Why You Must Produce Hyperlocal Content Now

Posted by admin in Blogging, Web Content, Web Marketing on 11 16th, 2009 | View Comments

Why Realtors Must Produce Hyperlocal Content Now

Hyperlocal Content for Realtors

Hyperlocal content is ideal for the Realtor with only one stone to kill an entire flock of avians. Not only is it easy to collect, but it’s scary-simple to distribute through social media. Get with the times before they pass over you. Hyperlocal should be the heartbeat of the serious Realtor’s web marketing campaign. Period.

Hyperlocal should be the heartbeat of the serious Realtor’s web marketing campaign. Period. ~ dotJenna

Why Hyperlocal?

Hyperlocal content is supremely valuable for real estate web marketing, or any type of web marketing that involves geo-targeting of prospects, products or services in a specific geographic area. Here’s the way producing outstanding local news for your area will help your web marketing efforts and ultimately get you more business online.

INCREASES YOUR VALUE IN SOCIAL NETWORKS
Let’s face it, people in your target market don’t give a poop about you. Truly. You mean absolutely nothing to them. The chances of you getting business by posting on what you cooked for dinner last night are as slim as a sliver of celery. It’s not going to happen. If you want to ATTRACT and KEEP the attention of your target market, you have to follow dotJenna here and produce something of value. Hyperlocal content is valuable to those in your target market, and makes people appreciate you.

INCREASES YOUR SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS
Hyperlocal content is briming with relevant keyword phrases that attract hungry search engine crawlers, making your site ripe for the top of the heap on Google and Yahoo. Not only that, but hyperlocal content is fresh content that is produced consistently, and which kind of bread do you think gets eaten first: fresh or stale?

INCREASES TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE
When you write an article on your blog or website about something to do with your local niche area, you can post this info through your Facebook and Twitter accounts. When your Friends, Followers and Fans click on the link, they will be driven to your website, increasing your traffic. Higher traffic = higher rankings = more exposure = more leads = ????? MORE SALES!!! Woo Hoo!!! You’re getting it!

INCREASES YOUR VALUE TO HOME SEEKERS IN THE AREA
When people are looking to buy a home in the area that you are covering with your hyperlocal news content, they will likely find your postings and be impressed with your knowledge of the area. Who do you think they will call first? An obsolete person with nothing out there on the web? NO! Their going to call YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU!

Who knew that you could meet so many objectives with one little four syllable word: HYPERLOCAL? What are you waiting for? I’m so pumped, I can hardly finish writing this article. (breath) But you’ve got to know more. I need to explain to you exactly what hyperlocal content is before you go.

What is Hyperlocal Content?

Hyperlocal content refers to news and coverage of events and information in a local context. The term is all the rage among business conduits who are trying to cash in on the local information craze, but the barriers to entry include the enormous complexity of gathering and distributing local data to the masses. As a real estate professional, you’re in the perfect position to be a local news conduit, heck you’re doing it now already–now you just need to write it all down.

Here’s a list of the types of things you may collect and post that is considered hyperlocal content.

Links to articles and blogs that are supplemental to the newspaper.
Links to local government sites and other sources that pertain to a bit of news.
Local events, down to the level of “Ladies Bunco Group on Saturday Night.
Store closings, openings and sales of interest.
Local arrests, crime watch activities, police blotter.
Local home sales
Reviews of local restaurants.
Spotlight on local vendors, shops and businesses.

The key is to cover your local market, and cover it well, down to the last detail. The better you’re able to get news about your area and get that content out on the web through social networks, the more impact you will have and the more business you will ultimately generate.

Typical mainstream media do not cover topics with narrow interest like street repair or local health inspection results, and instead focus on regional, national, and global concerns and trends. Hyperlocal media has created a niche for themselves by only covering narrow-interest stories related to a specific region, city, or neighborhood. The increased usage of digital media devices (e.g. photo and video cameras, audio recorders), blogs, new media, and participation in social media, has made hyperlocal media content cheaper to produce and distribute. – Wikipedia on Hyperlocal²

A buzz word associated with Hyperlocal content is the Pothole Paradox¹. This theory states that news such as that of a pot hole being repaired is interesting to me if it’s on my street, but doesn’t mean cotton fluffs if it’s an hour away.

Another concept along those lines is “Cell Journalism³,” where the average American can pick up tidbits of interesting news using just their cellphones and their social media accounts. This type of reporting is precisely what you need to make your web presence glow among the dimmer lights of those who don’t stop to notice, or care. Every bit of content you produce is valuable and not a waste of time. Take time to add the info you’re getting to your blog, website and social networks.

Conclusion

Hyperlocal content is all the rage in the publishing world as the internet threatens the very life of large news outlets and newspapers. This seemingly simple form of reporting on your local area can give you more bang for your buck than you can imagine, making you a trusted resource for information in your area. Some agents, Jeff Cheney of Frisco, Texas, for example, have built full-blown websites dedicated to hyperlocal content and are making a handsome profit for their efforts. I’m not saying build an entire website today, but I am saying, get off your duff and start writing about the little things that matter to your target service area–NOW!

If this article has been of help to you, let me know. I’d like to hear from you in my comments!

Have a blessed & prosperous day,

♥ dotJenna
http://www.TheMarketingShop.com/

Sources Cited

1. NYTimes Article on Hyperlocal
2. The Pothole Paradox – Steven Berlin Johnson
3. Cell Journalism – Hyperlocal101.com
4. Hyperlocal Hero – FastCompany Article

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Nick Kline

Jenna,
The article above states Jeff’s website. I do like this alot and has got me going with some ideas.
Are you hosting his website or designed it? The bottom of his page states its powered by vbAlien. Looks like a company that does skins, etc. So – how’d he do it?
Your input is greatly appreciated! Like you wouldn’t believe!
-Nick
admin

Hi Nick,

Jeff merely uses Vbulletin for his website. I believe that he purchased the site from someone else who had already developed it.

As for you, I recommend that you start out small and just start developing content, then start building an audience. Focus on a niche area and eventually, the response will overwhelm you and you’ll need a bigger, better site.

I’m not a proponent of building a big giant website and supporting that expense, until you see if you can handle just producing the level of content needed to sustain minimal audience interest. It takes dedication, but in the long run, it certainly pays off.

Thanks for the comment! I look forward to seeing your results!

Enthusiastically,

dotJenna