Posted 5/6/08 - Kellex

We’ve decided it’s time to try and explode this new Sports Blogging for Money niche! There are now 3-4 blogs that are looking at this new idea and we all think we’ve hit the goldmine. This may be true, but how are we really to know unless we take things to the next level?

The sports blog world is almost like a fraternity when you think about the strength it has together. Many blogs have created communication channels and made some great friends that they interact with daily or even hourly. Sports bloggers look to each other for ideas and are usually pretty good at accepting feedback about their work when approached the right way. They have also been known to back the hell out of each other, especially when they are attacked by anyone in the main stream media. (See Colin Cowherd or Buzz Bissinger!)

You will also notice that sports bloggers love to see each other succeed. Many sports bloggers look to their friends for Diggs, Hypes and Barks on almost any story they submit. I find myself submitting my best stories to the same people because I know they will give me some love. They of course turn around and send theirs to me knowing the same thing will happen back.

What does all this sound like? It sure as hell sounds like any other blogging community doesn’t it? The Online Money Makers are exactly the same way aren’t they? They form communication channels and work to help each other grow by commenting, digging, and spreading each other’s word. There are so many likenesses between the two, and we would love to help the sporting world realize it. (Tastefully, of course.)

Our Next Goal:

To gather as much participation as we can from various top sports blogs on their successes in blogging. In our opinion, sports bloggers are some of the best at growing a blog and we’d love to have them share their ideas. They are so passionate about what they do that they seem to make all the right moves without consciously understanding what it is they are doing at times.

It will be amazing to open the minds of some of the best sports bloggers in the world to see what they have to offer. I’m guessing that many will say, “Huh? What are you talking about?” when I ask them to tell me how they generated all those linkbacks and that massive PageRank. These top sports bloggers have so much to offer to all of us and they may not even realize that. If we can open their minds to our vision, we may see sports blogging climb to a new level.

This truly is just the beginning…

This post brought to you by the PepperJAM Network and Review ME!

Posted 4/14/08 - Kellex

Daily Blog Tips wrote an article today detailing the 8 Addicting Habits of Bloggers and they hit it right on the head with every single one. I find myself falling into these from time to time and have struggled to break some of them like a damn addiction! There was one that really stuck out to me though and that was Chasing Social Media Traffic.

I think we all know how great of a thing social media traffic can be especially if you have a story really take off and get a bunch of Hypes, Diggs or points. The traffic can flow and you can grab a ton of new readers that may stick with you for the long haul. The problem I have though is the excessive spam I’ve been noticing lately on every single one of them. It seems like every post someone writes these days, they feel needs to be thrown up and “shouted” on Digg or IM’d on BallHype. What’s the deal?

Do you all really think that the garbage you just wrote is going to blow up? It takes a really special piece of work to make the front page of Digg and quite a few linkbacks on BallHype to get anywhere. I know you may have just written something YOU feel is really great, but maybe you should ask another blogger to read it to see how they feel. Not everything is a winner!

Only your best work should be submitted to these sites and not just any old “link post” you just put together in 15 minutes. I myself used to post just about anything to these sites and found myself checking religiously to see if anyone had Dugg or Hyped my articles. It really became an obsession and then I started seeing my content lose quality and then the frustrations started to kick in. I also felt a little odd within the sports blogging community and realized it looks pretty lousy when you are constantly submitting your own stories even if it’s not all that great.

In recent weeks I’ve started focusing more on writing and only submitting if I really feel good about. Well sure enough, those articles I truly took time on have been pretty successful on many of the social media sites.

Make sure you are continuing to write quality articles! Your readers came to you because you wrote something that interested them; please don’t let early success distract you from the big picture.

And there is one last little rant I need to get out. For those of you who are submitting everything to Digg, BallHype, and YardBarker just to have your page indexed by Google, you are absolutely pathetic. You are basically telling us all that you are a horrible writer, have no interesting ideas and no one reads your work.

Posted 4/12/08 - Kellex


I've got to admit that I am a complete newbie when it comes to YardBarker. I had heard of it but for some reason had never taken the time to really use it or play with it or participate on it. Well those times have surely ended as of this past week!

I decided to finally start submitting content to YardBarker last week just to see what it could do. The numbers definitely do not lie and I am now slapping myself for not jumping on this thing earlier.

On Wednesday I wrote up an article on my basketball blog titled NBA Draft History: The White Boy Busts and thought it was decent enough to submit to some social bookmarking sites. It actually found 51 Diggs (not too bad) and only 12 Hypes through BallHype (This issue is another post in the making.). So overall, Digg brought in some traffic even though 51 is not enough to reach the main page and BallHype has been jacking me around lately and it only reached 12 there.

At this point I decided to throw it up on YardBarker just to see what might happen. Sure enough, the readers there loved it! Right now it is sitting at 43 points and 22 comments! It sat on the main page for at least a full day and hovered in the top few pages for another. 299 visits later to my little basketball blog and I'm not complaining!

These numbers aren't anywhere near what Digg could provide with a front page article but this definitely provided a nice boost to a slow Friday while I was out of town for work.

As a sports blogger, please don't wait as long as I did to use this great site but remember that YardBarker is not a social bookmarking tool for spam. The content you submit here should be your best or you'll be run right out! Some of the people that comment here are nasty and Pro athletes also blog here so make sure to keep it legit!

Posted 4/10/08 - Kellex

Here is a look at the top stories currently on BallHype and what you can take from them to help you build a better post and hopefully generate some much needed traffic.

1. 2008 NBA Blogger Season Awards: 42 Hypes, 16 linkbacks

2. South Park Crushes Bill Belichick: 33 Hypes, 14 linkbacks

3. Video - How do I reach these kids?: 17 Hypes, 13 linkbacks

4. The State of the West via Comic: 19 Hypes, 4 linkbacks

5. Video - Amare = Weak or Bowen = Dirty?: 21 Hypes, 8 linkbacks

(Those numbers will obviously jump now that we've linked them so by the time you read this, it may look a little off and of course others could enter those top 5 spots if they are hyped or linked.)

With just a quick glance what you can you gather from that list? Well there are 3 videos, a comic, and a blog community post.

I think it has been well documented that a great video will always get you some major traffic so I find it no surprise that 3 of the top 5 posts are videos. Ever thought about looking into the video making biz? Adding some breaking video to your site can get you instant and long term traffic as well as a ton of linkbacks. (Odenized is the best example of this to date.)

Another post is a comic strip about the NBA. This is brilliant but unless you are an artist and extremely creative this could be a little difficult. Although one thing to keep in mind is that linking to a post like this can get you a lot of exposure. You can always post this comic with a linkback to the original site followed by a post to Digg or Yardbarker. This may seem a little odd or shady, but it happens all the time. Most would just be happy that you are linking back to their work and I doubt in most cases you will get any negative feedback.

The final topic in the top 5 was a blog community awards post. This is something you should consider for your particular niche. I'm not sure how many niches out there are doing this sort of thing, but you can see the impact it can have. Not only will you get linked all over the place, but that traffic should just start flowing in.

As a new blogger, this would also be a great way to make some quick friends in your niche. Remember that building up a community should be one of your top 5 goals. What is your blog without a community to share it in?

Posted 3/24/08 - Kellex

As a sports blogger, you should already know about BallHype. Wait, you don't? Then you better listen quick because you are missing out a huge opportunity to build traffic, make contacts and find some of the best written sports blogs on the planet!

BallHype takes some of the good pieces from the spam sensation known as Digg and turns them into a sports blogging hype machine. BallHype allows users to submit stories, link to others, make friends, and join sport or team specific communities while watching their own blogs gain ground through their fabulous ranking system. As a sports blogger, you have no other choice than to become a BallHype pro.


How does it Work?

Basically like Digg, but with a social atmosphere directed specifically at sports fans and bloggers. You submit stories the same as you would any other “hype” site and hope that the content is legit enough to grab the attention of someone. If someone loves it, they will ‘Hype’ it. The more ‘Hypes’ you have the better and your post may have a chance at making the main page of BallHype. The main page obviously means a ton more traffic to your blog right?

One thing to keep in mind is that each sport has its own main page as well as BallHype’s overall main page. Do not be too flustered if you are having problems initially breaking into that overall main page because you may still be showing well on your specific sport’s page.

BallHype also displays the number of times your story has been linked to, which is amazing! The number of times your blog has been linked will also help your story rise to the main page. Although BallHype does not claim this to be true, the more a story has been commented on must have some sort of weight as well. Play with this idea to find out for yourself.

Overall the idea is this: Submit great content to grab reader’s attention! Your story will be hyped, linked to, and commented on and will rise to the main page. From here, you will see tons of traffic not only from BallHype but from all of the other sites that just linked to you. Sound easy? Here is how to do it.


Some tips to Utilize its Power.

If your blog is just starting out, BallHype can be one of the greatest resources for growing instant traffic while gaining an authority amongst your sports blog peers. A ton of our basketball blog’s traffic could be solely attributed to our early success on BallHype.

There is definitely an algorithm to BallHype that if you were able to figure out would help you beyond measure, however without that information these tips should do just fine.

1. BallHype definitely shows love to new and upcoming sites, especially those that have great content. Once you have submitted your blog to them, your first few articles will likely jump to the head of the pack to get you some much needed exposure. So if you are just joining, make sure you have a great article to submit that people will want to read. There is nothing better than to have your first article receive 30+ hypes and 10+ linkbacks.

2. You need to submit articles like crazy! Of course they do not want you to spam up the site with duplicates but if you can find articles that have not been on there before, the site will love you.

Part of this theory stems from your rank as a contributor to BallHype. The site actually ranks its contributors based on how many articles they submit and how many of them are hyped. This is where you submit a ton of worthwhile articles that are not only your own but are from major sites as well. If you release the newest ESPN or Yahoo sports info, you are likely to have this information hyped and linked to. This will automatically raise your contributor status.

With a high contributor rank, your articles will always appear on the main page of your particular sport once they are submitted and likely will end up on the main overall page. This gives you instant exposure without having to generate hype after hype. Your contributor status should be your #1 goal.

3. Write a “Season Preview” article about your sport or favorite team. Most NBA blogs which submitted their team’s preview received 50+ hypes and 20+ linkbacks during this past season. That alone should have generated their blog thousands of pageviews while helping their Technorati authority and Google Pagerank. Make sure you prepare one of these for your next or upcoming season, but do not skimp on the depth.

4. Run a “Top 25 Blogs” list from your particular sport. BallHype runs its own ranking system of blogs but always shows love to fellow blogger ranking systems. Our Top 25 NBA Basketball Blogs jumped straight to the main page within minutes of being submitted. Of course this move helped tremendously with ‘hypes’ and links.

5. Get inside the mind of Jason and Erin! These are the creators of BallHype and have done a fantastic job releasing new features and always provide instant feedback if you have a question. I get the feeling that Jason can push a story straight to the top if he chooses to. Either that or there are certain key words that his algorithm likes a lot. Impress him or figure out his keyword preference and you should find yourself sitting pretty within minutes.


Part 2 coming soon!