I am thinking of starting a local message board for the county that I live in. Unlike many other parts of the nation where a large city tends to a good branding option, in my area folks identify themselves as residents of a county and there is a large county government such as schools, zoning, court, etc.

My intention was to to create local topics and useful information that county residents need as government sites tend to be woefully poor in organizing information, let alone run discussion boards. Additionally, I wanted to add a marketplace and a social board for those folks looking for pick-up games in the park and such.

I have read a lot of information here and it does seem to me to be geared more for large internet type audiences so I am looking for advice on running a local geographic oriented board.

What is a good way to promote? drive traffic? I thought of things like car bumper stickers :lol:

The other thought I had was how to generate discussion and keep it lively for local issues and if anyone had thoughts about that. I could see the forum playing somewhat of a local user contributed tid bits sites, local happendings, etc.

Your thoughts?

If there isn't another message board in your community, consider approaching your local newspaper for a partnership. I know of a local newspaper that has links right on their front page for "Discuss the local news" and "Community forums"....The forum owner runs it, requires registration, and promotes the newspaper's subscriptions. Its a win-win.

Most local papers here are owned by the larger newspapers and I see links to topix.net but I find the organization quite sad.

I set up the forums last night browardforums.com/forums :yes: I contracted a good design firm for a skin. Feedback would be appreciated.

I run a few local city websites,,, I find that they are typically easier to promote because people you network with for links, partnerships, contests, community related stuff are more welcoming then other webmasters or strangers with no connection such as locality.

The money these sites generate can be fairly good relative to the traffic you get... I think it has to do with community businesses/etc overbidding on local related keywords etc.

Here are some tips for building/promoting a small community.

I planned on contacting all the local businesses and working my friends and neighbors. It is true that local businesses are more apt to exchange links and come post as I can give them special buttons and sections.