Local blogging ideas that you can monetize

Get paid to post local job ads

Major online job search engines, such as Indeed.com, Monster.com, and Careerbuilder.com, or even the LinkedIn online social network for professionals, have managed to dominate the market of browsing employment opportunities online.

Each of the above job search platforms has its own, distinct features, and offers various benefits to online job seekers, such as the fact that they can serve the individual needs of web users who search for work online.

In fact, sites like Indeed.com have grown into massive job search aggregators that beat in Google's search results the original sites where job posts are posted. That is probably due to the high frequency of fresh, updated, and relevant content that is regularly posted on Indeed.com, for example. Even though there are smaller sites that are focused on a specific job niche and can be considered more relevant, they can't beat content freshness and website structure and authority.

However, there might be a little glimpse of hope for smaller websites and blogs that wish to promote job opportunities online. The key to success for those sites is to focus locally and explore and discover employment opportunities that big job search engines don't bother about or simply can't discover. Those are the job openings in the local community that job seekers can only get to know about by word of mouth. Therefore, chances are that big job aggregators won't be able to find and publish online.

This is where your little, locally-focused, job search blog comes into the picture. Once you have established connection with local employers and job seekers, and you have managed to make yourself known as the primary place to go for local job advertising and job hunting, you will be able to form establish a locally-based competitive advantage against big job search platforms.

Even if big players finally manage to discover and publish your local job posts online, after you have posted them yourself, you will still be able to rely on a loyal local market of employers and job seekers. This type of audience will visit your site first, before visiting any other national or international job search engine, thus providing you with valuable direct online traffic.

How to monetize your local jobs blog

You can try Google AdSense or any other well-known advertising platform.

However, it would be a good idea to offer advertising space to local businesses and people. This will have a positive impact towards establishing a solid connection with the local community, and guarantee the long-term viability and profitability of your blog. Just make some banner space available for local ads and state your advertising terms. Local advertisers will appreciate the fact that your blog is aimed at and caters for the employment needs of the local community.

Get paid to write your local community news

Writing reports on local community news can be an excellent opportunity to make money online.

It's something that is fairly easy and straightforward to do if you have an active interest in local stories and, in general, enjoy getting involved in your local community affairs. You only need to have access to some original, fresh news on a daily basis, which you can find published in local newspapers and blogs.

Then, you could add a comment and your personal point of view, and write a nice article or post in your own blog, or in a blog run collectively by a group of writers. It is that simple really.

You don't need to be top expert in anything in particular. Just write and publish your own perspective and account of things happening in your local area, and you can be rest assured that, with time, and as soon as local readers discover your source of news commentary that has something of value to offer to them, the popularity of your blog will increase and help you get a loyal audience and a steady and, why not, growing volume of online traffic.

You have to offer to your readers quality and thoughtful insights on local community news that they won't be able to find anywhere else. Don’t just copy and paste what major local news providers have published; that is stealing their content and it's against the law. Also, don't forget to accept reader comments and reply to them. This form of discussion will add value to your local news commentary blog, in the eyes of your readers, as well as Google.

Once you have managed to build readership, you should time to think of ways of monetizing your blog. You could search for and get in touch with local businesses looking for new places to advertise themselves, letting them know that they can pay you to have their brands displayed prominently on your blog.

Further reading:

Make your blog a local destination & win at local search

Blogging for local search results

11 hyper-local blogging ideas for real estate

Local SEO: How to optimize your site for local search

Top 7 Profitable Blog Ideas That Make Money