With the eyes (and fingers) of blogkind headed here Thursday for the two-day Blog World and New Media Expo, the largest conference and trade show of its kind, the Weekly asked conference co-founder and chief executive Rick Calvert to raid and rate the Vegas blogosphere.
• Strip Podcast (www.stevefriess.com/podcast): “Good-looking home page and good production on the podcast. Great blogroll with most if not all of the other sites we are reviewing included. All in all, a pretty cool site.” (Disclosure: run by Weekly columnist Steve Friess.)
• Las Vegas USA Tourist Blog (www.lasvegasusa.org): “Every link in every post I clicked on was to an affiliate program. Seems ... designed to make money more than provide real value.”
• Prof’s Las Vegas Blog (www.lasvegasvegas.com): “I love professor bloggers, so I was a little disappointed to see it was a blog about the usual stuff.”
• LA Times Blog on Vegas (vegasblog.latimes.com): “Professionally designed and edited site. Lots of ads, but they don’t get in the way. Lots of photos—I like that—and well-written stories. In general I hate newspapers, but this is a quality site.” (Disclosure: run by Weekly contributing editor Richard Abowitz.)
• LV Real Estate Blog (lasvegasnv.blogspot.com): “Pretty clean but nothing special. Not sure why the two most recent posts are about OJ Simpson and a child molester.”
• Las Vegas Gleaner (www.lasvegasgleaner.com): “Best progressive blog in Vegas if not Nevada, and is respected nationwide. Good design, well-written posts, well-monetized. I hope he comes to our show.”
• Valleyblogs.com “Overall a little corporate and sanitized, but a very clean, professional site. Quality writers.”
Final grade: B+ “I liked the quality of the blogs I reviewed.”