In earlier posts, I discussed local online marketing, as well as new options for Chicago businesses to upload events and news items in local news websites. Today I look at the traffic on those sites to determine the extent of the PR benefits of this activity. And then I consider whether these types of listings improve the internet search ranking of your website, apart from whether anyone sees your news or not.

PR Benefits

How many people are likely to find the news you upload to a local news website? Here are April 2009 “unique visitors” to various local Chicago paper websites, excluding the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times:

SouthtownStar.com 148,894

Pioneerlocal.com 106,550

Triblocal.com 27,574

HelloChicago.com 18,730

Everystreet.com (data for subsites like Chicago requires a subscription. If you can get this, please leave a comment and I will post.)

One would expect established local newpaper group sites like Southtown or Pioneer to have far more website traffic than new entrants like TribLocal or HelloChicago, and they do. The first two also do not allow unreviewed uploads. Data is not available to me to compare coverage of one community, say Arlington Heights, in all websites. Let’s assume that any copy you upload to Triblocal/Arlington Heights, for example, will have few viewers right now.

SEO Benefits?

If your news is likely to get minimal page views, should you upload items to increase your website rankings in organic search? I posed that question to SEO (search engine optimization) pros and here are their key points:

TribLocal Will Help Somewhat in Local Search Rankings If You Use Geographic Tags

Tim Grice (SEO-Wizz.net)
“Google uses geographical factors to establish the most relevant sites to bring up after a search. For instance a search for social media tips in LA is going to have different results compared to NY. Even if links from local papers send little in the way of traffic, they will increase your “local authority.” This is great for targeting your site geographically. Try to make regular submissions. This may seem time-consuming but it can bring about great changes in your future website ranking.”

Iain Lopata (SCORE Chicago.org counselor & presenter of “Taking Your Business Online“)
“Local Business results from Google appear to be influenced by both local directory listings (e.g. Superpages, Dex) and a variety of industry vertical directories (e.g. Martidale-Hubbell) as well as other more general SEO factors. In this context Triblocal may be useful. However, to date, Google appears to rely more on national providers of local data (e.g. Yellow Pages) than it does true local sources such as the local paper.”

Miriam Ellis (SolasWebDesign.net)
“From a purely technical viewpoint, it appears that where TribLocal is allowing businesses to link to their websites, those links are not being nofollowed, so, in that respect, such links would presumably be passing some ‘link juice’ to the business.

“Additionally, it appears that Google is indexing content from TribLocal and I see it appearing fairly high in organic search engine results pages for related business name searches. Occupying as many of the top 10 spots in Google as you can with really positive pieces about your business is important. Finally, and perhaps of highest importance to local-focused businesses, it appears that Google Maps is allowing TribLocal content to act as business citations within Google Maps, but, only when the pieces submitted to TribLocal contain signficant geographic modifiers that make the content an obvious local business item.

“It is the current consensus amongst local search marketers that citations of this kind are one of the key factors that determine your Google local rankings. In the case where pieces submitted to TribLocal were vague, Google was not appearing to use them as citations, and in cases where the pieces contained specific geographic information, citations were being given in Google Maps. That’s really important!”

Post Online to Sites Where Your Potential Clients Are

Michael Blumenthal (Blumenthals.com/blog)
“Never do anything just for reasons of SEO or page rank. All activities should speak to the communication needs of the business. It would depend on the demographics and readership of Triblocal and the particulars of each business to decide if it is an appropriate forum. That being said, if you do it, then be sure that there is enough geo information in the article that Google can at least use it as a citation.”

Miriam Ellis (SolasWebDesign.net)
“SEO is based on the ‘horses for courses’ principle. What may be a great idea for one business may not work for another. If a business’ demographic is reading TribLocal or visiting sources where TribLocal is cited and this is driving traffic to the business, then absolutely, an investment of time in this would be worth it. If, however, the specific demographic spends more of their time on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Yelp, Yahoo! Answers, etc., then that’s where the business needs to make its key efforts.”

Engage in Other Local Media Activities as Well

Randy Birkey (HeadstandMedia.com)
“My gut says yes, it is beneficial to post regular copy to sites like this, but I would also advise a customer to weigh that effort against other efforts that could provide much more return on the investment. This is just one of many ways to use the power of the Internet to build a business. “

Michael Blumenthal (Blumenthals.com/blog)
“[In addition to sites like Triblocal,] alternative activities that should be considered are:

* Populating all appropriate local directories with business details
* Populating all appropriate national directory and internet yellow page sites
* Determine the best way to communicate with their particular customer base. Is it email? Twitter? A blog?
* Time is money. Consider Pay-Per-Click ads (PPC)
* Make sure that the website structure (content & backlinks) is offering maximum local benefit
* Work on a review-gathering strategy”

Miriam Ellis (SolasWebDesign.net)
“Business promotion on the web is evolving to encompass the new understanding that no effort really stands on its own. Design, SEO, usability, search marketing, PPC, copywriting…it all acts together in a symbiotic way, the ultimate goal of which is to connect to the user in a way that makes sense to him so that business can happen.”

Use Online PR To Connect To a Larger Audience, and Build the Authority Rank of Your Website

Bob Rustici (Optey.com)
“Press and news releases may be a bit overused at times as a “link baiting” technique, but talking to a local audience with a twist to the larger audience can reap an unplanned benefit of getting a blogger’s interest. If you relate your business announcement to larger issues, blogs that get automatic feed for news items related to that terms may pick up your release. This is also a way to start building up your authority position.”

Don’t Count on Local Online News Websites Longterm?

Miriam Ellis (SolasWebDesign.net)
“It’s going to be important for the success of Triblocal to find a way to inspire local people to contribute content that goes beyond the press-release-format that appears to dominate there at the moment. Though press release items have their place, they are so sales-y that they risk reading like nothing more than an advertisement. Gaining a dedicated readership based upon advertisements is not going to work well. It lacks the “personableness” and neighborliness of the hyperlocal blogging approach.”

Randy Birkey (HeadstandMedia.com)
“Since the newspapers are struggling to figure this out, I don’t have a lot of hope that this particular method has a lot of future promise.”

My conclusions:

* Certain businesses (those with an older, less 2.0 focused clientele?) may find Triblocal more useful than others.
* Submitting stories, photos and events to sites like Triblocal may help promote your local business, but other methods like directories and review websites are more important
* Coming up high in local search depends on multiple factors
* Use geographic tag options. (See last two related posts below.)