Football Media

For football publishers, the big money is to made in four areas – football betting, live online football, football tickets and football gear.

We’ve talked about different monetization strategies in general but with dwindling advertising budgets and companies focusing more and more on performance-based advertising, these four are the way to go if you want to make serious money from your football site.

This is part one of a four part series where we cover each of these topics in more detail and show you how to target your audience to get them to spend money with you. For this article I asked Russell Wall, Soccerlens’ resident betting expert, to tell us more about the different type of football fans that are attracted to betting and how to target each group individually.

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Posted by: Guest Authors Posted under: Football Betting, Football Business Comments: 0

Setanta’s recent financial troubles have been splashed all over the press and the fallout from the TV company going bust could be considerable, not least for the SPL where several clubs rely on TV income to keep them afloat.

Yesterday I received an email saying that Setanta had paused all their online marketing acitivity as a result of their uncertain future. I posted this on twitter and some people questioned the source, so here is the email (sent to the Subside Sports affiliate list on AffiliateWindow.com).

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Posted by: Ahmed Bilal Posted under: Football Business Comments: 2

So you want your football blog to make more money / get more readers / get more comments / get better search rankings / help you meet football players.

To be honest, when it comes to blogging about football, my first and foremost motivation has always been ‘just talking to friends about football’, but I’ve been lucky enough to have built a decent business around that motivation. I’ve seen many good football bloggers build kickass blogs over the last 3 years, but I’ve also seen some very good people fail despite their best efforts because they didn’t know what to do.

It doesn’t have to be that way. You can, and you should, get help when needed (provided that you’re willing to follow the advice given to you).

Soccerlens and Football Media have done well, but I know I could be doing more to improve them. If you’re like me and you want to improve your blog (football, personal or otherwise), I recommend that you do the following:

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Posted by: Ahmed Bilal Posted under: Football Blogging Comments: 2

Over the last week, three different football brands blogs launched their football tshirts:

• Dirty Tackle
• Soccerlens (This shirt was sent out to Soccerlens readers as a Christmas present last year).
• Studs Up

Both Dirty Tackle and Studs Up have set up shop with WhoAreYaDesigns.com, while Soccerlens went with Subside Sports.

I talked at length about making money blogging about football but the harsh reality is that the way most football bloggers blog is a) for fun, not for money and b) not at all conducive to selling betting, tickets or live online football subscriptions.

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Posted by: Ahmed Bilal Posted under: Football Business Comments: 1

In the last 3 years (since I started Soccerlens in 2006), traditional media – publishers and advertisers – in the footballing industry have come around to the reality that blogging is going to be a key element in the football fan’s experience online and they’ve worked hard to get up to speed with ‘blogging’ and ‘social media’.

Part of these efforts has been the evolution of ‘marketing strategies’ targeting football bloggers. The underlying principle is sound – football bloggers often have loyal audiences who trust their opinion, they are opinion makers and thought leaders. Fans (a consumer) will trust the blogger (a fellow football fan) more than they will trust an advertiser, so why not get the blogger to pimp your products for you?

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Posted by: Ahmed Bilal Posted under: Football Blogging, Football Business Comments: 6

NetResult has made a name for itself (inadvertently, but still) as a nuisance to football bloggers. They complain to YouTube when you upload clips of Premier League goals, they send you legal warnings when you put up Premier League and Football League club crests on your site, and they have been known to send your webhosts DMCA notices if you put up Premier League fixtures on your site as well.

In the past they’ve come after 101GreatGoals.com, Soccerlens.com, SoccerNews.com and RedRants.com, just to name a few. This time they went after our friends TheOffside.com (read more here). There are a few interesting aspects (from a footballing and legal perspective) that are worth sharing here.

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Posted by: Ahmed Bilal Posted under: Football Business, Internet Comments: 1

A time of crisis is also a time of opportunity – what happens today is a result of what happened two years ago, and what happens two years from now will be influenced by what we do today. With that in mind, we are moving not only to secure our present status and fend off the current financial crisis but also to secure our position at the forefront of online football media when it rises again, because when economies turn around and we experience our next ‘economic boom’ (be it 2 or 5 years from now) those at the front of the line will profit the most.

Here is our 6-step plan for 2009 and beyond (with some details removed for privacy) – I hope this helps you too.

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Posted by: Ahmed Bilal Posted under: Football Blogging, Football Business Comments: 9

The English Premier League is fond of saying that it’s strong demand makes it immune from the current financial meltdown and they might be right – the league as an institution continues to enjoy strong international demand and with two European champions and four consecutive European final appearances by English clubs in the last four years, coupled by an English club winning the Club World Cup for the first time (it counts outside Europe, if not in it) this year, makes English football the hottest ticket in club football today.

Don’t take my word for it – AFC and CONCACAF have already shown a willingness to cooperate with the Premier League, and the African and Australian head footballing associations were already on PL’s side, giving the Premier League unprecedented leverage in the world of football second only to that of FIFA (read ‘The Money Wars‘ for more on this subject).

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Posted by: Ahmed Bilal Posted under: Football Business Comments: 0

Yesterday we announced the winners of the 2008 Soccerlens Awards – some of our favourite sites made it, some didn’t but overall the best sites were right up there. Have a look and feel free to suggest your own nominations / changes to the awards categories for next year.

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Posted by: Ahmed Bilal Posted under: Football Blogging Comments: 0

Interviewing is an essential skill for a blogger, journalist, or writer. I would like to discuss 10 key concepts in the interviewing process with an emphasis on the new media and freelance journalists.

1. The Initial Approach

Be specific in your request: When you approach your target and/or their media relations representative, provide a detailed plan. “I would like to interview your goalkeeping coach to discuss daily training regimens, his previous playing career, how he evaluates players, along with the role of fitness and nutrition at your club. I anticipate 12 to 15 questions.”

Building upon past interviews to gain credibility: If you have not done business with them before, it is helpful to show examples of your work. Not in the manner of name-dropping; however, to present how you do the job of interviewing.

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Posted by: Guest Authors Posted under: Football Journalism Comments: 0