Hyperlocal News Sites Can Be Profitable

Independent NJ Hyperlocal News Site Takes on AOL’s Patch

Hyperlocal news can be truly local, serve the community and also be profitable, the CEO and publisher of New Jersey’s TheAlternativePress.com told attendees at an MIT Enterprise Forum of New York City held at The New York Times’ headquarters late last week, according to a posting at nyconvergence.com.

According to Michael Shapiro:

“TheAlternativePress.com was cash-flow positive in year one.  We were profitable in year two.  We’re the only profitable hyperlocal represented on this panel tonight.” 

In 2008, Shapiro left his law practice in New York City to start TheAlternativePress.com with his wife in order to become more active in their community of New Providence, NJ, and to spend more time with his family during their son’s illness and recovery.  Today, according to Shapiro, TheAlternativePress.com reaches more than 400,000 unique users per year.

Shapiro described the business model of TheAlternativePress.com, which is to employ local residents as paid freelance reporters covering local news and events, in addition to hiring local residents who often have strong connections and relationships within the community, to market the site.  \

He noted the recent partnership between TheAlternativePress.com and Seton Hall University, in which advanced journalism students from Seton Hall cover local news in South Orange and Maplewood, New Jersey, led by a professor serving as the towns’ metro editor.

 In addition, Shapiro mentioned that TheAlternativePress.com recently licensed the site to a not-for-profit that has launched sites in Paterson and New Brunswick, New Jersey, hiring former Star-Ledger reporters to serve as the editors of the two sites.

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