| Small towns are gossip centers. Everyone loves | | | | such as Monster.com, Careerbuilder, etc. |
| to talk about local politics, sports, school, and | | | | - User Submissions - Allow your user base to |
| pretty much everything else that does not | | | | submit articles, anonymously if you wish, regarding |
| matter to someone living outside of the | | | | local issues. Publish them in a user contributions or |
| immediate area. | | | | commentary section of your online portal. Your |
| Most cities have an official state issued boiler plate | | | | users will appreciate being able to have their |
| web site to offer contact information for | | | | voices heard. |
| government services and other official business. | | | | - Local businesses - Include contact information |
| What most places lack is a community portal that | | | | for as many local businesses in a centralized |
| citizens can use to discuss issues that matter to | | | | location as possible. This is done to encourage |
| them. | | | | your users to use your site as their home page. |
| I decided to create a web site for Campbell | | | | Now that we have covered what you want to |
| County, TN residents. The city of La Follette is a | | | | include, let's discuss how you want to do this. |
| hub of conflict over political matters, the school | | | | There are several content management systems |
| system, and law enforcement. While I am just | | | | capable of handling most of these items out of |
| getting started in the process, I wanted to share | | | | the box. I highly recommend checking out Joomla! |
| the general steps involved in case it is relevant to | | | | for content management. It is a flexible content |
| your goals. | | | | management system that should meet the needs |
| Here are some of the things you want to provide: | | | | of a project such as this. |
| - Forum - Your friends and neighbors want to talk. | | | | The next thing to consider is: "How will I make |
| They need a sounding board. Provide a user | | | | money?" |
| forum and, optionally, do not require user | | | | There are several possible revenue streams from |
| registration to post. This will provide some level of | | | | a local online portal such as this. I will touch on a |
| anonymity for your visitors if they choose to | | | | couple. |
| post about sensitive issues. Care should be taken | | | | - Google AdSense should be your first stop. You |
| to prevent spamming. | | | | won't get rich from it, but integration is a snap |
| - Web search - I recommend adding a Google | | | | with most content managers. The ads are |
| search component to your portal. This will make | | | | unobtrusive and will automatically take on a local |
| users much more inclined to use your site as their | | | | theme after you add some location-centric |
| homepage. | | | | content. Your users may even find them useful! |
| - Local weather - There are many free weather | | | | - After your site gains some momentum you |
| APIs out there that you can use to display local | | | | may want to explore options such as selling |
| weather on your site. I recommend including one | | | | advertising space to local businesses. You can |
| to enhance the user experience. | | | | approach them with hard numbers such as how |
| - News - If you can find an RSS feed or two to | | | | many people view your site, how my times their |
| include on your site, great! Make sure to obtain | | | | ad will be viewed in a day or week, and the fact |
| consent from the site owner or use a feed that | | | | that everyone viewing your ad will most likely be |
| you know is free to use for your purpose. | | | | a local resident. These are great selling points. |
| - Jobs - Considering the state of the economy, | | | | - Be creative - These are just a couple of ideas |
| many people are looking for work. Include a job | | | | you could use to generate revenue. Adjust to |
| search of some kind. There are several job feed | | | | your situation and explore all available options.Good |
| aggregators that feed jobs from various sites | | | | luck in your online community-building efforts! |