Looking at the latest figures from The Teesside Evening Gazette's network of community websites, it seems a hyperlocal focus drives online traffic.

The five largest of the Gazette's 20 hyperlocal websites (a figure which is set to increase) have a five-figure monthly unique user count not much lower than the number of households in the post-code size areas they serve, reports blogger Martin Stabe.

The largest of the websites, based in Redcar's TS10 postcode, has 16,366 monthly users in an area with 16,396 households. And Redcar's users are obviously not a captive audience; on the web, they could go anywhere. Instead they choose to use a service carrying content with a more personal dimension.    

Teesside has also capitalized on the high user numbers by reverse-publishing the community sites into hyperlocal print publications, a scheme which has proved profitable, according to Evening Gazette editor Darren Thwaites.

The moral of the story: while too much hyperlocal news may not be "sophisticated," it might just boost traffic.

Source: The Wire through David Black