Introducing NutJobFans.com, "Pinterest for Sports Fans"

[TheFinBin]

Good Morning Fastlane. I hope all of you are enjoying your Labor Day weekend.

I just wanted to introduce my newest site, NutJobFans.com, and give you a little background about my progress. I'm really looking for you guys to be honest and let me know what you think -- good and bad. I really appreciate and look forward to any advice you have.

Overall, I see NJF as being a "Pinterest for Sports Fans", where users can post photos, videos, audio cuts, links to their blog posts, etc. I want it to be the top (or one of the top) ways fans engage each other during a game as "the second screen."

[video=youtube_share;j0Wu1Q9i-PE]http://youtu.be/j0Wu1Q9i-PE[/video]

I recently finished a few online classes on programming, particularly Ruby on Rails. I had a tough time finding people to help me build an idea like this, and when I did, they never came through. Lesson learned. So, I decided to build NJF myself earlier this year. I had the idea last year.

Since then, a few competitors have popped up, as expected. The following are the ones I figure are closest to what I am doing:

Fancred

Fannect

SportzHype

ChatSports

My short-term goals are the following:

1. To add features that allow users to sign up / sign in with Facebook and Twitter
2. Give the ability to share all content on FB, Twitter, and Pinterest
3. Allow users to include profile photos, links to their sites, etc. on their own profile page
4. Allow for the ability to "tag" posts so they are searchable and categorized.

I realize these features are pretty basic, but as I am new to the whole programming arena, I'm working hard to learn how to incorporate these.

Long-term, my goals are:

1. To network with national and local bloggers to get them on the site sharing their content.
2. Hosting meetups and conferences to get the site out there and bring people together.
3. Partner with professional, college, and high school sports teams to share their content.
4. Hire a developer or two, content manager, and brand marketer to help me grow it -- although now I am all three

Basically, sports are about being a part of something bigger than yourself. So, I want to bring that out with NJF. I came up with the name from being in the Philadelphia area and the so-called reputation we have out here. I plan to keep working hard on putting the site together and getting the word out. And, hey, if you're attending any games this weekend, please sign up and post your pics!

Please let me know your thoughts. I appreciate any feedback.

Thank you,

Dave

 

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[Chris_Willow]

I won't comment on the business side of this, but you do need to get a designer on board asap.
If you really want to save money get a ready-made pinterest clone script. I found quite a few with a quick google search.

 

[tincho1492]

IMO you're way under your competitors. I didn't see anything that makes your website more valuable than theirs.

The homepage is not clear enough, are you only offering a Pinterest for sports, or something else?

It could be a good idea to fake activity and instead of showing an empty homepage, start uploading some content.

You can also start individual pages for specific matches and upload all the content by yourself (live stats, comments, photos, scores, etc), share that url with your friends and see if there is any engagement.

Take a look to this template to replace your current design: Inspire - A Multi-purpose, Masonry Theme Preview - ThemeForest

 

[Mike39]

• Yet another niche social media site
• Competition is smoking you in regards to development and UI
• Domain name sounds like a p0rn site

Not looking like a good business to pursue, how many users do you have, how are you monetizing those users?

 

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[Mike Kavanagh]

In regards to the whole business side of things, a few questions.

-Is there a demand for a sports-based pintrest? Micro-test before spending money. Search Noah Kagan on business validation.

-What are your competitors doing that you could do better? How can you bring your site up to and beyond their level?

-How are you going to bring this to market?

-How are you going to monetize?

-If you decided to stop now, how much money would you lose?

 

[TheFinBin]

I won't comment on the business side of this, but you do need to get a designer on board asap.
If you really want to save money get a ready-made pinterest clone script. I found quite a few with a quick google search.

Chris, thanks for your response. I did search for ready-made Pinterest clone scripts previously. However, my goal was to create something from scratch and have control over the look / feel from the beginning. But, now that you brought it up, maybe I can see what I can incorporate from a ready-made script. So, thanks for the input. I appreciate it.

 

[TheFinBin]

IMO you're way under your competitors. I didn't see anything that makes your website more valuable than theirs.

The homepage is not clear enough, are you only offering a Pinterest for sports, or something else?

It could be a good idea to fake activity and instead of showing an empty homepage, start uploading some content.

You can also start individual pages for specific matches and upload all the content by yourself (live stats, comments, photos, scores, etc), share that url with your friends and see if there is any engagement.

Take a look to this template to replace your current design: Inspire - A Multi-purpose, Masonry Theme Preview - ThemeForest

Thanks so much for your response and honest feedback. I really do appreciate it. Seriously.

I agree -- at this point in time -- I have a lot to do just to even match some of my competitors.

I see what you're saying about the home page and I will work on making it more clear. I should specify who it's created for and how they can use it. Maybe how it's beneficial for fans, bloggers, sports photographers, and teams. Right now, I am focused on the "Pinterest" aspect, but I ultimately want it to be a place where fans engage each other.

Actually, once somebody signs up and logs in, there is activity there. I posted a lot of stuff myself and networked with some bloggers to put some content up as well. However, adding scores and stats is definitely a good idea too. I also do have a commenting feature for each pin you will see too.

Thank you -- I will check out that design too. I appreciate you sharing your ideas.

Thanks,

Dave

 

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[brycer9]

I don't personally think it will help your conversions to force sign-up, but rather let them enjoy the content and have a sign-up button visible somewhere. This is all speculation though, and can only be found out upon testing

Also, you could spend your time developing a different business and get 10x more income (unless you have something else in mind), so why are you doing this business?

 

[johnp]

If I were you then I would sit down and really think about what you are doing. This type of stuff just doesn't work, in my opinion. And the truth is that a site like this is more of a hobby than a business. Not saying that you can't make money off it in some way..I guess if you drive traffic in the masses to your site then you will...But even that is hard

How are you going to drive traffic? Don't even say SEO right now. Like really think about this stuff..

1. To network with national and local bloggers to get them on the site sharing their content.

Harder than you think, especially without an traction.

2. Hosting meetups and conferences to get the site out there and bring people together.

Harder than you think and won't really drive massive traffic fast.

3. Partner with professional, college, and high school sports teams to share their content.

Been there..done that. Get ready to spend a lot of time reaching out, going to meetings, and dealing with stupid legal shit because schools are too uptight.

4. Hire a developer or two, content manager, and brand marketer to help me grow it -- although now I am all three

For something like this you gotta have a developer working around the clock. And good developers don't come cheap.


I went down the same road as you two years ago. I started a social site and I was kind of stupid about how I approached it.

About a year ago MJ even said to me on this very forum that my model basically sucked and that I was going in the wrong direction with the ways that I was trying to make money. He was right.

We recently had to change the entire business model and I finally made my first real dollar with it, BEFORE our relaunch.

Not trying to discourage you at all. But this social media stuff is hard. If you want to do something with sports then I suggest doing some research. There are sites out there that make money catering to sports fans and players..but not like this.

Good luck

 

[TheFinBin]

• Yet another niche social media site
• Competition is smoking you in regards to development and UI
• Domain name sounds like a p0rn site

Not looking like a good business to pursue, how many users do you have, how are you monetizing those users?

Mike, yes all of your concerns are certainly valid. I couldn't help but laugh about the p0rn reference too. I understand that it may be tough to see at first and no I do not have a lot of users at the moment. Only a handful of sign ups and active users. I really only just started it and it's only me, but I'm not letting that discourage me. As for monetization, my plan is advertising initially. That will include banner ads and ads within the content itself. Also, I would prefer to use Skimlinks to turn affiliate links people post into a link that my site will be able to get a cut of (similar to something Pinterest used in the beginning).

From there, my long-term goal is continuous fan engagement, but not just online. I have always been more of a social person and my "10,000 hours" so to speak is in sports. So, I wanted to use the site as a stepping stone to national sports fan conferences and the like. Similar to what Mashable does with social media conferences being a big part of their revenue, I believe that is something that can drive NutJobFans. I want people to be engaged with the company online and offline.

My plan was for the site to just be the beginning. I would appreciate your thoughts on this as well if you care to comment. I really do appreciate the input.

Thanks,

Dave

 

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[TheFinBin]

In regards to the whole business side of things, a few questions.

-Is there a demand for a sports-based pintrest? Micro-test before spending money. Search Noah Kagan on business validation.

Based on my research there is and the fact that other types of sites / apps have popped up since I had the idea about a year ago only furthers that. All the sites / apps were put together & conceived of in the last year. Yeah, he's the AppSumo founder right? I was thinking of taking his course -- How To Make Your First Dollar by AppSumo

-What are your competitors doing that you could do better? How can you bring your site up to and beyond their level?

Two of the competitors -- SportzHype and ChatSports -- are the closest to what I want to be. However, SH's content appears to be littered with Sports Betting posts and doesn't seem to be a place people are interacting often enough. ChatSports I am a little less familar with since I just found it and joined it a day or so ago. It helps to curate content from around the web for your favorite teams. Kind of like an RSS feed reader for articles on your teams.

Fancred is a bit different. It came with a lot of fanfare earlier this year and is basically just an iOS app. It's like Klout for Sports Fans and Journalists. Fannect is pretty similar, although does not have nearly as good of a UI or UX.

I can bring my sites up to the level of my competitors through a much better UI and UX. I know that. And I am still working on bringing that to fruition. My thing is I was trying to get my first iteration out there and see what people thought. I am a novice programmer, so I know things will take me THAT much more time to get out there.

Overall, my goal to beat of my competitors is to be the guy that is more engaged. I want to respond to every post, be active on our social media accounts, respond to every email, basically kill them with kindness. I think if I am active and interacting with my users -- that will set me a part.

-How are you going to bring this to market?

Honestly, I am still working on that. I had planned on reaching out to any and all sports bloggers to kick it off. But, I already have seen in other comments on the thread that this is not really the way to go. So, I am prepared to go in a different direction.

-How are you going to monetize?

I was planning on advertising in the beginning (banner ads, ads within the content, affiliate relationships, skimlinks, etc.) and then down the road hosting conferences.

-If you decided to stop now, how much money would you lose?

Honestly, not that much. Aside from a domain name, hosting, and money spent on a class, not much at all.

I appreciate your help! Thank you.

 

[TheFinBin]

I don't personally think it will help your conversions to force sign-up, but rather let them enjoy the content and have a sign-up button visible somewhere. This is all speculation though, and can only be found out upon testing

Also, you could spend your time developing a different business and get 10x more income (unless you have something else in mind), so why are you doing this business?

OK, thanks for that. I will certainly consider switching it out to allow users to see the content.

Ha, what business is that? Seriously though, my reason behind this business was due to the rise of the "second screen" affect and because in my research, sports fans what a place to call their own. Sports fans want a place to share media and comments -- and not have it be littered with home decor and pictures of puppies (unless they're wearing a jersey of their favorite team).

 

[TheFinBin]

John, I appreciate you taking the time to write such a detailed post. Do you think we could chat via PM or email? I really would like to learn more about what you did, what worked, what didn't work, what MJ said, and the pivot you made in your business.

To answer your questions:

1. I was not planning on relying on SEO. I figured it would be a component, but not the driving force. My goal was to network with bloggers, journalists, and some of my contacts in the Philly sports media to get this out there -- and then focus on major cities like NY, Boston, Dallas, LA, etc. But, I see what you're saying there so I will have to re-evaluate.

2. I wasn't focus on this being a major traffic generator, but more of a revenue driver. Something to supplement the site's income.

3. Yeah, I see what you're saying there.

4. A developer working around the clock was not something I thought of. But thank you for the heads up.

Like I said, I really would love to chat with you more about your experience. Please PM me if you can. Thanks!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

David,

I'm going to echo what many are also saying. To be blunt, I just don't see any need/value here. Your *hook* is

"Share your rants and pics with the world."

If THIS is your primary headline and hook, you have issues.

How is this any different than posting something on FB, Instagram, or Pintrest? If I do that there, I can share my rants and pics with the world and reach a greater audience in the process.

Also, the design is not visually appealing, at least not to me.

This is my opinion which of course, is also subject to invalidation by the market, and the market's response to what you've done.

 

[TheFinBin]

David,

I'm going to echo what many are also saying. To be blunt, I just don't see any need/value here. Your *hook* is

"Share your rants and pics with the world."

If THIS is your primary headline and hook, you have issues.

How is this any different than posting something on FB, Instagram, or Pintrest? If I do that there, I can share my rants and pics with the world and reach a greater audience in the process.

Also, the design is not visually appealing, at least not to me.

This is my opinion which of course, is also subject to invalidation by the market, and the market's response to what you've done.

MJ -- thank you very much for responding. I knew listing my site and how I was approaching everything was going to help me make sure I'm in right direction. So, I'm happy you and everybody else is being honest. That's what I need.

I see that I'm violating most (if not all) of the commandments, so I will be working on taking a different approach. I told myself (and my wife) that I want to see this through until the end of the year. I even signed up for Noah Kagan's "How To Make Your First Dollar" course on Monday to help me validate this business -- or pursue something different entirely.

Based on your response and everybody else's, I will re-evaluate what I'm doing, re-tool, and give you guys an update down the road.

Thanks for all your advice.

- Dave