Thursday, September 23, 2010

Update: Hedon Blog and HU12 websites

THE HU12 family of websites have continued to grow and develop.

The main website - and adopted parent of the others is HU12. This has become the site which features the more 'news' and controversial items that will interest those living in the HU12 post code and wider Holderness area. It is not an hyperlocal site - more of a local news aggregator - and aims to post material which will have a particular interest to those involved in the business, public and voluntary sectors.

The Hedon Blog continues to build a bigger local audience month-upon-month. Predominantly (my stats tell me) this consists of people logging on from the Karoo network and I assume this is largely a Hedon, HU12, Hull and East Yorkshire audience.

In May the Blog covered the General Election from a Hyperlocal perspective - and attracted lots of newer visitors from those following the hustings. I am particularly pleased that candidates from all the major parties submitted material for the Blog.

The biggest recent development is the decision to try and generate more income from the family of websites using direct advertising, Google Adsense, Amazon (Real Example: ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income) and other Blog Services. The reality, is that unless the websites pay for themselves and my time, then daily work on them will have to cease. Unfortunately passion alone, for everything hyperlocal and community, does not pay the bills!