Buried deep within a Yahoo! announcement this week that the once mighty search engine turned struggling second-tier media conglomerate has gone "hyper-local" was a very telling sign of how the company plans to make that aim a reality - the Yahoo! Contributor Network (YCN).

Well below the PR speak about scale, rich content and mobile devices, was found the following gem of a sentence that should signal (in no uncertain terms) how you as a Web marketer might be able to influence results at Yahoo! Local:

"By leveraging the power of the Yahoo! Contributor Network, the entire community can participate and publish stories on topics that matter to them. Individuals and organizations can also add events that are relevant to the local community."

I would not have given that section more than a passing glance if it had not been for an upcoming article slated for January distribution from Website Magazine’s Senior Editor Mike Phillips, who has been putting YCN through its paces.

During our routine conversations about the status of that article, Phillips revealed to me that YCN's assignment desk offered him an opportunity to write on something with a great deal of importance to those of us in Chicago (you’ll find out more when the article is published). If they offered the opportunity to Phillips - who is a great writer and talented journalist, but had only written a couple of articles for YCN - imagine the demand Yahoo! must have for other local content.

The barriers are low right now, Web marketers. If you’re still reading this … stop. Go sign up at YCN and start influencing the local results. Yahoo! is even going to pay you to do it. 

If you’re interested in seeing the results of Mike Phillips' article, make sure you are subscribed to the quarterly edition of Website Magazine (where the article will appear in early January). If you'd like even more insights, request a professional edition of Website Magazine - and remember that we're offering a 25% discount on the regular subscription price until 12-31-2010.