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A newly launched website, Silicon Bayou News, aims to spread the word about Louisiana's technology sector.

Zach Kupperman, a corporate attorney with the Steeg Law Firm in New Orleans, frequently spoke with friends and college students about technology.

Kupperman was interested in the subject, but he wasn't knowledgeable about the scene.

“There wasn't really a way to follow the inside news,” he says.

So Kupperman launched the website Silicon Bayou News, inspired by New Orleans Entrepreneur Week in March as well as similar websites around the nation.

“The idea is to help catalyze and foster the tech startup community,” he says. “It's a central place where people can promote and discuss.”

On top of content offered by Kupperman and his editorial team, the site allows writers to join in and contribute tech-related stories on a volunteer basis. Stories run the gamut from product and event announcements to such recurring features as “All About You,” a question-and-answer format with a local technology entrepreneur.

In August, when the site began to catch on and stretch his time thin, Kupperman hired consultant and blogger Molly Oehmichen as full-time editor-in-chief. “I was impressed with her,” he says. “She was the perfect candidate to partner with.”

With Oehmichen on board, Silicon Bayou News underwent a redesign and relaunch in September. The website attracts more than 90,000 page views per month from all 50 states and more than 100 countries, with a target audience of tech enthusiasts; entrepreneurs; venture capitalists; brands and corporations; early adopters; social media enthusiasts; marketing, public relations and advertising companies; 2.0 fanatics; and technology journalists.

“Molly has done an awesome job slowly building it out,” Kupperman says. “It looks like a real media asset that can cultivate the community.”

Oehmichen says the purpose of the site is “highlighting technology in Louisiana, to make it more visible and show how important it is to us.”

Silicon Bayou News is making a concerted effort to reach out to other cities in Louisiana. “We view ourselves as a statewide site,” Kupperman says. “Right now, it's 60%-70% New Orleans, 20%-30% Baton Rouge and 10% elsewhere. That's mostly a reflection on access.”

Kupperman says New Orleans has had a strong technological presence in recent years, in part because of an influx of young professionals. He cites Under30CEO's October article entitled “25 Reasons Why New Orleans is the Best City for Young Entrepreneurs,” Inc. magazine's April article entitled “Why New Orleans is the Coolest Start-up City in America,” and Forbes' February article that ranked New Orleans as the No. 1 brain magnet in the nation.

“New Orleans had always been a regional draw until Katrina,” he says. “But then there was this influx of people who came in to help, and they were 23, 24 years old. After three or four years … they didn't think career opportunities were in New Orleans, but they worked to change that. It had the effect of [creating] a young, ambitious work force in the city. A lot of the impact is yet to be seen.”

Oehmichen says Baton Rouge also is fertile ground for tech entrepreneurs because of its strong business community, resources such as the Louisiana Business & Technology Center, Louisiana Technology Park, LSU's digital media program and Entrepreneur Headquarters.

“A lot of it is based around LSU, and the university atmosphere spawns a lot of entrepreneurs,” she says. “As they grow, the community grows, and business will, too.”

Kupperman says the difference between the Baton Rouge and New Orleans tech scenes is “a question of time. New Orleans is four or five years in. Baton Rouge is one to two years in. … We're really making an effort to connect to Baton Rouge.”

The task of establishing a Silicon Bayou “ecosystem” in Baton Rouge has been taken up by Wendy Overton, an assistant executive director with LSU Continuing Education who also devotes time to the Baton Rouge Area Chamber's Regional Innovation Organization and earlier this year launched a monthly lecture series called Creative Louisiana.

Overton serves as a volunteer editor and Baton Rouge liaison for Silicon Bayou News. Or, as she puts it, “I'm the rabble-rouser, the connector.”

She first caught Kupperman's attention through her efforts organizing the first Baton Rouge Startup Weekend in April. Startup Weekend is a worldwide, grassroots event in which local entrepreneurs converge to create a viable business plan from pitch to prototype in a three-day span. Overton says the lack of a central online presence in the region posed a significant challenge in organizing the event.

“In the organizers' guide that Startup Weekend provides, it says the best way to market Startup Weekend is to go and talk to different user groups and meet-up groups and bloggers and different kinds of resources like that,” she says. “Those things don't exist in Louisiana—not in Baton Rouge. … It was really challenging.” Then she discovered Silicon Bayou News. “And I'm like, ‘Hallelujah, we've got ourselves a blog.'”

Overton approached Kupperman about promoting Startup Weekend on the site. “He provided some support and writings,” she says. Kupperman says he was impressed with her Startup Weekend efforts. “She did some really good writing, so we talked more,” he says. “And she became our Baton Rouge liaison within two or three weeks.”

Overton was eager to assume the duties, she says, because Silicon Bayou News' mission “fits right in line with what we need to do.” In addition to writing blogs, she promotes the site on Facebook and Twitter. “People around here are starting to read it because of that,” she says.

Overton frequently uses the word “ecosystem” to describe the community offered through Silicon Bayou News. She says the term fits in with the site's goal of becoming its own organic community.

“The more connected our ecosystems are, the more chances there are for talent to find each other, for people to attract the resources they need,” she says. “You've got to get coverage of any startups. Because if you don't, they will die."

Key to communication, she says, is to get Louisianans online in the first place.

“Most people that are here, they're from here. They have a personal relationship already. And I think that the world of engaging online has probably not been as urgent,” she says. “On some level, it's helped preserve our culture, and so our next challenge ... is to figure out how to preserve our culture but also adopt new ideas.”

Kupperman says tech business growth has “a major impact on a bunch of different levels, such as jobs. Not low-paying jobs, either. … It's time for young professionals to get out and make things happen.”

Overton agrees, encouraging the local technology community to get involved.

“This is just the beginning,” she says. “We need more of this.”

Editor's note: This story has been changed since its original publication.