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What are the most important elements of an amateur sports club website?

People doing yoga stretching to be added to a sports club website using Go Sitebuilder

Designing a website for an amateur sports club can be overwhelming if you don’t know where to start. With so many different website builders offering a range of features, figuring out what you need for your sports club can be difficult. At Go Sitebuilder we aim to make website building as simple as possible, by having an easy-to-use interface and giving helpful hints and tips in our blog. 

Whether you are building a website for a football club or a boxing school, showcasing your best assets is vital in attracting new talent and sponsorship. In the UK there are over 6,000 amateur sports clubs, which means whatever sport you are working in, there is plenty of competition around you. In this blog we are going to talk you through the most important elements of a sports club website. If you use clever web design and a great website builder you can create the best website for your sports club. 

Clear Information

This may seem obvious but ensuring your website shows all key information is vital to attracting visitors. All information regarding your club should be easy to find on your website, for more help with navigation tips, check out our blog on why navigation is so important. Your website should also be up to date with all recent news and events. 

Make sure you include contact information, location (whether this is your offices or where you train) and office hours. Additionally, as there are specific types of sports clubs and levels for different sports, including detailed information is also important. Consider the following questions when writing about your sports club:

  • What level do you play/train at? 
  • Is there a specific age group you are targeting?
  • Do you have any special awards or trainers that you can mention? 
  • Mention the type of club and ethos you have. For example, are you more focused on development or competitions? 

Photographs and Videos

Your main selling point is how good your team/players are at their sport, so make sure you show them off! Have a range of photographs showing members at their best. If you have photographs from events such as  regional matches or  tournaments include them, especially if a member or team was placed top in the competition. 

Depending on the type of club and your ethos, consider including photographs from more social gatherings. Many new members will look for the spirit of the community they are looking to join, so whether your socials are a curry night or an awards ceremony at the end of the year, ensure to include photographs of them. 

Team or Coaches page

Whether you have a team or coaches page is dependent on whether the focus of your sports club is on the performance of your team or the development led by your coaches. Having this page is a great way to show visitors the people involved in your club. This  personal touch to your website is great in making your community feel more involved in your activities. Ensure you include photographs of your team or coaches, so that visitors can connect more with your website. 

Recent News and Matches

If you want fans to stay updated on your team, having a news page is vital. Including a range of news stories about your club will ensure that visitors stay engaged with your website. Consider the following topics when writing news bulletins:

  • Recent matches or competitions and their outcomes 
  • League table updates 
  • New player/team member/coach updates
  • Tips and advice on how to get involved 
  • News about training sessions or community activities
  • Fundraising events or targets 
  • Updates on alumni if they go on to be more successful in the sport 

With many website builders, visitors can leave a comment on your news stories. This is a great way of keeping fans feeling engaged with your news and getting a feel for their opinion on developments in your sports club. Keeping visitor engagement up is seen to have positive effects for your website and your business. One study showed that if visitors are encouraged to engage with a website, it fosters the idea of a partial owning of the product and therefore an increased attachment to the product. 

Eye Catching Web Design

As with any website, having effective website design is key in creating a standout website. Make sure you think about aspects such as colour, font and layout when designing your site. The design you choose should reflect the type of club you are and be easy for visitors to use. For more inspiration take a look at our blog on the best designed football websites.

If you need a great website builder for your sports club, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With a wide range features, our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!

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Which sports teams have the best marketing strategies online?

Female marketing working with a customer looking into which sports teams have the best marketing strategies online

There is no textbook definition as to what a strong marketing strategy is. However, by examining successful marketing strategies carried out by sports teams, you can build an idea as to what the techniques are best to adopt for that specific sector. If you want to grow the visibility of your sports team online and build a strong brand, you’ll need to have a strong presence online. 

Building your own website is the first step in your marketing strategy: we suggest using a website builder, as building a site from scratch can be time-consuming and expensive. Once you’ve built your site, you can start working on your marketing strategy to ensure your sports team has a powerful online image. 

Motivational message 

Conveying a motivational message which reaches out to a wide audience is a great way to market your sports team. In 2015, the English Sports Council started up the trend #ThisGirlCan, inspiring women across the country to take up sports. This marketing campaign was a success, as it reached out to ordinary women who might have hesitated to take part in sporting activities due to their appearance or fitness: the original video was viewed more than 8 million times, and the hashtag is still going strong to this day. 

Incorporate a motivational message in your marketing strategy to encourage audiences to identify your sports brand with positivity and personal growth. If you want to target a certain group of people, focusing your marketing strategy around them will show your sports team is committed to helping and inspiring this particular audience. 

Make your sports team personal 

It is easy to feel distant from even your most idolised sports star: their wealth and extravagant lifestyle often makes sports teams seem like they’re far away from your reality. However, sport plays a big role in many people’s lives, so building a relationship between your sports team and its supporters is key. 

As part of your marketing strategy, utilise social media to build a stronger relationship between your sports team and its supporters. Real Madrid launched their own SnapChat account in 2015, providing live updates to supporters all around the world. In just three months they managed to gain almost half a million subscribers – by providing their fans with match footage and information about its players, they built a successful digital relationship between their fans and their sports team. 

Stay connected with supporters

Keeping supporters in the loop with your sports team with all the latest updates around game results, membership deals, and team information is important to establish a healthy relationship between your sports team and their fans. One of the easiest ways to do this is by creating an email list – sending out weekly updates is a good way to keep your supporters up to date with the latest news surrounding your sports team, so that if they miss a match, they don’t feel as if they’ve missed out on your sports team’s latest developments. 

For a more personal way to stay connected with supporters, use live chat options on social media platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter. This lets you directly answer questions about your sports team, and shows that you really value the supporters of your sports team. It also gives you a chance to boost your publicity: retweeting and sharing messages of support from fans evidences the successes of your sports team. With a larger base of supporters, your sports team is more likely to get more sponsors, helping to grow your sports team even further. 

Be accessible

When choosing a site builder to build your website, you’ll need to check they offer a responsive web design. In 2012, a Nielsen Report showed that 60% of mobile and tablet owners received sports related content on their devices at least once a day. Make sure your website is accessible on both desktop and mobile devices so that supporters can gather the latest information surrounding your team wherever they are in the world. 

Having a website that can only be accessed from only one type of screen may mean people become less engaged with your latest news and slowly drift away from supporting your team. To keep fans interested, build a site which is easy to use and looks great from any device. 

Although there are many site builders to choose from, we believe Go Sitebuilder is the best site builder for those who want an easy-to-use site builder which delivers premium websites at an incredibly affordable price. Our website builder offers ready to go web designs which are fully customisable, and our site can be accessed from any device.

Our 14-day free trial gives you all the time you need to discover why Go Sitebuilder is right for you and your sports team – try it today!

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Why you should have a sports fan site

Homepage of Bayern Munich, the largest soccer club in Germany using Go Sitebuilder for sport fans.

If you are a serious sports fanatic then you might find it slightly frustrating trying to tell friends and family about the latest sporting updates. The more excited and in-depth of an explanation you go into, the more their eyes glaze over and the more disinterested they seem.

That’s why being a part of a sports fan website can be a great thing for a sport-lover: you are able to share your interests with countless numbers of like-minded people, safe in the knowledge that they will listen to your every word. Having a sports fan site creates a real sense of community within your sports area of choice, and it allows you to engage with your hobby as much or as little as you desire. In order to grow this sense of community, it is important that you include a few important functions within your site so that it can prosper. 

Social media 

If you use social media regularly then you will understand the importance of its use in the sporting world. By being able to link your social media to your sports fan website, other users will be able to see what kind of sport-related information that you’re posting. This doesn’t need to be a time-consuming essay: Twitter only lets you write 280 characters at a time, meaning all sport updates have to be kept short and sweet. 

Linking your social media to your website also shows other fans that you know what you’re talking about. For example, if you’re posting live updates of results and commentary on the latest footie game then it’s clear you’re a true fan, and are committed to ensuring that your website is useful for other sports fans.

Having live updates which are shared both on your website and your social media is also a great way to reach out to professionals on the go who might not have the time to always keep up to date with their favourite game. By keeping them in the loop, you’re more likely to build a strong sports community that includes everyone.

If you want a live chat room then linking your Facebook messenger is a great way to keep everyone connected so that you can share your love for sport with others at any time of day.

Blogs 

If you want to commit a bit more time to your fan site, then blogs are a great way to draw others to your website. By writing opinion pieces about certain matches, providing history on a certain popular player, or even offering information pieces about the importance of your sport of choice, you are bound to get more people interested in your content, thus inspiring them to become a member of your fan site. 

Writing blogs can also increase the visibility of your fan site. If people are googling questions online, and Google’s search engine picks up on the key terms from the question within your website, it is more likely to boost your website further up the search index. This is something called SEO – search engine optimisation. This is important if you want to increase your membership number: the more people who find your fan site, the more likely it is that you will generate larger numbers of interest. 

Upload photos 

Uploading photos is a great way to add some visuals to your website: whether you’re posting pictures to show support for your favourite player or want to post your own snaps from a live game, it’s a good idea to have a photo gallery to display all of this. It adds a personal touch, and allows you to share your opinions about a game/players in an authentic way.

If you want to get other site users involved then you could encourage them to send you photos of their own about the chosen sport – why not encourage them to send you their pictures through social media, and then you can upload them onto your fan site? This would encourage others to become actively involved with your fan site, ensuring that you have a steady stream of people who want to become a part of your community. 

How to set up a fan site 

Whilst setting up a website might be daunting, don’t let this stop you from building a thriving online sports community. Go Sitebuilder does all the hard stuff for you, meaning that you can start your fan site free from any hassle. Not sure if you’re ready to commit yet? Their 14-day free trial gives you all the time you need to decide whether or not you want to start your sports fan site today!

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Top tips to attract new members to your sports club

Group of three females sitting on steps outside and relaxing after running in their sports club

If you have a sports club whose members are dwindling, you want to reach out and flex your marketing muscles to get more members! Finding new people isn’t as difficult as it sounds, you just have to consider your potential new members; what do they want and where will they be looking?

Many people new to an area will turn to the internet to find out what fun things are going on. If your sports club has a good online presence, then your club will be the one that stands out, and you will reap the reward of new talent! We’ve put together some top tips to help you attract new members to your club. 

Be online

Your club may have survived over a decade without a website, relying solely on community spirit and word of mouth, but as we move further into the digital age, a website is a necessary component to any sports club. The majority of potential new members will research online to see if there are any clubs that they would like to join, comparing and contrasting to find which one will suit them best. If your club doesn’t even have a website, you will lose out at the first hurdle!

What do they want to know?

So, you’ve got a website, but what do you put on it? There’s no complex strategy here, just be simple and transparent. The first time a visitor enters your site, they want to know the basics: Product, Place, Price, and Process. What does membership get them, and how many times do you train a week? Where is the training ground? How much does it cost per month, and what are the steps involved to becoming a member? 

By making this information easily accessible, you will have given a visitor all the information they need to be able to join your team! If they still have questions or are unsure of how your sports club works, then it reduces the chances significantly of them clicking the “join” button. 

Social media

Social media is a great way to build a community around your sports club, as well as a useful tool to link people back to your website. Join relevant groups in your area to help build your club’s recognition in the area, or post regular updates on your Facebook page for upcoming games or training. 

You can drive social media engagement further by using photos and videos, as well as adding relevant hashtags to get more new eyes on your posts!

Email subscriptions

If you already have a website, then you should set up email subscriptions – this is for your fans to follow your team closely and stay up to date with new matches, results and general news. This is an invaluable tool! Write in your newsletter that you are looking for new members, and your fans – who are already invested in your team – will put the effort in to ask their friends and family, or even join up themselves.

Get involved with the community. 

Getting the community involved will help publicise your team, get the word out that you’re looking for new members and help you gain a positive reputation! There are various ways to do this. Organise a barbeque or a friendly field day – something that everybody can get involved in – and bring your team to help out. Give a quick speech about the importance of being active, and invite new people to join to help them reach fitness goals or just to expand their social circle. 

If you’ve got a website and an active social media presence, it should be easy to drum up some support for these kinds of events. 

Word of mouth

We may be living in a world where a digital presence is crucial, but that’s not to say that word of mouth isn’t an important element of marketing. People are much more likely to trust recommendations from their friends and acquaintances.

Use the team members that you already have, and organise a buddy night, where each of your existing members brings a friend to practice one night. Make sure it’s a fun night, but also add in the standard training and drills you do every week, so that the newcomers can see what it would be like if they were to join. Post pictures of this on your website and social media and share them with everybody who came, so they can easily show others how much fun they had!

For a sports club, a mixture of digital and community-based marketing is a great strategy to reach as wide an audience as possible. If you want more ideas, then check out our article on how to create a great website for your sports club. 

If you’re looking to build a website for your sports club, then Go Sitebuilder is an excellent option. If you’re new to websites, then our platform is perfect for you; just click the style you want and upload your content and you’re ready to go. Try out their 14-day free trial and start attracting new members to your club today!

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How to build a website for a sports club

You might have just decided to breathe some life into your local area by starting up a new sports club, or maybe you’re just trying to bring a well-established one into the digital world. Either way, a website dedicated to your team is a great way to get more visibility for your club, whether that is to attract more fans to your page or to bring in potential new members. 

We’re going to have a look at the most important things your sports club website will need in order to thrive. 

Team logo and colours

This is crucial! Your team colours are your identity, both on and off the pitch. Making sure this is the first thing visitors to your site see will mean they are more likely to recognise you in the future. If you are still trying to decide on a logo, online tools like Placeit and Looka give you templates that you can adapt to your colours and team name. Don’t paste your logo all over the site, but be creative with it; try using a watermark of your logo as the background of your website. 

Don’t take all this on yourself, your team should be part of the creative process!

Introduce your club

Your club is unique. It’s not just about the sport, it’s about the sense of community that you have created together, and getting this across is going to help you instil a sense of pride in your team. It will also help fans feel more connected to their players, and attract potential new members to join. 

Write a short history of your club, including pictures and information about team members. Don’t feel like you have to stick to the classic posed photo – why not have a mix of in-action photos and fun photos of social events?

If you have a solid fan base, then ask your team members to write a short bio of themselves that you can include it with their headshots in a “meet the team” section. 

Keep your visitors and members updated

Having an events schedule that is regularly updated is great for everyone. Your team members can’t use the excuse that they didn’t know when practice was, and your fans won’t be disappointed if they weren’t notified of upcoming matches. This is also a good place to post information about social events, so that even if someone is interested in joining but wants to check out the team first, they can do so.

A news section is a great way to keep your visitors and members up to date on all the latest news going on in your club. Fans want to know more than just the hard statistics of your wins and losses; they want to know what’s happening off the pitch as well! Why not have a regularly-updated blog, giving detailed match reports, or updates on your players’ lives! 

Ranking tables are another good way to show that your site is updated regularly and is a great resource for fans and team members to see where your club stands in the league tables. Give your team an incentive by promising them an outing if they move up the league tables. 

Team Values

This isn’t necessarily an obvious choice, but drafting up some team values together can really help make sure that you are all working towards a common goal. By making it clear that your team doesn’t accept gender discrimination or bullying, then it is easier to implement consequences for this behaviour. On a more positive note, if your team thinks one of their values is to help the community, then have a look to see if you can help coach young aspiring players, or lend a hand in a community space. 

By posting these values on your website, your players will be held to these standards, both by their captain and by their fans. 

Become a member

You don’t just want people to join your site, have a quick browse and then leave. Make sure you hook them in! You can use a plugin on your website builder that asks them for their email address so that you can send them updates on events, or a weekly newsletter so that they never miss out on their favourite players’ news. This will help you create a community, and your fans will feel like they are an important part of the process.

Multimedia

When building your website, make sure your visitors aren’t confronted with a wall of text. Good quality images will help your visitors engage with your site and make it seem more professional – have a look at our blog on how to make sure your images are optimised for your site.

Better than images, videos are a huge driver of engagement! Uploading clips of your matches, or highlights of each game could be a great way to keep people on your site. You could also create a YouTube Channel for this which links back to your website, giving you engagement on two platforms.

Building a website for your sports club doesn’t have to be a hassle; with Go Sitebuilder you can have a beautiful website up and running in minutes. With video capability, image editing software and membership plugins, you can easily optimise it for your sports club, keeping your fans happy and your players engaged! Try out our 14-day free trial today.