What is HyperLocal?

Before the Internet grew in popularity, a lot of information was delivered locally. You got your news from the local newspaper, you bought your goods at local stores, and you made friends with people that worked or lived near you.

What the Internet did was make the world a little smaller. Instead of relying on the local newspaper, we could find out news from different parts of the country, and the world. We could get information from people directly. Our "man in the field" wasn't just a reporter standing on the sidelines; it was the person who had been directly involved in what had occurred. We began to buy things from stores, which may not have been "stores" at all, from all across the country. Sometimes, we purchased online because of lower prices while at other times we purchased online what was not available locally. Increasingly, we made friends with people scattered across the world; people who shared our interests, hobbies or viewpoints.

But, as with many things, as things become ingrained into our lives, the pendulum begins to swing the other way. Right now, the pendulum is swinging back toward the local rather than the national or global. It's not that we are dropping those far-off connections, but rather that we are using the Internet to find more things locally.

When fewer people were online, there was less interest and capacity to cover local events. What good is it to blog about your street being repaved if no one else who would be driving on your street was online?

Now, however, more of your neighbors are online, so that "niche" information is of value to a wider net of people than ever before. Plus, the relative low cost of operating a website makes providing that information more affordable. Imagine if your local newspaper, before the Internet, were to list every mundane event in its pages? Imagine how costly that would be to print! Even now, many newspapers still do not target very small, segmented markets.

It is that "niche" information that is considered hyperlocal. It is very targeted local news and information. For example, that hyperlocal information may be a neighborhood or it could be a small town. Population certainly plays a role. Look at your local news. If you live in a suburb near a big city, how often do you hear about something going on in your town? Likewise, if you live in a certain neighborhood, how often do you get news about it?

Certainly, you can argue that there is not much news that goes on in small areas, however, that thinking may be short-sighted. Is the local grocer having a sale? Is someone having a party that is effectively blocking a street? Are street signs down, potholes being repaired, lots being repainted? Is a local store carrying new products, such that you don't have to drive too far out of your way to get them elsewhere? Does a neighbor have kittens she's trying to find homes for? Is there a garage sale going on?

Even if something isn't news, there is still a lot of information to be provided. Who do you contact to mark utilities so you don't hit pipes or cut wires when planting a tree? Do you need a permit to renovate your home? Is parking in the street okay when repaving your driveway? There is plenty of information to be provided on a very local, that is "hyperlocal," level.

And, of course, advertisers would be interested in very targeted markets, so long as it is cost-effective for them.

You can think of a hyperlocal website as a very targeted, very "niche," portal site with news and information about a neighborhood, a specific part of town or even a small town. In these cases, what hyperlocal spells is "opportunity."

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START YOUR OWN HYPERLOCAL WEBSITE

If you're interested in starting your own hyperlocal website, you'll find "How to Create Your Own Town Portal Website" to be a fantastic resource. Though designed for building town portals, the information is easily adaptable for a small or large town site. You can also use the information to build a smaller site for your neighborhood or community, as many of the concepts are the same—you'll just be adapting them to a smaller, even more focused area.

Click here to check it out. It's a great resource, and definitely worth a look if you are thinking about putting together your own town—or hyperlocal—portal!