In general at Talk About Local we work with volunteer run sites. We try not to get involved in the hyperlocal business model debate. Other than to observe that if you want to run a business online your revenues in general need to exceed your costs. We also pass on different approaches we have seen. Some people do want to raise some revenue to cover cash costs. This is a new game for many – neither local ad rates nor an ad delivery method have been established. It’s great to see new models like Addiply specifically targeted at local sites who want more control (Addiply has recently raised significant investment).
Jason Mawer of Oxbury Media has got in touch.
‘Oxbury Media Services provides a link between national brands and the hyper local media. We broker advertising on behalf of our clients…’
Jason has been approached by Groupon seeking to buy space on local websites across the country. Jason says they are prepared to be flexible and innovative in both payment and delivery method to secure inventory. This is the first time I have come across a systematic approach to hyperlocal web advertising in the UK, but then i haven’t done any commercial work. If you have a local site and are interested in a Groupon ad contact Jason on jason@oxburymedia.co.uk
Let us know how you get on.
William Perrin
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Unfortunately this is something that wordpress.com websites will be unlikely to take any advantage of.
You can only run adds if wordpress.ORG is installed. See http://en.support.wordpress.com/advertising/
Thanks for the tip: we’re running some Groupon ads on bitternepark.info / portswood.info as a result of this now, in association with Oxbury. We’ll see how it goes.
Feel obliged to share that this hasn’t worked out for us: having spent time discussing all this and creating relevant ‘zones’ and ‘modules’ in the software I use, and started running the campaign to the tune of a few thousand impressions, was asked to postpone due to tech issues apparently at Groupon’s end. Since then, haven’t been able to get any response from Oxbury. 🙁
Yes we’re small, and yes there’s perhaps scope to build a network of hyperlocals for ads, but this one hasn’t worked for me this time round.
Thanks
Guy – so sorry you haven’t had a response from Oxbury Media. Have mailed Jason Mawer to work out where he is but he hasn’t got back to me yet.