PRESSTIME asked: “Many newspaper sites have begun focusing on hyperlocal content. Do you think that approach will ultimately pay off?

Billionaire and famed dance aficionado Mark Cuban got this answer right when he said, “They don’t have a choice. It’s a checklist item – if it’s not there, they fail.”

Remember what the Suburban Newspaper Association found in its far-reaching study of the best local sites. Respondents said breaking news is the No. 1 reason for visiting these sites. Any newspaper.com must cover breaking news or it won't be used.

The same goes for hyperlocal coverage, which is just another way to say “relevant” coverage. The more relevant your news coverage is to readers, the more they will depend on your site.

The question shouldn’t be whether hyperlocal will ultimately pay off since it’s not actually part of playing offense. It’s a defensive strategy for most newspapers.

But the smart strategist realizes that whoever controls breaking news coverage and hyperlocal content can control any market, even those outside traditional boundaries. For example, Yahoo’s decision to create a newspaper consortium proves it understands the competitive advantage of being considered the most local.

And it picked up on the second part of Cuban’s answer; “What also has to be hyperlocal is the salesforce. It’s the one thing no national Web site will ever have.”

Well, not “ever.” Through its consortium, Yahoo is already co-opting newspaper salesforces to sell its job postings and banner inventory. Those newspapers that join the consortium post all of their local employment classifieds to Yahoo HotJobs and then give Yahoo a cut of the profits. Aren’t those newspapers lucky?

And when someone in your market logs on, Yahoo will even let you sell the banner impressions generated by their visit. Wow, so nice of them.

But it doesn’t stop there. Remember the importance of breaking news? If you partner with Yahoo, they’ll let you post all your breaking news directly to the personalized Yahoo Local home page.

It’s almost as if Yahoo has hired local sales people and local reporters, except that newspapers pay for the privilege of working.

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