Posted 6/24/08 - Kellex

This post probably seems a little late, but for those of you not up on things, we thought you should all be aware that the new Firefox 3 has been released.

Firefox was shooting for over 5 million downloads on its release day and ended up crushing that number by hitting well over 8 million by the end of the day! In just 72 hours, it had hit 14 million and that number could be double within a week or so.

Here is a list of first impressions of the new browser. More here.

I'm not sure I like it quite yet compared to the last release. I'm sure it will grow on me and I'll start to see how beneficial these new updates are, but I really grew accustomed to the old one. Let me know what you all think. Are you impressed? Is the address bar history driving you as nuts as it is me?

If you don't have the new version, you can download it below:


Firefox 3 download page.

Have you signed up for the PepperJAM Network and eBay.com, their newest affiliate?

Posted 6/23/08 - Kellex

The word on the internet streets is that Google is in the middle of its latest PageRank update this week. I've heard rumblings from bloggers who have already seen their PR fluctuate, rise or drop so this could mean some movement is in the works.

We're interested to see where we fall with the Sports Dollar. We took a very interesting approach to this blog to see how our PR could turn out. Seems stupid that we didn't follow our format with Le Basketbawl seeing as it dropped a PageRank 5 (PR5) within 2 months, but we wouldn't be doing what we are doing if we weren't testing out systems and then reporting them back to you.

So if this is the week, expect to see your blog and ours on the move!


Have you signed up for the PepperJAM Network and eBay.com, their newest affiliate?

Posted 6/24/08 - Kellex

I ran across this post the other night and thought that it needed to be shared immediately. Here are 5 Firefox extensions that show you things like PageRank or Alexa rank of the page you are on, the quality of backlinks, and a link analysis.

One issue: with the new Firefox 3, I was not able to install the first add-on which sucks because it looks like the best one. Hopefully soon, it will be install-able? (nice word there)

If you don't want to go to that page then here are your quick links. For descriptions go here.

1. Smart PageRank

2. SearchStatus

3. SEO for Firefox

4. Inbound Link Quality

5. SEO Link Analysis


Did you know you can sell links on your site with Text-Link-Ads?

Posted 6/20/08 - Kellex

In the beginning of this blog's life, we ran our initial 100 Fluffs(tips) to Building a Better Sports Blog that received a good reception. Well since posts like that gave us enough love to keep doing this, we thought it was time for 80 more!

1. Seriously, get rid of the Minima template.
2. Join the YardBarker Network.
3. Work your way to the Entrecard "popular" list.
4. Start tracking stats with Sitemeter.
5. Download Firefox's "ShowIP" add-on.
6. Install Compete.com's toolbar.
7. Post to the Sports Dollar Job Board.
8. Make sure your "Subscribe" buttons or links are everywhere.
9. Create a solid "Advertise" page.
10. Utilize a "Contact" sheet.
11. Check out other money makers than Adsense.
12. Join BlogBurst.
13. Continue to interview your mentors.
14. Hire people to help!
15. Add 10 new Stumble Upon friends per week.
16. Create a Google Group specific to your niche.
17. Create a MySpace page for your blog.
18. Keep running creative polls.
19. Dabble in BlogRush.
20. Check out this list of sports affiliate programs.
21. Join in on the Sports Dollar/Juiced Sports forums.
22. You better have your own domain by now.
23. Get yourself a custom look.
24. Still on Blogger? Think about WordPress.
25. Create your own images with GIMP.
26. Cut down the number of blogs in your reader.
27. Get rid of all those spammy widgets!
28. Create a Blog Catalog group.
29. Add 1000+ friends to your Blog Catalog account.
30. Have fun with Flickr.
31. Install the URL Fixer.
32. Join in the Twitter craze.
33. Create an Adwords account for keyword research.
34. Track clicks and site layout with Crazy Egg.
35. Check your page load time.
36. BlogRolled.com may be worth a look.
37. Don't fall for scams like these.
38. Utilize this Web 2.0 directory.
39. Read Publisher Spot for the latest reviews on affiliates.
40. Do not leave long breaks in between posts.
41. Join in on the Blogger's Choice Awards.
42. Do not overuse videos.
43. Do not use irrelevant videos.
44. Cut down your Digg and BallHype usage.
45. Find 10 new niche specific blogs a day.
46. Comment on them.
47. Use Twitterfeed.
48. Get creative like this.
49. Pay close attention to you competitors.
50. Laugh off hateful comments.
51. Create an enormous email list.
52. Use "Recent Visitors" widgets for MyBloglog and Blog Catalog.
53. Sell advertising.
54. Start a blog challenge.
55. Ask your readers their favorite topics.
56. Ask your readers if they if they've subscribed to your blog.
57. Write a 5 part series.
58. Google News will help you break news.
59. Force advertisers to pay via PayPal.
60. Cut 3, 6, or 12 month advertising deals.
61. Get a press pass to an event.
62. If other blogs run contests, participate in them.
63. Reduce the number of posts that show at a time.
64. Give away 11,000 Entrecard credits.
65. Trade banners with friends.
66. Find a way to write about Erin Andrews.
67. Post Youtube videos to Digg and BallHype.
68. Don't claim that as if you created them though.
69. Use a recent comments widget.
70. Use a top commentators widget.
71. For the love of anything, please use a full RSS feed.
72. Use "nofollow" on links if need be.
73. Add a search bar.
74. Stay consistent with a color scheme.
75. Join the Wicked Fire forums, but be careful.
76. Write press releases monthly.
77. Create a monthly newsletter.
78. Read Daily Blog Tips.
79. Asks friends for Digg's, Stumble's, Hypes, and Barks.
80. Read the Sports Dollar!


Have you signed up for the PepperJAM Network and eBay.com, their newest affiliate?

Posted 6/18/08

Mitchell Blatt, owns Juiced Sports Blog and loves to Stumble. Click to friend me on SU!

How to Install Link Vault and Start Building Tons of Links

About a week ago, I wrote a post on how to build lots of links through a program called Link-Vault.

A few people in the comments section had further questions—specifically how do I install this [stuff]?—so I am going to address installation today.

A quick review for anyone who missed the post: Link-Vault uses a disguised code to automatically put links onto each page of your site and you earn credits to have your customized links appear on other network sites.

It is fairly complex to install though, so here’s how:

First, you must have a Wordpress blog or other hosted blog—it doesn’t work with Blogger. Also have access to your ftp. If you don’t have an ftp program but you do have Wordpress, you might want to get an ftp program. They are pretty cheap (about $20) and give you good access to editing and uploading files on your site easily. I use Fetch for Mac OS, and I hear Cute FTP is pretty good for Windows as well as Mac.

So, once you have an FTP program, Part 1:

Go to “site setup instructions” on Link-Vault, and they will tell you:

Create a file called lvqi9reotDrtCX3zzS.php or download (right click, Save Target As...)

All you do is click the download link and the file downloads to your desktop then upload the file into the index file of your FTP. You would log into your FTP program. It would give you a list of the pages and websites on your account. Click to the folder labeled mysportsblog.com and open it, then drop the file into that folder.

Basically, dragging and dropping into FTP is all you’re going to be doing to set up.

Part 2

Create another (empty) file called qi9reotDrtCX3zzS.txt (download), upload here : http://yoursportsblog.com/qi9reotDrtCX3zzS.txt and give it read/write access (use your ftp client to change the properties of file once uploaded).

Again, download the file and upload it. For this specific file you have to give it reading and writing permissions, which lets the links be written in. To do that, on Windows FTP, highlight the file and go to File > Properties, and put check marks in all the boxes for reading and writing, which would put your permission level at 666 (my favorite number).

Part 3

There is some code in a text box that you should copy and paste into the footer theme. That code is the link code.

Part 4

This isn’t necessary, but recommended, an automatically updating file that updates the link code, making it more disguised. You just download then upload it again.

Part 5

Click a link to turn test mode on and test links will show up on all pages if you installed it correctly. Then turn it off and click a link to check setup and activate at the bottom of the page. After you pass the check setup, you will slowly begin receiving link credits.

Enjoy the links!


Time to join ClickBooth to help monetize your site, don't you think?

Posted 6/10/08 - Kellex

This is a very nice free tool that can be used to see many things including whether or not your current layout is optimized correctly. If you are not familiar with Crazy Egg, you should go to their site now to check it out and start running a free test.

The tool allows you to track a certain number of visitors to your site and keeps track of what the visitors are clicking on by showing you in a clean and visual manner. I would recommend that you run a test on your index or main page to see what your readers are clicking on the most. From there you can pick other pages to run the test on such as your most popular Google searched page or a new linkbait piece you have just released.

This will give you a pretty good idea if your ads are receiving enough action and if your site needs some adjustment.

Let me know if you have any questions!


Have you signed up for the PepperJAM Network and eBay.com, their newest affiliate?

Posted 6/9/08

Mitchell Blatt, Juiced Sports Blogger and AirRaid Stumbler who wants to friend you.

Cool Trick to Get a Ton of Links

You can get high as Ricky Williams in the search engines by getting dem links. Everyone knows that. But how do you get lots of links? Other than writing good content?

Here’s a nice, free, and easy technique to build extra links without doing any other work. I’m warning you it only works if you host your site, so it won’t work for Blogger, but it will for Wordpress.

The site you can use to build links is Link-Vault.

What Link-Vault is is an automated link exchange network. What sets it apart is that it puts different urls on every page load, thus getting your url onto more websites and on different websites. If you url were only on the same website, the PR juice flowing would be greatly devalued. The fact that it loads on so many different pages at different times means that on some loads, the spiders will see it and credit you with links from multiple websites. This increases PR.

You simply set up the code and files and then ignore it as you build links. You can customize the links and have them link to any pages you want with custom anchor text. You get credit for links shown based on a points formula involving how many pages you have and links you show, how much traffic you have, and how much PR you have.

The only problem is that Google doesn’t really like link exchange networks, but Link-Vault combats this fact by offering code with hard-to-spot codes in it to direct the links, and changes the code ever so often. Google may be good, but they don’t have the resources of Bill Belichick yet, so it is pretty hard to get caught.

This is a good tool whether you want to promote your sports blog or various pages of it for various keywords or if you have multiple websites you want to promote. Building organic links from good content is a must, but having these extra tools is what can put you over the top.


Time to join ClickBooth to help monetize your site, don't you think?

Posted 6/6/08

Guest Post written by Michael "Cuzzy" C. of the sports/Raptors/money making blog, Cuzoogle.com! Make sure you check out part 1 of the 25 Traits of Successful Sports Bloggers.


25 Traits of Successful Sports Bloggers: Part 2

13) Positive - If you write articles in a negative-tone that criticize others' or discourage others, I generally will stop reading your sports blog over time. I get tired of negative views pretty fast and I bet a lot of readers do as well. Readers will take a look at a couple of posts, see the negativity throughout and won't hesitate to leave and never look back at your blog again. Now don't get me wrong I know the negative side can spark a good debate and bring in a load of short term traffic but it should not be the overall tone of your sports blog.

Keeping a positive writing voice is something that you should always try and maintain and in the end it will really help you maximize your results. Most People love reading sports blogs that have a positive, funny and entertaining author. It takes a lot more skill to write something with a positive spin and be entertaining than it is to resort to put down humour all of the time.

Don't forget that a positive attitude should not only be taken into account for sports blogging, it should be taken into account for your overall life. Without a positive outlook and the building of positive relationships, blogging won't be that much fun.

14) Enthusiastic - Everyone loves a writer who can show a lot of enthusiasm through their sports blogging voice. When writing my own posts I try to be as enthusiastic as I can stand without going over the top. You should try this as well since you really don't want your readers to get bored. An upbeat tone is a great way to convey content on your sports blog.

Try to be as enthusiastic as possible towards your favorite team or player no matter how bad they are playing; your enthusiasm could rub off on the crowd. Do something to fire up your readers because the chances are good that it will help you become more successful. As a sports blogger you are already passionate about sports so let it show in your writing. If you can be enthusiastic everyday, there is a better chance people will enjoy reading your sports blog.

15) Responsible - Successful sports bloggers take responsibility of all their actions when it comes to their blog. Taking responsibility of actions simply means letting readers know when they made a mistake, how they are learning from a mistake, and following through on any promises made. It is very difficult to stay subscribed to a sports blog when a writer tells the readers one thing, then never follows through or provides an explanation for not following through. If you are going to promise something, you have to deliver.

In a world of thousands of sports blogs, you can't leave a reader hanging because it won't take much for them to click elsewhere. Ask yourself, do you take responsibility for your mistakes and actions when it comes to your sports blog?

16) Independent - You can't be completely dependent on others to show you the way to success online if you expect to succeed one day. At some point, you have got to take your own action, come up with your own goals, and know what it is you want to achieve.

I try to seek help and offer up help as much as possible to figure out any nagging issues, but that only goes so far. A lot of blogging knowledge comes with experience and how long you have been doing it for. The sports side of it is the easy part but sometimes the blogging side of things can really frustrate you. Being more of an independent thinker, coming up with your own fresh ideas, and learning from yourself is key to becoming more successful as a sports blogger.

17) Goal-oriented - What are your online goals for your sports blog? Do you even have any yet? It really helps to set solid and smart goals that you think you can realistically achieve. I bet you have seen a lot of sports blogs without a clear-cut focus and to be honest it is really a time killer.

An example would be of a sports blogger that does not know what topic to focus his or her time on and makes a huge list of categories in the sidebar. I have always been bad for this and this is one area where I am trying to improve on and scale back my goals. After going through it I now think it is much easier to be successful as a sports blogger if you set an achievable goal to work towards.

Successful people know that goals are important and realize that having good goals to work towards can keep them motivated, focused, and excited. How boring would it get if you had nothing pushing you to make your sports blog better everyday? If you don't have any online goals yet for your sports blog, ask yourself what you enjoy about sports and list the items. Force yourself to pick one item and one item only from the list. Then, blog about only things related to that item. It can be difficult, but keeping your sports blog's goal focused is key to success.

18) Balanced - Successful sports bloggers understand that staying well balanced is crucial to their future success. There are a number of things you must learn to balance your sports blog. They can include promotion time vs. time spent writing articles or balancing sports blogging with daily life. It can definitely get tough and any one who runs their own sports blog knows this. You may initially want to overwork yourself in pursuit of big money and begin to lose sight of things that really matter.

Successful sports bloggers know how to keep the right balance to achieve optimum results. Too much time spent promoting and not taking the time to develop good content is a setup for failure and vice-versa also applies Are you having trouble balancing your sports blog?

19) Purposeful - What is the purpose of your sports blog? Do you want to make money (duh)? Do you want to share with others how much you know about sports? Do you just need a place to rant about your team? Whatever it is, it really helps to understand the purpose of your sports blog in relationship to your personal values.

If I really didn't enjoy sports blogging, I would probably stop doing it and start focusing more of my time on other projects. Successful sports bloggers understand their online purpose, share it with others, and are passionate about their experience because of it. You have to understand that purpose is not the same as your online goal. Purpose is the reason for which you are online in the first place. Successful sports bloggers want to be online and are not forcing themselves to run a blog. They truly want to be doing it and everything that comes with it is like gravy.

20) Efficient - How efficient are your work habits? I will admit that from time to time I get caught up with life and am not able to stay focused on my sports blog even though I do always try my best. Sometimes when doing up a new post I will stop and have the urge to check my email, blog stats, how many tweets I have or feel compelled to check out Entrecard.

I have recognized this behavior and every time I have an urge to check my e-mail I try my best let it pass (unless it is the girlfriend). Why should you try to curb your e-mail urges? Because checking e-mail during the middle of a blog post is inefficient. Successful sports bloggers usually have a daily blogging routine that they stick to and incorporate into their life. It usually is as simple as a certain time period each day to work on your sports blog and let nothing interfere with that time.

21) Competitive - As a sports blogger it is pretty much built in that you are competitive already so this trait will be very common. I am always up for some good competition in my daily life and of course the blogosphere. You need to be somewhat competitive if you want to be a successful sports blogger.

What do I mean by competition? It can include friendly challenges with other sports bloggers such as networking to run a contest where the winner of the contest is the sports blog with the highest RSS subscriber count on a certain day. Simple things like that is great to see in the sports blogosphere even if your blogs should be bitter rivals based on the topics (Lakers-Celtics).

If someone asks me to have a competition and it does not involve a lot of money, you can bet that I will be willing to join. Being competitive also means being up-to-date with your advertising, producing quality content, and keeping your sports blog up to speed on the latest trends (Twitter for example). Not to get to philosophical but in the end it is important to realize that your only competition is yourself when trying to become successful as a sports blogger.

22) Honest - Honesty online is crucial to success. If you cannot be honest with your readers and admit your mistakes to others, you will never build trust or a good relationship with your readers (if that is your goal). Being as honest as possible with your commenting crowd is key and I really think that most readers enjoy that.

Successful sports bloggers are not afraid to admit their shortcomings or report the trouble that they ran into along the way. I will not hesitate to post about a time that I failed or ran into serious problems because I realize that there is always something to learn. From that others can learn from the problems or mistakes you have made. Be honest with yourself and be honest with your readers. Don't report huge monthly earnings just to draw attention to your sports blog and impress readers. Who really cares? Sure it can work for some (John Chow) but most people in the sports blogging world don't really care.

It is a terrible thing to lie to your readers and give them false hopes by displaying skewed information. If you are one of the big sports blogs, those starting out are going to try and follow your lead, so don't trick them. Read a successful sports blog once and you will know that they are not afraid to admit their mistakes!

23) Focused - Staying focused on sports blogging is very difficult for anyone that has not had much blogging experience. Starting out in sports blogging, I only posted about once every few days. Then I finally decided it was time to step it up. I really challenged myself to make a conscious effort to post everyday without excuses. It got to a point to where I felt bad for not posting and it became addicting. Now because I have the time to do it, I am posting three or four times a day.

While I am writing posts, it can be difficult to stay focused when others are emailing me, the dog is bored and wants to play or there is something on TV I want to watch. You need to fit all that in with your sports blogging. Over time I have developed a good strategy that seems to work out for me and really helps keep me focused. Getting into a daily blogging routine also helps. Think of it like your business or job (that you like) and that will help you be more focused.

Successful sports bloggers stay focused on their online projects and know exactly what move to make next. Are you focused, or do you get lost for hours once you open Facebook or Twitter?

24) Unique - Being unique is always something to strive for and incorporate into your online image. Who really wants to read just another sports blog? It really helps when you can think of your own interesting content and not flood your posts with regurgitated ideas that myself and others have read on all other sports blogs and websites.

Can't think of any ideas? Surf around the Internet and look at other blogs, listen to music or watch a TV show. Something will trigger a new idea. I like to think of it like this. What would be interesting and entertaining enough to get on the front page of Ball Hype or Yardbarker?

If you are a sports blogger you have an idea of what readers want so put your own spin on it. Most successful sports bloggers were the first of their kind and put forth the best effort in the growing niche. Sure you can choose to start another sports blog but don't make it a blog that someone refers to as "just another sports blog." Create an image to stand out from the crowd, and make it something memorable!

25) Patient - Fitting trait for the end of a list don't you think? Initially, sports blogging is not a very good investment. Your time spent sports blogging is worth much more than what you will initially be earning. If you are willing to stay in the game for the long-term, I think you will be very happy with the results. Successful sports bloggers understand that in the short-term, it may be very tough to get traffic, earn money, and get recognized. However, once you have stuck around for awhile with consistent content, you will be recognized as a reputable source of solid information.

It is great if you can throw a huge contest to celebrate the start-up of your sports blog, or get a load of traffic initially, but most sports bloggers are not that fortunate. Write these words down and live by them - patience is a virtue that successful sports bloggers have.


Make sure you check out other posts from Cuzzy like his ongoing "Rolling a Blog Joint..." and his "Babes of Survivor!"


Have you signed up for the PepperJAM Network and eBay.com, their newest affiliate?

Posted 6/5/08 - Kellex

Noticed our new banner up at the top? Yep, that's an eBay.com ad!

Our major affiliate marketer, PepperJam Network, has just joined with eBay.com offering its users access to one of the best affiliate programs on the planet.

You may want to check this one out if you are not already a part of PepperJam. As an affiliate, eBay.com easily offers one of the largest percentage payouts I've ever seen.

I think we all know how big eBay.com is and where this could fit into your sports blogging scheme. If you have any questions about eBay.com or PepperJam, please shoot me an email!

Posted 5/30/08

Guest Post written by Michael "Cuzzy" C. of the sports/Raptors/money making blog, Cuzoogle.com!


25 Traits of Successful Sports Bloggers: Part 1

The goal of the list is to help you understand how to shape your sports blogging experience towards becoming more successful online and in the sports blogging niche. I hope you are able to find characteristics that you might be lacking or may need to improve on. If not then you are probably one of the successful ones already.

Nobody is perfect, but successful sports bloggers really do a fabulous job at effectively mastering the majority of the 25 traits that are listed.

The cool thing about this list is that though sports bloggers may have an edge against you with certain traits, you can always work to improve and get stronger. Let me know what you think below and add any that I may have missed. These traits are not sports blogging specific so don't worry if you are not in the sports game, they work for whatever you blog about.

1) Hard-working - Though it looks like an easy path to become a successful sports blogger, it does take some hard work as anyone who has a blog knows. If you cannot put in hard work towards becoming successful online, it would probably be best to not work at all. It takes a lot time to educate yourself about a certain topic and to constantly think of new ideas as article topics.

Successful sports bloggers are usually passionate and willing to work hard on a daily basis in order to improve and stay successful! It is like building a championship team, it does not happen over night. In sports blogging, you must produce new, quality content to keep your reader's satisfied. The content cannot be filled with bogus information either, meaning you have got to be willing to actually do some hard work and get your hands dirty.

2) Persistent - Successful sports bloggers never shy away or back down in the face of failure. They realize that if they want to be successful they must never back down and be around for the long-term. If you look at some of the best sports blogs out there, they have been around for years. Sports bloggers that may not be persistent, usually back down and end up not being very successful.

The hype and fun that initially comes with the creation of a blog can definitely keep you motivated for a couple of months, but if you're going to back down and stop being persistent, you probably don't want to be successful in the first place.

3) Educated - It is important to stay educated in the niche that you are blogging about. Nobody wants to really hear or read what amateurs are going to write on their sports blogs. So that means you have to watch sports. Rough life eh? If you are a sports blogger chances are you watch a good amount of sports so this part is easy. If you follow one team, read everything there is about that team. Sure there might be the odd visit from a hardcore sports fan but most people are looking for good, quality content. Posting a recap of a game won't cut it but if you add your own spin or opinion, then it could catch fire.

As a sports blogger, it is extremely important to keep yourself educated by reading other successful sports blogs and understanding what can be done to improve your efforts. It is of course obvious that you should never copy other's work but I always find reading other sports blogs will stir up several ideas in my head.

4) Strategic - Not all sports bloggers have a good online strategy that works. Successful sports bloggers understand how to plan for success. This is key for when something goes wrong, or their business model is not well accepted by their readers. Then they will re-evaluate and plan out a new strategy.

Strategy is a factor in virtually every part of a sports blogger's online experience. You have to plan out promotion, goals, building traffic, and keeping visitors coming back for more. While many successful sports bloggers make blogging strategy look like Ray Allen shooting a free throw, there is a lot that is being done behind the scenes that may not be written about.


5) Disciplined - It can be difficult to stay disciplined for anyone, even the successful sports bloggers. What separates the successful sports bloggers from the unsuccessful, is the fact that successful sports bloggers force themselves to stay disciplined with posting, thinking of new post ideas, and doing work to improve their online status. Some days or weeks can seem like a struggle but you have to fight through. When seasons end, it can be the hardest but that is when you have to think outside of the box for ideas. Discipline can be tough for anyone, though there are activities like getting into a posting routine that can improve your discipline.

6) Intelligent - Do you want to read a blog post by someone that is less intelligent than you? Probably not although I would guess a lot of you don't really think about that. Most people follow sports bloggers to learn something about a sport, team, player or hot button topic. If you are not as intelligent as another sports blogger, who do you think is going to get the majority of traffic and keep their visitors around? Yep you guessed it. Intelligence is a big key as a sports blogger. We are not born with blogging knowledge (Wow can you imagine?) or experience but we can all educate ourselves by reading other sports blogs and staying subscribed to them.

7) Social - If you are not networking with other sports bloggers (WTF? You better be.), it is time to start. Networking with other sports bloggers can include things like doing a guest post (just like I am doing), running a contest with other sports bloggers or a mutual exchange of links for your blogroll.

Everyone involved in the business world networks offline, online, and know how to network very successfully. You do not really want to network with another sports blog that has significantly lower traffic than yours or a poorer online image although there are always exceptions to this.

If you have not started networking with other sports bloggers, send several blogs (preferably ones that are bigger than yours) a message asking if they would like to network with you. It is amazing how friendly the blog community is if you just ask. Everyone used to be small and I find even the big dogs don't mind helping out where possible. You can do things like put up each other's 125 x 125 advertisements, comment on each other's blogs and advertise using Entrecard.

8) Understanding - Successful sports bloggers are usually understanding of what most of us want to see and how they can help out their readers. As a sports blogger myself, I try to be understanding of my reader's needs and interests by interacting with them in the comments section of each post and answer all e-mails that come my way. If you are not understanding of what readers want, you don't allow yourself to have a friendly online image that helps form a strong community.

9) Creative - This is my favorite trait of a successful sports blogger, one that I really try to zero in on. If you do the same thing as everybody else online, it is going to be extremely difficult to succeed. Right now the sports blogging niche is so overcrowded and over populated that it is very tough to get inside position under the boards. The good news is there are so many teams and so many players that it is possible to carve out your own little area.

The key to online success is being creative. Most sports bloggers that are successful right now did something completely new and innovative that most others had not thought of at the time. We all read Dead Spin and think wow, that is such a simple concept for a blog, why did I not think of that. Many people are reading that blog hoping to do the exact same thing as Dead Spin and make the same amount of money. Good luck to you if that is your goal right out of the shoot.

The fact is, most do not realize that it is much more difficult when you follow suit. The term been there done that comes to mind. Now there are many sports bloggers making a name for themselves, don't get me wrong but you need to stand out a bit. When you can be creative and be the first of your kind in an untapped niche, then you will be able to be as successful as the lucky bastards at Dead Spin.

10) Flexible - Being flexible plays a huge part in being a successful sports blogger. Anyone who works in sports or watches a lot of sports knows the strain it can put on the people in our lives. Most successful sports bloggers understand when it is time to call it quits and spend time with their family or dabble in other hobbies.

It is important to not get addicted to sports blogging to keep other areas of life in perspective. When money starts to roll in and the traffic jumps, the temptation can be to sit there for several hours working on the blog. I am not saying that is a bad thing but too much of any one thing can really throw other areas of life out of sorts. Too much sports blogging is not good and can actually get people a little overstressed. On the flip-side of that, too many outside activities can make it difficult to get back into the sports blogging routine. It is all about balance. So go and watch the game and take a break.

11) Consistent - Consistency is a key attribute to online success. Successful sports bloggers stay consistent with posting, marketing, and maintenance of their blog. Being consistent with posting frequency plays a huge role in gaining the trust of RSS subscribers and getting more visitors to subscribe. Staying consistent with all of your online efforts will play a huge role in the success of your sports blog. If you know that you can stay consistent with quality content, I can tell you with confidence that you will make money eventually and be successful. Like many things staying consistent is much easier said than done, though with proper discipline, we all have it in us to do it.

12) Confident - I have yet to come across a successful sports blogger that has low levels of confidence. Just like the athletes we watch, showing confidence is everything when going into battle. Confidence is displayed in your writing tone, through the quality of your content, and through activities such as guest posting on other sports blogs.

Most other sports bloggers that are in the business to be successful are never stressed about asking someone to guest post or posting links to their posts in forums. This is why it is great to ask other sports bloggers for help or even trading links. I have never felt like someone was turning me down because I was the competition. It is not like we are in law school or fighting for a Wii on Boxing Day. If you are lacking in confidence, you better do yourself a huge favor by boosting it up. Now drop and give me 20.

This concludes Part 1 of 25 Traits of successful sports bloggers. Look for the part 2 soon!

Make sure you check out other posts from Cuzzy like his ongoing "Rolling a Blog Joint..." and his "10 Reasons Why I hope the Spurs are Done."


Time to join ClickBooth to help monetize your site, don't you think?

Posted 5/30/08 - Kellex

This is a completely random post that almost has nothing to do with sports but we just found it slightly amusing and a little informational at the same time.

We were skimming through our analytics the other day, checking out new keywords that were pointing to us on Google and we noticed that someone had used the keyword "blogsexual" and somehow found us! I about dropped dead when I remembered that I had used the term in a previous post about bloggers in comparison with radio personalities.

When Google indexed us, it pulled up this term from the post and the comments section. If you search for "blogsexual" you will see that we show up first! Hah! The other sites below us are obviously in the "nasty-zone" and I refuse to talk anymore about them except that we dominated the hell out of them on their own term.

Not being an SEO pro, can anyone explain how just these 2 uses could put us in the top spot in Google? I'm aware of the fact that Google is able to pull keywords from comments, but I guess I didn't think they had this much pull especially from a blog lacking a PageRank.

So the one lesson you can take from this post is that keywords can be pulled from comments and using random terms like "blogsexual" can spark someone's imagination and may land you a top spot in Google! Woo hoo!


Did you know you can sell links on your site with Text-Link-Ads?

Posted 5/22/08 - Kellex

Good morning everyone! I'm just a little sleepy after a long night at the Indiana Jones premier. I must say, some people really love their "Indie" and I managed to see at least 3 guys with real whips! Crazy people.

Anyway, the topic of this post is fairly self explanatory but I am looking for some feedback. I'd like to know what blog or website tools or services people are using. It seems that there are countless ones out there and I definitely love the stat machines I'm using, but you can always see what else is in the world right?

Here is my list:

• MyBlogLog
• SiteMeter
• Google Analytics
• Google Adwords
• Google Adsense
• Google Reader
  
• Technorati
• BlogCatalog
• Entrecard
• Feedburner

There are a ton of other services I use, but these are the ones I use just about every day. Let me know what you've got!


Time to join ClickBooth to help monetize your site, don't you think?

Posted 5/21/08 - Kellex

Many new bloggers, wait, most bloggers in general are obsessed with social media sites and the potential they have to bring in thousands of visitors to their sites. As a sports blogger, I definitely pay attention to what is happening on Digg, BallHype and Yardbarker but I’ve realized that these are not reliable forms of traffic and the amount of time put in to them may not be worth it. I still see dozens of new sports bloggers spamming up Digg, BallHype, and Yardbarker with hopes of having the next Stuff that White People Like. Sorry to be the thousandth person to break this to you, but it will probably never happen!

There are other sites out there that can deliver more targeted traffic than any of the Digg’s or BallHype’s of the world. Social media sites tend to send the “quickie” visitor that is there just to catch a quick snippet of the big article of the day and decide whether or not they would like to hype it. The chances of that visitor hanging around to view the rest of your blog or click on any of your ads are probably minimal. It’s time to think even bigger and better!

When our NBA blog, Le Basketbawl, was in its early stages we had no idea how to work social media or drive traffic or basically gain any sort of reader other than working over forums. We definitely knew what BallHype and Digg were, but had no clue on how to make the first page or create a neat little clique that would drive our work out to the world. Instead we focused all that we had on writing fun and interesting content that we hoped would either sit well in search engines or get picked up by TrueHoop or Ball Don’t Lie. We would write up an article and send emails to Henry or Kelly Dwyer in hopes of getting on their daily link lists which basically never happened until that one magical day when I wrote a post based on the upcoming Oscars but with an NBA twist, conveniently titled the 2008 NBA Oscars.

Ever heard of Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard? (As a sports blogger you should have!) They picked up the post and within minutes our blog had 100’s of visitors which at the time was an incredible thing! While our post spent the entire day on Extra Mustard’s Hot Clicks it ended up generating a few thousand hits. Our blog exploded that day and I think we even shared a little champagne to celebrate. (OK not really, but it sounded nice didn’t it?)

From there, Extra Mustard found a liking to us and picked up our Top 6: Worst Hairstyles in the NBA and Top 7 Pretty Boys articles. (February was our month, woo!)

Here are the stats from the 3 articles of ours it picked up:

-Top 7 Pretty Boys – Ran 2/22/08
-Top 6: Worst Hairstyles – Ran 2/18/08
-2008 NBA Oscars – Ran 2/05/08

(It should be noted that the Pretty Boys article ran on a Friday. Extra Mustard does not perform updates on the weekends so it ran all weekend long!)

Of course once again, one of the major points in this article boils down to content. Content remains king over any traffic building tool you could use with your blog. We had no idea what Extra Mustard was until they picked us up and the traffic started raging in. In other words, we did not submit our articles to Extra Mustard; instead they picked our articles up because they thought their viewers would enjoy our work. Besides the thousands of visitors our blog saw on these days, it ended up generating links, return visitors and a ton of exposure for our new NBA blog.

What should you take from this article? It really is time to look elsewhere for some big time traffic. Almost all of the big time sports blogs out there ask their readers to submit interesting articles to them so their work is cut down. SPORTSbyBROOKS, the Big Lead, Deadspin and even SI’s Extra Mustard all have “submit” buttons that you should be utilizing. Your articles may not appear on these sites all the time, but if you really take some time to create great stuff, you will increase your chances. One article, one time on any of these sites can mean big things for your blog.

If you have success stories with any of these sites, I’d love to hear them!

Have you signed up for the PepperJAM Network and Review ME yet?

Posted 5/19/08

Guest post written by James of NE Patriots Draft, a site dedicated to the wonderful world of football and the incredible amount of coverage given to the NFL draft.


Maximizing your Sports Blog Traffic