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 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.

Please visit the Monroe Scoop 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.

Establishing yourself as part of the local media has it’s personal advantages. As time has progressed for me and my hyperlocal blogging efforts, I’m able to do things now, that a year and a half ago would not have been possible.

I write about a lot of things here on BloggerLens but my main job and focus in my real life are that as a citizen journalist in my hometown. The relationships that are possible when you become a hyperlocal blogger can certainly open doors and opportunities if you will only pursue. When you establish credibility in your local community as a citizen journalist or blogger, you will begin to see opportunities present themselves to you. Your site, social media presence and your content can take you a long way in this day and time.

I want to share with you today an event I was part of back in November. My local town sponsored the Warriors & Warbirds Airshow. I was invited to participate in a media flight with the T-28 Trojan Horsemen Flying Team. It was one of the biggest thrills of my life. The video below is my flight from start to finish, shot in HD with my Canon XH A1. I added very little music to this video as to capture the natural sounds of this flight. If you have never experienced close formation flying, you will be amazed at the skill of these pilots. I was required to wear a parachute during this flight. That get’s you to thinking a little and wondering if you made your last life insurance payment.

The benefits of being a citizen journalist are many. I hope you enjoy the video.

2010 BloggerLens.com

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.

2009 BloggerLens Video Blog

Lately I have been rewarding myself and not earning my reward. Time to reverse myself and make it right. As a followup to my last video post, I feel that it’s important to earn my rewards even if they are small. Simple pleasures are cool.

The video above was shot with my trusty little Kodak Zi6 HD Flip Camera. I love this little camera and you can watch my full Kodak Zi6 Review.

I also mention in this video that I will assist you in getting a jump-start in forming your own hyperlocal blog. If you need help, please read my offer to help you.

I hope you find a way to reward yourself today.

2009 BloggerLens.com

I have a friend I’ve been exchanging some really detailed and long email messages with in the past couple of days. Some of what we’ve been writing about deals with hyperlocal blogging and it inspired me to write this article.

“How To Start A Hyperlocal Blog And Keep Your Full Time Job”

My disclaimer here is the fact that I consider myself a full time hyperlocal blogger. The fact that you may hold a full time job shouldn’t hold you back from starting a hyperlocal blog in your community and delving a little into citizen journalism. My situation is different than most. I started my community web site in the hopes that I can eventually earn a living from it. I wrote about my situation in an earlier article. Build a great hyperlocal blog and get paid for it.

You have the rest of your life ahead of you so why not get started now? You don’t have to create an award winning site that rivals anyone. All you have to do is get started slowly and lay the foundation for what can happen in the future. What if in 5 years your local newspaper shuts down? You would have a jump start on everyone in your community to move in and provide. It’s a supply and demand issue.

Here are some very easy steps that I would do to start a hyperlocal blog and keep your full time job This is so easy and will be so meaningful to you in the future that you will actually feel the urge to send me an Amazon Gift Card or name your next son Steven.

• Take out a domain name now and a hosting package. I would use your town’s name in the url if possible. For example, Bakersfieldscoop.com or Indianheightsgazette.com. You get the idea. I recommend bluehost.com to everyone for domain names and hosting. It’s what I use on all of my sites.
• Use Wordpress for your blog. There are more free wordpress themes out there for you than government bailouts. You may want to consider some sort of magazine/news style theme. Free blogging platforms are ok but not necesarily for the long term. You never actually own your own content when using someone else’s free software. Don’t even go there for your main site. Don’t argue with me on this one, trust me.
• Once you have your blog set up, go to Google Alerts. I want you to set up a Google email alert for a ton of related searches that pertain to your county and city that will be sent to your in-box once a day. Here are some ideas:
  Bakersfield Kansas
  Bakersfield KS
  Bakersfield County
  Bakersfield Kansas Government
  Bakersfield Kansas Police Dept.
  Bakersfield, Kansas Mayor John Kingston
  Bakersfield Kansas School System
  Bakersfield Kansas Blogs
  Bakersfield Kansas Videos

  You should understand where I’m going here. Think up as many terms that relate to your community as you desire.

• I want you to take selected articles from your Google Alerts and re-post the article to your new hyperlocal blog.
• I want you to give credit and links back to the original article at the bottom of your post. Never re-print anything without without giving credit and a link back.
• If an article says that you cannot publish and it’s copyright protected, try to contact the author by phone or e-mail and ask permission. Most likely they will allow it and actually link to your article from their site. That would be good Google Juice
• Scour all of the video sites such as YouTube, Veoh, Viddler, Vimeo, Blip, Google Videos & Yahoo Videos to find any videos that were taken in and around your community. If the video allows embedding, put the video on your site and give credit and a link back. If at all possible, contact the owner of the video and alert them that you have posted their video. 99.9% will love you for it and probably link to your blog. Good Google Juice again.
• Re-publish photos of your community that you find on Flickr under the Creative Commons. Once again give credit and links back.
• Add one page on your blog that encourages readers to submit their own news story or community event. Make sure you have a contact form on that page. Here is an example of the page I use on my hyperlocal site that encourages readers to submit stories to me. Submit your news to the Monroe Scoop.
• Contact all of your local non-profits and asked to be placed on their e-mail press release lists.
• Never leave your house without your camera. Take a photo of the crowded parking lot at the mall and post it. If you think that’s silly, you don’t understand hyperlocal. SEO your article with the name of your town and the name of the Mall. Very important! Place alt tags on your photos so they will show up on Google image search.
• This is very important and you must do this on every article you post. It’s also very easy. I do not want you to get carried away with SEO. As a matter of fact, I only want you to SEO four things in your articles. If you are going hyperlocal in Bakersfield, Kansas I want you to put a variation of these 4 terms in every article. Not all 4 in every article. Pick one per article and vary them each time. Each time, I want you to put the term at the start of your article in H1 tags. I want you to repeat it again at the bottom of your article in bold letters.
  Bakersfield, Kansas
  Bakersfield, KS
  Bakersfield County, Kansas
  Bakersfield County, KS

  That’s it. That’s all I want you to SEO in your articles with the exception of alt tags on your photos

Now here’s the kicker. I want you to do this once a week, that’s all. I want you to spend time with your family and take care of your full time job first and foremost. Full time jobs are hard to come by and you must take care of those who butter your bread.

Once a week gives you 52 articles per year. In 5 years you will have published 260 articles and you will be ranking #1 for so many search terms in your town that you will send me my second Amazon Gift Card. You will have no doubt picked up a little extra money from your site with Google Adsense or Amazon links or even a local merchant may want to buy a little advertising. When you approach retirement, your hyperlocal website will be waiting on you to go full time and dominate community news in your hometown. Your site will probably be at least a Google PR5 or PR6 by then. Everyone will know about your site who lives in your community. You will own a valuable piece on internet real estate.

All of this and you only have to spend an hour and a half per week to lay the foundation for your future in Citizen Journalism. This is my simple recommendation of how each of you can start a hyperlocal blog and keep your full time job.

Copyright 2009 bloggerlens.com Hyperlocal Blogging & Citizen Journalism

]]> http://bloggerlens.com/how-to-start-a-hyperlocal-blog-and-keep-your-full-time-job/feed/ 6 http://bloggerlens.com/how-to-determine-your-twitter-chances-of-hyperlocal-blogging-success-in-your-town/ http://bloggerlens.com/how-to-determine-your-twitter-chances-of-hyperlocal-blogging-success-in-your-town/#comments Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:00:44 +0000 Steve Sherron http://bloggerlens.com/?p=312




There are so many Twitter statistics pages out there, that it’s hard to keep up with them. I should probably start a bookmark folder for all of them I stumble upon but I don’t. I guess that’s because I’m constantly switching back and forth between Safari browser & Firefox. I should get better organized. By the way, while I’m thinking about it, the new Safari browser sucks. I find bugs in it everyday. Firefox rules supremely. Ok, I got that out of my system.

Back to Twitter. I recently came across a new Twitter page called Twitterholic.com. Many of you may say, “Dude, where have you been?” Well, I’m sorry, I just found it. Twitterholic will rank you according to where you live, assuming you have it listed in your profile. The page tells me that I am ranked #1 for Monroe, NC. I use @stevesherron with my hyperlocal blog, monroescoop.com. I thought that was pretty cool, but I already knew that I should rank near the top. I live in a small city on the outskirts of Charlotte, NC with a population of around 30,000. I’m constantly searching for people in my town or county to follow. My city has not yet jumped on the Social Media bandwagon. Slowly but surely, they are coming on board.

I see great power in Twitter in the future. No telling where Twitter will end up but I think it will be extremely valuable. I don’t have a billion, zillion followers but that’s ok. I have a little over 300 followers and honestly I don’t see how people obtain 15,000 followers when I check profile pages and websites. I see a lot of junk and it amazes me that they have so many followers. I wouldn’t follow most of these people if they were dropping $5 bills at the mall. Are these people on Twitter full time? Do they have a hired staff that spend all day following people in the hopes that people will follow back? When I come across one of these Twitterers with so many followers, I go check out their web site and peruse their tweets. I may go through a couple of pages to see what they are tweeting about to determine if I want to follow this individual. Rarely do I find such pearls of wisdom that makes me hit their follow button. Occasionally, but not often. I think most people are sheep that see such a massive following and through Twitter Hypnosis they are powerless as their twitter finger left clicks and they slowly exhale as if they just toked a joint. I don’t get it. Woo Hoo, I just became follower 31,973 to this person. I feel such a feeling of acceptance now. If I asked these sheep what the person’s name is, I doubt they could answer.

I thought I would do a little experiment here on bloggerlens. I’m assuming that most people who land here on this site has found me through some sort of search for hyperlocal blogs, hyperlocal blogging or citizen journalism. I would guess that at least some of the readers have their own hyperlocal websites or are considering starting one. Twitter must be in your game plan if you are going hyperlocal.

I thought I would take a random sample of my visitors from my stats and use ip addresses to determine who is the number one Twitter user in their area. I may actually follow some of these people if they are hyperlocal bloggers with my @hyperlocalblog Twitter name. What will this accomplish for me? I have no idea. I do think that one should work towards being the #1 Twitter user in their respected area. Let me make a disclaimer right now. I use my Twitter account for my Monroe Scoop website, @stevesherron, to socialize and gain friends. I use @hyperlocalblog to mostly post my articles from bloggerlens on Twitter.

All opinions that follow are exactly that, opinions. I don’t claim to be an expert on anything, just making a few observations along the way. If I offend anyone, well I’m sorry…grow up.

I’m using twellow.com to determine the top users in a particular city for my findings below.

Geographical visitors to bloggerlens determined by IP Adresses and the top Twitter users for that area.

Should these folks be going hyperlocal?

Greenville, S.C. Duncan C. Wierman is #1. @duncanwierman Over 41,000 followers. Not a hyperlocal blogger. It would be extremely hard to overtake this guy. Duncan actually followed me but I did not follow back. No way I could create a friendship online with Duncan. He’d never see me. He’s a real estate investor and I generally do not follow real estate people. His profile web site takes you to a landing page where he is trying to sell you his real estate course. He’s probably a very nice guy, but why would people follow him after they clicked his web page? He is using his Twitter power on a national level. Can you imagine his media power if he were to take it local?

*No user in top 10 for Greenville, SC appears to be a hyperlocal blogger. The #10 user in Greenville, SC has over 3000 followers. When I checked her blog, she mostly embeds YouTube videos from others and her feedreader shows 74 subscribers. Over 3000 followers and only 74 subscribers on her blog? WTH? This young lady appears to be some sort of designer and only has a paypal button on her blog. She should seriously consider re-directing her energy to hyperlocal blogging.

Moving on…

Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mike Brenner is #1. @mikebrenner. Over 8000 followers. Mike is an artist and appears to own a gallery in Milwaukee. His web site listed in his Twitter profile. http://hotcakesgallery.com/. Mike’s website is weak for a gallery owner. I can’t buy anything from his web site. It doesn’t appear I could buy local advertising either. He should be directing all the locals in Milwaukee to his gallery from his Twitter page and become the cultural center of his town. He curses on his tweets. Bad move.

#10 in Milwaukee is a public radio station. @radiomilwaukee. Over 2500 followers and concentrates mostly on Milwaukee.

Moving on…

Platteville, Wisconsin. Andrew Brunner is #1 with 29 followers. @brunnerand. Website listed in his profile. http://www.uwpexponent.org/author/andrew-brunner/.

Population of Platteville listed around 10,000. Andrew, go hyperlocal brother. You could dominate after a while and probably take over the other communities close to you.

There are only 3 Twitterers listed for Platteville.

Moving on…

Port St. Lucie, Florida. Orrin Woodward is #1 with 47,000 followers. @orrin_woodward. Orrin is an author and a speaker. His web site listed on his profile page. Orrin Woodward. Orrin sells a book he authored on his blog through Amazon and embeds his and other YouTube videos. He doesn’t send out a ton of tweets. He puts out a lot of quotes from other famous people. I don’t really understand this. I think when people do this, it’s because they can’t really think of anything to tweet about. I’d rather see a twitpic of someone’s lunch than read a quote from an obscure author. He far overdoes the quotes. I would unfollow him. His best tweet after pages of searching? This twitpic of shark fishing. Now that’s what I’m talking about! Not sure how he inspired 43,000 followers. Who am I to say? I only have 300.

#10 is Port St. Lucie is a Pastor with 201 followers. @myministrybytes. As far as Twitter goes, hyperlocal is wide open in Port St. Lucie. Pastor Mike only follows 21 people. He will probably not be very successful at Twitter unless he increases the amount of people he follows. I rarely follow those with low follow counts and high follower counts. Pastor Mike does not list a web site. Pastor Mike could probably go hyperlocal religion in his community and build a tremendous following.

Moving on…still trying to find hyperlocal bloggers who are using Twitter effectively

Jacksonville, Fla. Robert Oliver is #1. @f4fanthom. 1482 followers with no web site listed on his profile. Robert is in home repairs and remodeling. Uses the standard Twitter avatar. Does not appear to use his Twitter account to do anything hyperlocal or build his own business. This totally does not make sense to me. No web site, no profile pic, nothing special about his tweets. I would never follow him but many sheep have. Robert should be driving hyperlocal customers to his own remodeling business instead of mindless tweets about affiliate marketing and contests.

#10 in Jacksonville, Fla is Jessica, @MsBoricua09 with 105 followers. No web site listed. Attention all people of Jacksonville, Fla…You could easily take over Jacksonville, Florida on Twitter and become a social media force in this city of over 1.3 million people. You are allowing a home remodeler with no web site and a standard Twitter avatar to school you. Someone in Jacksonville, please get off your ass and pick the fruit that awaits you.

Jeremy Cox is listed at #8, @Jeremy_Cox and should be dominating because he’s a local reporter. He’s got 158 followers and actually has hyperlocal tweets in his twitter stream. Jeremy, I’m screaming at you brother…take over Jacksonville, Florida for goodness sakes!

Moving on…

Jersey City, NJ. Maria Perez is listed as #1 with over 6700 followers. @profnet. Maria is a journalist and lists https://profnet.prnewswire.com/ as her web site in her profile. Maria appears to make a lot of hyperlocal tweets but not focused to her community necessarily. She has the experience and know how to dominate if she would focus strictly on her community but a lot of what she does appears to be on a national level also.

I’m going to jump to #12 in Jersey City. He is Zac Clark. @rockertycoon with 1150 followers. He runs a local rock music blog. He has local videos and photos. He’s got the right idea. He needs to get a wordpress blog and should cover even more of the local scenes. He should blog about the restaurant where the music is being played. He should blog about the drink specials and interview the owners. It wouldn’t take Zac long to be the #1 hyperlocal blogger in Jersey City with a niche like local rock music and restaurants.

Moving on…let’s do one more city that has previously visited bloggerlens.com.

Warwick, Rhode island. #1 is Practical Manifesta with over 1300 followers. @practicalmanife. Does not list his name on his Twitter page but has a picture of himself, I presume, on his Twitter background photo. This is stupid to not put your name. Whoever he is, he lists his web site on his profile as http://www.practicalmanifestations.com/. I visited his site and it’s a conglomeration of junk in my opinion. I saw nothing that would make me follow him if I were checking his web site listed on his profile. He’s into Universal Attraction. Must be working with 1300 followers and he doesn’t list his name. More sheep following I guess. His bio says follow me and I will follow you. No thanks dude. See if you can find his name anywhere. Pure snake oil it looks to me but he is #1 in Warwick.

#10 is RI Bridal Event with 324 followers. @specbridalevent. The website is listed as http://www.spectacularbridalevent.com/welcome.htm on their profile page. They specialize in bridal events in R.I. their web site looks nice and they are going hyperlocal in their niche. The tweets they put out are excellent in my opinion. They are mixed with a good focus on the bridal business. They understand what’s going on. If these folks decided to move to other niches in Warwick, they could dominate. I did a random sampling of their followers and they are for the most part very focused on their niche. This is probably the best example I have found today of hyperlocal examples and people using Twitter to their advantage.

I’m very surprised at my findings today. Once again, I’m not an expert at anything but the majority of the Twitter users I highlighted today are not using Twitter very effectively. Many are being followed by Twitter Sheep. Virtually every community in the USA is prime for a hyperlocal blogger of some sort. Restaurants, sports, news, charities, community videos…you name it. I’m a huge advocate of wasting time on the internet. I love to do that, but I also try to balance it with being constructive and building something useful for the future. Your community awaits you. No one in your local area can out-social media you unless you let them. Start a hyperlocal blog, even if it’s just in your neighborhood and join the revolution.

Copyright 2009 bloggerlens.com Hyperlocal Blogs & citizen Journalism

]]> http://bloggerlens.com/how-to-determine-your-twitter-chances-of-hyperlocal-blogging-success-in-your-town/feed/ 3 http://bloggerlens.com/build-a-great-hyperlocal-blog-and-get-paid-for-it/ http://bloggerlens.com/build-a-great-hyperlocal-blog-and-get-paid-for-it/#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:00:40 +0000 Steve Sherron http://bloggerlens.com/?p=78




In my case, as someone building a community blog, in fact I’m actually trying to create my own job. We all have a story and I won’t boar you with mine right now but I’m at a point where I want to create my own job that will carry me for years to come. It’s no secret, I spend a ton of time going hyperlocal and I eventually want to be paid handsomely for it and why not?

I want complete control over what I do and when I do it. I do not want to be censored in any way. I don’t want to answer to anyone about what I do and how I do it. All of this and I want to be paid for it. Great work if you can find it right? Am I crazy? Who has a job like that and gets paid? Hopefully you and me. Like I said, I’m creating my own job. Why not create the perfect job description while you are at it? If you know your description, build a plan around achieving that exact goal.

I enjoy serving my community with my hyperlocal blog. I really enjoy the satisfaction that comes with it. Satisfaction does not buy the groceries. I want to let you know where I’m ultimately trying to go. The ultimate goal is to build a site or sites that will pay me a residual income. I will need advertisers to accomplish this goal and you will too. This is where things will get tricky I do believe. Monroescoop.com has been published now for 4 months. I write what I want and when I want. I have total editorial control. I control the graphics and all of the video content. That’s the way it is now and that’s the way it must stay. If I want someone to tell me what to do, I’ll go get a corporate job. I held one for 24 years and I don’t want to go back.

My philosophy is simple about my job description and getting paid. Create something that other people want to be a part of. Create value on your hyperlocal community site. Build something your Mom would be proud of. If you do that, you can control your own destiny. You can be paid for being your own boss. Consider who your audience is and deliver good stuff to them. Your community will begin to let you know loud and clear if you are delivering the goods or not. The requests for articles will start to come in. You will find yourself on Press Release e-mail lists from various organizations in your hyperlocal community. I can promise you, if you are publishing junk, no one will want to be a part of it. When you discover that your community wants to be associated with your site, you are on the right track.

Build it and they will come. Advertisers that is. Build something great and then sell seats on your hyperlocal freight train. I have never built a plane, but I’ve bought seats on one because it takes me where I want to go. Build a great site that becomes a destination for readers in your local community. Once you have done the work, sell the seats that others (advertisers) may arrive at their destination. This is my philosophy in a nut shell. Stick with me and lets see where we eventually arrive.

]]> http://bloggerlens.com/build-a-great-hyperlocal-blog-and-get-paid-for-it/feed/ 1 http://bloggerlens.com/going-hyperlocal-in-monroe-nc/ http://bloggerlens.com/going-hyperlocal-in-monroe-nc/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:02:53 +0000 Steve Sherron http://bloggerlens.com/?p=20




I’m a hyperlocal blogger in Monroe, NC. My name is Steve Sherron. The road I travelled to get here is pretty long. I’ll talk about that as time goes on. Briefly, I took an early retirement after 24 years in a corporate job. I took an early retirement in 2006 to pursue real estate development at the coast of NC. Real Estate was booming back then and it looked like a sure thing. It was very good for a brief amount of time and I do mean a brief amount of time. Little did I know that there was an economic storm brewing that would almost completely shut down the real estate market.

Cutting to the chase:

I became very interested in marketing and online promotion through web sites, especially video. About 3 years ago I realized that one could set themselves apart from their competition with a good web site and videos. I set out to learn what I could. What I found was something I enjoyed very much. A hobby quickly turned into a passion.

Once the real estate market tanked, I started examining opportunities on the internet where one could make a name for themselves and the possibility of producing an income. After months of research, the word “Hyperlocal” kept popping up and the more I studied it was apparent that this was a ground floor opportunity. There is not a lot of new on the web to me. Most of the web is re-hashed, re-packaged stuff that slicksters are trying to sell you. Hyperlocal blogging would allow anyone to start fresh in any community in the world.

I dove into the world of hyperlocal blogging in December of 2008 in my hometown of Monroe, NC. I bought the domain name of monroescoop.com. I had a clean plate in front of me with nothing on it. Now what? Honestly, it was a little scary and I was not really sure about how to proceed because I didn’t want to screw up. Actually I had nothing to screw up. I have always been the type of person to just go for it and worry about a plan later. I didn’t have a mentor. I didn’t have a blueprint. I had a domain name and a desire to succeed. What the hell, just do something…anything.

I published my first hyperlocal article on December 4, 2008. What is the Monroe Scoop? Bam! I online and I have just made a public statement that the Scoop is here in Monroe, NC and summarized what my readers could expect. I would recommend that the first article of your site be your public declaration of what you plan to do when you go hyperlocal. It serves as a catalyst. Making a public statement reinforces the fact that you have made a decision. It’s good for your soul. Your site has a purpose. You are going to fill a need that will serve your community.

That was day one. As of the writing of this article on bloggerlens, I’m now 4 months into my project. It’s become my passion. My child. I absolutely love it and it has been very well received in my community. I have not scratched the surface yet, but the Monroe Scoop gives me all the reasons to get up in the morning and work hard. I can certainly understand all of the internet’s A-List bloggers and the passion they feel about their sites. When your work does not feel like work, you can be confident you are heading in the right direction.

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