Website: www.soxandpinstripes.com
Interview With: Jeff Louderback
Is their more then one founder? If so, who are they?
I am the founder. I brought aboard Vincent Mercandetti to serve as the Yankees writer and moderator. I am the editor and Red Sox moderator.
What is your background and qualifications?
You can learn more by visiting www.jefflouderback.com. I am a writer, author and publicist who serves as an editor for OverTime Magazine (a national magazine for and about professional athletes), writes about baseball for magazines as a freelancer and is writing a baseball-themed travel guidebook.
What does your website do?
It is a blog that details everything Red Sox, Yankees and baseball.
How do you generate revenue? If through ads, what ad network do you use?
We are accepting advertising. We have not had luck with affiliate programs, and we will pursue more advertising on an individual basis with a monthly rate in 2008.
How have your marketed your site?
I have written a couple press releases and distributed them to the media. I am a publicist as well as a writer and author, so I understand how to generate exposure through PR.
Funding: Self funded, Angel Investment, or Venture Capital?
Self-funded
What type(s) of technology do you use?
TypePad
Any Bold Predictions for Sports and Technology in the future?
Blogging will become commonplace among sports teams web sites, sports magazines web sites and newspaper web sites since it is a forum for beat writers to be more opinionated (since they can’t when writing game stories) and fans to respond to columnists’ stories.
STN’s Take:
We like the idea of having a blog that discusses a rivalry and two teams at the same time. Jeff is a very accomplished writer and his insights on his blog are very impressive. For any die hard Yankees or Sox fan the site is great for reading very detailed opinions.
We do have a few suggestions for Jeff though if he wants to attract more readers and increase his revenue. First, his posts need to be shortened in length. His magazine writing background may make it hard for him to do it but pretty much all the successful bloggers write short posts that are to the point. As said by Matt Cerrone who we featured earlier this week regarding his very successful Mets Blog, “In terms of technical advice, I would suggest the blogger be simple. There is so much information online, on radio, on television, and so on, that most readers are not looking for something to read, they are, instead, looking for something not to read. By that I mean, most online readers will decide within the first seven seconds whether or not to keep reading a blog post – so make a point and expound on it from there.” Our other advice would be to put a blended Google Ad in the upper left or right of his blog and put the stadium pictures on one side. The ad on the right side is pretty much buried. And lastly, drop a Google Ad at the end of each post.
