Instivate, Inc. is looking for an online advertising sales representative to join our Seattle startup as Employee #4! Our network of Seattle news and neighborhood blogs is a cutting edge leader in the hyperlocal wave. Here are some of the outstanding local sites we power: 

• http://capitolhillseattle.com 
• http://centraldistrictnews.com 
• http://seattlecrime.com 
• http://thesunbreak.com 

We are seeking a hard charging sales representative to sell advertising across these sites.

We provide a base salary, generous commission structure and benefits options. Please help us spread the word about this great opportunity. Please contact justin@instivate.com with resumes/questions/etc.

If you know how to reach the right people to quickly close win/win advertising deals, read on. 

You are an excellent self-manager, dedicated to analytical, systematic sales approaches but also extremely comfortable helping local businesses put their messages in front of our growing Seattle audience....

Like Seattle-based local media analysis and news site Local Remote, we don't like it when the terms local and hyperlocal get tossed around and misapplied. LR takes a stab at defining what makes hyperlocal special:

"Hyperlocal” covers neighborhoods, while “local” covers towns and cities. We get some press releases here about how stations or newspapers are starting new “hyperlocal” websites that cover their city or a given topic in their city (say, “moms”). A mom blog is a niche site. A neighborhood blog is hyperlocal. A city blog is local. 

We won't venture into the mom blog waters, but we're not sure this definition set satisfies. Like the rest of the hyperlocal experts* on the Internet, we have to toss in our $0.02 on the debate. Here's how Neighborlogs looks at it.

Hyperlocal to us is about a set of assets -- not necessarily official borders or measures like population size. Here is that asset package that a hyperlocal site must cover and, equally important,...

It's been a week since we launched the SeattleCrime iPhone app -- our first step in bringing high quality mobile experiences to the community news space. We are proud to say we're zooming through our first 1,000 downloads and, more importantly, the SeattleCrime iPhone app is the highest rated top Seattle news app in the Apple Store. Here are the six apps Apple currently features -- some big names here including Seattle Times and KIRO.

Out of all of them, only Crime is currently rocking a 4-star user rating.

And in our time climbing through the rest of the 31 apps that come up for the search "Seattle news," SeattleCrime had the highest rating we could find.

Thanks for the support and we're glad you like it. If you don't have it yet, download the SeattleCrime app here.

At Instivate, our work developing Neighborlogs community news sites has helped us create low cost, powerful sites for larger independent news and information efforts. One of these sites is SeattleCrime. It's a fantastic city news site run by a pro journalist and powered by Instivate technology. We're extremely proud to announce an exciting new component of the site -- the SeattleCrime iPhone App.

Get the app

Developed in conjunction with mobile partner Purple Robots, the app showcases many of the tenets of our news and info delivery philosophy -- and, of course, the city's crime news flow keeps things interesting with great stories. Here is what the app does:

• Continuously maps the latest emergency calls across the city
• Mixes in original reporting from SeattleCrime and Neighborlogs Seattle community news blogs
• Is location aware so you can fire it up and find out what those sirens near you are about.

The SeattleCrime app is the kind of thing we love to build. Useful to anybody who's ever seen a cop car...

We recently looked at Seattle's hyperlocal ad trends and identified some of the ways that independent community sites are leading the way in creating sustainable business models for advertising supported local news. We've seen scant evidence that big media has learned from any of this -- to date, the typical Seattle big media hyperlocal advertising effort is practically nonexistent while the worst are driven by third-party managed boiler rooms that leave long-term sustainability and present-term SMB relationships shredded in their path.

Fortunately, on the content side of the equation, there are signs that big media can have a positive role to play in hyperlocal news. We have been exceptionally hard on Seattle's big media efforts in hyperlocal news and information gathering. But Seattle's big media has done some things that are exceptionally hard on the hyperlocal environment.

Now there are signs that, when it comes to the quality and, yes, even quantity of hyperlocal news, big media operations are learning....

Neighborlogs-powered sites now make up four of the 16 neighborhood news sites that are part of the Seattle Times local news partnership. Congratulations, Curt and Ben!

Added to the partnership today:

• EastLakeAve: http://eastlakeave.com
• AuororaSeattle: http://auroraseattle.com

Here is the rest of the Seattle neighborhood roster. Our other Neighborlogs family members are CapitolHillSeattle.com and CentralDistrictNews.com.

How do we know we're building the right thing with Neighborlogs? When we see a dedicated neighborhood news gatherer get his first big advertiser on a Neighborlogs site, we know we're on to something. Congratulations Curt and EastLakeAve -- you're doing a great job.

We know it when two more sites using our services have been added to the Seattle Times local news partnership -- that makes four of us now out of 16 neighborhoods. Yay!

We also know it when a veteran of the digital hyperlocal scene weighs 15 criteria for picking a content management system for an ad-driven hyperlocal news website and chooses us. That's a good sign!

Here are the first three factors for SunValleyOnline's Dave Chase:

No developer required: In my opinion, it is no longer necessary for 98 percent of sites to have a Web developer on staff. Fortunately, there are many off-the-shelf solutions that don't require an in-house technologist. There may be occasional needs where a developer can be contracted to do specific work but at the...

Over the next few days, people who care deeply about the future of news and media will come together in Seattle for the Journalism That Matters Pacific Northwest Conference. We'll be there to collaborate and contribute -- and to show off the latest from our http://neighborlogs.com and http://instiads.com services.

Over on the JTM Google Group, the conversation on one important topic near and dear to our heart has already begun. One group participant asked the following:

I'd be really interested in hearing from people who have established viable local ad programs that local businesses can use to their benefit, and to pay the rent for local news sites. 

• What works and what doesn't, in your areas / sites?
• What are the must haves to attract local and regional advertisers?
• Salesmen or online DIY ads?

Here is what we've seen in our headquarters city of Seattle, WA.

• Ad types

Almost all activity that advertisers pay for on Seattle community news/hyperlocal news sites is standard...

We enjoyed this interview with Tracy Record, one of the great characters helping to put the Pacific Northwest hyperlocal scene at the center of the hyperlocal community news map along with us here in Seattle. But we felt bad when we saw this reply to a question a lot of people ask about dedicated hyperlocal efforts:

AP: You are constantly attending meetings, markets and other events; you keep long hours and have a family at the same time. How do you keep the energy up?

TR: I have been a night owl all my life and have managed to do OK on five or so hours sleep. These days, three-hour nights are more common than five-hour nights, though, and I tend to nod off in the living-room chair while trying to finish that one last story that it always comes down to around 2, 3 am.

We don't recommend three hours of sleep for anybody -- especially not a news and information gathering entrepreneur. Just for the record, I average about seven hours of sleep per night and Instivate prez Scott Durham of Central District News<...

Truly local community news sites are special things. Started by a mix of content entrepreneurs, hobbyists and community organizers, they are fragile. We're always sad when one of our Neighborlogs sites goes quiet -- alas, Ravenna Nation -- but we're equally happy when a new site joins the flock.

Please welcome one of the newest Neighborlogs sites -- the Beverly Hills Independent.

Visit site

Some community news sites are dedicated to helping to define under-defined, underrepresented areas. Beverly Hills wouldn't be one of those. But like one of our leading Neighborlogs sites, CapitolHillSeattle.com, there is still a story to tell about the daily lives of the people who live in these well-known places. In the process, these high profile locations can be redefined from a community perspective.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. BHI is just getting started. Wish them luck and welcome them to the Neighborlogs family of community news sites. You can also follow their progress on Twitter @bhindependent.

Outside.in knows a little bit about building a business in local content. The company just closed a $7 million round of funding to help grow its hyperlocal news, information and advertising services. When PaidContent.org asked CEO Mark Josephson where on the hyperlocal blackjack table he would place his bet, he played the Neighborlogs card:

If you weren’t part of Outside.in, in which local players would you invest your money?

I really like some of the more scalable platform plays in local that are trying to solve big problems, and if they work, they should scale to multiple markets or sectors. I watch content-platform companies like Neighborlogs and Patch that are making progress figuring out the individual content creator model; scalable advertiser acquisition engines like Clickable, Yodle, CitySquares and AdReady that are making it easier for advertisers to have success and social-media companies like Foursquare that are so darn addicting and are creating tons of interesting real-time local data....

Here's the latest from the Neighborlogs network of sites. Want to start your own neighborhood news site? Register for our beta.

• Curt over at Eastlake Ave. has been diligently following the new Seattle school's assignment plan, and this week, he updated readers on the ongoing process. 
• As yet another coffee shop opens in Capitol Hill, David Albright had a chance to sit down with the manager for a CapitolHillSeattle.com exclusive video interview.
• New Neighborlog SunValleyOnline gets readers ready for the snow and ski season with a weather update for the area.
• Belltownpeople take advantage of the diverse group of individuals roaming Pike Place, and pick out a very helpful fruit vendor.

Michelle Ferrier is working to build the Women’s Online News Franchise and she's on the hunt for a community news platform to power it that is affordable and scales to the challenge. She has narrowed her options down to four -- and we're happy to note that Neighborlogs made the cut.

Here's how Ferrier described Neighborlogs in her write-up:

Neighborlogs.com, based in Seattle, offers a blog platform specifically for those doing hyperlocal community news or placeblogs.

She also produced a grid comparing Neighborlogs to the three other options she is considering.

While we might take a little offense at the 'struggling' bootstrap part -- we're lean and mean! -- we think Ferrier has identified some of our greatest strengths. Our self-serve ad system designed for businesses of all sizes is ideal for small, one and two person news operations. And, she's right, we're continually developing new tools and improvements for our system. As for the cons, hey, a controlled Beta isn't so bad -- all you need to...

A Seattle neighborhood news site is out with its second annual look at the top Web media properties in Seattle. Like any good ranking system, there are plenty of holes to point out in the methodology combining Quantcast, Alexa and other rankings in a 'secret sauce' recipe but Belltown Dispatch's list is fun to dig into nonetheless. Instivate, the Seattle start-up behind Neighborlogs, is proud to point out that we power eight of the top 75 sites in the rankings. Not bad when you consider we're up against media behemoths like Hearst, Fox and, the #1 online Seattle media property, the Seattle Times.

Here's a table showing the rankings with markings highlighting sites powered by our technology as well as the sites involved in a local news partnership with the Seattle Times which we feel should be a model for big media + little media collaboration. We've also marked the kinds of sites Neighborlogs loves most -- online-only indie neighborhood news sites -- in red. And, oh, by the way, we also power the Belltown Dispatch!...

The partnership between the Seattle Times and a group of Seattle community news blogs has drawn national attention and praise and helped put the Pacific Northwest on the map as one of the leading areas for media industry innovation.

But most large company hyperlocal efforts have not been hits. We've noted the poorly planned attempts of big media attempting to scale down to hyperlocal community news before. I recently had the opportunity to talk with a high ranking employee at a big media operation who is involved in rolling out a cookie-cutter effort to create neighborhood sites across a metro region. This is what I learned.

I can't name the employee, the city or the organization because I don't want him or her to get in trouble -- and most of what I learned would definitely cause some furrowed brows in upper management. But I can tell you that all of this is exactly as I heard it as I talked with the employee recently as we discussed their next 'big' effort in the space.

Meet Employee H. For Hyperlocal. Employee...

Poynter Online writes this week about Seattle's local news scene and includes profiles of some of the city's leading sites including Neighborlogs-powered CapitolHillSeattle.com:

Carder believes there is constant demand for neighborhood news. "It's as simple as wondering what that siren you just heard on the street outside was all about. Draw lines from that. The sirens are also local businesses: What's opening? What will it be like? The sirens are city projects: Where should the next park be built? Where did that money go?" he said. "Some media outlets stopped answering those questions. Some did answer them and went out of business. Some never bothered."

Neighborlogs features run deep. Community news providers get:

• An easy-to-use content editor and site manager
• Built-in geolocation and community features
• Forums, classifieds, aggregation tools
• A cutting-edge, small-to-medium business focused self-serve advertising service

And it's all free. To add a new opportunity to the Instivate family of services, this week we are rolling out InstiAds. The new self-serve ad service takes the Neighborlogs advertising system and makes it available on any community news and information Web site regardless of platform, codebase or service.

You can register for the InstiAds Beta here.

The new service lets anybody set their own prices and provide advertising services designed for local businesses. Here is a look at the self-serve wizard:

The service also includes easy to use Logo + Text layouts that allow businesses with limited budgets to create and update great looking display ads without a graphic designer.

If you are operating an existing local news and information...

Allow us to introduce one of the newest members of the Neighborlogs family of sites, the Buckingham Herald Trib from Arlington, VA.

Here's how site owner Steve Thurston describes his site's mission:

The Buckingham HeraldTrib is a news web site for the neighborhoods of Buckingham, Arlington Forest, Ashton Heights and surrounding Arlington.

Readers can submit their own work (especially calendar events!); they can post comments at the end of any story, or they can write emails to the editor: heraldtrib@gmail.com. All emails are considered letters to the editor, unless the writer explicitly writes that they are not.

I am interested in advertisers who are interested in reaching a local, Arlington, audience. Unlike the "Google Ads" model, I believe there is a market of people who get their news on-line, but prefer to shop, eat, and conduct business face-to-face. I am looking to Arlington advertisers who see the potential for that market, and want to reach a hyper-local audience, too.

Steve moved the Trib from Blogger...

Here's the latest from the Neighborlogs network of sites. Want to start your own neighborhood news site? Register for our beta.

• The Aurora Seattle blog harbors a positive response to an attack on the neighborhood's character.
• New Neighborlogs Blog, The Buckingham Herald Trib, starts off right with an extensive news essay on a student project fighting for affordable housing.
• San Diego Dtown updates its community on a multitude of food news from around San Diego. 
• Lake City Live takes up the never-ending task of covering local politics with an update on the Lake City Chamber of Commerce. 

(Via: Central District News)

• A Belltown local wins the prestigious Macarthur Genius Grant for filmography.
• Central District News highlights the popular local business review feature on Neighborlogs sites.
• Gay Cap Hill and Capitol Hill Seattle team up to bring readers the trailer for the 2009 Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.
• Another film festival over in San Diego, and its Neighborhood blog rolls out a comprehensive guide to the fun.
• The South Lake Union Blog recaps the ups and downs of SLU's criticized streetcar.

Seattle is at the forefront of a wave of independent, local online news and information. It's fun to watch the trends. Political and news online wonkfest Publicola today announced they are hiring an advertising rep.

We'll go them one better. We hired an ad rep on Friday. Meet Eric Kelly eric@instiads.com

Eric will be leading the way in ad sales on the Neighborlogs network of neighborhood news blogs. Drop him a line today if you'd like to have your message associated with truly local community news and information. Eric can get you hooked up across the Neighborlogs network, one any of the sites utilizing our services like SeattlePostGlobe.org or TheSunbreak.com and any of our partner sites.

Here's the latest from the Neighborlogs network of sites. Want to start your own neighborhood news site? Register for our beta.

• Capitol Hill Seattle was packed with everything from guitar playing rabbits, schools dealing with swine flu, and a cougar scare this week.
• Up and coming Neighborlog Gay Cap Hill covers the Seattle Orcas, a swim team for gays, lesbians and friends.
• Belltownpeople.com reports on a weekend pet parade boasting live music, contests, and other festivities. 
• Eastlake Ave. discovers a 30 year tradition in the Eastlake Zoo cook off competition for best chili, not giraffe stew.

Here's the latest from the Neighborlogs network of sites. Want to start your own neighborhood news site? Register for our beta.

• ParkroseGateway gets readers ready for streets filled with school goers with bicycle and pedestrian safety posts.
• Central District's Garfield High School won its first football game of the year, and its neighborhood blog was there to capture it.
• San Diego Dtown goes a little bigger with their coverage of a Chargers player's tussle with the law.
• Capitol Hill Seattle moves off the hill to cover a back-to-school nightmare: H1N1 at the University of Washington.

With Big Media sniffing around (here and here) the hyperlocal space in Seattle and also gearing up for a go in Portland and these 6 new features rolled out to everybody using our service and tools, we thought it might be a good time to compare and contrast Neighborlogs vs. Big Media 'Hood Sites.

Here are some features to consider if you find yourself making the decision between contributing to a big media local news effort or building something real for your community.

Ready to start your own Neighborlogs site? Send me a note or register for our Beta today.

We're happy to announce several new Beta features for Neighborlogs that we believe will make your local news and information sites even more important parts of your communities.

• Site features control in Admin
  In your site's Admin, you will now find a Site Features section (under Site Appearance). You can toggle on/off Neighborlogs features using this new control panel.
• Classifieds
  Some of you have had these for awhile -- the rest of you, welcome to the free community classified advertising game. You can see how they work on my site: http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/classifieds Look for a new section in your Admin to create the Classified Ad Categories.
  
• Forums
  Your Neighborlogs site can now have communty message boards. Example: http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/forums To create your Forums categories, create a Forums section in your Admin's Categories management section and the add child categories.
  
• Aggregation
  This one is powerful and totally Beta! Check it out. Like the other new features, you'll need to turn...