Entrepreneurs seem to be catching on to the fact that many bloggers are creating compelling local content that deserves a larger audience. And with a larger audience, they could generate some significant local ad revenue. Here is a quick look at some of the different strategies in play:

Metblogs.com: Metblogs is a national blogging network focusing on creating sub-sites with local content. They recruit bloggers to write about goings on in their home cities. Currently, the site reports having 700 bloggers writing about 50 cities. The Minneapolis chapter is currently recruiting additional bloggers who are willing to meeting the following criteria: write about whatever you want that's relevant to the Twin Cities, at least three times per week, for free . . . while we serve ads next to your writing and keep the money. They left out the last part in their pitch.

My perceived weakness in the Metblogs.com model is recruiting. The model doesn't seem to have a compelling pitch for local bloggers who've managed to create even a small following on their own blogs. So what incentive do local bloggers have blogging for free for this company? Does the site have enough of an audience to draw writers based on readership?

Outside.in: Outside.in seems to understand the shortcomings of Metblogs.com. Rather than recruiting local bloggers to write for the site, they're aggregating headlines from local bloggers. This is a significantly different approach, and what I think will be the winning approach for local content. This approach gives Outside.in access to ALL local content being created by ALL local bloggers. Bloggers can simply go about doing what they do best - creating content - while Outside.in organizes the content into cities, neighborhoods, and categories for readers.

Outside.in doesn't host the content, but links out to the original source of traffic, generating new visitors for bloggers in the same way search engines like Google does.

There are a few kinks in the system. For example, I submitted my personal site to Outside.in where I write about local issues like breakfast burrito reviews and beer tastings, but was later bumped from the system because I didn't consistently write about local issues. There is a workaround for this using FeedBurner, where geographically relevant posts can be tagged with their location. Outside.in then works with select posts from blogs tagged as local. I'd like to see them expand this by supporting the GeoRSS Wordpress plugin.

Menuism: this is the restaurant review site focusing on reviewing specific items on restaurants we've talked about before. Community based review sites are basically a form of local blogging. Like Metblogs.com, they'll face challenges recruiting contributors to publish to their platform.

Vita.mn: This is a Minneapolis site, but represents a format you'll probably see in more metropolitan areas, if you don't already. It's a blogging platform, but close enough to mention. Vita.mn is a property of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota's largest daily newspaper. However, the site takes on the content more often found in free weekly newspapers like the Village Voice, The Stranger, or Minneapolis' CityPages. It's an events-driven community site, maintaining a HUGE directory of concert, art show, theater, and other events around town. For example, there are 142 things to TODAY ! The site wraps additional content around the events, such as restaurant, bar, and club directory. And unlike most newspaper sites,

The site also has columnists, including a sex columnist like weeklies do, but it's not Dan Savage. (Dan Savage performed in a taping of a This American Life episode in Minneapolis last night. He's just as funny, or funnier in person than he is in his columns in The Stranger.)

One thing Vita.mn has done that other local sites hasn't is create a paper version of the website. It comes out every Thursday with a list of things to do over the weekend, columns, and highlights from the web site from the past week, including poll results and best quotes.

Business Angle

While each of the above sites is a business, by "business angle" I mean, "where do local businesses interested in blogging fit into the picture?" At this point, it doesn't look like they have a home on the above sites. While there are blogging networks set up around industry verticals, I don't believe any are focusing on creating locally relevant content.