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Thinking of starting a LV blog...Show me yours!

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by VegasVegan, Mar 24, 2013.

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  1. VegasVegan

    VegasVegan Tourist

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    Hi am wishing to start a blog and or website about my favorite city. Las Vegas!

    Should I bother? Do any of y'all have a blog? Can we do show and tell time?
     
  2. atom

    atom High-Roller

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    If you are planning to do it with the idea of making money, then no, don't do it. If you're willing to invest a little of your own money into it, and you are doing it to share your experiences with others and maybe learn about some new things and/or meet some interesting people, then go for it! Here's my blog: http://LasVegasOffStrip.com/
    If you do decide to go for it I would be happy to offer some tips based on my first six months.
     
  3. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

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    Very well said.

    I think I'm at the point where I might be able to make enough in ad revenue to pay for the hosting and other fees but Adsense won't even accept me - they think I'm a gambling (as in online-wagering) site.

    I certainly encourage you to give it a try. I've gotten a lot out of my experiences including meeting some very cool people and making new friends.

    www.royalflusher.com
     
  4. VegasVegan

    VegasVegan Tourist

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    Thanks guys for the replies. I am not looking to make money off of the blog as I am sure most LV blogs are chores of passion.

    I am a few ideas for blogs about LV and would like to pursue them. It would be nice to network with other Vegas bloggers as well for tips and tricks and support.

    Atom (Brian), I would be interested in your thoughts after 6 months of blogging.
     
  5. weluvvegas

    weluvvegas Casino Countess

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    I've been blogging for just over a year now on wordpress.com. I used to blog very religiously....almost every day but life gets in the way sometimes and now I'm down to a couple of times a week. It started as a travel blog but then quickly became a "life" blog...which I found got more of a response and followship than I had when I was specializing in one thing. I always blog about my Vegas trips. The best thing about blogging is all of the friends you make along the way!

    www.dockfam.wordpress.com
     
  6. Dewey089

    Dewey089 VIP Whale

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    For me it is just a place to collect my trip reports and maybe a few other bits of information or reflections in between trips. When I put the link on a discussion board like this one and maybe three others, and then find I made some major errors, I need only correct the blog post once and the links will just bring new readers to the corrected information.
    It also works as a way to collect boiler plate information. So many of the discussion board questions repeat and repeat and repeat, so once you've answered that question, you just link to your answer the next time it is asked as well as perhaps the relevant threads where it was discussed before.

    Also, when posting photographs, by posting them on my blog, I post them in one place and just once, and then link folks to them, That is much better than to try to post them on one discussion board once and then on another and so on. Much less work. I can also put links in emails to friends and don't have to cut and paste or tell the story a thousand times.

    I forget myself many details when planning a trip, so the blog helps me find those again and plan intelligently. I recommend it as an extention of your memory.

    http://vegasbirthdaybash.blogspot.com/

    I also recommend starting a blog for your own personal reflections separate from your Vegas reflections. Not every one of your friends wants to hear of Vegas ad nausium and not all of those interested in Vegas want to know what you had for dinner that night or saw on TV. I have a personal blog, one for Vegas, one for poker games outside of Vegas, one for my own recipes, one for riding the bus in Vegas, etc.
     
  7. mjames1229

    mjames1229 # of visits includes only trips w/ hotel stays

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    USBC Nationals are back in Vegas
  8. atom

    atom High-Roller

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    Okay, here's a few tips to get you started. If you have more questions as you go, you can either PM me or start a new thread.

    If you host your blog yourself, and I suggest you do, get an URL that is easy to remember, and has some key words that people might search on looking for the kind of info you will post on your site. Hosting the blog yourself will cost a small amount, but it gives you more control, and you don't have to have ads all over your site that you didn't put there.

    Once you have the blog name and URL, get it for everything you can think of. Get [email protected], get facebook.com/blogname, get twitter.com/blogname, get a youtube channel, a flickr account, a google plus page... You get the idea.

    If you use Wordpress for your blog, which works well for me so far, then make sure to set up your permalink structure to be /%postname%/ right away instead of the default. This will help you with search traffic. It means you get urls like http://www.myblog.com/my-blathering-on-about-nothing/ instead of http://www.myblog.com/?p=421. URLs with keywords rather than numbers and symbols make more sense to both humans and search engine robots. It is a pain to change it after you have started blogging, so set this up before you start posting.

    Try to get a site together and a few posts ready before you launch. It's good to blog with current material, but it's also nice to have a few posts ready to run in case you don't have the time or material to post something new. This is especially important if you are trying to blog on a regular schedule. Posting on a regular basis should also help bring traffic.

    When you write about something or someone let them know about it. Send an email or post a link on their facebook. Blogging is a very social thing to do at your computer all by yourself.

    This ought to get you off to a good start. Perhaps some of the other bloggers here will have some tips for you as well. Good luck, and a tentative welcome to the blogosphere. :)
     
  9. VegasVegan

    VegasVegan Tourist

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    Thanks again everyone for the info and input. I'm gonna do this. Looks like Wordpress.com it is for now. Seems like WP has risen above all others (blogspot, etc.) although Tumblr is also a good option.

    Right now I am compiling a list of Las Vegas blogs and bloggers. There are actually many blogs about Las Vegas out there. Not surprising I suppose. It would be a a good resource I think to have a central repository of LV blogs for people to turn to.

    I have a few ideas for various blogs about Las Vegas. For instance, a "daily photo" blog would garner quite and audience.
     
  10. atom

    atom High-Roller

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    I'd be curious to see that Vegas blog list when you get it compiled. I'm sure there are a number I have missed. And of course, drop me. Line when you go live with yours. I look forward to checking it out.
     
  11. VegasVegan

    VegasVegan Tourist

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    Thanks Atom. Of course, I've included your blog and others in this thread. It's a long list and I'm discovering more and more as I do my search.

    There's actually a bunch of message boards as well besides this one. Even some that allow snarky *grasp!* remarks.

    Okay, I'll probably get banned with that last statement.
     
  12. VegasVegan

    VegasVegan Tourist

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    Okay so I've been thinking about an appropriate name for my blog and I think it will be called VEGASVEGAN! It will showcase all the vegetarian and vegan dining options in the LV.

    Maybe a cooking show in the future as well.
     
  13. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Good luck!! My website and blog have been too silent for months; my bad. It's the old chicken/egg thing: It's not monetized w/o content but I'm not much for crafting content when it's not monetized. Guess I should just get back in the habit of dropping published content on there after I get the rights back.
     
  14. vegasbound

    vegasbound VIP Whale

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    It is really important to determine what you want out of it. I've blogged for 6 years about life in Vegas and other adventures at Vegasjuhl. I have a decent following which improves when I post regularly, but I blog for myself as I way to recall specific details. So, my focus isn't content for building an audience.

    I have friends that blog recipes and they have really taken off. There's a huge audience out there and it's fairly easy to gain your share. One friend, in addition to recipes, she does a series of traveling to various cities. She's earned comped meals and hotel stays in return for her reviews (in NYC, Vegas, NOLA, Austin). Not to mention free products and gift cards as compensation. It's a pretty sweet deal.

    You have a good niche. Good luck!
     
  15. weluvvegas

    weluvvegas Casino Countess

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    I'll read it! Let me know when you get it goin :)
     
  16. VegasVegan

    VegasVegan Tourist

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  17. atom

    atom High-Roller

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    The Vegas Vegan hasn't had a new post since 2011. In the blogosphere, that's dead and buried. I wouldn't let that stop you if that's the niche you truly want to explore.
     
  18. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

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    How about calling it "Las Vegan"
     
  19. VegasVegan

    VegasVegan Tourist

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    Flusher: LasVegan.com is taken. Would have made a nice catchy name for a LV related website.

    Atom: I am still flushing out my ideas for what would make a good Vegas blog. Right now it looks like the usual suspects...talk about food, events, and take nice photos. Repeat and rinse often to keep em coming back. Retire early. Okay that last part is not true.
     
  20. dmr

    dmr Registered Abuser

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