World Extreme Fighter Creates A One Stop Resource For All MMA Fans

Like a business, a well-rounded blog will flourish if you have the passion and knowledge required to keep it running. For many, their blog is their business.

Domnick Iwasyk, the owner of World Extreme Fighter, is a huge fan of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). Using his blog to share his passion with other fans of this fighting style, he has also taken this opportunity to work on building a source of income out of it.

How long have you been blogging? What inspired you to start?

Since May 2008. A friend of mine from work, Loyd Schutte, came in my office one day and asked me if I wanted a website/blog. I was like what the heck are you talking about? He said he had too many blogs to manage and wanted to give me “Homeandlivingblog.com” for free. I thought about it for a couple days and decided that it would be a good to get some web experience, so I accepted his offer.

After messing with the home and living blog for a while, I decided that blogging was a long term gig and would require passion to keep going. I decided that I was much more passionate and excited about Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). That is when I decided to abandon homeandlivingblog.com and start World Extreme Fighter.

What styles of advertising do you use?

Right now I am using adsense. I am just getting started so my clicks are pretty low. However, I am seeing good growth. I started out making about $0.18 a month, now I am making more like $3. While that is not a lot of money to make per month, my income on the site is just about doubling every month. That is a decent growth rate. If it keeps up, I will be doing just fine in a couple years from now.

I have a couple other ways I am attempting to monitize my stie. I have Bodog Fight, which is an online casino where my readers can join, make bets on fights, horse races or other sports. They can also play cards, roulette, craps or any other online casino games. I get a cut of the casino’s profits if people go from my site to their site and open an account.

I also have designed some WEF shirts that are for sale on the site and have an Amazon widget where folks can buy other MMA gear or whatever else they want.

Out of everything you’ve tried, what has been the most successful?

So far the adsense is getting the most action. However, I did sell $100 worth of MMA books from Amazon a few weeks back. Other than that, the Amazon stuff has been slow so far. I just got the WEF shirts and the casino up, so it is too soon to tell if those will work. I am just throwing stuff out there. Time will tell what works.

What do you think it is about your blog that keeps your readers coming back for more?

I don’t know for sure, but my guess is my personal spin on things. They can read MMA news all day long, but I talk about different things and say it in a different way. Personality counts on blogs, or so that’s what I hear.

How does your life tie into your blog?

I am a big MMA fan. Like I said earlier, it would be difficult to blog about something I have no interest in. Blogging success does not come over night, so you have got to be able to hang in there. My love for MMA helps me to keep going. MMA is something I enjoy.

What do you enjoy the most about keeping a blog?

Seeing it grow and being apart of an industry I love. I am business minded and enjoy seeing my traffic grow, my ad sales grow and my return visitors grow. I feel like I am gaining ground and can see my progress. People are now, after a few months of working hard on WEF, starting to recognize my site and take it seriously. That is a good feeling.

How long have you been interested in the world of MMA?

I have always loved martial arts. I took Karate as a kid. I was into ninjas, Bruce Lee, Steven Segal and just about anything that had to do with Martial Arts. If you ask my parents they will tell you that I was the kid with a huge imagination who would spend all day in the back yard fighting armies of imaginary ninjas. I guess that love for martial arts never left me. As I grew older, I lost some of my childhood imagination and those things became less important to me. I guess and got consumed with work, success and all the other grown up things life throws at you.

Then the UFC got big and I was exposed to the real life side of Mixed Martial Arts rather than the Hollywood side of Martial Arts that you seen in ninja movies. It’s almost like I picked up where I left off as a kid, only from a more adult, realistic perspective. I guess now MMA provides me with that same thrill that I had as a kid, only it is real. Real people, real fights and real knockouts. I love it.

Have you ever fought professionally?

I have not competed in MMA professionally and doubt that I will. While I am considering joining a MMA gym to get in shape and become even more ingrained with the sport, at the end of the day I am just a fan. While some people may think this is a short coming for someone running a MMA website, I see it as an advantage. I am a fan and I write for fans. When I have a question, I know my readers have a question. When I think something needs to be said about a fight or a fighter, my readers think something needs to be said too. If anything, I am in touch with what it’s like to be a MMA fan and I write accordingly. That’s why a lot of times I take time to write educational articles. MMA is relatively new in the mainstream sports world, and there are many new fans out there who are beginning to like MMA, but do not fully understand all aspects of the sport. I am in the same boat as they are. I try to write so that as I learn more about the sport, my readers will learn with me. My readers and I are on a journey together, to learn about, hear about, and enjoy the sport of MMA. It’s as simple as that.

Do you have any advice that you’d like to share with any of the beginner bloggers that might be reading this?

First I would again stress the importance of picking a topic or a niche that you enjoy. Next, I would say that it is not for people who give up easy. It takes effort and dicipline to write every day, even when you aren’t seeing any traffic growth. You have got to be persistent and keep writing.

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