyperlocal community website builder in New Bern, NC. Wendy has found local success with a brilliant blend of old media (print) and and new media and has become a media force force in her local community. I invited Wendy to share her story here on Bloggerlens and she graciously accepted. If you are involved in building a local media presence, you will especially enjoy the following article. Wendy understands how to build a community.

New Bern Now, based in New Bern, NC is a community (hyperlocal blog) website and blog that went live in May 2009. My goal was to provide a “One Stop, Information Shop” about the Greater New Bern, NC area!

New Bern, NC is located in Craven County, NC and sits on the bank of the Neuse River. The river empties into the Pamlico Sound in coastal NC.

Bridge going over Neuse River into New Bern, NC

Starting my site
After conversing with a local merchant and learning how expensive it was for businesses to advertise locally, I decided to create a community website to provide free local business listings during the difficult economic times.

In December 2008, I bought a book on HTML/CSS for dummies and went to work researching local information and creating the community website. I had no idea this small city of approximately 30,000 residents had so much to offer. It took 6 months to build from HTML.

As a free website, there were no plans for charging for advertising. It was truly a “grassroots effort” to spread the word. I credit local New Bernians and visitors who stumbled across NBN for sharing it with their friends.

In the early stages, I was frustrated with the low number of visitors when I checked the daily website and blog statistics. Then the emails and phone calls started to come in. People began sharing information about their community groups, civic organizations, non-profit agencies, businesses, and before I knew it a large calendar of events began to take shape.

Local residents are the backbone to NBN. Without their input, NBN wouldn’t have succeeded. Since then, I’ve met people from all walks of life.

The website and blog have developed into our “Community’s website” aka “hyperlocal website”.

In February 2010, I finally met my first supporter and confidant in person. She is a native New Bernian, retired school teacher, philanthropist, and wonderful lady! She expressed the need for a New Bern publication that provided basic information about dining, shopping, lodging, community announcements, and calendar of events.

I loved the idea and considered the costs, then decided to “go for it”. That’s when the NBN’s 12 page newsletter was published in April 2010. 1,000 hardcopies were distributed at the Coastal Carolina Regional Airport and numerous businesses around town.

How did you actually distribute those first 1000 copies?

(Wendy)…I sent emails to all of my business and non-profit contacts and people responded asking to be distribution points. I also walked into businesses who didn’t know they were featured in the newsletter and were happy to give some to their customers. I decided to print more in May because local businesses were asking for more copies. Since it was New Bern’s 300th Anniversary Celebration, a lot of the visitors and residents wanted hardcopies as souvenirs.

Two weeks later, people were asking for more hardcopies. The newsletter was revised and 1,000 more hardcopies were distributed in May 2010. Note: NBN’s newsletter is available online in color. The second edition was published in July 2010 and 3,000 hardcopies were distributed.

Realizing I couldn’t continue to pay for printing costs out of pocket, a handful of local businesses paid for “text ads” in the July and October 2010 edition. When I started the newsletter project, I didn’t realize it would succeed, so I didn’t have an advertising plan.

Tell me about your decision to start charging for ads in the newsletter.

(Wendy)…In July and October, I charged the sponsors $150 for text ad at the bottom of the pages. The text ads were paid by business owners who I personally knew. They believed in the newsletter and just wanted to help out with the costs. It helped, but didn’t cover all of the costs. Then a friend gave me advice and I created an advertising kit for January 2011’s Ledger. The smallest ads costs $75 and the largest was $150 (2 small ads combined). I also offered a discount for online advertisements for businesses who advertised in the Ledger. That helped boost the funding!

After much thought, guidance from local residents, and the creation of an advertising kit, New Bern Now’s Ledger was born in January 2011. It was the first edition with the printing costs paid by local businesses. My online traffic peaks every time new print editions go live.

Click here to view my very first New Bern Now Ledger.

Things have come full circle and the community (and visitors) are viewing and providing information to NBN on a regular basis. Special thanks to all who have supported New Bern Now!

I have discovered that the community loves videos, so I have started shooting local video. Here is a video I shot with the help of local merchants.

What advice would you give to those who would like to build a community website where they live?

(Wendy) …My advice to other hyperlocal bloggers or website folks…if I don’t learn something new every day, I’m not living!

If you ask locals about their passions, civic groups, and businesses, they become invested in what you’re doing because you actually care and some people love to see their name or business on the Internet.

They tell their friends, coworkers, and family about your efforts because they believe in it.

- Wendy Card

Side note: I recently had the privilege of visiting New Bern and fell in love with this town on the river. My wife and I spent the afternoon walking the downtown, visiting the shops and eating some awesome food. You could feel the history and we were made to feel very welcome by everyone we met. I was very happy to find Wendy making such a positive impact on this community we fell in love with. Have you considered building a community blog and making a difference in your town?

Over time, I have discovered that people better understand when I tell them I build community websites instead of explaining I am a hyperlocal blogger. I usually get that deer in the headlight look when I mention “hyperlocal”. For all of us involved in this type of media, we know exactly what the term means. [...]]]>

Over time, I have discovered that people better understand when I tell them I build community websites instead of explaining I am a hyperlocal blogger. I usually get that deer in the headlight look when I mention “hyperlocal”. For all of us involved in this type of media, we know exactly what the term means. However, hyperlocal is one of those catch phrases that I’m not so sure will ever catch on with the public at large.

There’s a little bit of both in the title of this article and that’s the reason why. I’ve been building community websites now for 2 years and I never refer to my sites as blogs anymore. I am a publisher of a community website. When I explain what I do in those terms, there seems to be a complete understanding.

Last week I was asked to be a panelist at the Charlotte Observer Hyper-Local Publishing Seminar. In my area, there is a great interest in community websites and publishing. The Observer is leading the way as a focal point to help the entire area to become a part of this trend.

Community websites are trending upward and I doubt it will ever cease. Too bad the stock market is not doing the same. As a whole, community websites and citizen journalism have become too powerful for the Observer to ignore. They have been smart to place themselves smack dab in the middle of it.

On a personal note, I would like to see the Observer start gradually moving away from referring to the movement as hyperlocal. Most of us cover entire counties and in my opinion that is where it ceases to be hyperlocal.

I was asked to create a handout for the seminar and below is the result. The seminar sold out quickly and it was attended mostly by beginners.

I tried to create a document that would have been helpful to me on the very first day I started.

I learned through trial and error and studying what others do. What works for my community site, may not work for a site that is geographically based 30 miles away. It can vary greatly. The only way to learn success is to earn success through trial and error.

I made a bold statement when I spoke to my audience about the guidelines. I guaranteed success to all who followed my advice.

Ok, maybe it was bold and showboating a little but I was damn serious. I challenge any new publisher to do exactly what I have listed and fail. It is impossible if you have a functioning brain.

What we do is not brain surgery or rocket science. Success comes to those who get in the game. How much simpler can I make it?

Your level of success is directly related to your effort I will add. Oh crap, that sounds like one of those A-list a-hole bloggers. I think I just saw a unicorn run past my window.

Make sure you re-tweet this 897 times if you really want to waste some time. I make mention of Twitter in the handout also.

This is not the list to end all lists. There is a lot more that has to be done. Each of these tips must be expanded upon until you find the sweet spot. When you find it, hammer it.

I hope you find the list helpful if you are new to community website publishing.

You are more than welcome to download, print and use the handout.
Community Website Tips.pdf

Sometimes I get traffic to my hyperlocal websites that I wish I were not getting. In my area of North Carolina, we just had the murder of Valerie Hamilton. She is the daughter of the Police Chief in Concord, NC. The murder has made national news and there is an all out man hunt for [...]]]>

Sometimes I get traffic to my hyperlocal websites that I wish I were not getting. In my area of North Carolina, we just had the murder of Valerie Hamilton. She is the daughter of the Police Chief in Concord, NC. The murder has made national news and there is an all out man hunt for her alleged murderer, Michael Neal Harvey.

I posted on the story and when I checked my stats, I had a pretty big jump in traffic. I got traffic from all over the place but one I noticed was from Google Trends. Traffic spikes on my sites happen a lot, but I’m not sure that I have ever been listed in Google Trends.

The article I posted was listed in the Blog Posts of Google Trends.

If you are a hyperlocal blogger, you can expect this type of occurrence on your site from time to time. Pay attention to good SEO practices and use Facebook to your advantage on breaking news stories. You will find yourself outranking much more powerful websites in many cases.

When local news breaks, your citizen journalism blog can become a very popular destination.

This is one time that I wish I were not getting the extra traffic due to such a tragic event.

2010 Hyperlocal Blogging

Recently I had the honor of being interviewed by Esther Brown from outside.in and featured in their “Bloggers We Love” section. Esther works as the community manager for outside.in. The interview focused on my work as a hyperlocal blogger.

Before we got started, I asked Esther if she would mind if I recorded our [...]]]>

Recently I had the honor of being interviewed by Esther Brown from outside.in and featured in their “Bloggers We Love” section. Esther works as the community manager for outside.in. The interview focused on my work as a hyperlocal blogger.

Before we got started, I asked Esther if she would mind if I recorded our call to be used as a future podcast and she agreed. The interview lasted about 40 minutes and Esther was very thorough in her questions which indicated to me that she is quite knowledgeable about hyperlocal blogging.

If you are not familiar with outside.in, here is a description of what they do, straight from their website “About Page“.

Outside.in is the leading hyperlocal content and advertising platform used by millions of consumers and thousands of local bloggers and publishers each month.

Outside.in monitors all the news, blogs, and discussions on the web and dynamically maps them to more than 50,000 neighborhoods in the US. You can find “What’s Happening. Where You Are. Right Now.” on Outside.in’s main site (you’re here!). Publishers can use Outside.in for Publishers to create customized and curated hyperlocal news sections, and bloggers can submit their sites for distribution in the Outside.in Network.

In the podcast, I share some of the highlights of our conversation and my viewpoints about hyperlocal blogging. Part of our conversation topics are about how I got started, how I use video and my favorite social media platform I use to drive traffic to my site.

Thanks again to Esther Brown & outside.in for the interview.

2010 BloggerLens.com

Lately, I have made some personal reflections concerning my hyperlocal blogs that have resulted in changes to the way I’m doing business. I have faced some cold hard facts. The first icy cold fact that basically bitch slapped me in the face, is I have finally realized I am not Superman. We all like to [...]]]>

Lately, I have made some personal reflections concerning my hyperlocal blogs that have resulted in changes to the way I’m doing business. I have faced some cold hard facts. The first icy cold fact that basically bitch slapped me in the face, is I have finally realized I am not Superman. We all like to think we are, but running a hyperlocal blog or several, is very hard work if you want to do it correctly.

For almost a year now I have been running 4 hyperlocal news blogs. Until recently I have had some help running the sites and producing content. Times and people do change and for the past little while, I have found the day-to-day responsibilities mainly falling into my lap.

If you have any experience in hyperlocal journalism, you know that we are all experimenting in this new frontier sometimes refered to as citizen journalism. Each day brings on new ideas and thoughts. What worked last week may not be working this week. A fantastic, can’t lose idea of a new revenue stream can sometimes, more often than not, fall flat on it’s face. One day you can experience amazing highs followed by amazing lows in just 24 hours. All of this, and you just keep on plodding because after a while, hyperlocal blogging becomes a part of you. The benefits far outweigh the negatives.

I have decided to consolidate 3 of my hyperlocal websites into 1 main site and create community tabs that will cover the different geographical areas that I want to cover. Running multiple sites can be hard to keep fresh content on the main page of every site. By creating community tabs, it is much easier to always have fresh content on the front page of my “flagship” site.

Create Community Tabs for different geographical areas in your community.

Create Community Tabs for your Hyperlocal Blog website.

You can visit my hyperlocal blog in Monroe, NC to see how I’m doing this on my site.

The community tabs are actually “Pages” I created in WordPress. I created a page and named it one of my communities. I am able to write articles (posts) and have them show up directly on a specific page. I have the ability to let the new article show up on the main page, community page or both. I was able to do this with 2 WordPress plugins I added to my site.

How To Create A WordPress Post and include it in a WordPress Page

Here are the links to the 2 plugins that allowed me to exclude articles from the main page and publish them to a WordPress “page” I created. Another words, how to include a WordPress post in a page and exclude it from appearing on the main page of your site. I’m sure there are many more ways or more plugins that will do the same job, but I found these and so far they are working just fine for me. If you know of more, pleast list in the comments below.

• Ultimate Category Excluder
• Include WordPress Posts in Pages

Matt McGee at Hyperlocal Blogger has recently written a similar article about how he is creating hyperlocal topic pages. Matt is using SEO on his topic pages to drive additional traffic. Check it out if you would like to see how he is creating “authority pages.”

Everyday I am seeking ways to make my life easier and more simple through technology. I may never totally make it but I want to eventually make as much passive income with my hyperlocal blogs as possible. Consolidating 3 sites into one will certainly help me as I move forward.

2010 Hyperlocal Blogging

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 [...]]]>

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.

If you are a hyperlocal blogger you absolutely should have a Facebook Fan page. The benefits to having one are many as you can imagine. Today, however, I want to discuss with you one aspect that I think is important in managing your Facebook Fan Page associated with your hyperlocal blog. There are a lot [...]]]>

If you are a hyperlocal blogger you absolutely should have a Facebook Fan page. The benefits to having one are many as you can imagine. Today, however, I want to discuss with you one aspect that I think is important in managing your Facebook Fan Page associated with your hyperlocal blog. There are a lot of things you should do, but let’s focus on one small aspect today.

I want you to consider the Fan Page as your personal internet piece of real estate and treat it such. Yes, it’s called a Fan Page but it is an extension of you. What happens on the page and what you allow is a direct reflection of you. Protecting your fan page is like protecting your reputation in your community. If it’s full of negative, you will be perceived as being negative. If your page is lively and fun, you also will be considered in the same way. Get that into your mindset and you will be well on your way to creating a successful Facebook Fan Page.

Facebook Fan Page Tip

I’m going to share what I do on my page. You may disagree and that’s ok, but this works for me. Do not allow anyone or any business to promote themselves or their business in such a way that it doesn’t benefit your community as a whole.

If you allow your page to become a community billboard for self promotion, you can kiss it goodbye. It will become a place for spammers and you will be taken advantage of.

Businesses will be on it everyday promoting their own special interests without regard to you or the other members. Who wants to see the “Buy 3 Tires, Get One Free” ad every other day? What is the benefit of the community by allowing these type posts on your Fan Page? Zero.

I have my guidelines clearly posted but every now and then someone breaks my rule. I immediately delete the post and then I send a nice direct message explaining why I did what I did and I always offer alternatives.

Here is the note I have placed in the sidebar.
Please, read this! We support community events and local business. If you would like to post an event or promote a business, we ask that you first contact us and inquire about a promotion using the Fan Page. Please read “notes” tab at top of page.

Now, when they read my guidelines, here is what I have written.
Due to the large amount of Facebook members on the Monroe Scoop Fan Page, we feel it is necessary to post some guidelines on appropriate use of the Fan pages.

If you are not already a Fan, please become one. This is a great Fan Page because of our members.

I rarely have anyone break the guidelines I have set. Our Facebook page is a vibrant page with a lot of interaction and no spam. As a result we are growing in numbers every week. I personally believe this policy I have put in place is one of the main reasons for the growth of our Fan Pages. I run 4 hyperlocal websites and each has it’s own individual Fan Page. When you total the Fans from each site, it is believed that my network has the largest Fan following in my county.

I wish you success on your community Fan Page. This is the absolute first thing I would do when starting a hyperlocal Facebook Fan Page.

I’ll be bringing you more practical tips in the weeks ahead. I’ll soon be focusing on how video can make a real difference. Make sure you subscribe, you do not want to miss any of these tips.

Holy Cow, I’ve been posting a lot of little short worthless posts lately. I’m buzzed a little on Blue Moon right now so I thought it was time for another meaningless post from a Problogger. That’s right, I’m declaring myself a Problogger. Everybody else is lately. In a way, I actually am, but not here [...]]]>

Holy Cow, I’ve been posting a lot of little short worthless posts lately. I’m buzzed a little on Blue Moon right now so I thought it was time for another meaningless post from a Problogger. That’s right, I’m declaring myself a Problogger. Everybody else is lately. In a way, I actually am, but not here on BloggerLens. If you don’t like my self description, let’s set up a time and place for a fight. I have a goatee and I look like a bad-ass. Sporting a goatee tells the world you are a bad-ass and not to mess with me. See my picture in the upper left of this site? Would any of you mess with Ally Hane? Ok, case closed.

Today, I went to my Google reader which I don’t go to that often. I mostly subscribe to all of the other geniuses by email. My Google Reader was packed with crap and I probably unsubscribed to 50 or so blogs. I want my stuff delivered to me in my in-box where I can sip my coffee and man scratch myself each and every morning.

I started thinking to myself that in 2009 I earned a Masters Degree in some of the things that mattered on the internet. I learned to separate the garbage from the good stuff. I could not believe the crap I subscribed to. It was amazing the number of the blogs I had subscribed to had not posted in months. They were basically abandoned. I removed all of those blogs completely off my radar. I’m getting my focus on.

I don’t get too distracted online anymore. I’m pretty focused. I run my own sites and they take the majority of my time. I’m attempting to make a full time income online. I am first and foremost a hyperlocal blogger. I launched a network of hyperlocal websites in 2009. I have just partnered with a major regional newspaper for a year long “news sharing” experiment that is funded by a national journalism thinktank. I’m very proud of this. There are some dark days when you work online and this was the highlight of my year and validation of what I do that many consider important.

Will I blog about this experience? Maybe. I have worked my ass off for over a year and I have learned many things through trial and error. Will I freely give away what I have learned? The answer to that is hell no for the most part. Now I’m being asked to speak to some local organizations and my local profile is rising. That’s pretty cool but I don’t believe in giving away all of your proprietary information just to gain a following.

If you have developed a technique for shaving hog’s asses that is revolutionary, I think you are an idiot for giving it away for free just so your readers will tell you how great you are in the comment section. Focus the knowledge you have worked to obtain and monetize it. Rosie was the best picture I could find of a hogs ass.

I’m still trying to make a passive income online. The very thought of that is very intriguing. I dabble in the “make money online” niche but it is not the full focus of my efforts online. I love Griz Grizzly and what he teaches. I wish I had more time to devote to it. If your focus is to make money online, why don’t you just do it and stop making excuses. Read less and do more.

2009 was the year that I developed some genuine online friendships. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t visit the sites of my online friends. Click the Friends tab on the top of this page to see who I read and respect online.

If you are not involved in video in some form, you are missing out. I’m totally focused on video. I’ll be doing more here on Bloggerlens but 2010 is year of the video. For $150 or less you can become a cool video blogger. I will watch your $hit before I will watch Lost on ABC. If I like what you do, I’ll make you a cool intro to your videos.

I hope you will get off your ass, read less and do more in 2010. Focus people, Focus!

Being a “Hyperlocal Blogger” carries with it certain benefits. Since I started my community website back in December of 2008, I have been fortunate enough to meet a lot of local leaders.

I’ve gained quite a few friends and I’m on first name basis now with a lot of our local community leaders. I [...]]]>

Being a “Hyperlocal Blogger” carries with it certain benefits. Since I started my community website back in December of 2008, I have been fortunate enough to meet a lot of local leaders.

I’ve gained quite a few friends and I’m on first name basis now with a lot of our local community leaders. I have worked very hard to gain the trust of my community and I run a pretty neutral site as far as politics go.

I report news as news but I do stay away from political infighting and I don’t take a stand and voice any personal opinions. I would rather play the part of citizen journalist. I don’t want to piss off 50% of my readers. I save this site to piss everybody off.

I guess because of this, I do not have much trouble at all when I ask someone to give me an interview or to make a statement on my site. I feel like I have gained their trust and they don’t fear that I will show them in a bad light or put a spin on their statements. As a result, I have gained some benefits and I get to go where many are not invited. I say this because you can do the same thing in your community.

I have gained a lot of trust and made quite a few friends at my local Police Department. About 2 weeks ago I received a phone call asking if I wanted to ride along on a SWAT bust in my city and bring my video camera. It took a microsecond to accept the invitation. It would be an early morning bust before the sun came up.

We met a 5 am and all of the officers were briefed and went over the plan. Each officer was assigned a duty and each one knew the room of the home they were going to cover. I was in on everything and one of the SWAT Officers were actually assigned to me to cover me in the event of this thing going wrong.

Once the briefing was over, all the SWAT Officers put on their gear. It is just like TV. Helmets, masks and automatic weapons. We all piled into a police van and headed for the house with search warrants.

Shooting video in the dark presents a problem. When there is not a lot of light, you open the iris on your video camera all the way and try to stay still because light will trail.

Become a Hyperlocal Blogging Bad-Ass
Ok, that may be a little extreme, but I felt like one for a little while. I outfitted one of the officers with a wireless mic and you will be able to hear him easily on the video below. Heavy breathing also. As the SWAT Team entered the house, I could hear everything through my headphones super clear. I knew what was going on inside and these individuals were having a bad day.

Their adrenaline was probably sky high and so was mine. It was a pure rush. This is just a clip of the actual entry made. No editing, just raw video. Most of all the video that I shot will be turned into a police training video and also be used for recruitment.

I wish I could give more details to you but I’m not a liberty right now. I hope you enjoy the clip below. I certainly recommend that everyone start a hyperlocal blog in your community. Become a video journalist. The fringe benefits can be very exciting.