Aug 23, 2011 by brian

Sports League Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

By now most sports league organizers should know something about SEO. Even if they do, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are effectively driving traffic to their website. There are some simple enhancements that can quickly improve search results to get a website as high up as possible in search results.

Here is why SEO is important for a sports league website.

Discovery – A perspective player interested in a local sports league will often search google by typing in their city/town and the sport. For example, a dude in Kansas City who wants to play flag football might search “Kansas City Flag Football”. They’ll often click on the first result. That should be your league!

Website Promotion and Communication - Even your existing members might not know the URL for your website. So they also will search Google to find the league. For example, a member of Rockville Athletic Sports League might type that into search. It’s important your league website shows up first so there is no confusion and your members can easily find the website.

Add in potential sponsors, marketing partners and local press that may also be trying to connect with local sports leagues and it’s essential to have a highly indexed website.

There is no need to hire consultants or high-priced SEO “gurus” to improve your search ranking. The real key is identifying keywords or phrases and properly implementing them into your website.

Keywords
Keywords are the search terms used by people who you want to find you league. The goal is to identify these keywords and optimize for them so when a potential customer does their search they will find your league. For most sports league websites, keywords will focus around the local town/city, the specific sport, and terms like “league”, “tournament”, “sport and social club”, etc. You can use a tool like Google Keyword Editor to help see popular searches.

Once you identify your top keywords there are a few simple steps to take that will improve your league website ranking.

1) Website URL
It’s great to have a domain, sub-domains and URL’s that include your keywords. Even if you already have a domain, make sure your new pages have search-engine friendly URL’s by using clear keywords. For example, if your website is wrecksports.com and you are creating a new dodgeball section a great url would be http://dodgeball.wrecksports.com or even http://wrecksports.com/newyorkcity-dodgeball

2) Page Titles
Every web page has a page title. It can usually be viewed at the top of your browser. Most people don’t even notice the page title so it’s real importance is how it influences search rankings. It’s essential to have a unique, keyword focused Title tag on every page. If you want to include your league name, put it at the end.

3) Page Content
The actual content (text) on your web pages is also indexed. Try to incorporate your keywords into the page headers (page title, h1, h2, h3 tags) as well as the body text in a clear, well-written structure. Also, be sure to add meta keywords and meta description into your coded pages. Your website developer or designer might need to help you here. Be sure to ask!

4) Inbound links or Backlinks
Perhaps the most important SEO concept is to get other highly ranked website to link to your website. Google uses links as an indicator of relevancy. Make sure all of your partners are linking to your website and try and find other websites, blog and social media platforms (Digg, Yelp, del.icio.us, Facebook, etc.) to link directly to your website. Linking to your website from your Sportsvite league profile is a great way to build “link juice”. Quality links are also the best way for your site “spidered” so that your pages are indexed and appear in Google.

With these few simple moves you should see an increase in your search traffic. There are more advanced SEO strategies as well. It will make a difference.

When Sportsvite created our league management platform LeagueApps we made sure to focus on optimizing SEO for our partners. You should be doing the same thing!

If you’re a league organizer, we’re happy to discuss SEO in more detail. Hit us up!

Jul 26, 2011 by brian

Watch The Pros: International Soccer At Citi Field

Soccer is the most popular sport in the Sportsvite community. The “Beautiful Game” is fun to play and fun to watch. A neat trend in American soccer is that foreign clubs are increasingly visiting the states to play exhibition matches.

This summer the 2011 Herbalife World Foootball Challenge brings top international teams to the USA as part of the ultimate soccer event.

New Yorkers will have the treat to see Italian Serie A club team Juventus F.C. take on Mexican League team Club America.

Date: Tuesday, July 26, 7:30pm
Place: Citi Field — Flushing, New York

Tickets are available at the Citi Field Box Office or by calling 718-507-8499. They can also be purchased online at www.507tixx.com.

Sportsvite also has a few tickets to give away. So reach out to us if you are interested.

Jul 08, 2011 by Michael

300 New York: More than Just Bowling

Yesterday afternoon the Sportsvite team and our fellow colleagues from 212 Media had the opportunity to lace up our bowling shoes for a fun mid-summer corporate outing.  The event went off without a hitch thanks to the hard work of 300 New York Bowling Lanes, based inside of Chelsea Piers.

300 New York is not just your traditional bowling center.  In following the newest trend in the industry of boutique bowling centers, 300 ranks right up there among the leaders with nine locations throughout the U.S.  No longer does a bowling alley just have a pro shop, a handful of lanes and a dingy looking bar.  Now the industry is full of hybrid bowling centers like 300, which have plush amenities such as beautiful, comfy couches in the bowling area.  In addition, certain elements standard to most Family Entertainment Centers (FECs) can be found on site.  300 has an arcade area full of games and a redemption counter.

The most integral part of any bowling event is the lanes themselves.  The atmosphere at 300 sets the tone for a fun time with great tunes to go along with large screens that showed sporting events, music videos and more.  Along with neon guide lights, glow in the dark bowling balls helped brighten everyone’s experience.  Maybe the coolest feature of all is the ability to pick from different themes for your electronic scoring machine.

If you are looking for a great place to eat or drink or bowl, 300 New York has it all.  For more information visit them at www.300newyork.com.

Jul 05, 2011 by Michael

Steve Nash Does ChinaTown

A couple weeks ago NBA Point guard Steve Nash gathered a few friends for a friendly pick-up game.  You’d think that with NBA stars like Tony Parker, Grant Hill, Brandon Jennings, and teammate Marcin Gortat in attendance, a competitive game of hoops would ensue.  That was not the case.

It has long been known that Nash is a passionate soccer fan.  He played growing up in his native British Columbia, long before he ever picked up a basketball.  Together with The Steve Nash Foundation, Adidas, and main sponsor Ortsbo, he put on a pickup soccer game called the Showdown in Chinatown NYC for the fourth consecutive year.  Team Nash competed against a team led by former US Men’s national team captain Claudio Reyna.

One of this year’s main draws was the opportunity to see rising soccer stud Giuseppe Rossi; who did not disappoint and took home ‘Man of the Match’ honors.  Rossi is a New Jersey native and Italian national team regular, in addition to starring in La Liga  Villareal CF.  Other participants included Nash’s teammates Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa, and the laughable Jared Dudley, who should have a few nice turf burns from his post-goal celebration.  Other memorable moments came from guys scoring goals on Gortat, the jolly green giant goalie for Team Reyna, whose performance in goal will certainly not be earning him a call up to any league in any part of the world. Throughout the match, Nash stayed true to his point guard nature and set his teammates up with nice dishes, while coming up with 2 goals of his own.

Overall the event was a success with over 300 fans in attendance at Sara D. Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side.  Team Sportsvite was glad we had a chance to catch some of the action before it started pouring.

Final Score: Team Nash 16 - Team Reyna 10.
For more information on the Steve Nash Foundation click here, https://www.stevenash.org

May 19, 2011 by asaf

Xoso- Bringing Recess to Adults!

Ever find yourself longing for a post-work recess session? Xoso Sport & Social League got you covered! Xoso is back for another season, headlining the summer season with their very own Recess “variety pack’ league!

Xoso founder Nick Berruezo had a mission to bring recreational sports to Sacramento.

“I played in two different kickball leagues in San Diego, and had always wanted to have my own business… always searching for the right idea.  My plan was to move back to northern California and start Xoso in San Francisco, but saw a need in Sacramento since there wasn’t a sport and social league there!”

So Berruezo did just that. In May 2008, he started a kickball league with 50 players. He then added dodgeball, indoor kickball, and volleyball the following year. Then came Xoso’s revolutionary idea- a Recess league that combines all three sports (Indoor Kickball, Dodgeball, and Volleyball) into one “variety pack”, or “sampler” league. In just 3 years, the organization grew to over 3,000 members! Check out the full Xoso timeline here.

Xoso doesn’t shy away from other extracurriculars either, with seasonal pub crawls that have earned them acclaim on both the local and national levels. Berruezo and co. volunteer for community charities and events too. Upcoming events include the MetroEDGE dodgeball tournament benefitting Junior Achievement, the Race for the Ring benefitting the Sacramento Food Bank, and the West Coast Brew Fest. They’ve also created a VIP discount card to help support local businesses and give members quality discounts. Talk about a win-win!

Registration is now open for Xoso’s coed Dodgeball & Recess summer leagues. Sign up here, you won’t regret it!