BlogIndiana is a Lot Like Herding Cats

When I was visualizing the crowd that might attend the first annual BlogIndiana Conference this weekend in downtown Indianapolis, I had to admit, the picture wasn’t pretty. I had images of GenCon rejects without the costumes wandering around with laptops and Star Wars backpacks. I have to admit, the conference was a pleasant surprise and well done for a first-time conference. Some local speakers included Renee Wilmeth of “Feed Me/Drink Me” fame, Bil (one “l”) Browning from the Bilerco Project, Smaller Indiana’s Erik Deckers,  Bob “I look like a high... 

Watch Out Southern California, atLaJolla.com Coming Soon!

I’ve been pretty open and honest about the atGeist.com “experiment” in local portals. Two years ago, we attempted expansion by launching atFishers.comкомпютри which was about 20% successful (80% of what we attempted didn’t meet expectations so we pulled them). I also realized that the older I’m getting, the less patience I have for initiatives that don’t take off.

I’ve been itching to try it again, this time in southern California. Here comes atLaJolla.com! It turns out that La Jolla, California is very similar to the Geist Reservoir area:

• Affluent demographic
• Approximately 15,000 homes and businesses
• Near a major metropolitan area (San Diego and Indianapolis)
• Weak or no local newspapers

I’m flying out to La Jolla to meet with my new partner out there, a local that has already developed one local portal similar to atGeist.com and he has an office in La Jolla already. La Jolla is a hotbed for realtors, plastic surgeons, upscale car dealerships, and of course homeowners associations for those affluent oceanfront homes.

Watch Out Southern California, atLaJolla.com Coming Soon!

I’ve been pretty open and honest about the atGeist.com “experiment” in local portals. Two years ago, we attempted expansion by launching atFishers.comкомпютри which was about 20% successful (80% of what we attempted didn’t meet expectations so we pulled them). I also realized that the older I’m getting, the less patience I have for initiatives that don’t take off.

I’ve been itching to try it again, this time in southern California. Here comes atLaJolla.com! It turns out that La Jolla, California is very similar to the Geist Reservoir area:

• Affluent demographic
• Approximately 15,000 homes and businesses
• Near a major metropolitan area (San Diego and Indianapolis)
• Weak or no local newspapers

I’m flying out to La Jolla to meet with my new partner out there, a local that has already developed one local portal similar to atGeist.com and he has an office in La Jolla already. La Jolla is a hotbed for realtors, plastic surgeons, upscale car dealerships, and of course homeowners associations for those affluent oceanfront homes.