We’ve been running Dying Art Media for 5 months now. It’s been pretty interesting and fun to start from scratch. Seeing very low traffic numbers come through after starting to see some decent figures from the old site, is probably the worst of it. But that’s because the other site was years old and had loads of legacy content. With over 500 posts in about 9 years. We has some real milestones.
But! Because things are cleaner, workflows are slicker and we have the past 10 years of experience to draw upon. We’ve already hit that 100 posts milestone and shot past it. That’s actually crazy to think about.
There was a 33 day period where we posted something every day. Followed by Pirate Month which provided some honed-in focus, but ultimately saw content drop-off because it became a chore. All that being said, 100+ posts in a fraction of the time of the old site, is such a massive marker and sign of the site Dying Art Media can be.
Milestones
Beyond the quantity of content, though. The site has grown really quickly. Improved logo, decent merch, expanded categories of content. We’re hitting new milestones and new things regularly.
Some of our best content is coming out of reviews of graphic novels and anime. We’re starting a whole TCG run of features around Magic the Gathering, which felt off-base before. Granted we could have done all of this with the old site, but the tags and categories and the work involved to get it changed was harder because of how the site was botched-together in the first place.
A clean slate was a significant milestone in itself. What we’re able to do with it and how we’re able to work now, is another.
The content likely feels that same as before, and it should. It’s the same voice, the same approach and the same considerations. But everything around it is different, it’s what we wanted it to be as it grew, but we didn’t have the experience or knowledge to achieve it. We’re hitting milestones left-right-and-centre.
The next 6 months
No major milestones set in stone here, largely because, as experience dictates, setting up some goals usually means setting-up some failures. Instead, we can speak about what’s in motion, what is likely to come, and what we would like to see as we move forwards.
Games
The easy one, right?
Our gaming milestones will mostly revolve around full completion and review. With a few in good progress at the moment, and a few new ones to pick up later in the year.
We’ll see Like a Dragon Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, through. We’ve got the review of Starfox basically finished, and we’re playing through Halo Campaign Evolved as well. These will all happen.
Additional gaming milestones will be (hopefully!). Ocarina of Time Remake, Wolverine, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Re-synced. These are the big ones for the year, for sure.
There are some older games to revisit and some games we play more regularly (PUBG, Battlefield, Destiny). So we’ll always have plenty to go at. But there are some core site/game milestones based on new releases later in the year.
Coffee
This is a fun one now because we’re just approaching things differently. There’s more brew guides to come, there’s an espresso peanut butter review to come, and even a review of some pre-mix coldbrew.
It’s more fun, it’s less serious and easier to feel motivated to do coffee content again.
Comics/Table Top Gaming/Anime
All new, all to be mastered ad understood in terms of how we write about them, but it’s been a significant milestone getting these all off the ground and sharing other passions. We’ve watched some great series, read some great stories and want to go in-depth on card games in particular.
The scope is wide-open, and it feels great to be able to approach these things in the same way we’ve always looked at gaming.
Streaming
We hit some milestones with the old site, hitting Twitch affiliate etc. It’s always been fun, but felt a bit flat as doing it in relatively small bursts meant that getting traction was tough.
But, in the interest of starting things fresh. We’re working with Castyr to try out their new platform. It’s more engaging for the audience and creators, to interact with the platform. It’s also a brad new platform, so the idea of being easier to find in a smaller pool of streamers initially, is incredibly appealing.
We’re so inconsistent with streaming, it might amount to noting because we can’t do it regularly enough. But there’s no harm in trying!
Onwards
It’s just fun, hitting and creating new milestones. Moving quicker than ever before and growing into different areas. We don’t want to stretch too far and end up not having a good core for content. So it likely won’t go much further than where we’re at. But we can if we want, and the implications of making changes are so much less significant than before.
If you’re reading this, thank you. Share it with your friends, re-post on Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, wherever. All that engagement makes a massive difference and helps the site grow, with very little effort required by anyone.
There’s also a super-special mention to Indie-Cent Exposure, our sister site, primarily run by Josh (formerly of FullSync). Where we focus solely on the world of independence in all types of media and even businesses like breweries, roasters and food markets. That’s where we’re all turning now the world of AAA is in a shambles. Artisinal, personal, exceptional. That’s our focus there, and we want to see it go from strength to strength.
Let’s get past 200 posts before the year is out. It should be easy enough, but who knows?!
