Downtown Makeover Dude On TV
Congrats to the Downtown Makeover Dude,who was featured on the local news recently. DMD does a great job keeping tabs on private and city development efforts centered on downtown, and we frequently share information and links since he is able to make a lot of the city meetings the minx cannot. Does he actually have a job? Sometimes I wonder. Plus, DMD has the talent to post some amazing interactive features.
I have to admit, the minx is a little jealous. DMD has received a stamp of legitimacy that Reno and Its Discontents has not. Our audience is certainly large enough (averaging close to 5,000 unique hits a month) and we also break many local development stories (although not so much since DMD came on the scene). Is it the pseudonym thing? Do too many people find our sight offensive? unfocused? unprofessional? Discontents is all of these things, but I have to believe we’re doing something right or you wouldn’t be reading. Does our political slant and slightly renegade coverage of additional issues that affect Reno and its citizens (immigration and racism, local and national politics, etc.) force people to disregard us as a source for downtown development? I certainly hope not. Exploring the development of Reno’s downtown and downtown life is why we started this blog. You’ll have to let us know, although it doesnt mean we’ll actually change anything.
That said, Downtown Makeover Dude is the cat’s pajamas and we enjoy working with him!
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DMD sticks to one topic and, hence, has built a niche blog that makes him an “expert” that the media can go to when they want to flesh out a story.
Quite frankly, I came over from a political link and, from the looks of it, that topic seems to draw the most follow-up posts (though maybe not the most actual visits) here.
That said, perhaps the left-leaning political commentary may turn off people who are primarily interested in how the downtown may be developed or what’s going on there. That and the title may make the casual viewer think it is just another complainer blog that seem to flourish on the web, though not have your number of unique hits.
If you truly want to be seen as an expert on the downtown scene then you probably should jettison the politics (except, of course, those relevant to the area) and other off-topic postings.
If you want it to reflect your personal feelings on a wide variety of topics (though, perhaps, not an “expert” on any one topic) then continue on. After all, it is your site.
I have to prop the DMD. He recently got picked up on Wolf Pack Chat of all places, and those dudes loved his site. So he’s really nailing it. Sites like this one never seem to make it in the realm of “expertise.” But, on the other hand, the new media will soon take over and be the traditional media. So keep up what you’re doing here, and you’ll get your due. You’ve earned it.
Nah….thats the freedom I dont want to give up—blogging about only one thing. DMD isnt really a blogger anyway so its kind of comparing apples and oranges. However, I like to think I can take credit for some of the traffic he gets since I link to him often. Thanks for reading Derek–I know we dont always agree. That’s no fun though.
I feel bad now because I didnt write this post to get compliments or anything–I’m just a reflexive person. In fact, I thought about deleting it before it went out but missed my deadline.
Hey Minx!
Thanks for the props. If it’s any consolation, a LOT of people read your blog and love it. The camera guy of the reporter who came over to interview me mentioned your blog, and that both he and his wife frequent it. And even the reporter, Dave Mecham, who lives in a condo downtown, said he visits your blog frequently. Nearly every blog I visit has a link to yours.
I think the two commenters above did hit the nail on the head. First, you do have some left-leaning political rants and influences. I am a full-fledged democrat and proud of it, but Reno is a Republican town for the most part. The majority of my clients are Republican, or at least conservative. I have pissed a few off talking about politics, and so I just don’t bring it up with clients anymore. And as heated and divided the blues and reds are these days, I wonder if maybe some visitors to your blog are immediately turned on or off by your political stances. That’s pathetic, if that’s the case, because I visit both Democratic AND Republican blogs. I’ll visit and read whatever I find interesting regardless of its political leanings.
Second, I think the way I organize the projects, having one page per project rather than one long rolling blog, gives off the impression to a first-time visitor that ‘wow, I didnt realize all this was going on downtown’, whereas with your blog, a first time visitor would have to backtrack through all your posts to get an idea of the scope of the downtown transformation. You do an incredible job posting for us regulars who visit your site often, but for a newbie, unless they went back and read every post of yours since you started your blog, they wouldnt really have the full scope.
But that being said, don’t change a thing about your site! You are a blog and I am more of a resource site. While I may post a page about a restaurant or pub going under construction or opening, you actually go there after it opens and give everyone an honest Minx review. So I truly feel our sites compliment each other more than compete or conflict against each other. Keep up the fantastic work, and don’t even THINK about posting less about downtown redevelopment just because my site is around. If you haven’t noticed, you still post to your blog more frequently than I do, so what was that about not having a job hmmm? LOL. You are the only site I have a link to in my navigation…I don’t even link to my own web development firm’s site, to try to keep it as unbiased as possible. Your site and http://www.manhattanization.com/ were my two inspirations for creating downtownmakeover.com. So keep on posting!
P.s. did I do a good job in that interview? I hope I didnt look like total complete goofball. That was my first time on TV (that’s probably a good thing overall haha). My whole goal of that was to get people to go downtown and say “wow! I want to live down here!”
You seemed quite natural..and I think it conveyed exactly that.
I wanted to have a page with reviews of all the bars, clubs, and restaurants downtown but figured out I dont really have the web skills to get that done on my own. Maybe one day. That was my original intent though.