SportsBytes: eNewsletter for Sports Administrators - November

Welcome to the November issue of SportsBytes; our online client newsletter for sport administrators, league organizers, board members and staff volunteers.

In October, we showcased the latest enhancements to ClubReg, our integrated online registration and league management solution, to soccer club, league and staff administrators. This month, we will be hosting a dedicated session for football administrators. Given the overwhelming response, we are adding future ClubReg webinars to the calendar. As always, we invite you to view past webinar recordings and to submit your topic suggestions.

Have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday.

ActiveSports
ActiveSports@ActiveNetwork.com

In This Issue:

		What's New? Custom Web Button Generator ActiveRecruiting.com
		Upcoming Webinars
		Marketing & Promotion Tips Is your Web site Serving Your Needs?
		In the Sportlight Lakeville Little League
		Team Member Corner Elaine Bergeron

Learn about The Active Edge

What's New?

Custom Web Button Generator

ActiveRecruiting.com Assists High School Athletes in their Pursuit of Scholarships

Upcoming Webinars

Reduce Paperwork, Workloads, and Hassles
Learn how ClubReg can Simplify your Registration and League Management for your Registrar, Volunteers, Parents and Participants!

• Streamline administrative workloads with online registration and integrated league management tools
• Accomplish more in less time with robust tools including team formation, document management, and volunteer assignments and more
• Simplify the registration process for returning participants, siblings and parents with family-based account profiles
• Improve fee collection and payment processing, fiscal management and reporting

Date: Tuesday, November 18th
Time: 10 AM Pacific Standard Time
Cost: Free

Register Now:

November 18 - ClubReg for Football Administrators
December 10 – ClubReg for Baseball and Softball Administrators

View past webinar recordings

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Marketing & Promotion Tips

Is your Web site Serving Your Needs?

You have a Web site. The question is: does your Web site help achieve your organization’s mission and goals? Keep in mind three fundamentals guideposts:

1. Web site Goals – outline how your Web site should serve the needs of your organization including staff, members, participants and parents. What information is required? What tasks do we want our visitors to complete? How frequently will it need to be updated?
2. Content – if visitors can not find it, they won’t be back. Organize your content in "buckets" to avoid putting too much on the home page and overwhelming or confusing your visitors.
3. Structure – keep your Web site design simple and the navigation straightforward. Consider a Site Map if your Web site’s structure is more complex or has more content – it helps visitors who have something specific in mind navigate through your Web site easier.

A Web site's main purpose is to convey information and/or to solicit an action. Content that is disorganized, tough to find or outdated defeats the primary goal. Refer to the following best practices prior to creating, updating or redesigning your organization’s Web site:

Goals:

• Always keep your visitor in mind and ask yourself: what do they want versus what we want to talk about?
• Assign responsibilities and expectations to your web master, content providers and/or approvers to ensure your Web site is updated in a timely manner
• Provide an e-mail address for visitors to report broken links, missing data, etc. to maintain the integrity and reliability of your Web site

Content:

• Content that is unorganized can be tough to find on a Web site
• Keep registration information, schedules, calendars, standings, etc. current to ensure your Web site is relevant to visitors
• Use banners or photos to hyperlink to other important sections/web pages
• Request photos, quotes, recipes, stories and other content from staff, volunteers, players, parents and participants and post regularly to keep your Web site fresh and interesting to returning visitors.

Structure/Navigation:

• Follow the "one-click" rule for important updates and information
• Use graphic web buttons to call attention to important Call to Actions (CTA) like Register Online, Sign Up, Register Today, etc.
• Prominently place key navigational links “above the fold” or the top part of your Web site

Have a question or interested in learning more about Active Content Management Web sites or custom Web site services? E-mail us at ActiveSports@ActiveNetwork.com.

Tip: Haven't checked-out the eMarketing Center? Click here to request your login to gain access to a wealth of free marketing and promotional tools, tips and templates.

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In the Sportlight:

Lakeville Little League

Team Member Corner

Elaine Bergeron, Account Manager - Baseball & Soccer

At work: In partnership with my client leagues, I help identify technology and marketing strategies to help their dedicated volunteers save time, increase efficiency and raise participant numbers.

Outside of work: I’ve played soccer my whole life. After college, I looked for new sports to get involved in which led me to triathlons (swim/bike/run) as I did a lot of cycling and running to stay in shape while playing college soccer. This month, I will be participating in my very first Ironman-distance triathlon. After this race, I look forward to getting back to my other passions including mountain biking, surfing, and trail running.

Favorite Sports Moment: My first National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) soccer game as a college sophomore at South Eastern Louisiana University. I remember the feeling I had when both teams hit the field to warm-up and when the National Anthem played. In those moments, I realized my dream of playing college soccer had come true! Soon I hope to add completing an Ironman-distance triathlon to my list of fond sports memories.

E-mail Elaine

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