BLOGGER: Tom Bridge (& others)
FEATURED BLOG(S): We Love DC
TWITTER: @WeLoveDC
FACEBOOK: We Love DC
FLICKR: We Love DC
Since July is when we commemorate our nation’s independence, it seemed fitting to profile Tom Bridge, one of the founders of We Love DC, which covers life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in our nation’s capital. A multi-author blog founded on July 4, 2008 by a group of disgruntled Metbloggers, We Love DC was purposefully launched on that auspicious date. Bridge and his partners specifically chose Independence Day to turn in their resignations to Metblogs — declaring their own independence, as it were — and strike out on their own.
After about an hour-long phone call with Tom, I came away from our conversation feeling impressed and inspired by the professionalism and dedication of the entire We Love DC team. They have a clear creative vision and they’ve been giving life to that vision day in and day out for the past two years (… except for the weekends, when they take a break!). So, what’s that vision, exactly? While Tom never came out with an official mission statement, I think We Love DC celebrates not only the District of Columbia and its residents, but also the uniqueness and sovereignty of its individual contributors within a collaborative group project (much like the United States, perhaps?).
Having said that, I got to thinking about the challenges and opportunities presented by running a multi-author local blog, and I realized that Tom and his team at We Love DC have a lot to teach us about how to do it well.
1. Build an A+ Team of Rockstar Individuals
We Love DC currently has 24 contributors, each of them selected because they have their own unique editorial point of view and area of expertise. “We want people who are really passionate,” Tom explains. “Foodies, Nats fans, Caps fans – [as a writer], your voice and your obsession put together make an audience. [We Love DC] is home to many voices and many different obsessions, and together they cover all the things we love about this region.”
Not only will your blog benefit from this approach, but your contributors will love you for it and repay you with loyalty and quality content. Big things happen for We Love DC‘s awesome contributors: take their music writer, Michael Darpino, for instance – he got to cover the 9:30 Club’s 30th anniversary concert and received a personal thank-you email from Henry Rollins as a result. Or Jen Larson, who writes the ‘We Love Drinks’ column: she’s started judging serious mixology contests alongside high-level local celebrities and cocktail experts.
2. Keep an Editorial Calendar
I know, I know. Previously I’ve said that keeping and editorial calendar isn’t necessary in order to run a kick-ass hyperlocal blog. I still stand by that statement: you may not need an editorial calendar if you’re blogging solo (or if your partner is your roommate, as is the case with Christy and Morgan, the gals behind Nashvillest). Still, I’ll add a caveat for multi-author blogs with teams numbering in the double digits. In cases like this, organization becomes paramount, and an editorial calendar is a great way to stay on track and preserve your leadership team’s peace of mind. Tom says his team runs their editorial calendar through Basecamp. They also maintain an email list that they use to brainstorm re: story ideas, some of which eventually make it onto the editorial calendar (it also serves as a way for contributors to stay connected to one another, since they’ve all got day jobs).
3. If You Like It, Put a Ring On It
Wait, what was that, Beyonce? OK, I’m not saying you should marry your blog or its contributors, but if you’re serious about making it work, you should definitely consider making it official and seeking incorporation of some form. We Love DC is a Virginia-based LLC because they found that to be the simplest process in terms of the options in their area. I’ll leave the pre-nup discussion for another post (sorry, Kanye).
4. $hare the Wealth
It’s a great idea to offer a profit-sharing plan to your contributors (BTW: I’m no lawyer (sorry, Dad!), but if you plan do to this, it seems smart to make sure you’ve covered #3 first). We Love DC takes profit-sharing to the next level by offering contributors not only a portion of the blog’s proceeds, but also a path to ownership: 7 of the blog’s 24 contributors own a stake in the company. “You should have a path to ownership when you’re part of the staff — we’ve extended ownership to 2 authors [who have been with us for a long time],” Tom says, adding that “you shouldn’t have to work your ass off just to pay somebody else’s bills.”
5. Be Open & Honest with Contributors
From the very beginning, Tom and his co-founders wanted to make sure they were treating their contributors with respect. “We strive to be open and honest with our authorship: bills, traffic, revenue — [all of the data is available] to our writers,” Tom says. “It was absolutely imperative to us [to do this, because] when communication broke down between DC and LA [with Metblogs], that’s when everything really fell apart.”
6. Focus on Friendraising
Forging partnerships with area businesses can be useful for all local bloggers, but this becomes especially useful and important for multi-author blogs with large audiences: for one thing, large-scale events are always better (and easier to pull off) with a little help from your friends. We Love DC thinks big when it comes to partnering with local businesses. “We’ve done huge things with the Kimpton hotel group,” Tom explained. “For instance, we did a survey last year just looking at the demographics of our readership [and those that completed the survey had a chance to win a free dinner and hotel stay from Kimpton]. We’re getting ready to plan our second birthday party, and we hope to partner with them again. Another great partnership we’ve started has been with the 9:30 Club. We do concert ticket giveaways each week– it’s fantastic.”
There are many more nuggets of wisdom I took away from my conversation with Tom, and I’m sure I’ll share those with you in a future post. In the meantime, do you have other tips for people who run multi-author hyperlocal blogs (or those who are interested in starting one)? Please share your wisdom!
P.S. Local bloggers, don’t forget to register your blog here. It’s quick, simple, and will help drive traffic to your blog.
P.P.S.: If you’d like to be featured in our ‘Bloggers We Love’ series (or you’d like to nominate your favorite local blogger(s) for inclusion), we’d love to hear from you! Simply send an email to esther@outside.in
