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Starting a local city forum..

by expertcapper
6 replies
I've had a domain for a large city (ex. cityFORUM.com) sitting around for a while and am just thinking of developing it. Yes there are the citydata and topix forums but they seem to be just a run on forum not organized in categories and seem to be mostly visitors talking.

I was thinking of starting a forum not only for visitors but for locals as well. I think people would be more inclined to visit here than the above noted sites.

Only thing is content for the homepage, are there any event, newspaper XML/RSS feeds or something I could get as far as free content for a local city? I would add a hotel affiliate program of course, any other suggestions?

Maybe i'll start off with just the forum and see the response and then build the home/cms page after

What are your thoughts?
#city #forum #local #starting
  • Profile picture of the author moneyglue
    You could have a look at eventful.com for your events feed. You would need some development skills or hire someone to integrate the API though
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    • Profile picture of the author TCwarrior
      Hi,
      you can contact authorities, businesses, political parties, anyone that issues bulletins and press releases then pick and choose from the list of local news/events/warnings/shop openings/etc... for relevant and up to date content for your home page.

      Of course there is money you can make getting local sponsors/ads on your forum or ad placements in your email-updates to your forum members... of course make sure content/value comes first so your forum users won't feel spammed
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  • Profile picture of the author ace666
    Are there any local blogs publishing content on a regular basis that you can feed into the site?
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  • Profile picture of the author GeraldNitram
    If you have the time and the budget, you can make it a real website for your city and post some news and some links to great content on the front page. You can make the forum you're thinking of a part of the site by making it a sub-directory.
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  • Profile picture of the author expertcapper
    awesome suggestions
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  • Profile picture of the author NicoleBeckett
    I would ask the local TV stations and newspapers if they have any kind of feed you could put on your home page. The worst they can say is no, but there's a good chance they'll say yes. Back when I was in news, we had a local forum that was very popular. As they got bigger, they asked all of the stations if they could pull some of the local stories from our websites (with full credit to us and links to our stations' websites, of course). Every station in town (and the newspaper) was fine with it. For us, it was added exposure that was totally free!
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