Posts tagged Netball Ninja News

Netball Ninja News: Introducing customisable websites for netball clubs

The common problems I notice with netball websites are that they are poorly designed and aren’t regularly updated. What I’ve created is something that is:

  • Simple for you to keep up-to-date (using Wordpress if you wanted to know)
  • An excellent design,
  • Plus support with a set of easy-to-follow instructions to get you going (and direct help from me, of course). 

This is the first in a series of designs I will be creating for customisable netball websites. As you can see, I’ve used ANZ Championship Netball Club as a dummy team, just so you can get the gist of the layout and colours and what your website could look like.

So you ask, what are customisable netball websites?

Basically, the layout you see here is set. What is customisable for you is the design of the header (your club logo + club name), the colours, fonts and what you have in the sidebar. I can pretty much customise what you want in this set layout, but if you have any questions about how much can be changed/added/taken away, just ask me (email me at thenetballninja @ gmail . com or talk with me on Twitter).

Here are a few page previews of the website. For a better look, check out the test website that’s currently at http://www.societyofless.com/.

Home page

Home page

Player Profile

Player Profile

Fixtures & Results

Fixtures & results

Gallery

Gallery

As I get everything more organised on my end, I will start offering my services. At the moment, I am thinking that I will offer the first few clubs that would like a design a reduced price since I am sure there will be some kinks to iron out and taking time to get the whole workflow streamlined.

This is all very basic information at the moment. I’ll take some time in the next couple of days to write everything out in detail about what you get with each website, the pricing and so on.

I would love to know of what you think of the design, your thoughts and feedback, so come chat with me on Twitter or email me (thenetballninja @ gmail . com).

27. January 2011 ·

Netball Ninja News: 6 Fun Netball Facts

I’ve put together a list of fun netball facts. Maybe you’ll learn something new about netball today!

  • High-profile netball players are expected to earn up to NZ$50,000 (~AU$40,000) per season. David Beckham’s annual salary with the LA Galaxy is $6.5 million per year. This makes netballers’ wages look so minuscule in comparison. 
  • The highest capped player for the Silver Ferns is Irene van Dyk with 118 test caps.
  • Liz Ellis tops the most capped netball player for Australia with 122 test caps.
  • New Zealand is now ranked world number 1 for netball, besting Australia by just one point. 
  • Netball is the highest female participated sport in New Zealand and Australia.
  • Over 20 million people currently play netball in more than 70 countries. (Let’s hope that keeps growing!)

25. January 2011 ·

Netball Ninja News: Let’s Turn Netball Professional

Listen carefully to the wise words of the Netball Ninja. Hey-ah!

No wonder why people think netball is a non-professional sport. It’s because we’re presenting ourselves this way. Netball clubs need to think and act like a business, not a bootstrapping start-up.

Use social media

And use it properly. Interact with the audience, not just announcing your own things. It’s free, so why not take advantage of this excellent marketing tool that more and more people are turning to? I would make it compulsory for all the players use it regularly. Let’s expand netball to the rest of the world, not just in the small netball bubble that is currently present. 

Update your website regularly

This means new articles about the team, individual stories about players, match reports and articles by the players too. This worked really well when Susan Pratley and Renae Hallinan wrote daily diaries during their time at the Commonwealth Games. Fans actually do want to know if Geva Mentor and Sonia Mkoloma are allowed to play in the upcoming World Championships. Don’t keep your fans informed and well, they’ll just bugger off and follow another sporting code that keeps them in the loop.

Professional video footage 

Did you see the recent video footage of the latest interviews of the Diamonds and Norma Plumber? Seriously, get a tripod for the camera, get a well-lit background. This is being broadcast on the internet, so basically the entire world is seeing how unprofessional netball is. I would feel embarrassed if that was how someone was promoting my business.

Professional photos

Take a look at the difference between the photos on the Mystics and Thunderbirds website. Netball fans even noticed that the Thunderbirds had the same pink lipstick on. Hire a good photographer - they’re not really that hard to find. (By the way, we did notice the awful job on Kasey Evering’s “red” Tactix shirt.)

  

Professional websites

Take a leaf out of the Thunderbirds book and launch a professional website. Yes, they had their silly flaws with spelling mistakes and what not when they launched, but the website is clean, classy and usable (kudos to the web designers). ANZ Championship, you should really take a look at your own website and re-consider the awful messy redesign.

Create your own media exposure

Time and time again, we hear that netball is not getting the media exposure that other sports are. Whose fault is that? Is it the media? Or is it the netball clubs? If you want more media attention, you need to take it into your own hands. Write your own articles, submit them to the newspapers. Make your own video footage. Write your own press releases. Create the attention you want.

Let’s stop blaming everyone else, blaming the male sporting codes, blaming the media. Don’t leave it to someone else to create a professional brand. Netball clubs, pick up your game and make it work yourself.

16. January 2011 ·