I'm sure you've heard the expression, "Think globally, act locally". I've noticed a growing trend on the Internet towards having people report on the news in their local areas. Examiner.com uses this model, and certainly anyone who passes along newsworthy information via Twitter or Facebook is doing something similar.

Patch.com is a site (owned by AOL) that let's you be a journalist of sorts to report on what is happening in your locale. This might be an interesting way to market yourself. People have been writing articles for the web for years as a way to gain credibility and market themselves and this is a similar approach.

For instance, personal historians (I do a bit of this work myself - see Your Life Is Your Story ) can write about the history of their communities and generate an interesting news piece as well as some possible client leads. A good example is what Marilyn L. Geary wrote and posted recently for the San Rafael Patch. Her article about the West End Training ground for champion boxers in the early 20th century is quite interesting.

Do you have something interesting to share about your community, either historical or current? Consider putting on your "journalist" hat and posting at sites like Patch.com.