1100 Online HyperLocal™ Newspapers Launched as Part of HelloMetro Network

Local Search and Content Network Will Produce 1100 PDF Newspapers Each Day. HyperLocal™ Content from Each of HelloMetro’s US and Canadian City Guides

With 16 journalists now on staff covering 12 major U.S. metropolitan areas, leading city search website HelloMetro.com is expanding its HyperLocal™ news operation — adding a new online daily newspaper in more than 1,100 HelloMetro.com websites in the United States and Canada, and with plans to hire another 10 journalists in the next three months.

The online paper will begin publication tomorrow and will include up-to-date articles by local HelloMetro reporters, along with information on local movie theaters and show times, profiles of parks and local landmarks, 3-day weather forecasts, lottery numbers, local band and artist profiles, local coupons and neighborhood profiles.

In coming weeks, the current mix of locally written stories on attractions, events, and restaurants will expand to also include business profiles, coverage of local schools, airport/air-travel news and leisure news and more, and the number of local photographs will increase.

Information now available only in Web format will be compiled into easy-to-read, printable PDF (Portable Document Format) newspapers with the latest community coverage. The papers will be exposed to the more than 4 million people who visit HelloMetro.com’s websites each month — and HelloMetro’s National advertisers will be expanded into the online newspapers at no charge.

Three online newspapers from today:

Louisville, Kentucky: http://www.HelloLouisville.com/media_files/newspaper/HelloLouisville_newspaper_Wed_05-27-2009.pdf

Nashville and Seattle.

Readers will find a massive amount of local information in each daily edition. In cities staffed by HyperLocal™ journalists, there will also be five to 10 articles a week or more written from the local and neighborhood perspective.

“Because the percentage of people who read their news online is increasing every day, we see our writers and reporters as important neighborhood news bureaus,” said Clark Scott, President of HelloMetro. “We think of it as the news bureau gone virtual. As opposed to sitting at a desk and working the phones for news, our writers are out in the community as much as possible.”

HelloMetro Seeks to Fill the Local Content Void Following Newspaper Reporter Layoffs

With staff layoffs at daily and weekly newspapers increasing, many respected newspapers that have long been considered stalwarts of the news industry are being forced to fill their pages with articles from national wire services.

“From the response that we have seen thus far to our HyperLocal™ news stories, we know that people are clamoring for local news,” said Scott. “In our newspapers, we go so far as to geocode or map our news to pinpoint exactly where the stories are taking place. These articles can then be searched by state, city or even neighborhood name.”

The initial wave of HelloMetro.com writers are located in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Louisville, Miami, Nashville, Phoenix, and Seattle. The next wave will be stationed in Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Cincinnati, and Jacksonville.

About HelloMetro

As we have said since 1999, the future of the Internet is “Local.” The HelloMetro global network of 1500 city guides offers users the opportunity to get to know a city through local history, attractions, real estate, jobs, Yellow Pages, and White Pages. HelloMetro.com uniquely dedicates each city site to the flavor of the individual location. For example: www.HelloAtlanta.com , www.HelloDenver.com , www.HelloSanFrancisco.com , www.HelloLouisville.com. More information about HelloMetro can be found at www.HelloMetro.com or by calling (877) 282-2973.
Contacts

HelloMetro
Clark Scott, 502-387-5524
clark {at} hellometro(.)com