Generating Revenue with a Sports Blog
Hey Guys,
I run a Chicago Sports website and I'm looking for some new ways to generate revenue. Currently, all my revenue is coming from advertising, but I'm just about to get an affiliate deal done with ticket provider (like ticketmaster, stubhub, etc) where I get a commission on every ticket we sell through the site.
For anyone out there with experience working on a website, do you have any recommendations for new ways to generate revenue? Maybe some other affiliate deals I'm not thinking of?
Thanks guys, really appreciate it.
Do you read Barstool Sports lol?
They organize events and make a decent amount of $ (according to a NYC bar manager I know who helped run a small event at his upper east-side place).
Actually, living in the midwest my whole life, Barstool doesn't have a huge following here...I've heard about them and have read them a bit. I'll look into organizing events like you said though, appreciate it.
Contact the major sportsbetting sites and sell text links. I didn't look at how much traffic you're getting or your PR, but a text link on a good site goes for thousands. Also sell guest posting (the sportsbetting sites will provide you with content).
I ran a fantasy football blog and made some money off advertising and affiliate programs. If you set up accounts with people like Fanduel you can get a commission off the amount they play on those type of sites. Just an idea...
Starting a Sports Blog/Message Board Business (Originally Posted: 07/18/2011)
Hey guys, I've been working as an analyst for awhile now and am looking for a way out. Really can't see myself doing this for much longer and don't think I want to take the traditional route to PE or HF. I'm a really passionate sports fan and I would love to do something entrepreneurial, so I've started a sports message board/blog. Not sure if it'll go anywhere and it's still in the very early stages/not getting much traffic. If anyone here has any experience with this type of website, please share any tips you have for generating traffic other than friends, family, and word of mouth. If you have any advice on generating revenue other than using adsense, please let me know. I watched Patrick's Mixergy interview, and it is pretty inspirational to see where WSO has come from to where it is today. Let me hear your thoughts.
PS - I don't want it to look like I'm spamming the board with my website. If you want to see what I've got so far, just let me know and I'll post the link.
Not sure if you're getting into college sports or not, but that space is pretty crowded as it is between Rivals, the-mainboard, and individual team sites.
None of those make very much $, and rely on donations.
Thanks for the response. The site is based around Chicago sports. It does have an NCAA forum, but most of the content is Chicago pro sports.
Nice, I'm a Chicago fan. What's the site?
Could be viable venture if it gets enough traffic, and you can persuade Chicago businesses to advertise on the site. I've found that sports fans like to congregate with fans from other teams, though. People post news and rumors on team boards, but ultimately spend most of their time on the general boards.
The site is http://www.chicagosportslife.com/. Please keep in mind that I just started the site a couple weeks ago and am still working out the kinks. Let me know if you have any suggestions at all and please tell your friends.
Heard of Barstoolsports.com? They have Boston, NY, and Philly websites, and I bet they are looking to expand. You should contact Dave Portnoy and pitch him your idea. Guys kinda a tool, but you actually might make decent $$$.
Hey, thanks for the response. No haven't heard of Barstoolsports.com but I'll definitely look into it!
I know it is pretty famous on the East Coast and with college kids. Kinda surprised you haven't heard of it actually. But yeah www.boston.barstoolsports.com is the one I read it's fucking hilarious. If you got hooked up with the Chicago site then you would be straighttttttt for sure (and probably get to meet a shit ton of hot girls).
If anyone has looked at the site and has suggestions, I'd love to hear them...its nice to get an outsiders view.
In terms of starting a blog:
-VERY VERY VERY hard to make any sort of money. Most blogs will experience growth in traffic not until maybe 12 months in. Thats 12 months of effort without any visible reward.
in terms of starting a sports blog:
-very crowded space, unless you are bringing in something different. As was said, the best way would be to try and contact the barstool site and look for some sort of synergy.
monetization
-if you are going to monetize simply through ads then good luck, cuz tht is a long road. You need to have something that you sell, otherwise it will be a LONG time before you make any money.
Just my 2 cents from starting various sites, but best of luck, and keep us updated.
Two things:
1) Subscribe to ProBlogger now.
2) Seriously consider a video-enabled WordPress theme. There are several good free WP themes with featured videos on the homepage. Since so much of sports is video-related, you have to have something above the fold on your homepage to grab people.
Thanks for all the feedback guys, really appreciate it.
If anyone else has any other tips or comments about the site, I'd love to hear them.
Hey guys, sry to bring up an old post, but got some good news...just got accepted into a vertical ad network. Haven't gotten the ads placed yet, still working through some paperwork, etc...but I'm hoping this will be able to generate some significant revenue. Had adsense for while but it was prettty worthless. Check out the new format of my site....
http://www.chicagosportslife.com/
[quote=livingthedream86]Hey guys, sry to bring up an old post, but got some good news...just got accepted into a vertical ad network. Haven't gotten the ads placed yet, still working through some paperwork, etc...but I'm hoping this will be able to generate some significant revenue. Had adsense for while but it was prettty worthless. Check out the new format of my site....
http://www.chicagosportslife.com/[/quote]
congrats man....do you know what net CPMs you'll be able to get? you may be able to get between 3-4x the rate you were getting from AdSense, but you will still likely need to grow the page views to ~300-400k/month to be able to live off of it. Have you been successful at getting any inbound links from other chicago related sites? it may not be an immediate bump, but building your link profile and authority will make your search traffic grow and you'll grab more traffic from longer tail queries.
Good luck! keep us posted.
That's great, man! Congrats. This is going to be one of tomorrow's Bonus Bananas, but I'll give it to you early since it applies directly to you. Once a year the guy from ManVs.Debt puts together this amazing Internet business program for 72 hours and markets it for 10 cents on the dollar. It's really incredible stuff for anyone who runs a blog business or wants to know how to make money online. Check it out:
http://only72.com
They only do it for 3 days a year and it starts on Monday at noon Eastern, so you might want to get on the list.
Again, great job hooking up with a vertical. Adsense is pretty much nonsense. I've had an Adsense account for five years now and it's still only at $50 or something.
Looks good!
Why didn't we pick up Neckbeard?!
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