Who is Matt and Why is His Blog Here After a Year?

Want to hear a little known fact? It was a year ago today that I picked up worldofmatticus.com and wrote my first blog post on my new domain. The blog actually opened a few weeks earlier but I felt like populating the place with a few things. Thanks for the post Wyn =D!

Looking back

Why did I do it? What possessed me to dedicate what time and little money I had into a personal journal that would eventually evolve into something more?

Because I had the desire to communicate. At its very essence, blogging is nothing more than you putting your thoughts out. I didn’t care if I had 5 readers or 5 million. But I had thoughts, stories and experiences that I wanted to get out there and share so that I would never forget. Believe it or not, the original inspiration for a blog originated from World of Ming (who has since moved to Game Riot).

There was such little formatting in my posts. I didn’t bother with grammar checking and spell checking. Posts were brief and to the point. I did a lot of things wrong or I felt as if though I didn’t do them well enough.

That in itself was a gift. If you can take one thing away from this blog whether you are a player, or a writer or whatever it is that you do, it is to never be afraid of failing hard. You never know what you’re capable of if you don’t try. There’s only one way to find out what will work and what doesn’t.

Goals

When I started out my blog, I knew I wasn’t just going to take it day by day. I had a long term plan in place. I knew I would be playing World of Warcraft for a long time and I set myself up for the long haul investing in 2 years worth of web hosting fees.

I contrast this with many other WoW Blogs that I know of that cropped up overnight and held their own for a while before folding (Galadria’s Holy Light, Girl Meets WoW, many others).

Some advice? If you want to make sure you keep blogging, investing time and money into it is a good way to ensure you stick with it. And I’m so glad I’ve been able to stick with it!

So what were my goals when I started out with World of Matticus? Let me share with you what went through my young and ambitious mind:

  • Address common Priest issues
  • Provide assistance and guidance in raids
  • Advise on meaningful guild topics
  • Exceed 100,000 impressions in a year
  • Achieve 200 subscribers
  • Have 50 people following me on Twitter
  • Make 10 bucks from advertising to pay off the domain name

Achievements

What was I able to achieve? I not only met my targets, I exceeded them well past my initial expectations.

  • Addressed common healer issues
  • Provided detailed healing strategy on numerous raid encounters
  • Wrote about handling typical guild affairs and business
  • Reached 530,000+ impressions
  • Over 600 subscribers
  • Followed by over 150 way smarter individuals than I (on Twitter)
  • Made $310 to cover all of my blog expenses (and a school text book! Thanks guys!)

Was that the end? Nope, not at all! More fun and unexpected events happened!

The Unexpected

I launched a tiny little forum that is growing little by little every day (Hoping to hit 700 registered users by New Years and 2000 after 1 year).

Some monkey at WoW Insider thought that the stuff I was writing was worth having. As a result, I was brutally kidnapped, tortured, held at Wand point hired to help them pen their Priest column on a weekly basis (even though I’ve been abysmally inefficient and irregular about it).

Bre and Fim graciously invited me to appear on one of their early Twisted Nether blogcasts for which I am eternally grateful. I had so much fun on that show just chatting with them on the air (and off the air)!

Future ambitions

Now, do not mistake the recent slowdown of personally written posts as retirement contemplation. I’ll admit that thought has crossed my mind on multiple occasions. But I’ve been corporate America’s number 1 enemy for a long time. Ever corporate firewall needs a worthy foe and you know what? Matticus is that foe. I am committed to wasting 5 minutes of WoW players disguised as office workers for another year per day! In fact, I will see my own 5 minutes and raise it to 7!

Rest assured Azeroth, Matticus and Wynthea will be at the front line Smiting and Healing our way through Northrend and when we will do our absolute best in the advancement of restorative knowledge and Holy techniques so that everyone will benefit.

Video Blog

TJ started it with TJ TV. Saresa has begun experimenting with it (and she is one hot tamale, yes indeed)! The episodes of Matticus will begin to air sometime late August/early September. Who the heck knows what they’ll be filled with?

Podcast

Wyn and I intend to try and get our feet wet with podcasting. Expect that to come up fairly soon as well. Although I doubt we’ll be able to match the production standards and qualities of Twisted Nether, I’d like to at least try and push the two of them beyond and make them excel harder. Of course, like Adam Savage says, failure is always an option!

Matticus 3.0

It took me a good month to get this current layout operational and up to my (personal) standards. Design, coding and construction will begin on the 3rd version of World of Matticus. I’m hesitant to give a date because I know I’ll never meet it. But let’s for now say a tentative early Winter. Actually, it’s also going to depend on when Wrath debuts.

3rd Writer

The search is still on! I’ve received many submissions! Choosing them is going to be quite a task and it’s not something to be envied with this many enthusiastic under-bloggers! There is still time left if you want to try your luck (or even send it a second one just for fun)!.

Interesting stats

stats-1-year

Now, I’m not doing this to toot my own horn. I’m doing this to deliver a message to any and all aspiring WoW Bloggers. These are WordPress page impressions for the entire year that my blog has been around. To the young blogger starting out, I was once like you. I too had 600 visitors a month. I, too had 50 visitors a day. I too experienced pains where I thought I’d written a brilliant post only to face disappointment at finding zero comments (and I still DO experience that even now).

I’ve been there. And I’m urging you not to give up. You can get readers and fans. There are people that will genuinely be interested in what you have to say and what your thoughts are. It doesn’t matter whether your interest is in PvP, or raiding, or RPing. What matters is that you keep writing. You can use whatever blogging techniques you want with SEO optimization, and other blogger mumbo jumbo. But at the end of the day, readers will reward your perseverance. It may not be now, it may not be later but it will happen. You have to stick with it. When you’re blogging, you’re grinding reputation with all of the Internet.

(Note: For those interested, I do use Google Analytics and Woopra but those were installed way later. Yes, traffic levels are around the same)

Due credit must be given

Phaelia – A wonderful druid and a wonderful blogger. I am truly humbled to be able to have the opportunity to have gotten to know Phae. Another little known fact? Phae proved instrumental in the coding scheme and of the blog. If it weren’t for her assistance, this blog would look incredibly different.

TJ – For openly admitting on BA chat that she would consider going out with me (I have it on screenshots). I’ve never met a more finer spirit. Even though she is a New Jersey Devils fan. But I guess nobody’s perfect.

Big Bear Butt – Would not be a WoW Insider columnist without his encouragement. It is my intention to one day help him format his posts and make it look purdy. At least for a day or a week. I must be getting old. Or it must be my Asian eyes. I think I need better glasses. 

Blog Azeroth homies – You guys know who you are. You are all for real (for real). Thanks for just putting up with me in general!

Wynthea – And last but absolutely in no way least, my dearest Wynthea. She deserves a medal for some of the behind the scenes stuff as well as her work she’s done. She has always been free to leave and pursue her own projects at any time but has decided to spend it here and help contribute to the blog.

To you, the reader, the subscriber – I don’t know when you started reading the blog or how you got here (and that would actually make a very good poll question in general as to what on earth drove you here), but it’s not often that I find myself at a loss for words. Your viewership, your comments, your support, agreements, disagreements, arguments, emails, and everything. It’s unbelievable and I am incredibly humbled. Back to what I wrote earlier, I hope many of the current younger bloggers will stick around and get a chance to experience the same feeling one day.

18 thoughts on “Who is Matt and Why is His Blog Here After a Year?”

  1. Cheers Matt, I wish you even more success on year 2… and also that Crystal Spire. When you get it, I will treat you (no joke) to some all-you-can-eat sushi or just cheap, oily, BUT 24/7 – chinese food! You know what I’m talking about. Oh and I promise not to drink your beer, because I’ll have my own. (Emphasis on the I’s.) =]

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  2. Well done Matt! Yours was one of the first blogs I ever came across and along with a few others helped inspire me to start my own. While I will never be as “expert” as you, I get a buzz from writing and sharing my experiences, ups and downs and passing on some knowledge I have picked up along the way. I look forward to watching you grow and develop even more over the next year 🙂 I’m also excited about reaching my own one year achievement.

    Sephrenias last blog post..Times they are a changing

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  3. I think part of your success comes from the fact that you’re actually writing to inform – while a number of the (WoW) bloggers are basically doing life blogging, except about WoW. The different and informative style of your posts may be ensuring that you get taken more seriously.

    Anyway – thanks again for all of your direct and indirect help (via this blog) over the last few months and good luck with the next year. I look forward to seeing what you guys cook up on the podcast front!

    Avonars last blog post..WotLK and me: battening down the hatches

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  4. Congratulations again Matt :)Certainly looking forward to another year of wonderful writing from you, Wyn and yet-to-be-named-mystery-person. Thankyou for providing a great deal of inspiration to myself and many other people I am sure. Being asked to write for WI within your first year is also a major achievement!

    … but did you really have to put in that hot tamale comment? 😛 Now people are going to come look, and watch those silly videos, and leave comments to the effect of ‘Matticus sent us here, and he LIED!’ Well, you did mention you need better glasses, I suppose I can forgive you.

    So, congratulations! You should have a drink or two to celebrate – wait, are you even legal over there? 🙂

    Saresas last blog post..Teaching = Raiding?

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  5. Congrats Matt and Wyn. Even though I don’t play a Priest I enjoy your column and think your approach is terrific. Thanks also for that other ‘tiny little forum’ — I love it. For the record, I found you through ‘Blessing of Kings’. Look forward to reading more!

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  6. Thanks for battling corporate firewalls for us. WoW blogs are about the only WoW related reading I can do from work, which I think sucks because according to my work’s internet use policy, providing it’s not illegal, we can surf to our heart’s content while on breaks and lunch. They just choose to screen some stuff out…

    I’m very happy that the plusheal forum isn’t blocked (yet) from work, I’ll have to register.

    Keep up the good work!

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  7. Congratulations!

    ” When you’re blogging, you’re grinding reputation with all of the Internet”

    Priceless, as long as I can remember I have always put a quote of some sort on every notebook and book cover. Something that just clicks and fits the subject at hand. Until now the notebook I take my blog notes in has been quoteless. that just changed.

    To answer one of your questions I found this site while leveling my priest. I googled up something to do with gearing my holy priest once I hit 70.

    Love your writing (both of you), keep up the good work.

    Dechions last blog post..The more things change, the more they stay the same

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  8. Ding! and Epic achievements to boot.

    Congratulations, your site among others fills the drudgery of office life where corporate firewalls cut down on all wow related fun. Love the articles, please continue, how else will i know what the best Pre-raid level 80 gear is? 🙂

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  9. Congratulations on a great first year, Matt! You’ve inspired me in two regards: First, I’m a much better healing priest because of you and your blog (and Wyn!), and second, I’m a much better blogger because of the challenge you’ve presented to us all to continually improve.

    Greatly looking forward to year 2!

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  10. I am sneaking in a comment DURING A CONFERENCE CALL to say that Matticus is a GIANT FIBBER. I demand these screenshots be produced, or I call shennanigans!

    Grats on year 1, dude.

    But still, seriously, wouldn’t date you.

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  11. Congrats on a full year of successful blogging! I’ve only been reading for the last few weeks, but it (both yours and Wyn’s posts) really helped prepare me for learning how to play a healing class in WoW (being a warrior, hunter, rogue main).

    Just last week I 4-manned VC and SFK with a 22 Paladin (tanking), 20 Mage, 16 Warrior, and 20 Priest (me). During both runs, there were only a total of fours deaths. Two were my own, one from the warrior getting too close to the ramp in VC and pulling everything, while I was PW:Sing everyone on their way to the wheel, I got dazed and wasn’t able to make it. The other was during the VC fight because the fight glitched and spawned six adds instead of four, four initial adds and then two partway through the battle which aggroed onto me and killed me before I could make it onto the cannon (turning around so they can backstab you is a bad idea!). The other two deaths occurred during the fight against Arugal, when he went into his teleport/shadowbolt spam phase, our Mage and Warrior got 1-shot each (I need to start setting my focus so I can preempt hateful strike-type attacks with PW:S!), but the Paladin and I were able to finish him off, both of us OoMing.

    Not a huge accomplishment in comparison to raiding stuff, but I doubt I would’ve been able to keep the Paladin up if I hadn’t know about the FSR, how much to down-rank spells, when to PW:S and other things that I’ve read about on this blog. It’s been a pleasure reading, and I look forward to seeing the continued success and articles you (and Wyn) post on your blog!

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