Hyperlocal Site Offers New Business Model

A new community news initiative in the US says its business model could earn contributors up to £30,000 a year.

OurTown owns about 70,000 websites covering hyperlocal areas across the country and is seeking local editors to run them via a licensing agreement.

Appointed editors will then be able to keep money generated from the site’s local advertisements and a portion of the revenue from national ads included on their particular site.

OurTown’s chief news officer and veteran journalist George Blake recently reaffirmed the company’s claims that this business model could enable local editors to earn up to $60,000 (£30,760) a year.

Blake told Online Journalism Review: “Our model is completely ad supported (including local classified ads) and we believe that a good local editor can make between $45,000 and $60,000 each year once they have built up a regular clientele in their area.”

He added: “We give local editors the tools they need for ad sales and ad placement. We bill the advertiser for them.

“Success is very achievable because the local advertisers want to build their close-to-home business and the OurTown websites offer a new opportunity for them.

“Unlike the daily newspaper that needs to sell the $100,000 ad contract, OurTown editors can sell $100-a-month contracts and create significant income.”

Blake also revealed that OurTown is using a screening process to ensure it appoints the right people for the job and is using contacts within journalism to find them.

And he asserted that the business model should provide the incentive needed to run effective websites since more traffic means more money for the editors.

Although he added: “If a site is not updated regularly or contains content that is inappropriate, we retain the option to pull the editor’s licence.”