Every neighborhood needs a neighborhood blog

Justin, here. Or, J, as you might know me on CHS. Late last month, I wrote about starting Capitol Hill Seattle as a hobby and having it turn into an opportunity where I was quitting Microsoft to get involved with a project to build a nationwide network of neighborhood blogs like CHS. Today, I'm ready to start building the network.

MyZip Neighborhood Blog Trial

Register today

Does your neighborhood need a blog? You can write it! We're building a nationwide network of neighborhood blogs and want you to be part of it. Who: Marchex MyZip What: Trial start of neighborhood blog network When: Starting now, the trial will transition into the full network system over the next few months Why: Your neighborhood needs a blog, you're a good writer and we'll give you $50 a month to help us get started. Who should sign up: If you like to know what is happening in your 'hood, like to tell others about great stuff and have time to write 5 posts a week, we want you -- even if you've never had a blog. If you already have a place blog, we welcome you too. How: Register now

Recap -- Why we started CHS
First, a recap of why we started working on our neighborhood blog -- we had 5 simple goals:
1. Get to know our new neighborhood
2. Write about the good stuff in hopes that more good stuff would happen
3. Sometimes write about the bad stuff in hopes that less bad stuff would happen
4. Learn about how the Internet is put together and how people interact with it
5. Make it all last

My new job -- Marchex's MyZip
What I'm most excited about is being able to help with #5 -- too many great neighborhood blogs fade away because of some combination of lack of attention and lack of incentive. In my new job, I'm working for Seattle-based Marchex to create a system that gives people the tools they need to write great neighborhood blogs and the financial incentive for the writers and their communities to keep it going. For Marchex's local search and advertising efforts, creating an environment rich with neighborhood content is good for business. For neighborhood bloggers, MyZip is the best way to create something that will last and not get lost in the swirl of life.

We're still figuring out many specifics. In fact, it's so early there's not even a MyZip site to show you yet but you can check out Marchex's Open List to see some of our tools in action. In the meantime, we're starting our trial NOW and need neighborhood residents from Seattle and the surrounding region as well as people from across the country to sign up for their neighborhoods and start blogging. Register to be a trial MyZip blogger here.

Through the course of the trial, we'll give you advice and tips to create useful posts and we'll reward you for your effort -- each participant will receive $50 per month through the duration of the trial. We also hope our trial bloggers will stick with us and stay with the network as our long-term incentive plan goes into place and we add in a non-profit giving element.

Why MyZip
We're dedicated to two ideals:
1) Neighborhood blogging is valuable and should be rewarded
2) The reward should benefit the community as well as the writer

More details as we settle in on the best system to sustain the network. In the meantime, I hope you'll consider getting involved and telling your friends and family about the MyZip trial. Could be a good Thanksgiving dinner table topic, no?

CHS will continue on as always with our focus on the minutiae of our part of Capitol Hill. As MyZip gets built up, I'll do most of my talking about the project on the MyZip homepage -- but for now CHS is my bully pulpit for neighborhood blogging. I'm happy to have it -- and, especially, to have your attention. Thanks for reading. Now back to your regularly scheduled neighborhood blog.