Local portals set to grow online due to failure of traditional local press.
The continuing economic downturn has caused many local newspapers to consider merger opportunities with their rivals, to help cut operating costs and improve economies of scale. This can only lead to dilution of the local brands, which paves the way for more efficient web based news and business portals to step in. The current belief amongst many SEO professionals is that local geographic based web portals are the future of the internet. Large global directories are in decline, due to the mighty Google swallowing up the demand for web directories with its ever increasing search engine. Social networking sites are allowing people to find services and products in new ways, and the big news websites are offering more in the way of local news.
All this means that demand for local weekly papers is declining, circulation is falling. As this trend continues, advertisers will find falling returns on investment in paper based advertising. So where will they look? Web portals. County and town based web portals provide many opportunities for local businesses. For example, EssexPortal.co.uk, a new county portal, provides a free business directory for Essex businesses. It also provides full webpage listings, which is especially useful to companies and traders that have not invested in a website yet. It also has a growing community with news and local information. This trend is being replicated across the country as more people opt to build local websites. Some cover whole counties, and some just individual villages – GreatBaddowOnline.co.uk is a good example of a small scale portal offering news and services to local residents.
The advantage of web portals over traditional printed media is that they can operate at much lower costs. Whereas newspapers have to predict sales and print accordingly, websites can focus on updating content alone. Newspapers are restricted to weekly publications, whereas websites and portals can be updated continuously, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. If an advertiser want to list a business online, the advert often appears on the dame day. With newspapers advertisers have to wait over a week to be seen.
It seems that the internet is coming full circle in its development, although now with many new bells and whistles. After a decade of portals and directories becoming larger and larger, people are now looking for more personal, closer partnerships. You could almost say that the internet is coming home.
