Writing a Localism Post - How NOT to Copy WikiPedia
I do a lot of localized posts and pages for many different cities and counties all over the country. Because I don't know each of these areas individually I must do the research necessary to learn about them. That involves a lot of Googling of the area, chamber of commerce, Wikipedia and local sites for festivals, events, calendars and community pages. Being engulfed in that area takes time to really give a sense that you know what you're taking about. What frustrates me more than anything in doing this type of research though is finding the first 10 search results all the exact information copied from Wikipedia.
Yes, Wikipedia is an open source type of platform editable by anyone that wants to throw in their 2 cents. You are also free to use that information provided you refer back to it (although few rarely do). Depending on how many pages there are in the cyber world on that particular subject you may only get ranked for one of those pages with duplicate content and Google typically chooses Wikipedia.
So why are they showing up on the search results when they are all the same information? Depends on how long they have been around; if the page offers more than 30% other original information; or how heavily it's linked to on a regular basis.
But what about your actual visitors? Your "REAL" readers? Those that really want to know about the area? Sure they can check Wikipedia just like anyone else but most folks that want to know about an area typically care more about school districts, shops and lifestyle than demographics and population at the 2000 census.
Writing a localized post means expressing your own opinion about the area. YOU live there.... why do YOU like it? Is there a favorite coffee shop that gathers the local farmers to discuss rain fall and weather or a neighborhood hot spot that gets jumping on the weekends? How about farmers markets in town or local festivals. Did you know that Pullman Washington has a lentilfest? ...... Really? A Lentil Fest? But someone may actually want to know that! These are things that the real public wants to know.
Sure you can take general information about a town from Wikipedia but then talk about in terms as if you're 
telling your client, not giving a lecture for speech class.
Find out why you love your town. Why people move there. Why you would strongly recommend someone to live there. You can always go back and optimize the page after you write about it. But to start, don't repeat Wikipedia word for word and don't only use it for your research. You may be amazed at what information is out there.
Here are some great examples of localized posts from my associates:
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