Website: The Sports Dollar

Interview With: Kellex Barr

When did you start your blog?

Mid March was the beginning of the Sports Dollar’s hopeful reign over the sports blogging world!

What made you start it?

We had spent a ton of time with an NBA basketball blog and had also really started to become a student of the “make money” and marketing niches in blogging.  Our NBA blog started to take off through a ton of hard work and research, and then we realized there was nothing out there to help sports blogs reach their potential.  We sort of pioneered this “marketing/make money with your sports blog” idea and so far it has really been fun.

What is your background?

My background is really as a techy with a huge heart and passion for sports.  I recently ran a pretty successful NBA blog which gave me the motivation and knowledge to power the Sports Dollar.

Do you blog for fun or are you trying to make it a career? What is your goal with this blog?

I wouldn’t say that it is completely for fun because we’d love to make a full time living out of this, but right now we are having a blast.  Trying out new things and growing our readership has really become exciting.  The goal in the long run is to definitely make this our full time job.

What was your tipping point? What put you on the map? (if you bring in more the 5,000 uniques a month)

We almost hit 20,000 uniques last month which was a pretty major deal.  We had a few solid linkbait pieces if you could call them that, that seemed to really grab peoples attention and give us a ton of solid links that in turn worked into some pretty significat traffic.  I would say a tipping point would be the day we heard some pretty nice comments from Busted Coverage and also started noticing comments from some of the other top notch blogs like Hugging Harold Reynolds.

What type of blogging software do you use?

Oh boy…Blogger.  But it looks sexy enough now doesn’t it?

What ad network(s) do you use?

We initially used way too many.  Right now it is down to Adify through Yardbarker, Performancing Ads, and Commission Junction.  The nice thing is that over the last 2 months, we’ve really started to hit some solid private ad deals so we’ve been able to run away from all the scary ad networks out there.

How much money do you make off your site monthly?

We’re getting pretty close to the $1000 per month mark.  Hopefully soon!

If you could get something for free to help you out with your blog, what would it be? (Ex: design, marketing, ad optimization, etc)

A brand spanking new customized WordPress theme.  It’s time to move on from Blogger, but I don’t want to use some generic theme that 13,000 other blogs are also using.

What are some of your favorite blogs?

Cuzoogle, NE Patriots Draft, Busted Coverage, My Sports Rumors, Empty the Bench are the blogs I read almost daily.

Any bold predictions for the future of sports on the internet?

Sports blogging in general is looking really big.  Blog World Expo, which is one of the biggest blogging conferences in the world, finally launched some sports blogging sessions at this year’s event.  That is major and I hope that next year they’ll continue and we can promote the heck out of it to get some major sports bloggers there!

OnePlaybook

Website: OnePlaybook

Interview With: Brian Manning

Is their more then one founder? If so, who are they?

Yes, while Brian Manning is the principal employee and primary founder, Chris Klaiber is another founder of OnePlaybook.

What is your background and qualifications?

As a former college football player, I saw how coaches could benefit from some emerging technologies.  After leaving college, I worked as an Internet Consultant for small insurance companies prior to working on my own on OnePlaybook and doing freelance and contract web design and development.

What does your website do?

OnePlaybook is a coach’s team management application.  That sounds pretty broad, and that’s because OnePlaybook has a broad range of features.  Coaches can draw plays for their players, post announcements, share videos, upload documents, to name a few things.  It’s a central repository for any information that a coach would want to give his players.  The idea was to make sure that a coach never has to physically hand a player anything besides his equipment.

How do you generate revenue? If through ads, what ad network do you use?

Right now, all of the revenue is through paid subscriptions.  There is a free version among the variety of packages available for teams, and currently there are no ads on any of those versions.

How have your marketed your site?

At this point, it has been mostly been through referrals and direct selling, though with an updated release of OnePlaybook in August, there are packages designed to fit any budget and many sports are supported, so our marketing efforts are beginning to broaden.

Funding: Self funded, Angel Investment, or Venture Capital?

Self-Funded, though things could change.

Are You currently looking for funding?

We are not pursuing funding at this time, though offers would be entertained.

What type(s) of technology do you use?

OnePlaybook is built on a foundation of ASP.Net and Microsoft SQL.  There is also an exensive use of Javascript and Flash in addition to Flash video.  Finally, there is also a Desktop Video Conversion program that takes video and converts it to flash video to make uploading and viewing the video faster and easier.

What is your favorite feature on your website?

Personally, I like the ability to attach video to plays that are drawn online.  This gives players yet another avenue to learn the gameplan and play schemes.  Though, the coaches I talk to often enjoy the ease and simplicity of having everything in one place, as well as knowing that that one place is secure - no one can leave their playbook lying out in the lockerroom anymore.

Any Bold Predictions for Sports and Technology in the future?

Sports are a pretty old school arena, especially in the area of coaching.  While in the professional levels, coaches can keep up with current trends and the most recent technology, many colleges and high schools do not have the resources or support to do that.  People in business may talk about the paperless office, but never in sports.  OnePlaybook aims to change that and allow coaches to go digital.

According to TechCrunch, Sports Genic has added $10 Million in Funding.  Formely Active Athlete Media, Sports Genic is an ad network that focuses on selling ads for medium size sports websites that can not sell ads on their own or are very limited.  When SportsGenic was Active Athlete they focused on selling ads for websites that were for the active athlete like running, biking, and swimming.  They re-launched as SportsGenic because they also wanted to get into the teams sports area as well.  The new $10 million in funding should help them be on their way.

The funding came from Adams Street Partners, Louie Partners, KPG Ventures, and Greycroft Partners.