Footy Websites

OldSchool

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Thread starter #1
I had a talk to a group of guys I know that are keen to talk to the club later in the year to see about the possibility of taking over the Bulldogs website when their contract with Telstra is over.
It is early stages in the process yet they believe that they can put a pretty good offer on the table to the club but are still working on the financials. They say they have sufficient sponsor interest to just about break even after their first season. Given their financial position which is strong they are prepared to absorb an ongoing loss because they believe a fantastic website that they can deliver will attract additional members for the club. One of the guys has actually been over to the US and has spoken to some sporting clubs about how they use their websites to not only inform members of the day to day news but also make a contribution to the club with membership and sponsorship.

It all sounds exciting when they are talking about an interactive site with competitions, prizes daily/weekly newsletters etc and I am sure they have put together a good business model but....

My question to those who know a little about these sort of things is: Would there likely be enough interest in a club website for the Bulldogs given our poor membership base ?
I have had a look at some of the non Telstra sites and one or two of them are very good but I'm not sure they add any value to their clubs. They might be nothing more than a nice to have.

I have also had a look at other sites like BF and most just dont compare. The major opposition to this site might be in its infancy and this is the off season but it does not seem have any relevent football input. The Bulldogs board there can actually go days without any input.
I have also searched a few other Bulldog forums and most are very quiet.

Does anyone think a club website could actually make a contribution to the football club by attracting additional members ??
 

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Mo7

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#3
What a great idea and if it has a chatroom that is used on a regular basis as used to be about three years ago - so much the better. The Barwon Bulldogs had its own website for a while and it was very popular with fans - latest photos and news. Unfortunately the company closed its doors and we were left high and dry.:(
 

OldSchool

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Thread starter #4
Originally posted by Mo7
What a great idea and if it has a chatroom that is used on a regular basis as used to be about three years ago - so much the better. The Barwon Bulldogs had its own website for a while and it was very popular with fans - latest photos and news. Unfortunately the company closed its doors and we were left high and dry.:(
Yeah they are talking about birthday emails from favourite players for the younger fans as a way of involving the whole family. It sounds good but when you look around some of the other sites I doubt that there is much more than about 30 Bulldog people that contribute to forums on even a semi regular basis.. One of the guys is about to retire and I think he was looking for something to do with his spare time. It probably takes a fair bit of commitment for someone to oversee it.
 

Knackers

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#5
Being involved in IT and an avid bulldogs supporter, the website is a good idea as long as it is kept absolutely current, has desirable content and involves the user via polls, competitions, boards and useful links.

It needs to give an insight into the club by providing information that isn't published in newspapers and the AFL website.

Regularly have players and officials involved in chat rooms and give regular updates on injuries, player profiles, interviews and what's happening at the club.

But the most important attribute of a website is remaining current.
 

stefoid

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#7
I doubt we have enough IT literate supporters to attract much sponsorship.

If the website attracted hits from other club supporters, then they would be onto something. I hit a lot of other clubs websites during draft period for instance.

Perhaps if it had partcularly good and fast match day result summaries, and particularly good match day previews other clubs fans would hit it before and after they played us.
 

stefoid

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#8
A message board devoted to pre- and post game banter might also attract a lot of other clubs supporters. Whos gonna kill who, who did kill who, etc?
 

Derek Zoolander

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#10
Websites such as a football website do not run ni the same manner as a normal e-commerce website.
You are selling very little, and what you are selling is to a small market.
Who will look at the website? A majority of the hits to a Football website are from those who support the club - And it's a fair chance that those who are checking interviews, club news and posting are members. Take this website for example (specifically the Bulldog board). Someoe eluded to the fact that there are probably 30 off regular posters. Of this 30, only Rocco is not a member. That's 96% of all club supporters on this board being a member. In a wider sample, i'd say that 85%-90% of all visitors to the offical club website would be members, so off the bat your appealing to a small target market.

Having something like live scores is perhaps a good idea, but again, small market - Do people overseas really go "mmm, Bulldogs are playing, wonder what the score is, oh i have to pay a small amount, do i want to pay $10 subscription just to see a team i know nothing about?" probably not.

Also mentioned has been chats and forums where we can talk to opposition supporters about games and our own. Well that's this? Scotch Mist? As for a chat room, the offical website has one and no one uses it!

However, i do admire supporters wanting to help the club out, and by all means, if you have enough spare time to get something like this up and running, go for it, but in terms of it generating a lot of money and appealing to a wide internet viewership, i just can't see it working.
 

stefoid

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#11
Originally posted by dancingdoggie17
That's a very big generalisation! you need the facts to back that kind of statement up.

I seriously think we do have alot of computer litterate supporters!
I dont think we have more than the average percentage of IT literate supporters. We are neck and neck with the roos for least number of members.
 

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Mo7

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#12


Also mentioned has been chats and forums where we can talk to opposition supporters about games and our own. Well that's this? Scotch Mist? As for a chat room, the offical website has one and no one uses it!

[/B]


I quite agree with you Sporty - regarding the fact that people do not use the official website chat room. Perhaps if we arranged to have a chat time each night or on certain nights, more people would take advantage of the opportunity to speak with fellow supporters. The old chatroom (about 3-4 years ago) was excellent and my first intro to chat. Then we used the Adelaide based Bulldog website for chat. That had a certain time each week and several people were involved that way. It's a pity too - that the official website doesn't have a forum as of old, though at least we can air our feelings on Bigfooty.
 
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*Stream of consciousness mode: ON*

For a site like that you really need a viable model.

Work out all costs. Work out where the money comes from.

If the club is willing to pay a certain amount to have the site, then take 10% out of that for yourself and spend the rest on the site.

You need to hit on the things that people buy. Make them unique and you can charge a good price. Sell the same thing everyone else is flogging and you have to squeeze margins to stay competitive.

If you want daily visitors you need fresh daily, or preferably hourly, content. Where will your news feed come from?

You need game scores and chats during games. Believe me that works.

You need to involve the user with engaging, original content. Where will that come from? Who will update the site?

You need to get the user inside the club and NOT let anyone else in via other sites. If they want to see the true inside story, they have to go through you and view your sponsor messages. If they want the most up to date Bulldogs news you have to have it or people will just go to realfooty or the Age online.

A web site is an arm of the marketing department. Mostly you are asking people to pay for the product (your content) in TIME, the most valuable commodity in the world. Time to get the sponsor's message in front of them. Which of the Bulldogs sponsors has an online presence? Get them to chip in and make their company and site an intrinsic part of the branding of the Bulldogs site.

Your sponsors must be in context. Perfect for this are sellers of sports tickets, footy gear, and anything that is exclusively Bulldogs.

The web is a global medium with a local focus. Try going local. That's a bit harder nowadays with the attempted homogenisation of the clubs. Get every business in the area and hit them up for $10 per week for a rotating link at the top of the site, and they get a certificate of appreciation to hang in their shop. Personalise it to them with the proprietor's photo or photo of their shop on the ad. 100 of those is an extra $1000 a week. Just enough after taxes for it to be worth ONE person's time to run it. Give the local supporters their team back via the site. Include local community news and announcements. It sounds like small potatoes but sometimes local sites are the biggest winners, with a loyal following and plenty of repeat visits. An online meat raffle?? Why not? Delivered by the local butcher? What a laugh and a great way to get back in touch with the local supporters.

Web sites are often used by the clubs as a PR opportunity. If that is the case, don't bother with sponsors and just let the club pay to have a Murdoch news feed and press releases.

Remember - the FANS are your target market. The FANS will be the ones you want to visit your site and see your sponsors and buy the merchandise. Give the FANS fresh, original content and they will come back again and again.

Why not cross sell a web site subscription to members when they get their membership renewal? Put it on the same form - tick here and add $19 to the membership fee. You need to work closely with all parts of the club to get this sort of thing running. It's a lot of work.

*plug* If they really want a forum we can syndicate BigFooty's forum. A ready made discussion forum with no resources required to build it up from scratch. You could also have players and coaches logging on to answer questions (though you'd want to moderate that closely, it could get out of hand).

That's my brain-dump for the night.
 
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#16
Its the way of the future and I'm sure they could do a better job than Telstra.

BulldogsUnleashed was a decent fan website about a year ago, complete with forum.
 

Bulldog1954

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#17
Originally posted by stefoid
A message board devoted to pre- and post game banter might also attract a lot of other clubs supporters. Whos gonna kill who, who did kill who, etc?
The crows used to have a board like that. But a bunch of morons, two from Northcote who barrack for the Bulldogs and are twins amongst others basically just used it to abuse the hell out of Adelaide, players, fans and their families and it was eventually axed. Generally I think they would degenerate into abuse between fans, not banter
 
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