Jim Taylor
I’ve not written anything for a week as I’m still getting over the response of one of my latest posts - Running a Sunday League Football Team.
When I launched this site I was trying to think of what to write about. Everything has already been said in web development. With my experience in Sunday League Management there wasn’t much out there.
Influence
I was originally inspired by this brilliant team talk spoof. My post was real however.
I first published the article on the Monday 28th then spent a few days editing it having read it over a few times. No one was going to see it as my site was brand new and I didn’t share it anywhere or with anyone.
On April the 1st I tweeted the post and tagged the Liverpool County FA in the hope they’d retweet it (they didn’t) because nearly all Sunday league clubs in Liverpool followed them.
The right social channel
It really got going because of my cousin Tony Hart sharing it on Facebook. I bumped into him in the shop on the Saturday. “Just read your post, funny that!” Tony had played alongside me a couple of times in the past so could easily relate.
About half an hour after our chat I received a Facebook notification he’d shared it.
And that was it… It picked up pace like an avalanche. By the end of the weekend it had 38 shares and Google Analytics began showing a spike in user traffic.
Twitter began picking up too. Dozens of tweets and retweets from local football teams and ex-players of mine.
The numbers don’t lie
Tuesday went mental. With around 100 concurrent users viewing. Over 12,000 visits in 24 hours. I work for a digital marketing agency as head of development so I know what good traffic looks like. My post in less than a week had more views than some of our biggest clients get in one month.
One week later Facebook had recorded 3,120 Likes, 1,285 Shares, 1,913 Comments. A total 6,318 and still growing.
Unique Users for just this one page had hit 40,167.
Engagement
Some of the feedback from all over the world has been amazing. I even received a long email from a manager of a club called Pontypool Town AFC. Saying he was going ‘to print it out and give it to his players’.
I began reading the comments of ex managers reminiscing and their old players joining in the conversation and sharing their stories. “Fresh fish and vegetables in kit bags.”
The majority of the comments on Facebook saying it were 100% spot on and well written. Which makes me laugh as my previous post talks about how I can’t/don’t write.
This was my favourite:
A few tips
The point I’m trying to make is if you’re writing content for your website:
- Do your research - there wasn't many similar to mine.
- Make an effort - my article takes 12 minutes to read. It took a good hour or two to write and time to tweak/edit.
- Keep the page simple - There's nothing else on the page to distract the reader. I also tried to place relevant and real images at certain parts of the article to keep the reader interested with clear headings for each section.
- Share across social media. If there's an audience out their (Sunday league players and managers) they'll share it and their followers with read it and share it...
It’s better to spend 10 times longer writing one good post rather than 10 posts that no one will be interested in read, sharing and engaging with.