Hey all,

First off, Happy New Year's to you guys. Thanks for the support, both negative and positive that people who visit have provided. I wish you the best of luck for this coming 365 days.

That said, I know people plan to do new things in the new year. It's tradition to make a resolution -- some change in one's life in an attempt to better it.

So what if you decided to start writing about Magic the Gathering?

It's been roughly a year since I decided to start this blog. I'd like to share some of my experience should you decide to go down that route.

Ok, before you hop up on Blogger, Wordpress, or buy a webhost and go from there, consider these facts about established Magic the Gathering blogs.

There are a TON of Magic the Gathering related websites on the Internet.  Some of them have been around since the turn of the millennium.  Therefore, they have had 10 YEARS to establish a name for themselves on the Internet.

If you decide to start up, realize you're competing against such names as Channel Fireball, Starcity Games, and ManaNation.  Of course, there's tricks you can pull for your benefit.


It's a huge topic to explain in this post, but if you're curious, look up guerilla marketing.

They're socially active.  Twitter.  Facebook.  Myspace.  Email.  These are venues that you should be using to communicate with other players and fans.

Rather than shove information into other people's faces, encourage discussion, raise questions, and challenge thoughts to have people vocalize their thoughts.  Doing so invests people in your thought as well as builds relationships with them.  It's just as important to maintain current reader relationships as encourage new ones.

They have the credibility.  The top writers have the top players on their side.  By doing so, they have credibility.  After all, who would you rather read:  Mike Flores or Johnny from your local FNM?

The only thing you really can do is either find your own pro tour member or become one yourself.  If you can form a guild or team, that's an even better and more realistic idea.

They know what people want to read.  Magic the Gathering is a huge topic, and despite that, much of
the information is the same information, chopped and screwed and then remarketed by people.

What do you think people want to read?

The latest tech present at Worlds?

A rant on why people should play Wargate control in Extended?

What can you do so that your readers aren't all "Cool story, bro." ?  Whatever it is, it should be something interesting, unique, and creative.

Got a new deck you want to share?  How can a reader use that deck to succeed in tournaments?

Have an interesting story?  How can you entertain your reader with it?

An important rule in marketing is to care about your customer, in this case your readers.  Without readers, you're not going to have a reason to keep writing.

In closing:

If you do decide to start a Magic the Gathering (or any sort of blog), just keep these factors in mind when doing so.  It's not just something you can pick up one day, start writing about say your Friday Night Magic experience, and call it quits.

It takes a bit of work.

Have you considered writing a blog?  Seen someone else do it and said "What if I tried this?"  What encouraged you or discouraged you to follow through?  Drop a comment in the box below or find me on Twitter.

Peace guys,
@shadowsketched