I recently wrote about a new blog I started called the Mayor of Concord. Starting a local blog is not for the faint of heart. Depending on how many other people are writing in your community, you have the chance of pissing off a few people. Maybe I’m an exception to the rule but I got about a dozen hate emails within the first week. Everything is better now but it was a bit concerning in the beginning. I have this site among a couple others that I do not update as often as I like and for some reason I really thought that starting a new blog would be the right thing to do. (I’m addicted) Besides having a new site that can be an outlet for thoughts and opinions, it could also be turned into an online business of sorts. Now most of you know that just starting a new site and expecting the checks to roll in is a fantasy at best. You have a better chance of a leprechaun knocking on your door with a pot of gold than to have a brand new site generating a consistent revenue stream over night.

by pbo31

Local blogging is important

As a writer/blogger, I express myself through words. I can’t get into vlogging like iJustine or sxephil. Well I guess I could but I really have very little interest in that form of media expression. Not to say that a video won’t be made at some point but I tend to enjoy the sound of my keyboard more than my voice. Since i write about so many different topics from social media and technology to general super geek stuff, I wanted to put some work into highlighting the city I have grown up in.

Giving your city or even your neighborhood a voice is a great thing to do. I felt compelled to put something together that I could use as a platform for my thoughts on a local level and I have a lot of opinions. I tend to follow the news on a more national and world level. I would catch a few headlines about what was happening in the city from time to time but I never focused on it. I’m kinda scared after I did focus. The school system here is a mess, crime is on the rise and realtors have to carry pepper spray. I guess this is being echoed across America on some level.

How to start a local blog

Like everything else you do online, you need to decide if you want to brand yourself into the new blog or start a new brand all together. I chose a hybrid approach trying to make the local blog as separate from my personal site as possible but not making it completely anonymous. You wont be seeing my typical posts on the local blog. It’s completely focused on the city and community.

Either get a free blog from a service like WordPress or host your own.

Do a quick search using the keywords for your area. You know your city well enough to do a Google blog search for people places and things in your area.

Find out who is blogging in your area. What are they writing about or are they just posting news and things already in the mainstream. Getting in contact with other local bloggers can make your entry into the local blogging scene easier since most times they will support you and provide some additional information you would otherwise have to go looking for.

Start local blogging

Where are your favorite places to eat, are there any local radio stations you can write about, what are some of the issues going on in your city? Those are just some ideas. There are local blogs that focus on the high school sports teams and some that focus only on the school districts. One local blog in my area has a large following and gets tips emailed to them daily about things happening around the city. Some of the readers listen to police scanners and report on the crime.

Whatever your specific interest is, you can write about in on a local level. Blogs are becoming more useful to communities than mainstream news sources that have to cover much larger areas and the REAL local news gets lost among the sensationalism.

As a writer/blogger you can help bring attention to the real issues and highlight some of the greatness of your city. Though I was initially chastised for owning the Mayor of Concord, the initial shock reaction kicked off a nice flow of traffic to the site. As any new site goes, I’m not drawing a ton of new visitors yet but the numbers are growing.

Do you have a blog that focus on your local area? Leave me a comment so I can check it out.

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