How to Make a Sports Team Website
By Marc Zabudsky
In this article, we will discuss the process of creating a website for your sports
team. If you do not currently belong to a team, I recommend you read my article
How To Start
a Sports Team which details the process of starting a new team.
For the purpose of this article, we will assume that you already belong to a team,
and your team does not have a website. If your team already has a web site, this
article will still apply to you. I will be discussing some important elements that
today's team sites needs. Not all team sites are created equal, and this article
may help you to identify elements that can help your team be Number One!.
Why do you want a site?
There are many reasons why teams get a web site. Here are some of the other reasons
why teams get a web site:
- Communicate Effectively
- Promote the Team
- Advertise for their sponsors
- Photos
- For the Fans and Parents
- Everybody else is doing it
- The league you belong to does not have a website
Would you be surprised that the #1 reason that most teams get a web site is because
all the other teams have one? But for whichever reason you ultimately have for getting
web site, it is fun to make and a very rewarding experience.
Whats involved in a website?
Your time is valuable. You probably don't want to spend alot of time making updates
to your website. But deciding on how to make a team website, you have some options.
- Build it yourself from scratch (Takes alot of time)
- Utilizing a Team Website
solution (Takes very little time)
Build it yourself vs. Team Website Solution
Here are some pros and cons for building a team website from scratch, as opposed
to a Team Website Solution.
Build it Yourself
Pros
-
Custom website that looks the way you want
-
Unique website look
Cons
-
Very time consuming
-
Does not have back-end functionality
-
Updates can be difficult
-
Costly hosting fees
-
Requires technical expertise
Team Website Solution
Pros
-
Takes minutes to setup
-
Everything has been done for you
-
Updates are easy & done online
-
Very Affordable
-
Anybody can do it
Cons
-
May look similar to other team websites
-
May have Ads on your site
Depending on your technical expertise, and amount of time you have available, chances
are your best option is to use a team website solution such as
Teamopolis Teams. By choosing a a team website solution, all the hard work
has been done for you. You get the easy part by entering in your team information.
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Components of a Team Website
Whether you choose to build-it-yourself or a template website, the basic features
are the same. The following is a list of elements that you need to consider when
creating a team website:
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Site Design
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Splash Page
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Main Page
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News Page
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Roster
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Locations
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Calendar
-
Schedule
-
Event Information
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Standings
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Statistics
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Photo Album
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Links
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Sponsors
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Page Content
Above and Beyond Features
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Game Attendance
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Surveys
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E-Mail Tools
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Forum
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Registration
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Page Editor
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Menu Editor
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Privacy Issues
Site Design
Choosing a Design
You need to decide how your site is going to look. If you play baseball, perhaps
some images of people playing baseball, or images of bats and balls will help your
visitors know instantly that they are looking at a baseball team website.
Site Colors
Every team has its own colors for uniforms, so try and choose a site design which
include colors which match. It wouldn't make much sense to have your website look
drastically different than you team colors.
Team Logo and Banner
If your team has a logo, then display your logo on your site. The logo provides
a visual image of what your team is all about. Be sure to display your logo where
it can be seen on every page.
Try creating a flashy banner that is dsiplayed at the top of each page to let visitors
know that they are4 visiting your team website.
Here is an Online
Team Banner Generators to help you create a simple banner for your website.
Try it Out!
Main Page
The main page of your site is the first page people visit (except for the Splash
Page), this page is sometimes called the "Power Page", because it contains the important
information for visitors when they first come to your site. Usually the information
provided on the main page is summary information allowing the visitor to click on
the appropriate link to find out more. The main page of most team sites consists
of:
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A paragraph welcoming visitors and describing what the team is all about
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A team picture
-
Recent Team News
-
The latest forum posts
-
Popular pages or links
Remember to consider your audience and their needs when creating the main page.
All the important information should be clearly summarized on the main page, and
with easy links for visitors quickly find out more.
Splash Page - Optional
A Splash page is a "flashy" introduction page that visitors first see when they
come to your website. A splash page is typically a Macromedia Flash plug-in, and
treats visitors to a multi-media introduction of what your website is all about.
A few years back, splash pages used to be the de-facto standard for websites. However,
since splash pages have a great first impression, their relevance declines as visitors
return to your site at a later date.
Tips on Creating a Splash Page
If you do decide to make a splash page, here are a few tips to consider:
-
Create it using software so it will work in most of today's browsers. The most popular
ones are created with Macromedia Flash.
-
Provide a "Skip this Page" link that allows visitors to proceed to the rest of the
site without viewing the splash page.
-
Once the multi-media has finished, redirect visitors to the main page.
Team News
Having news articles is very important. News should be update frequently so that
everybody is aware of whats going on. If there are game cancellations, then posting
this on the news section will quickly let everybody know whats happening.
Be sure to keep in the habit of posting often to encourage people to check your
website frequently. Once players realize the value in checking the news often, you
have created an important link to your players.
Also, when you post something in the news section, remember to update the main page
to include a short summary, with a link to full news article.
Topics to post in the News Section
Items you might want to post as news include:
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Past Game Results
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Upcoming Tournaments
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Personal accomplishments of players
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Happenings within the team
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Important league information
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Game cancellations
Team Roster
This is a simple listing of all your players on your team. The team roster showcases
players on your team, and their respective positions. Rosters also provide a link
to player bio's and other related information.
What to display on a team roster?
Be sure to display players names, player numbers, date of birth, height, weight,
and a photo
Player Bio's
Setup a Bio page for each player to give a brief history of the players accomplishments.
Include relevant information that would be important for prospective scouts. Also
be sure to include a recent photo of the player in full uniform.
You can optionally include the e-mail addresses of your players so that they can
be easily contacted.
**Spam Warning** If you do decide to list e-mail addresses, try to display
the address in such a way so that they can be read easily by normal people, but
are not tracked by e-mail spammers. One good way is to make each e-mail address
an image.
Locations
Provide information on where games and practices are held. Locations are important
because they never change. However having information about each location makes
it easier for players on your team to know where everything is.
What to Display
For each location, try and include the following information:
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Location Name
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Address
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Phone Number
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Web Site of the location
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Map URL (www address)
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Directions to get there
Calendar & Schedule
Calendars and schedules are useful because they tell everybody when and where your
team will be practicing and playing games.
Calendars
A calendar is a visual representation of all events in a given month or week. At
a glance a visitor can quickly know when and where the next games are.
Calendars should be organized by month, displaying each day of the week.
Schedules
A schedule is a listing of games or practices sorted by date. Schedules can provide
a more information than a calendar, however it lack the visual cues that a calendar
provides.
Information you can find on a schedule can include:
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Date and Time
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Type of Event (Game or Practice)
-
Location
-
Opponent
Visitors should be able to print or download a schedule, so they can easily refer
to it at a later date.
Advanced Calendars and Schedules
A calendar and schedule can only provide summary information about events. You might
want to consider including links for each event that visitors can click to get even
more information about the desired event (such as itenaries, starting linups, special
instructions, etc.)
Event Information
Event information is where you provide specific information about a game or practice.
Visitors should be able to access event information by clicking on a links displayed
in the calendar or schedule.
What to Display
Event information should include the following information:
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Event Type (Game/Practice/Tournament)
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Start Date and Time
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End Date and Time (if a multi-day event)
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Opponent (If known)
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Location of Event
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Extra Information (Such as an itenary, etc.)
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Who needs to Attend (Optional)
With the linking nature of the web, be sure to provide links for the location if
the players need directions to get to the event.
Standings
Standings are a measure of your team's performance or rank. Standings is a listing
of all the teams in the league or division, and are usually based on the number
of wins and losses, or points. If you team has won all of its games, most likely
you can expect to be displayed at the top of the list.
Basic Standings
The basic components of most standings are listed below:
- Rank
- Wins
- Losses
- Ties
- Defaults
- Total Points (Based on Wins/Losses/Ties)
- Points For (PF)
- Points Against (PA)
- Points Difference (PF-PA)
The above listing provides you with an indication of how standings are determined.
Not all sports track the standings the same. For example in baseball, there are
no Ties.
Your Team Standings
Since most leagues already track the standings, it is a bit more difficult for teams
to track the standings themselves. For your displaying standings on your site, you
have a couple of options:
-
Manually enter in standings for each team in your division
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Provide a web link to your league standings
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Capture a RSS feed of standings from your league website
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Display the league standings page *inline* on your page through HTML.
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Provide a download of a standings document file (ie standings.doc)
It is very important to have a standings page, because your team needs to know how
they rank in the league/division. Expect your players to check the standings page
frequently.
Statistics
Similar to standings, statistics play an important part of your teams performance
at a players level. Statistics can apply to any sport, however player statistics
are usually tracked for teams who are play at a more competitive level. If your
team is a recreational team, chances are you do not record player stats.
Player statistics are not an easy task. Although the end results are very rewarding
for the team, player stats trackingn requires a dedicated individual to record the
stats during gameplay, and then update the site at the end of the day.
Statistics Reporting
If your website requires you to manually update the site, entering in statistics
can be a very laborous task. If you have many different statistical summaries, such
as team leaders, and position specific stats, it would be advisable to incorporate
a stats engine in which you enter in the stats once, and all the necessary reports
are generated automatically.
Benefits of Statistics Tracking
If you decide to track player stats on your team, some of the benefits include:
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Increase player motivation
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Ability to set player goals
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Player promotion (especially for scouts)
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Encourage competition among the players
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Provide a focus for areas of training
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Track player progress throughout the season
Historical Statistics
Once you have entered in the statistics, you now have a historical record for the
season, and stats for the previous season can be used in goal setting for the next
season.
Photo Album
Photo albums are by far the most fun part of a team website. Be sure to take alot
of pictures during games and practices. Whether you take photos of players in action,
or group photos they provide great visuals for your site. Be sure to always add
new photos to your photo album to encourage people to visit your site often.
It is important that you try to post pictures of everybody on your team, and not
leave anybody out. This is a great way to help encourage team spirit, and help motivate
the team.
Create a different photo album for each game or tournament your team plays in. This
way if a fan or parent cannot attend a game they can easily see what they were missing
out.
Also, be sure to upload photos of post game activities, or other activities your
team participates in (such as a fund raiser, or a field trip) to help encourage
participation for the next event.
Page Links
The Internet is based on links. So, it is important to include links from your team
website to other websites that are relevant to your team. Some types of links you
may want to include are:
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The League your team belongs to
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The sports association your league belongs to
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Personal websites of your players
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Your team sponsors
-
Your favourite sports equipment supplier
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Information about your sport (such as drills, training, and strategies)
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Anything else relevant to your team
Sponsors
Most teams have sponsors that help to supply equipment or funding. Return your thanks
to your sponsors by dedicating a page to all your sponsors or a page advertisement
for each sponsor.
Sponsor Pages
Information to display on a sponsor page could be:
-
Sponsor's Name
-
Sponsor Logo or Banner
-
Sponsors Address
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Website Link
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What they provided/game to the team (such as jersy's or equipment)
-
Your Thanks
Sponsor Banners
You can also provide a banner advertisement for your sponsors that can be displayed
on each page for visitors to see and click on.
Page Content
For your site, be sure to include pages that contain information that is relevant
to your team but don't necessairly fit into any of the previous catagories mentioned.
Examples of page content are:
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Game Rules
-
Drills and Strategies
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Team Trip Information (Itenary)
-
Any other relevant content
When creating page content, include images or photos to help get your message across.
Bold or capitalize headers, and use colors to emphasize important information.
Make sure spelling and grammar are correct, and be creative to help get your message
across.
Lets Get Started!
Creating your own team website can be a fun and rewarding experience. Your team
site is a direct communication link between your players, and also provides an excellent
venue for players to participate off the field.
When creating your team website, be sure to carefully plan out the elements you
wish to include in yout site, keeping in mind the amount of time you can dedicate
to your project.
If time is an issue, I recommend you try an Team Website solution such as
Teamopolis Teams.
The Free version is Loaded full of features, and is a great way to quickly
get your team website up and running in no time!
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