There are a lot of people who will tell you that writing about video games is a closed market and that it’s unwise to pursue it in any capacity. “The world doesn’t need any more video game blogs” is an adage I’ve heard quite a few times. If that were the case then I’m sure I would have finally given up by now. I don’t want to give myself too much credit, but I’d like to think of myself as a pretty smart guy. So when I tell you what I’ve seen in the last couple of months motivates me rather than discourages, I hope I’ll be able to persuade you too.
Who is this guy and what does he have to offer?
In the summer of 2008 I started blogging with a few great friends on the subject of video games. I never expected to build anything from it and had no long term or short term goals. I just wanted to talk about video games and I was just convinced that someone was going to read it because it was on the internet. I didn’t even have stats tracking so comments were the only method I had for distinguishing good article from bad article. Not a very productive method for gauging exposure I can tell you that. I let it die twice because of this. Like anything, a blog has to be up kept. Luckily when your blog is small it’s easier to build it back with minimal impact on traffic.
The biggest difference I’ve had over the last few months and where we were before is simple. I started investing as much as I wanted others to invest in me. Our change was we were getting noticed. It wasn’t the light at the end of the tunnel or putting us on the map, but we knew we were at least going in the right direction. When you see something you’re a part of getting indexed in the same sites as people you’ve respected and known for years, it really hits home. Every week we’re closer to where we want to be, and we’re learning more of what it takes to get there.
Being on the outside looking in is a very awkward feeling. Casual blogging is very good for keeping a community up to date on who you are and what you do, but not everyone wants know ‘you’. At least not yet. Penny Arcade is a very large video game outlet. They have their own convention if you don’t believe me (known as PAX). They have a very casual style. They compose shorter less organized posts on what they play as commentary on their comics. That’s partially the way I and a lot of other video game bloggers approached things. FYI, for anyone who’s not Penny Arcade or already has a strong following I don’t recommend that style at all.
Do you love writing? Then start rewriting
A love of writing is the first real step. You have to want to do it, and you also have to convince people that you enjoy doing it. Just writing this alone I’ve started, stopped, restarted and slapped myself across the face a half dozen times. Writing takes a lot of focus it’s true. But organization takes even more. A lot of video game bloggers make the mistake of branching out in their writing. Massive, cumulative posts on what they did on the weekend or what they’re looking forward to. There’s nothing wrong with that if it’s what you enjoy doing, but I’ve never Googled “what did gamer x enjoy playing last weekend.” More importantly, jumbling up a bunch of information into a disorganized post manages to confuse your readers, search engines, and oddly enough even yourself. And you’re the one who wrote it!
This is what changed in the last few months. It’s what got me to start writing in the beginning, and conversely what led me to stop. As a video gamer, there’s this creative spark that often shoots out of the games you’ve just played and wants to express itself onto every imaginable outlet at your disposal. Then when that spark is gone, you’re left with an empty blog that contains husks of expressions that no longer seem related to your current interests. Don’t confuse me with saying not to write about games you love, games you hate, or anything you feel passionate about. But I find that I’m at my best when I’m writing something I’m more tempered with.
I liken our 2008 site to writing in a journal. Without stats tracking or any sort of unique content we might as well have printed our ‘articles’ and posted them around our houses. Being different is important, but so is being useful. Nobody is going to just read your content because you wrote it – well, moms count as unique visitors too. But organization is really the best way to condense what might not have been the strongest argument or the most brilliant review into something easily digestible. Just look at this post – oh…
You have to give something to get something
There’s a reason traffic isn’t coming to your site as fast as you think it should. It’s not because you’re a terrible writer, or that IGN and Gamespot are paying people to avoid your site. The best way to gain traffic is to fill a void. I write what I’d like to see written. You can call me a lazy Goolger (word?) or a visionary, but if I don’t see it then I’d like to figure out why. A quick search on anything that your mind suggests will let you know if it’s going to turn into success for you. Also, keep a list of the search terms you used to find whatever it is you found or didn’t find and you’ll have your keywords.
When you’re running a video games blog its natural to not be able to get the latest news or the hottest exclusive. That will and always has been dominated by larger sites. But I can tell you I’ve never read an interview that didn’t sound exactly like the same one last week. There are many other ways you can think to branch out. Writing Opinion and Editorial pieces is a great start. Referencing bigger articles is a good way to get their writers to take notice of you and others as well. Putting your own unique spin on things will put you above the rest. Maybe there’s something someone else missed.
Catchy titles do work wonders for getting someone to click on your article, but it’s up to your writing to get them to stay there. I’m not suggesting you link bait with a title like “Top 5 Ways To Get Gamer Chicks To Play With Your Joystick!” Okay, that was pretty good but no. Sit and think about what would attract you if you were someone looking for whatever you’re putting out. Being descriptive and mysterious at the same time is a hard thing to do, but it can make all the difference between someone reading your opinion or not.
The Golden Rule: Give/Get Help
I’m addicted to emailing people now. I’ve sent off an email to everyone I’ve come across in my niche in the last few months. Sometimes they get back to me, sometimes they don’t. It’s fine. I’m just glad to be using my email for something other than Enyzte ad space. We’re at the point now where our site is doing well enough that we can attract smaller game bloggers to help us out. Guest posting is mutually beneficial.
I think that the biggest problem with video game bloggers is we’re so competitive. For years we’ve seen others make so much success out of games that we’re convinced that there’s no possible way for us to have a bit for ourselves. You can’t tell me the first thing you do when you see a new video game blog is not size them up. For some reason your mind tells you that you’re in the last few minutes of a TDM scrimmage and you’re down five points.
When you’re a small fish in a big pond everything looks like a shark. Video game journalism has some epic whales in its waters. However, the best thing for small bloggers in any niche is to work together. I know this contradicts everything you think you’re seeing. You’ve come across a hundred video game blogs. But as many video game blogs as there seem to be, there’s a much larger need for good ones.
Game Blog > Giant Game Site
If you were trying to find out whether or not Game X is worth buying, you might gravitate to a large site like IGN or Gamespot. In all honesty you might just go to Metacritic without even reading a single review. That’s why I’m not a big fan of scores, especially when I’m trying to find out information on a game I’m not sure on. You’re more than likely to find an honest game blogger who has put in a lot of time with a game under a far less hectic schedule than any paid game reviewer. And what’s more they’ve actually bought it for themselves. I’m not quite sure when it became a good idea for us to let people who are given free games to judge their value and quality. I would easily imagine becoming quite jaded at that prospect, especially when I’m tasked with getting to the end as quickly as possible.
Moreover, when you’re looking for quality information you can more readily comment on a review and find out from the blogger some minor detail that has been nagging at you ever since you first saw the game. On a larger site if the reviewer has left anything out that you weren’t sure on, that issue or concern is allowed to fester until the game pops out of existence. For publishers, that lengthy and costly ad campaign and PR budget is for naught if you focus more on a 9/10 than a positive review. That’s just one of the main things that plagues the entire industry. At the same time it’s the reason why small guys still have a chance. Sooner or later they’re going to want to figure out what the disconnect is. The key is to be one of the people holding the answer.
Being a smaller blog allows you to say whatever you like. What advertisers/publishers are you worried about pissing off? You can endorse the games you like, ignore the ones you don’t. The freedom to say the most controversial things without having to adhere to any censorship will be a double edged sword. You’ll be subject to criticism from your peers, and ethics do apply. Don’t start spreading false rumors or cracking wise about developer’s mamas. Nobody likes a tattle tail either… I admit I’m not quite sure what that would reference but don’t do it.
The Ultimate Goal
Don’t give up! I’m glad I didn’t. After the last abandonment I renewed my domain and paid my hosting fee with this promise: If within a year, with consistent posting and 100% effort, I didn’t like where we were I would abandon the site completely. It’s been three months and so far it’s better than I could have anticipated. Every month traffic gets a little better, writing gets a bit easier, and things seem a whole lot smoother. If you sit down, look around and plan out your actions there’s really not a whole lot that can stop you.
So what do you want out of game blogging? Prestige? Money? Free games? Acceptance? Fun? Whatever you do, go into it with a sense of commitment. Blindly grabbing a group of people and buying a domain will get you somewhere (just ask my 2008 team) but it probably won’t be where you want to go. Settling down and coming up with a plan is a lot simpler than you think it is when you actually start doing it. The alternative is a nightmare I assure you.
About the author: Brian Young is the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Couch Campus, a moderator and technical writer at Gamersyde and an avid Tweeter. He currently resides in Florida while working towards a Bachelor’s Degree at Florida State University. He hopes to one day pursue a full time writing career.
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