Well, whoever would have thought this is where my hobby career has taken me. Since discovering the power of the internet I have reached heights like never before. The thought of a blog never crossed my mind til a year ago. Before that, if any of you were apart of it, I ran a Facebook page called The Cardboard Fans. We had 31 likes. That was it. No fan interaction except for one really dedicated fan who followed us to Sport Card Collectors as well. I had no idea what to do. I knew I had wanted to be apart of the social media craze of the hobby. So I deleted the page, I still have everything ever posted on it. I had printed off a copy to remind me as a drive to continue to improve this blog and the hobby.
When I set up a new page, I wanted something simple. Something that explains exactly what we are...Sport Card Collectors was what I called the page. I got a few likes. 12 or 13. And it went that way for awhile. Once again, I wanted more. I was on other sport collectors blogs at the time entering contests and posting on them. Then a crazy idea popped into my head...why not start my own? Then I was worried that I wouldn't visitors like the pages. But I went on with it anyways. On March 1st, 2012 I posted this as an opener:
http://sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com/2012/03/1st-post.htmlThen within seconds posted this:
http://sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com/2012/03/imghttpi1238.htmlIt took a lot of learning to figure out how to use a blog. How to upload pictures. What images and writings to do to catch interest. I got about a months worth of postings, which was a lot because I was pounding them right out. Almost three posts a day. The one thing I did want, I wanted this blog to standout above others. I didn't want just the usual posting of previews, reviews (though that is one of my favorite parts) occasional contests, and a few opinion stories. I wanted to open my blog up to the readers. It may had taken me the year to install all of these new things for your guys, but I wanted to make this hobby what it is. A collecting community. Though this is still my blog, I leave it open for you guys to post, send me pics of your PC to be showcased on here (you know as well as I do its very hard to make it into Beckett. Why not share your goods here?), questions,Fan Favorite Card Thursdays, Fan Box Breaks, and sections to discuss the hobby and sports. I hope in the next year that you guys will take more advantage of those things. We are the ONLY blog to offer this type of interaction. Now back to the rest of my blogoversary story.
On April 5th, 2012 I had some big news for the blog as we picked up
as a sponsor. Was the biggest moment in my life.And I was beyond excited to be able to work with a sports card company that I truly support and with some great guys like Tracy Hackler and Jason Howarth (must also throw in some other great people I have met in Chris Reed and Scott Prusha) Without them, this blog probably would have fizzled. So if you haven't said thank you to Tracy, Jason and Panini for the sponsorship of this blog, PLEASE do. There wouldn't be such great contests on here without them. And I wouldn't keep you informed on everything Panini related without them. I hope I have served them well over the past year with my support and once again I cannot say it enough, THANK YOU SO MUCH PANINI, JASON AND TRACY!!!!! I hope you guys have read this!
As the year went on, I was handing out Panini prizes (a few others as well, but
mainly Panini) left and right on a weekly basis. On June 25th this blog had reached 10,000 views. A moment I was proud of, but wasn't quite sure that it was where I wanted the blog. So I pushed for more. The one thing I always had was motivation.
The blog finally caught a huge break in late August when we were chosen to join in on the blogger version of Panini NFL Player Of The Day Contest. Which if you search this blog or participated in it you will understand what this was. At about the same time we picked up a Twitter account. Then the blog finally started to take off. Once again, I owe Tracy Hackler and Panini another huge thank you for getting me into this promo. Not only is it a great blogger promo, but a great promo in general and I hope all of you will participate in your hobby shops this fall.
With a big contest with big prizes, a Twitter account and a growing Facebook fan base went from 33 Likes to 60 things were finally on a right track. Twitter slowly gained followers up to 88 early on. The views were up and the blog had finally caught everyones attention.
After the Player Of The Day Contest was over, we went back to a weekly contest for November that seemed to lack interest. Then after running our #SCC20daysofChristmas promo for 20 days of December that brought a lot of new fans, ton more views to the blog. Then lightning struck that I needed to continue on with the monthly contests. People liked winning big lots of prizes and I liked giving them away that way. And it was challenging, fun and it let everyone battle for it instead of the random selecting process.Once again, another thank you to Panini for providing boxes for us to review to use for our contents to giveaway.
When the end of December came I was approached by someone wanting to sponsor the blog. I was very excited and we immediately got the deal and announcement done. And soon a very trustworthy big time box breaker in Cardsmiths was on board. Within a couple more weeks another approached me and then we were soon announcing Jammin JDcards as well. I would like to say thank you to these guys as well. Thanks for coming on board and hope to serve you guys well.
So a year later...I have been very blessed with this blog and it continues to grow. We are currently at 68,169 views. 695 Twitter Followers and 118 Facebook likes. From a small start to a bigger end a year later. I am looking forward to see what the next year has to bring for the blog. Can't believe a year ago it was just a Facebook page with 33 likes and now its this. Now, my numbers may not sound like much right now, but the blog averaged 3500 views a month early on and grew monthly, yes this was a very low number compared to some blogs. But since November that number has really taken off to 10,000+ and growing on a monthly basis. I think all of the hard work poured into this blog is finally paying dividends. And I expect a huge year!!!
And one last thing, I also couldn't be where I am at without you guys. The fans, the readers. I appreciate every time you visit this blog. Whether its to view a card break. to enter a contest, to view a Random Card Of The Day, Or just to see whats going on or new info from a card preview you guys visited . And thanks for spreading the word on the blog from your RT's, shares and just word of mouth. So thank you guys and here is to another year!! Big expectations will be reached in 2013!!
Bloggers Note: If there are any stories, information, or anything in particular you are looking for please let me know. I will see if I can make a post and provide you with my best opinion and expertise on it. Also, if there are any segments you miss let us know that as well. The information on here is to help you out. So if there is something we need to be providing please let us know!!Must also apologize that some of our archived posts do not have pictures anymore. Don't know why, but hopefully if we can find time we will go back and fix them.
