Local Sites

[soccer1]

I personally will be manually adding content. I will monetize with affiliate ads that correlate with the topic.

Hey guys,

These sites have me interested as well. I think I plan on implementing the same plan as jwanchalk mentioned above. Can anyone give me some sort of idea as to how hard it will be to rank above the likes of the tripadvisor, expedia, travelpost links that dominate the first page?

Any input greatly appreciated.

[imteaz]

Hey guys,

These sites have me interested as well. I think I plan on implementing the same plan as jwanchalk mentioned above. Can anyone give me some sort of idea as to how hard it will be to rank above the likes of the tripadvisor, expedia, travelpost links that dominate the first page?

Any input greatly appreciated.

If you Rank top 5, in any local keyword, you can make some good money. but it takes bit time, lets say about 8 to 10 months, if you know SEO stuff.

And for blog content, i never like adding content manually, because you don't have time to write or add content manually to your blog. Because you don't run one site, you have to take care of your poker & casino sites too.

Auto blogs make more money than manually added content. Because everyday u r adding 8 to 10 articles, and getting lots of pages. so you will get tons of Google traffic.

For Example, i made a electronics blog, been only 2 weeks, getting about 300 to 400 unique already, 90% from Google, and i check today my amazon affiliate, 10 sales already. but amazon play only 4% to 6% to affiliate.

think about it, if 2 weeks old site with only 100+ pages, can generate 10 sales in 2 weeks, how many sales i could generate after few months when i have 2k+ pages?

But again its up to you, how you view it. Some people do not like it but some people do.. at the end of the day, its all about making money.

[soccer1]

Thanks for the advice. I am still relatively new to this (and wordpress) so I appreciate all the help I can get. I was leaning towards setting up a wordpress site with affiliate links for the hotels around the local area of the site I was planning, with blog posts about the upcoming events and so forth.

Can anyone tell me if this is a solid plan, or help direct me in the correct direction?

Thanks,
Mark

[soccer1]

I'd just like to bump this and see if anyone has anything further to add, or if those who were contemplating this have their sites off the ground.

Thanks.

[jonnierowe]

Ive got a site off the ground for my little part of the world.. Just actually remaking it atm with wordpress. Add me to skype jonnie.rowe.

[MJ]

Bump, just curious - did everyone here give up on this, or anyone having any luck?

[Hazo]

I can't help you here Mike - all I have to add though is the the city.com.au domains are selling for 10k+ each.

[pokerprop]

I almost purchased the #1 guide for my city. Has maps in all the hotel, our local park has a huge map with their website. Website is on many restaurant napkins and place mats, and can pick up either their quarterly magazine in any of the restaurants that advertise with them etc.

The deciding factor to pass, even though everything else was so perfect was this guy built the business making friends. He has 4 person staff that writes, takes photos, handles calls and outsources more work. But he like built the cities entertainment, networking tons of people together. I question now if it's just a situation where no one questions there $150 to $200 ad rate every quarter because they're all friends now etc. I'm not in that circle and coming in and asking for money I could assume a higher chance some cancel. I also had no interested in running the personable aspect of the business the same way he did, so it added risk.

From this though I could really see if you get a bunch of people visiting all from the same area and perhaps chatting and interacting the befits are many. How do this:

1) Local News
2) Schedules - What are things people need to look up: Bingo times, Church service schedule are a couple that come to mind.
3) Food - Pizza shops, chinese food, include their menu (in many cities hard to find menu of the pizza shops or w/e).
4) Entertainment - What's happening today, tomorrow etc. (break down by category, include sports leagues nearby mixed in, concerts a couple town over. fill it up with all the things there are to do.

User Generated Content
1) Classified Ads (WTB, WTS, WTT)
2) Reviews - Resteraunt reviews, car dealer ship reviews anything.
3) Dating

Another idea is to cover local politics, local news, let people discuss and interact. I mean the ideas are endless.

From here reading back at Spry's question yeah the sales force might be some work, but get to know advertisers, send them a gift back each Christmas, network, share ideas, stop in just to say hello. eat food at their shops, get oil changed from them. refer them business in person etc. Having the value the website brings and having the personal relationship should just get them as a long term advertiser where that money is secure for a long time come.

What's neat about ideas like this is copying them is not very easy. It takes work etc. to get going and that's the hardest part. but average joe doesn't come along build the same website take over and undercut your deals all that easy. This certainly could be a fun business model and also can be used as ways to add to your community be that just making the city all that more fun, less boring or whatever else.

[pokerprop]

I almost purchased the #1 guide for my city. Has maps in all the hotel, our local park has a huge map with their website. Website is on many restaurant napkins and place mats, and can pick up either their quarterly magazine in any of the restaurants that advertise with them etc.

The deciding factor to pass, even though everything else was so perfect was this guy built the business making friends. He has 4 person staff that writes, takes photos, handles calls and outsources more work. But he like built the cities entertainment, networking tons of people together. I question now if it's just a situation where no one questions there $150 to $200 ad rate every quarter because they're all friends now etc. I'm not in that circle and coming in and asking for money I could assume a higher chance some cancel. I also had no interested in running the personable aspect of the business the same way he did, so it added risk.

From this though I could really see if you get a bunch of people visiting all from the same area and perhaps chatting and interacting the befits are many. How do this:

1) Local News
2) Schedules - What are things people need to look up: Bingo times, Church service schedule are a couple that come to mind.
3) Food - Pizza shops, chinese food, include their menu (in many cities hard to find menu of the pizza shops or w/e).
4) Entertainment - What's happening today, tomorrow etc. (break down by category, include sports leagues nearby mixed in, concerts a couple town over. fill it up with all the things there are to do.

User Generated Content
1) Classified Ads (WTB, WTS, WTT)
2) Reviews - Resteraunt reviews, car dealer ship reviews anything.
3) Dating

Another idea is to cover local politics, local news, let people discuss and interact. I mean the ideas are endless.

From here reading back at Spry's question yeah the sales force might be some work, but get to know advertisers, send them a gift back each Christmas, network, share ideas, stop in just to say hello. eat food at their shops, get oil changed from them. refer them business in person etc. Having the value the website brings and having the personal relationship should just get them as a long term advertiser where that money is secure for a long time come.

What's neat about ideas like this is copying them is not very easy. It takes work etc. to get going and that's the hardest part. but average joe doesn't come along build the same website take over and undercut your deals all that easy. This certainly could be a fun business model and also can be used as ways to add to your community be that just making the city all that more fun, less boring or whatever else.