Andrew Huff speaks to a DePaul University graduate journalism class about his blog Gapers Block. (Photo by Mike Reilley)
A gapers block is Chicago term, that describes traffic slow downs because drivers looking at an accident or other incident. Based on that idea, Andrew Huff wanted to get people to slow down and take a look at what is going on around Chicago on his hyperlocal blog Gapers Block.
Huff is the editor and publisher of the site that started in 2003 now receives around 250,000 visitors per month. The site publishes stories about news or events that are happening in the city. How do they decide on what to write on?
“If it’s interesting to you, it’s going to be interesting to someone else,” Huff said.
Recently, the site received a grant for $35,000 from the Chicago Community Trust to enhance the growth of new sources for quality local news. The grant will allow the site to pay some writers for their submissions. Huff said, that Gapers Block is looking primarily for stories about Chicago communities that are not receiving enough attention.
The site is also undergoing a major redesign and is considering adding a business section. The main idea behind the redesign is to shift and widen the Merge (city news) and Rearview (local photo) sections in order to showcase the writers of the blog more.
Gapers Block has always had a layout similar to the Wall Street Journal‘s What’s News Section with one sentence visible, to lead in the story. Huff believes sites like the Huffington Post are too visually jarring for its readers, and would like Gapers Block to have a layout similar to The Daily Beast.
Huff also stresses the importance of linking to other sites, which Gapers Block does religiously. Because Gapers Block link to other sites they receive links back.
“If people don’t link you, how are they going to find you?” Huff said.
When Huff started Gapers Block it was very different in the blogosphere than it is currently. In fact, there were fewer than 1 million blogs compared to more than the estimated 100 million today. Gapers Block started with 12 contributors and now has expanded to around 100 with Huff being the only full-time employee
But the site does not make enough revenue yet for Huff to fully support himself. Huff also earns a living through copy writing. He also is a full time blogger on commercial sites such as Me3dia. His hopes for the feature are that Gapers Block readership grows larger and the site becomes even more well known and influential to its readers.
Huff said, “I get the most satisfaction when I’m at an event and people say ‘I saw this event on Gapers Block.’”
