Website: SoCal Sports Hub

Interview With: Joey Kaufman

When did you start your blog?

I started SoCal Sports Hub.com back on April Fools Day of 2008. So, it’s been up and running for about six months now.

What made you start it?

After traveling around the blogsphere, I realized that many of the blogs out there were exhibiting the same East Coast Bias that is prevalent among ESPN and other major media outlets. Therefore, I decided to create my own blog, West Coast Bias, which would primarily cover the Pac-10 and Western Conference teams. Unfortunately, traffic was always very low, and unlike AGM, I received hardly any comments. So I was desperate for the opportunity to run my very own successful left-coast loving sports blog. Luckily, I received an e-mail from Matt Blake of Arizona Sports Hub, who asked if I’d be willing to turn my humble blogger ’site, West Coast Bias into a Southern California-oriented sports website known as SoCal Sports Hub.com. I jumped at the chance to have a SoCal based site, and the rest is history.

What is your background?

I am likely one of the youngest bloggers out here. I am still a high school senior in Southern California, who plans on attending a university somewhere in the United States next year. However, I am just one of sixteen contributors to the site, as many other SoCal sports enthusiasts, ranging from college students to middle-aged fans, all post interesting takes on their favorite teams.

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

While I would love to make some money from blogging in the future, I haven’t just yet. The primary goal for me has always been to create a high-traffic Southern California sports site. It’s certainly a challenge, but it has also been a fun experience.

The goal is plain and simple: to create one website where all Southern California sports fans visit daily to learn about their favorite teams and discuss many of the key issues such as Lamar Odom trade talks and another Angel playoff collapse.

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

So far, we have not been able to reach the 5,000 uniques a month status. We tend to focus on providing original and well-written written content for our readers, which has likely slowed the growth a bit. It is sad to see how some sites simply post numerous pictures of scantily clad women to draw hits. I have vowed never to stoop down to that level, as I seek to maintain a “family-friendly” site.

What type of blogging software do you use?

Wordpress

What ad network(s) do you use?

We currently use Adify through the YardBarker Network, Google Adsense, and a few direct affiliations with some advertising groups. So far, I’ve been disappointed with the big ad networks and look to strike some more advertising deals.

How much money do you make off your site monthly?

Yikes! Somewhere around $5-$10. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.

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

I’ll take marketing. I’d love to get a lot more hits.

What are some of your favorite blogs?

There are a lot of out there. I’ll avoid the obvious ones (Deadspin, The Big Lead, etc.) and give you some of the lesser-known blogs out there: Lakers Nation, Forum Blue & Gold, Halos Heaven, AngelsWin.com, Conquest Chronicles, Trojan Wire, All Things Trojan, Bruins Nation, Frozen Royalty, In the Bleachers, The Sports Flow, The Sports Lounge, The Fan-Sided Blogs, Moon Dog Sports, ReclinerGM, Signal to Noise, Boston SportZ, WaitingForNextYear, AZ Sports Hub

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

SoCal Sports Hub will one day become the highest traffic sports site on the internet. I was always told to dream big.

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.

Smack Caster

Website: SmackCaster

Blog: SmackBlog

Interview With: Peter Barry

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

Michael Gelfand, Joe Halpin

What are your backgrounds and qualifications?

Avid sports fans, plus…

Michael Gelfand
(co-founder, CEO) spearheads the online communications strategy for TD AMERITRADE. He has more than 16 years of leadership experience in online, interactive TV (ACTV Inc), and entertainment publishing (Hachette Filipacchi, CurtCo Media).
 
Joe Halpin
(co-founder, COO)
has been a performance technologist for 18 years specializing in solutions that cost-effectively impact the performance of workforces and businesses. He has been a successful business owner and raised more than $1M capital. Clients include Philips Electronics, Mindspeed Tech., Merck, Altera Corp.

Peter Barry
(co-founder, CMO), has 20 years of executive experience creating content and corporate strategy for large media companies (Hachette Filipacchi, CurtCo Media). As co-founder and VP of KnowledgeLINKS, a start-up Internet software company, he helped raise more than $28M and oversaw growth from 8 to 75 employees in less than 28 months.

What does your website do?

It’s a community for fans to talk about the teams they love and love to hate, share knowledge, and get into passionate exchanges.
 
How do you generate revenue? If through ads, what ad network do you use?

Currently, just Google AdSense.
 
Have your marketed your site?

Yes, virally through the Internet.

Funding:

Self funded

Are You currently looking for funding?

Yes

What type(s) of technology do you use?

Open Source Joomla! with multiple extensions
 
What is your favorite feature on your website?

Our video interface allows users to respond directly to other posters to create a video debate/conversation.

Swing Academy

Website: Swing Academy

Interview With:  Rick

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

No, Only myself

What is your background and qualifications?

Golfer for 10 years, Developer for 20 years

What does your website do?

FREE Online community of golfers who submit videos for instruction by peers.  We use very sophisticated video analysis tools to enable our users to improve their games and to help others improve as well.

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

Ad based revune. We use commission junction though that is about to change.

How have your marketed your site?

We haven’t. Our users are spreading the word at a decent clip although advertising and trade shows are in our future.

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

Self-Funded

Are You currently looking for funding?

Yes.. but it must be on our terms.. so I guess “No” is a better answer.

What type(s) of technology do you use?

Flash video and application development. ASP.net for the web. We have created a proprietary method for video analysis.

What is your favorite feature on your website?

Community-based Video Analysis and Side-by-Side comparison of any 2 videos.

Any Bold Predictions for Sports and Technology in the future?

Well.. we hope to pioneer some new ways for golfers to learn and improve. We are just beginning to scratch the surface of what can be done.

Sports Blog Net

SportsBlogNet.com is a website that incorporates original sports content and a network of sports blogs that puts sports fans and writers in the driver’s seat.

At SportsBlogNet.com you can:

• Read all the quality blogs in the network
• Write for a blog in the network
• Discover new blogs
• Build a new free sports blog
• Join the network as an additional revenue and traffic source for your sports blog

“We feel that we have built a quality product that gives sports bloggers the ability to succeed and sports fans an easy way to find great content. We have received great feedback from the bloggers in the network so far and plan to always be adding great new features,” said Rich Spott CTO and Co-founder of SportsBlogNet.com.

SportsBlogNet.com currently has approximately 56 blogs in the network with a reach of approximately 200,000 unique visitors per month which is growing daily. Currently SportsBlogNet.com links out to all our blogs in the network and also sells direct ads for all the blogs in the network.

It is SportsBlogNet.com’s mission to make both small and large sports blogs as successful as possible in terms of their revenue and traffic. Their goals are to get all the blogs in the network out to the masses, give new bloggers the ability to get the exposure they are looking for, and give sports fans a destination that they want to visit everyday.

Along with the launch of SportsBlogNet.com, Union Sports Blog will launch as a SportsBlogNet.com property. Union will be “The Most Collaborative Sports Blog on the Internet”. “Eventually we plan to have a new writer every day of the month. We found that there are many sports bloggers out there that cover a certain team or niche but they also want to write about other topics. Union provides that,” said Rich Spott Co-founder of SportsBlogNet.com.

(Disclosure: We are part owners of SportsBlogNet)

Goal Line Blitz

Website: Goal Line Blitz

Interview With: Peter and Jesse

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

GLB was Co-Founded by Bort (Peter) and DigitalDaggers (Jesse)

What is your background and qualifications?

Both of us have been plugged into the internet since were young, so we kind of grew up along with the computer.  We both love sports too, so GLB is a great fit for us!

What does your website do?

It’s an American Football MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games)

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

Through the sale of teams, players, levels, equipment.

How have your marketed your site?

We have a referral system in place, that is currently our only marketing.

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

Self-funded.

Are You currently looking for funding?

No thank you.

What type(s) of technology do you use?

Fancy intarweb codes / algorithms

What is your favorite feature on your website?

There are so very many things (aren’t there always), but we’ll go with Instant Replays!

Any Bold Predictions for Sports and Technology in the future?

Nothing but up for the Sports/Tech field…the number of people online worldwide will continue to grow.

eCouchCoach

Website:eCouchCoach

Interview With: Zach Harris

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

I am a co-founder with another fantasy football guru Eric Mattingly.

What is your background and qualifications?

I have been an NFL follower and Fantasy League Commissioner for over 6 years now.  I am an IT consultant with lots of knowledge about the web and about football.  Also if you have suggestions for the site I am the man to ask, as I like to let the site have a little bit of something for everyone.  The site has been up for 2 years, however, this is the first year it has become public.

What does your website do?

It is a completely free fantasy football league website.  Everything from live scoring, to injury updates, to custom scoring, to custom league types, to news, to articles, etc. are all free.  I was tired of paying for what I wanted a fantasy football site to do so I decided to create my own.  Now that it is up and running I would like to share it with others.

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

I am not looking to make a profit off this site.  I am just looking to pass the word about a completely free fantasy football website.

How have your marketed your site?

I have basically just used word of mouth so far.  I have used forums, to blogs, to telling people verbally.  The site is starting to pick up in the Indianapolis area.

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

This is a self funded site.

Are You currently looking for funding?

No I am not.  I am just looking to get people interested in eCouchCoach.com.

What type(s) of technology do you use?

PHP, MySQL, Javascript, Ajax

What is your favorite feature on your website?

I really enjoy the free live scoring.  Most sites make you pay for that.  I also enjoy the free stat tracker and the “My Challenges” portion of the site.

Any Bold Predictions for Sports and Technology in the future?

Fantasy football is going to take off now (as if it hasn’t already)  that it is becoming so easy to following the NFL online.  So why not be able to do it for free?

Sports Data Hub

Website: SportsDataHub

Interview With: Kevin Goodfellow

Is there is more then one founder? If so, who are they?:

It’s just me.

What is your background and qualifications?:

During the week I’m a Data Warehousing consultant for Fortune 500 level companies. During the weekend I’m a 12 year fantasy football fanatic bulldozing my fellow league owners. In a previous life, I designed commercial aircraft mechanical/hydraulic systems for Boeing.

What does your website do?

Sports Data Hub provides interactive football data for avid sports fans and fantasy players.  Our point and click visualization tools allow fans to analyze football data the way their minds work – forward, backward, and sideways….in real time.  We make football data analysis easy, convenient, fun, flexible, and more productive.

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

We have a combined revenue model: Ads, Subscriptions, and B2B white labeling of our tools. Fantasy Sports Ventures is our ad network.

How have your marketed your site?

As a start up we have a very small budget, so we have to spend our marketing money wisely. We have focused primarily on native search rankings, since they are relatively inexpensive to attain and can be grown if you have the time and knowledge. Our alpha site was up for a year prior to our beta launch for just this purpose and has resulted in our site being highly ranked in related search terms.  We are also including a small amount of print advertising in fantasy related publications, online banner ads, e-mail advertising, and some direct marketing near NFL events. Our schwag has been popular, with Post-it notes and fliers the size of a business card instead of something bulky.

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

To date we are self funded with team members, friends, and family investments.

Are You currently looking for funding?:

Yes. Depending on our success, we will be looking for a growth sized investment near the end of the year. This investment would be to grow faster and bigger than we could do on our own.

What type(s) of technology do you use?:

Top Secret.  However, we are big supporters of open source and without the open source community this concept would have been impossible. In fact, this concept would not have been possible just last year….it is that bleeding edge.

What is your favorite feature on your website?:

I like our analysis tools, they are the heart and soul of our site. I blow my own mind every time I use them.

Any Bold Predictions for Sports and Technology in the future?:

I think what we are doing at SportsDataHub.com is opening a new door of high technology tools for the sports consumer. Anything to get an edge…