Hello All,

I am interested in getting everyone's suggestions and opinions as to where I should start in trying to have a web site developed focusing on my local region.

The website would not be focused on real estate. Rather it would be focused on:

1. What do in Richmond / Central Virginia.
2. History
3. Business
4. Arts / Culture
5. Schools
6. Surrounding areas
7. Local Directories / Links

As a very small sidebar, there would be a link to www.carterritchie.com.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I think you've got a good list going there. I would focus on creating entertainment and dining reviews, historical articles, local business news, upcoming events, and information from local schools.

A couple of ideas that would help get fresh content often...

1. Have local businesses write articles about their industry, how-to's, PR type stuff.

2. If the local junior high or highschool has a newspaper, invite some of the school journalists to write articles about the school, review school events, local hangouts etc.

Obviously you will have to position this site as some sort of informational resource, so keep the content coming.

Hope that helps, keep posting with questions and ideas.

Thanks RealtyPresence,

I have read many of your helpful posts. I apreciate your help. Quick question. Are there developers that concentrate on regional sites like this that this could be outsourced to?

Thanks Again,

Carter

i know in my area (Fredericksburg), the county has sa good website that you can link to.

I'm sure you could find a developer to create this site for you. As far as the development aspect is concerned it's pretty simple. The difficult part of this type of project comes with the creation of content. If this is something that you personally would like to contribute to (write articles, reviews, news etc.) you could have a developer create some kind of content management system which you could use to add/edit/delete content from.

If you're looking for a developer to create the site AND the content chances are you'll end up with a developer who is out sourcing the cotent creation to a third party. This can be a mixed blessing as the developer might find someone who is a good writer and creates quality content, or the developer might find the cheapest writer on the block who will create poor quality content.

Sorry to run on here, in summary: yes a developer can create the site for you, you might want to take control of the content creation personally, OR you could oversee the highering of a writer to create the content for you.



edit: Broke up one big paragraph

Who are you targeting as viewers, locals or otherwise. Travelers are interested in accomodations, attractions, transportation, area attractions. Locals are interested in current events, entertainment,etc. Both can be interested in realestate, but outsiders consider the areas economy and general product offering, while locals are interested in specifics about community. It's difficult to be all as there is the danger that content becomes shallow and appeals to neither.

I've contemplated the value of area sites as a feed as well. In my opinion, delivering in to a target market allows the growth of valued content, which has the potential for creating traffic.

Hey Carter,

I have thought about doing something similar but on a local level. Maybe a site for my town or a subdivision. Here is a company that does it for you.(turn down your speakers, the audio might be too loud) http://www.myonlineneighborhood.com/

The site is interactive so the residents provide a lot of the content.

Our suggestion.. Buy a copy of FRONTAGE 2003', play around with it. If you could use WORD and other office programs, you should be able to figure it out. We started with Frontpage and continue to use it. It has great tutorials, you can make any changes, anytime you like by yourself and do not have to depend on anyone else to do it for you. And.. it's a lot cheaper, after the initial cost of the program. $299.00 ?

I created one of these for one of my clients using PHP-Nuke, which is very easy to implement. You can view it here:

http://www.yourwesthill.com

There's an admin panel where you can create your content without having to know HTML, but is capable of HTML and it also has forums like these for folks in the community to "rub elbows."

I like the traffic cam idea. The state DOT doesn't have any issues with you using their feed?

Reason I ask, is that the Terms of Use put out by *my* local Department of Public Works and Transportation expressly prohibts doing that without their permission.

http://www.dpwt.com/use_of_materials.htm

I'm checking out MyOnlineNeighborhood.com

It seems like most people don't really use the website, but it's $300 a month with $600 setup fee. Might be worth paying a good webmaster (a real one who can do all the programming) to create one.

The first step is to define your target audience and what communication styles work best with this demographic. Once you nail this portion down (and it's a big one) you can move to the next step - developing content.

You need to decide what kind of content you will provide. Will it be nothing more than a few paragraphs and a ton of outbound links? Will it be a site designed to drive Google Adsense revenues? Will it be a site with relevant, unique content?

Developing relevant and unique content for a site of this nature can be a daunting task. If you do hire a developer for this project, you need to verify that they are not plagiarizing whole web sites or bits and pieces of other sites. This can get you into trouble with both legally and with search engines.

You should probably also ask yourself, "Why do I need this site? Is it to generate its own revenue, or is to to drive prospects to your real estate site. If there is not a definitive purpose (other than you think it's a neat idea) then forget about it. Why waste the time, money, and effort?

If the purpose of the site is to drive prospects to your real estate site, there are much better ways to accomplish this task through content and SEO on your own site.

I think the regional site is great for testing messages. The seperation allows your realestate site to be consistent (evloving perhaps, but consistent). It has a broader audience that allows extended networking.

Allowing viewers to customize their experience has value as well. Polling is easier, prequalifing can be performed, and again special groups become closer than ever.

SEO techniques applied may increase traffic to your site, but that alone has little value. The larger effort of marketing (even though SEO does market towards the search engines)is what will bring qualified prospects in.

I'm conviencing myself that it would make more sense to SEO the regional site to prequalify, then send them into your realestate site. Your audience is larger and your search criterim not so competitive. Both good for SEO.

Hey Carter,
You may want to think about a Community Events Calendar.

Community groups can self publish events, providing you with free content and promotional opportunities within your community.

The system we offer http://localeventsnetwork.no-ip.info can be custom branded for you so that you generate exposure with your audience.

From an administration stand point, your community partners get to publish to the web without any knowledge of html, they can subscribe to their own personal calendar (with your branding in it) and you can control new event listings with a simple one button approval process.