How to Start a Sports Website

By Hulbert Lee

A sports website lets sports fans interact with each other and talk about the latest sports news.
i soccer score image by Jana Lumley from Fotolia.com

If you are passionate about sports, starting a website will help you share that passion with other people around the world. A sports website is a platform for updates on teams, player trades, statistics and scores. It is also a good way for a community of sports fans to interact with each other via comments. In addition, if your sports website generates enough traffic, you can make a little extra money on the side with web advertising.

Choose a web hosting company that offers the ability to stream video for websites. There are many hosting companies to choose from (see Resources). Avoid free web hosting companies, as most don't offer enough storage space for the uploading sports media and will also use your website for their advertisements.

Select a domain name. It's a good idea to create a domain related to sports and is easy for people to remember. Check to see if the domain name is still available. There will be different top-level domain options to choose from. If you plan to sell products or advertisements on your website, go with .com for commercial. If your website is based on an organization, such as a soccer league, choose .org.

Design your sports website using the built-in design tools offered by your hosting company. Some hosting companies, like GoDaddy, will charge you a small fee to use their site builder, while other hosting companies, like Yahoo! Web Hosting, have free design tools to help create your website with no experience necessary.

Consider buying a professional sports template. This will help make your website stand out, without the worry of website designing. You will, however, still need to publish content, upload media and insert links. Ask your hosting company how to install a website template into the web host so it appears on the Internet when you publish the site.

Create sports-related content. Write biographies of famous players. Upload photos of sports events. Upload audio content of sports experts talking about the latest sports news. Upload video content from YouTube or other video sites on sports- related material to make your site more interesting. Add a poll asking sports fans' opinions about the latest deal. Install a forum that allows people to have conversations with each other, or a comment box underneath each post so people can comment about the latest news.

Consider adding a sports widget application to your site. A widget is a application that you can put into your blog or web page to allow for new updates, such as real-time scores, directly to your website. Doing this can make your site more attractive, deliver the most recent news, and get your visitors to stay around longer.

Review your website. Check to see if there are any problems that slow down the loading of your website. Make sure your links are placed in the right place, preferably right on top so your visitors know where to navigate when they first visit your website. Check to see if your website browser is compatible---it should look good in Internet Explorer as well as Mozilla Firefox. Select a font that looks professional. Comic Sans or bright green will make the site look amateurish. Proofread any content text for grammar and punctuation errors. Publish your content when you are finished reviewing and ready to make your website available for people to visit.

×