Tech Upstart Backs Into Hyperlocal Coverage

Justin Carder didn’t intend to get into the hyperlocal news business when he launched the Capitol Hill Blog in Seattle, a city with no shortage of neighborhood sites and blogs, but a strong display ad business convinced him otherwise. He said his initial impetus was simply to familiarize himself more with Web publishing, having worked for years at Microsoft but previously trained as a journalist.

“I wasn’t intending to build a media business,” Carder, the site’s founder and publisher, said. “I was intending to build a technology business that provided tools to sites like CapitolHillBlog.com. But in the long term, the only business I can defend and succeed in has been the local news effort.”

Having built a CMS to host the blog — as well as a number of experimental apps for iPhone “mostly just for fun” — Carder began monetizing the site in 2008 and has picked up a healthy stable of display ads since. That’s in no small part due to his choice of neighborhood, a well-heeled central Seattle enclave with a strong demographic of well-educated, well-paid urbanites.

And that may have afforded Carder his greatest luxury, which is doing without any salespeople, for whom he doesn’t hide his disdain.

“The buyers come in pretty qualified,” he said. “They come in looking to work with you. It’s a much cheaper way, and the satisfaction level is so much higher. I think that sales — the way it has been done for a long time — is dying, and you can see the other competitors here in the market still trying to do it that way and people are just shutting them out. The businesses just don’t want to hear about it anymore.”

Carder said the local sales force from the DataSphere network, which has partnered on ad sales with Fisher-owned KOMO-TV, has had a particularly adverse effect on local clients. “Their sales effort is so unfriendly that it’s screwing up the ad environment and making the hyperlocal space a turnoff,” he said. “It’s almost like a boiler room effort to sell ads.”

KOMO began a partnership with two other hyperlocal sites, Rainier Valley Post and Beacon Hill Blog, to enhance its local coverage last September. But Carder said he welcomes the proliferation of blogs in adjoining areas. “We don’t overlap at all from a revenue standpoint,” he said. “For most of the really strong indies, it’s great to have them around.”

If Carder is sales-averse, he’s business-friendly. He said that his most popular coverage includes profiles of new and existing businesses in the area, particularly bars and restaurants, which he likes to cover from more of an entrepreneurial angle than a feature take.

He said he has a lot in common with many of the businesses he profiles, and likens his own effort to an independent restaurant.

But just like many restaurant owners, he’s at the endless mercy of his business’ needs, which aren’t slacking off any time soon. “I’m looking at how many more years do I want to try and do this myself,” he said. “For now, I think I have a sustainable small business.”

 

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Carder led a brief tour through his shop.

 

Launched: 2006

Updates: Daily; “It’s a 24/7 operation depending on how news is breaking.”

Monthly unique visitors (average): 110,000 (Google Analytics)

Mobile platform: iPhone app available; “We’ve developed a couple of apps, but they’re mostly just for fun. They’re not a revenue driver.”

Content focus: “It’s community news in the very traditional sense. We’re maybe a little more business and economy-focused, so we spend a lot of time looking at development and the business behind food and drink.”

Geographic focus: Central Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood and some of its periphery

Target demographic: “Geography is such a primary filter for me in some ways that it doesn’t make much sense to talk about income levels. We inherit that from the geography. My demographic is a strong demographic — college educated and high income.”

Annual operating budget: Less than $100,000

Annual revenue: N/A

Revenue streams: 98% display ads; 2% subscribers and donations

Ad sales: Carder doesn’t like using salespeople and said enough businesses come looking for him that they aren’t necessary; he uses an ad network occasionally for backfill space

Staff: One and a half with over 300 freelance contributors

Social media: Facebook and Twitter to push and source stories, connect with readers; “Facebook is almost like a second version of the site.”

Most popular features: Coverage of new neighborhood business openings

Media partnerships: The Seattle Times news network

Primary digital competition: “Social networks — Facebook and Twitter and those kinds of things in the sense of attention. My job is to gather attention around Capitol Hill and hold that attention.”

What distinguishes it from the digital competition: “We have a unique voice, and there’s a value filter. It’s about establishing a storyline around whatever topic you’re covering.”