“Visual magic tricks are killing magic. Now that is a bombshell I am dropping right here, right now!”

'Ben Williams came into the shop the other day and said these exact words. These words were something I never imagined him to say. We laughed as we thought it was a joke, but when Ben began to explain his point of view, we began to think he may have a point…' – Mark Henderson

Visual Magic Tricks are Killing Magic

I can already feel the backlash against this statement. So I will begin to explain my reasoning for this bold statement.

I was driving to work one day and thinking about the plethora of magic tricks that are released nowadays and how much emphasis is put on the ‘visual’ aspect of each magic trick sold. It seems the more visual the magic trick, the better the ad copy and description is received by the public. Initial interest in these products goes sky high and causes quite a stir within the magic community.

Magic has been given an amazing spotlight on TV over the past decade. Huge thanks must go to David Blaine, Derren Brown, Dynamo, Ben Hanlin, Barry and Stuart and Troy and their teams who collectively have inspired a generation of young magicians to learn the art form. There are a few problems that have arisen due to this explosion of interest in magic tricks.

Seeing is Believing

The world of magic is craving magic tricks that are more and more visual. For a street magic trick to be deemed as amazing street magic, it must be visual. The fashion is to show the moment of magic in all its glory. I don’t know whether this stems from the saying,

‘You have to see it to believe it.’

Surely you would think that seeing the magic happen would make it better, more impossible and ultimately a more magical experience for the spectators? I think though, that if you are doing something super visual you should follow some basic rules like, you should be able to hand them the object in question should they wish to check it, also the method should not really be the obvious answer, or if it is the most obvious method then this should be eliminated from the spectator’s mind be disproving it. By making all of your magic tricks as visual as possible you are robbing your spectators somewhat, rather than gifting them with something special.

By making our magic increasingly visual, you are removing more and more mystery from the spectator.

Mystery is the core product you are selling as a magician, why would you want to filter it out of your performance?

Magic only happens in the mind of a spectator. Your fingers are not magical, your wide eyed stare is not magical, magic is a feeling or experience that a spectator gets inside. If you show them the exact moment of magic and then take it away because it is heavily gimmicked and they cannot check anything then, the magic will be lost no matter how visual it is. Their belief kicks in when they feel the props and know that there is no trickery behind them. For example, if you perform the Kozlowski $100 Bill Switch then, you can instantly, with empty hands hand them a banknote that has literally changed in front of their eyes with no funny moves. They can see there is nothing hidden in your hands, they can feel the note and know there aren’t two stuck together or anything strange. This is the moment it becomes a true mystery and your spectators experience the feeling of magic. With gimmicked notes that you have to switch out, (depending on your performance and routine structure) a spectator will lose that feel of magic as soon as that banknote goes out of view. I will stress that this is not ALWAYS the case. With a careful look at how you structure your routine and patter, etc., for example if they have checked and were honestly 100% happy with the props you are using before the magic happens; then you may have a situation where the spectators are not questioning the props just after the magic. However, this is only achieved with great care and attention to detail with respect to your routine.

Remember though, just because your spectators have seen it does not mean they will ultimately believe it.

The Instant Access Generation

Another problem is that young aspiring magicians are being thrust into this world and learning magic tricks that are sold on visual appeal. The visual of each specific magic trick is the main selling point and not the performance.

The magic tricks are usually able to be performed instantly out of the pack with a gimmick that does all of the work. Either this or they watch a video on YouTube that teaches them how to make a prop or perform a magic trick.

These magic tricks may be visual, but they lack the teaching of how to make it magical and not just a clever prop that anyone could use. There is a distinct lack of tutorials that include performing advice and the real work on astonishing your spectators.

Not long ago you had to get someone to tutor, or coach you and read books with the odd VHS tape to help out. It was this method of passing secrets on that allowed all the finer details of why magic works to be shared. Now there is very little of this. Tricks are sold and it is up to the customer to make it magical for them. This is why a lot of people feel like the magic tricks are not amazing when they receive them. They see magicians getting huge reactions on a video demo for a product that is sold as easy to do and the gimmick does all the work for you yet they fail to get the same results, this is usually down to performance. This is one reason why visual magic tricks are killing magic. They may well be clever props and ideas, true, but they lack the relevant instruction to help make the student better at performing them.

Too Perfect Theory

There is a theory in magic called the Too Perfect Theory. This means that if the effect is too perfect it ceases to be magical. For example, if you had a signed playing card vanish and then reappear on the Moon. The spectator could look through a telescope to the surface of the moon and clearly see their playing card, with their signature written upon it. This would seem to be too perfect, your spectators will not truly believe their card is there, even though they can see it through a telescope. Even if they flew to the Moon to get it and it was there they would have to concoct a theory that the telescope was a fake telescope and you simply had someone fly up before them and place it there (which in all likelihood will be the exact method employed). If, however, it was a signed card that appeared inside a sealed envelope that has been in full view (but within reach) all the time it suddenly becomes more magical and more believable.

Visual magic tricks follow the same theory, I believe. You can make a trick too visual, so visual it just ceases to be believable as possible. I do understand that we as magicians are supposed to do the impossible, but, you want the spectators to be on that ride with you and carry the impossibility all the way through to the end. You do not want them to switch off and think,

‘well it must be a magic prop and I could do it too if I had that magic bottle’ (or whatever prop you are using).

Let's take a look at the pen through banknote. If you could push a pen slowly and 100% visually through a flat banknote so the spectator could see everything then, it would be un-mistakenly magical. But the props would need to be checked in order for the spectator to truly believe what they saw and conclude it was a magical experience for them. If you performed this miracle all a spectator would be thinking is that can’t be real, that cannot be a real banknote. If you had to, (even for a moment) take the note out of view to switch it then the magic would be lost. However, if you perform the version where you fold the note and the penetration happens under the cover of the fold. The spectator then cannot see the exact area or how it was penetrating the note then there is a lot of mystery clouding the routine. The spectators have a ‘blank’ they have to fill in themselves, ideas of slits or holes can be ruled out as the note can be handed straight to them with the pen or pencil and there is no evidence left over to give them any more ammo. This is the moment they concede and give in to the magic.

A flat banknote with a pen slowly pushed through in full view begs the spectator to look for a hole, it is almost a challenge situation you are setting up for them. Unless you are doing real magic, there will be a hole in the note, there has to be. Unless you can hand the exact same note directly to the spectator and have them examine it with no worry of the method being discovered, the spectator will know there was a hole there as they saw the pen go through it. Even in this case you run the risk of them conceding that, in this case, you have an ingenious method for hiding a hole on a banknote, not magical skill.

Spectators are not Stupid

Spectators may be polite, but they are not fools. We have all seen magic props that look like magic props, but spectators still think things that look like everyday items are special magician’s props. I cannot tell you how many times people have thought a bent coin was really a special coin. I have had to remind them that I borrowed it from them in the first place AND had them sign it to prevent switches, only then do they accept it as a real coin.

A lot of spectators will also be too polite to say anything about your prop you are using; however, they will certainly go away thinking, that cup must have been a special as it is the only method they can think of. Unless you cancel this method out that is exactly what a spectator will think. If it is a special cup (or prop) then you have essentially fooled no one. A spectator will have a method in their mind for what you are doing, the more visual the magic trick, the more you will lead them (in most cases) straight to the method, maybe not the exact workings but it will lead them to the general idea.

For example, looking at Envylope, a magic trick where a deck of playing cards instantly and visually turn into an envelope. The spectator's signed card is inside the envelope, fantastic magic trick! I perform Envylope all the time, but I perform the change on the off beat, when no one is looking. One moment I have a deck with their signed card in it, the next I have an envelope with their signed card in it. It happens very quickly, but I do nothing whilst the spectator’s eyes are on it. I get much better reactions performing it this way, rather than performing the change visually in front of them.

Performing it on the off beat means they credit the deck as being normal and the envelope as a normal envelope but they credit me with the skill of being able to do it so quickly without them seeing anything. When I have performed it visually, I see people looking at the envelope, wanting to ask to look at it before I put it away or take it out of sight to switch it. The thought process the spectators have is that as they saw it change, although they don’t know how it worked exactly, they know it was not a real deck of playing cards or a real envelope, it was simply a special magic prop. By removing the visual moment in the magic trick I retain the mystery, and not only the question of ‘how’ but also the question of ‘when’ plays on the spectator’s mind. The fact that they cannot believe they didn’t ‘see’ the move happen instantly creates a moment of astonishment and mystery that is unsolvable for them.

Summary

Well, thank you for listening to my wild ramblings! These thoughts on visual magic tricks are, of course, my opinion and subject to interpretation and even plain outright denial! I have been changing the way I perform over the past year of two and I have been trying to find out what a spectator truly feels is magical and I have certainly found that by clouding the visual nature of my magic with cover or misdirection to retain the mystery certainly has my spectators reeling and questioning reality a lot more than when I perform something ultra visually.

Another by-product is that the spectators think about the magic more, the bug that eats at them continues to do so for much longer. They cannot make any sense of what they saw (or didn’t see) and I have eliminated the thought that the prop could be a magic prop by reframing the presentation.

So in conclusion I have had a look at how and why I believe that certain visual magic tricks may be detrimental to our art-form. Maybe try out performing a visual magic trick with less emphasis on the visual part of the effect, see how it goes.

Do you agree or disagree with me? What's your opinion? Let me know in the comments section below

Ethics Selling Magic Tricks – When a Magic Trick is a Rip Off

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

What should be done when a magic trick turns out to be a rip off?

Just wanted to give a big thumbs up to SansMind for the way they handled a situation that occured with one of their releases. It's a great example of ethics within the magic community.

SansMind is one of the most popular magic creation companies at the moment, releasing a string of high quality magic tricks worldwide. When SansMind found out that one of their new releases featured a presentation already published back in 1991, they reacted with rare professionalism and ethic standing. Here's what they did:

Great work SansMind. That sends out a clear message to the magic community about the right way to handle a situation like this. It shows integrity, and a respect for the work of magicians that have gone before us. Filming a video responce like this is a public way to honestly address peoples concern about the original origin of a product, show that you stand by your convictions, and salvage some of the production loss by turning a bad situation into positive PR.

Here at The Merchant of Magic, we do our best to maintain a similar standard of ethics in the magic we offer. There are several companies who's products are noticably missing from our inventory, as we feel they don't meet that ethical standard.

SansMind have a wide range of excellent magic releases that we highly recommend that you check out.

You can see their range here:

SEO for Magicians

by Merchant of Magic 2 Comments

Tony asks:

‘I don’t know anything about SEO for magicians websites. Can you help me with some tips?‘

It doesn’t matter how much you practice your magic, unless you have an audience, all that hard work is for nothing. If you are ready to start performing for the public, it’s time to build a website to advertise your services as a magician. Lets look at how magicians can improve their websites, so they get noticed in the search engine site listings.

Search engine optimization, often shortened to SEO, is essential if you want your magicians website showing up near the top of the search results. However, there are good SEO and bad SEO:
Bad SEO for magicians.

There are many ‘companies’ that promise to get you listed at the top of Googles search results, by clever SEO. Many of these services uses ‘black hat’ techniques that can get you banned by Google for trying to ‘game the system’. Some SEO companies offer to stuff lots of keywords onto a website, or create hundreds of low quality links from other sites back to your site. This won’t fool Google anymore. Generally, if a companies promise sounds too good to be true, it usually isn’t true.

Never try to cheat the system when it comes to SEO. Google employs some of the world’s greatest mathematicians and experts. Their job is to stop websites from cheating and to find ways to punish those that do!
Good SEO for magicians.

The good news for us magicians, is that there are many positive things we can do, when building our websites to help the search engines rather than cheat them. The reward for playing by Googles own rules is a greater chance of a higher listing in their search results.

The right keywords.

The first step is to choose the keywords you will target. Make a list of 6 words or phrases that people looking to hire a magician in your area would type into the search engine. Perhaps your name, style of magic, location, type of event etc. So, if you are a close up magician living in Southampton, and you entertain in restaurants, your keywords/phrases could be:

Magicians
Southampton
Restaurant magicians
Magic
Hampshire
Restaurant entertainment

Content is King.

Now that you’ve picked your keywords, build them into the content you publish on your magicians website. Use them in your about page, as headers, within buttons and links.

Don’t over do it. Write for humans rather than the search engines. A keyword density of 1% – 2% per page is about right. If you use the same keyword too many times on the same page, Google WILL notice. If Google thinks you are ‘keyword stuffing’ they may punish your website in the listings. Google could even remove your magicians website from their search results completely.

3 Tips for picking a domain name for your magicians website.

1) Choose domain names that contain some of your keywords. Google includes the keywords in your domain name in bold. This stands out in the search results.

2) Choose a domain that is specific for your local area and client base. If you work 99% of the time in the UK, then choose a .co.uk domain name. Google gives preference to those in the Google UK results.

3) Avoid hyphenated domains. HampshireMagician.co.uk is better than Hampshire-Magician.co.uk
Don’t forget the META tags.

You should also add your keywords in your META tags. META tags are hidden from visitors, but search engines use them to understand and index your site.

The essential one is the Title META tag. The text you add in the Title tag is shown in the main link to your site, in the search results. Ideally, the Title tag should be your magician’s stage name, and the subject of that page (for example, Paul Smith – Restaurant Magic in Southampton, Hampshire).

Keep the page Title tag under 175 characters, so it’s not truncated in the search results.

The other two META tags that are used by search engines are Keywords and Description.

Keywords are not really used by Google anymore, but add a few in anyway. The ‘Description’ IS important, as that’s shown under the Title tag in the search results. It’s not used for ranking, but visitors that look at the listings will read it to see if the page is useful to them.

Building links.

Google tries to judge a website by how trustworthy it is. To do this, it will look at the number of websites that link to your magicians website. The more high ranking websites that are linking back to yours the more ‘SEO Juice’ your site builds up.

The best way to get links to your site is to make it interesting, so other sites will link to it. A generic magicians website is not going to be a popular site for links, so you need to think about ways to earn links. A great way to do this is to set up a ‘recommended’ page. You can then link to other types of entertainers or party services, who will hopefully give you a link as well. We on the lookout for sites linking to you with a ‘no follow’ link. These links don’t pass any ‘SEO Juice’ to you as Google doesn’t count them.

Don’t get ripped off.

At all costs, avoid companies that offer to set up backlinks for you. Google knows this is ‘gaming the system’ and the latest Google update (called Penguin) will punish sites that use link farms and bulk link-back tactics.

Be Social.

Google counts links on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, so make sure you add a few links back to your magicians website. Remember not to spam links on social networks, as it does more harm than good.

Say goodbye to Flash.

Search engines don’t see Flash, so make sure you use as little as possible on your website.

Provide a guide.

Remember to include a site map for Google to use. It allows Google to crawl your site quickly and get to every page.

Experiment.

Look at website site traffic reports for your site. Notice which keywords people use to find you. Check where you rank in Google for your chosen keywords. If you rank very low for some keywords, think about changing them to keywords that have less competition, but will send more targeted visitors to your website.

Getting your SEO fixed.

Search Engine Optimization is vital for your magicians website to work for you. – If done right, it will bring you publicity, and many more magic gigs.

One of the problems magicians face when trying to get the SEO right on their magicians websites, is who to trust. There is a great deal of companies that offer a paid service for SEO. Some are excellent, but there are many that use questionable sales techniques, and can’t be trusted.

Do you have any SEO tips for magicians you can share? Please leave a comment below. We would love to discuss this topic further with you!

By Ben Williams

“Visual magic tricks are killing magic. Now that is a bombshell I am dropping right here, right now!”