Hyper local blogging success

How to define “success”? To start, success for RealCrozetVA is not defined by transactions, it is defined by what it contributes to the community. RealCrozetVA was started in September of 2005 with a simple goal:

I am starting this blog somewhat on a whim, so as to provide a forum for Crozet to (hopefully) discuss their thoughts about Crozet’s growth.

My whimsical vision also sees this as a place to discuss Crozet’s goings-on, music and cultural events, local vineyards, etc. This will be a slow start, as my business and my blog and my life already consume so much of my time. Please be patient, and if anybody wants to help out, please let me know.

You may start here to learn a little bit about some of what has been happening in Crozet.

And it has grown slowly but surely. After a recent mailing to raise awareness of the blog, traffic has spiked. Hopefully we will be able to keep some of that traffic and interest. Darren Rowse might call this “slow and steady” blog growth. That it has been over 18 months since its inception is amazing; it feels like only yesterday that I got the bug to start it.

One thing differentiates realcrozetva from some of the other “hyper local” blogs that have been discussed in the re.net – it was started purely for the community, with no desire to gain profit (much like cvillenews.com, but even more localized). Only very recently have I added the “Search for Homes” tab, and I debated and struggled with that for quite some time; I do not want to detract from the site’s being for the Crozet community. One of the best features of the site is the Community Map, which shows many, although not yet all, businesses in Crozet.

I cannot yet attribute a single transaction to the site, and don’t really care; that was never the goal. I won’t have advertising on the site. The relationships I have had the opportunity to develop, the ways in which I have been able to give back to the community, primarily due to this blog, and even more importantly, emails such as this make it worthwhile –

Good morning… quick note on your blog.  … I’m a big fan of the RealCrozet blog. I’ve passed it along to many new friends I’ve made here.  It’s great … well done, and a wonderful way to pull the community together.  Thank you!

Here’s to another 18 months.

* I have cross-posted this with RealCrozetVA; it and Real Central VA have completely different audiences, and I think this post will be interesting to both.