On the two year anniversary of the first launch of Martial Edge and its now relaunch, Lesley Jackson speaks to Peter Mills, the founder of the most comprehensive martial arts site around and of course friend and co worker. As Martial Edge enters its new phase, what is in store for the future? Martial Edge: What first triggered the idea for Martial Edge?
Peter Mills: I’ve always been frustrated with what’s out there in terms of magazines and books for the martial arts. The first time I actually started thinking about doing something about it was when I was on a coach from the UK to Holland to take part in a Taekwondo competition in 2004. I think the journey was around 15-18 hours so I obviously had a lot of time to reflect on it. My initial idea was going to be a magazine, and so on that coach journey my thoughts were centred on that.
 Martial Edge: How did you first go about developing the idea?
Peter Mills: To be honest it remained a pipe dream for the next 6 months and then I took a year out from University to work for IBM. Another Taekwondo competition later and I was trying to research good martial arts articles to help me with my training. It soon became apparent that whilst in terms of physical training (where there were sites such as http://www.bodybuilding.com) there was no clear leader in the martial arts world. So at that point I thought I would just go for it and launched http://www.martialedge.co.uk in September 2005.
Martial Edge: What were your aims when you first started?
Peter Mills: I wanted a generic martial arts site that would develop into an online martial arts community. If you wanted to read satirical reviews of the best (and in some cases, the worst) in Hong Kong Cinema you could; or likewise if you were a Karateka you could read anything from Bunkai application to The Karate Kid!
Martial Edge: When did it first launch, what were the initial reactions?
Peter Mills: Well, at first it was slow and looking back that was simply down to lack of revenue and the ability to advertise externally. Although the site looked good and was professional in how it approached written material on the martial arts, it remained behind emerging sites such as YouTube that offered users a new experience.
Martial Edge: What successes did you achieve in the first year?
Peter Mills: Well it generated enough revenue so that I could pay the bills. People often forget that it takes time to build a reputation in the same way it does to achieve a black belt.
Also we interviewed a couple of big names within the martial arts industry, who wanted to be part of Martial Edge, which was certainly encouraging.
Martial Edge: 2007 looks like to be a big year for Martial Edge, what are your expectations for the new site?
Peter Mills: Yes definitely. We want to people to use it and help us develop the largest online community portal for martial arts in the world. If you want to watch a video you can, if you want to listen to audio you can! It’s all going to be there as well as the core written content that helped make Martial Edge a cult success.
Martial Edge: Why did you decide to redevelop the site?
I had taken the original site as far I could really. It needed to embrace new ideas and new technology and that’s when I met Jason Dainter, who is a whizz at all things Information Technology and importantly he shares the same passion for the martial arts.
 The Original Martial Edge Logo (2004)
When we set out the basic premise of the new website we came up with different user expectations. For example,
‘I practice Karate; all I want to see and read about is Karate. I also like watching videos online.’
‘I practice Taekwondo; started three months ago. I want to watch tutorials and talk to other beginners in the discussion forum.’
Realistically there are thousands of different combinations but after a few brainstorming sessions doing this and also actually speaking to martial arts students you can get a feel of what needs to be done.
Therefore on the new website you can watch tutorials on the various styles that have been filmed by the Martial Edge team and at the same time users can submit their own videos and watch videos submitted by other users.
There is an extensive profile system where you can add and talk to friends. I am wary of trying to compare this to Facebook or Myspace as it’s not trying to do that at all. Rather, it is connecting people who have a common interest in the martial arts.
Another new great feature is the encyclopaedia which we have spent a lot of time developing. This feature puts us ahead of any competition as we just don’t write comprehensive discursive articles; we also go to the trouble of explaining the various aspects of terminology, people and weapons.
Well the team is Martial Edge. Without one of the members it just wouldn’t function at all. The key to our success is that we all share the same selfless goal of making Martial Edge the biggest name in the world of martial arts.
In fact I could spend the rest of the interview talking about features, the best way I think is to get on the site and explore!
Martial Edge: How about the other members of the team; what do they do?
Peter Mills: Is this where I get the opportunity to say how good they all are? Ha ha! First up we have Jason Dainter, whose martial art background is in Judo. I met Jason at University where he was studying computer Science and Management. Jason is the project manager of Martial Edge and his role really takes care of the day to day running of Martial Edge. (A very bright guy as well, Martial Edge readers) Ben was another fellow student, a brilliant writer and graduate of Broadcasting at the University. Ben’s role at Martial Edge is editor and his martial arts background is in the Chinese martial arts. Then of course there is you Lesley (Lesley Jackson) and I I met you at the martial arts competition in Holland, just as I was thinking about the initial idea of the site. I took Lesley on as the deputy editor of Martial Edge because she is one of the best female writers on the topic of martial arts! We are also supported by Sham in terms of IT work and various contributors to Martial Edge such as David Robson and Phil Star who have supported us since the beginning. In the retail side of Martial Edge there is Shab and Kab, who first introduced me to martial arts many years ago and remain good friends and colleagues of mine at Martial Edge.
Martial Edge: How do you function together?
Well the team is Martial Edge. Without one of the members it just wouldn’t function at all. The key to our success is that we all share the same selfless goal of making Martial Edge the biggest name in the world of martial arts.
Martial Edge: What about the future, what do you hope for Martial Edge in months or years to come? We have a few goals but for the end of 2008 we want to see 50,000 members of Martial Edge and a vibrant community beginning to develop. Also by the end of the next year I want to be able to walk into my local bookstore and buy a book that has been written by a Martial Edge writer. So let’s see if they come true!
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