We’re going to focus on the Four Os (used to be three but we added one, thanks to a staffer!) as the spine of the TMSNX Blogger Bible.
Blog Original
Just What the Dr. Ordered — Be Unique!
This network started with two brothers covering the Chiefs over at Arrowhead Addict, so I’m going to use the Chiefs and the sites that cover them as examples. This was basically our strategy when we launched AA, and that strategy was responsible for its success and the launching of this network.
Coke = ESPN
Pepsi = The Kansas City Star
10 Generic Colas = Other recognized mainstream media and blog outlets covering the Chiefs.
Dr. Pepper = Arrowhead Addict
News isn’t new. The Internet isn’t new. News coverage and journalism aren’t new. People aren’t new.
Given that information, we must assume that people have been getting their sports news, even online, from the same sources for a long time now. They have their established routine. Their “morning coffee round” is somewhat set in stone. Yes, “change” was the buzz word of the last Presidential election, but only because the current administration had become unpopular. Typically, people avoid change like the plague. People like routine. Why? Because it’s dependable, it’s comfortable, it’s part of their everyday life. Hey, life is just too damn difficult to abandon what works for something unproven. Why spend the time and energy to switch and take that risk when the products are so similar?
But what people do like is new. How else can you explain the bestselling “new car smell” scent? What in the hell is that fragrance? It doesn’t even smell remotely good. Doesn’t matter. It’s what we associate that smell with that matters — success. Suddenly, you just feel completely different when you take a whiff. People like new. People like fresh. People also like more. The bottom line is that we as human beings get bored with the old, with the status quo. Once our lives become Groundhog Day, even the most regimented of us typically like to shake it up a bit if a good reason to do so presents itself.
Because almost anybody can jump online and start a site, it’s a copycat world out there. Everybody is involved in the same rat race to be first to get to the same story, the same video, and then be first to market that post. What happened to establishing your own voice? What happened to being a trend-setter?
If you covered up the logos and authors of today’s sports sites and asked sports fans to identify those sites and authors solely based on content, they would not be able to tell you what site they were reading 90% of the time. We do not want that to be among the unidentified.
Why has Dr. Pepper been so successful? Because it is the anti-cola, but it still appeals to cola/soda fans. It’s the same, yet it’s different enough. It is actually marketed as having a unique flavor, that’s the pitch. Look what their CEO said about their popular product:
“I’ve always maintained you cannot tell anyone what Dr Pepper tastes like because it’s so different. It’s not an apple, it’s not an orange, it’s not a strawberry, it’s not a root beer, it’s not even a cola. It’s a different kind of drink with a unique taste all its own.”
But it is still a cola-like soda. You never hear anybody talk about Dr. Pepper as if it weren’t a mainstream American soda drink that you can enjoy every day, but it is definitely something different, unique, an alternative to the traditional cola formula.
Hey, at least for right now, we are not at the level of ESPN, Yahoo! and, yes, even most local papers. We aren’t going to gain ground by trying to catch-up in the clash of the colas doing basically the exact same thing, only slapping a different label on the product. How we are going to pick up ground is by doing what Dr. Pepper does: offer a unique product that is still mainstream enough to digest daily.
What we’re saying here is that there are certain content staples we must include in our blogging. We need to keep up with the biggest of news stories, injecting our reports with the freshest, most candid insight when we do since the race to be first is one we currently can’t win. Really, who can win that race every time? ESPN or Yahoo? Maybe. AOL’s Fanhouse or FOX Sports? Sometimes? The L.A. Times? 50 percent of the time — in Los Angeles.
That’s not our game. Let’s not play it. Let’s definitely keep up with the big news, but instead of worrying about being “first,” let’s worry about being accurate, having beautiful-looking, perfectly formatted posts, and really put forth some tremendous, timely opinion writing you won’t find anywhere else. The real rat race should be what site can be first to put forth a well-thought, original opinion on the story, not who can break the news. Nobody really breaks news at this point, which makes the race to be the first source to spin the news the real race. People now get their news from Twitter or Facebook. Just the Internet age we live in today, and we must adjust.
It’s not the tale it’s the take. Besides, if your take is fresh enough, eventually you will be the one with access and you will have first shot at the tale as well. Then you’ll be Dr. Pepper and Coke. But being Coke is just positioning due to a bigger company who got both access and an audience first. Being Dr. Pepper is a fresh new way of presenting sports news and views to fans. If you do Dr. Pepper well enough, eventually you’ll take Coke over in your niche, too. The 700 Level out of Philly is a great non-affiliated (originally) example of this.
You don’t want to be viewed as a walking, talking spambot. Anyone can search out the latest news that can be found anywhere and slap it onto a site without adding any insight. Anyone can copy and paste a story and quotes and find a decent image to go along with the piece. That’s why every TMSNX post must include original opinion. Video posts. Curate.Us clips. Blockquotes presenting breaking news. We want to have 100% original content, even when we are spinning news or opinion originally derived from elsewhere.
We honestly believe that on a regional/team level we can become the most entertaining, insightful, thought-provoking, sports voices on the Internet. This is because nobody else has that focus, and you guys are creative, determined and talented. That’s why we are asking you to trust us and make it your focus from here on out. Think of it this way; CBS’ 60 Minutes’ stories never hit first but they always pack the most punch. In this world of hollow, redundant sports media, that’s what we would like us to be. After you hear news, digest it, let it sink in for a few, do some research, and then say something. Have fun doing so. You’ll engage your readers and they’ll have a blast as well. I also guarantee that your exposure and revenue sharing benefits will improve.
We think by becoming the first to offer fresh on a site-to-site level — the Dr. Pepper approach — we can interject TMSNX as a whole into the overall race to become a leader in sports coverage, aka Coke. We know that by pouring more thought and originality into our brand of sports coverage, that we can become one of the biggest online sports media companies in America. Remember, it wasn’t too long ago that MySpace was king and Facebook was just a blip in the rearview mirror put together by some Harvard dropout . You don’t beat No. 1 by mimicking them like a parrot. You beat them by studying their product and becoming a fresher, more modern, more versatile alternative to the same old same old.
This is where the “23 unique flavors” of Dr. Pepper come in. You can’t build a successful blog off of just game previews, game reports, straight news updates and blockquotes. You gotta switch it up, not just to have variety on your on site, but more importantly to offer things the competition is not offering.
Blog Outstanding
The Golden Rule
Never, ever, EVER say, utter, mumble, think, type, or write, “I have nothing to write about” or anything to that effect. That kind of thinking will kill your creativity before you write one word. It will kill your blog before you get one reader. It will kill our network. Our leadership is here to serve you in case you need creative assistance, but you really don’t. The force is strong in you, or you wouldn’t have been hired in the first place.
First off, don’t be afraid to try new things out. This network was founded on trial and error. And I guarantee the things that work will be remembered and carried forth, and the things that don’t will be left behind and forgotten. That’s how the world works. John Travolta was making cheesy dance sequels and talking baby movies before Pulp Fiction, but after Pulp Fiction he was the hottest thing in Hollywood. Consumers in this country have short-term memories. If you have nine minor failures and one huge success, what do you think people will remember? John Elway lost a lot of playoff games and Super Bowls, but he’s viewed as a champion. Same with Kevin Garnett. Apple got their asses kicked by Microsoft for two decades, but the iPod, iPhone and iTunes changed all that.
Second, study the rest of your coverage niche. Examine the competing sources. Figure out what staples readers expect across the board, but also identify weaknesses and voids in the competition. With the Chiefs, we determined that outside of Jason Whitlock (who no longer covers the Chiefs), all the coverage devoted to our team lacked humor and backbone. We also didn’t see a lot of videos and Photoshoped images. Study all the coverage devoted to your team and topic, and then assemble a blueprint for your content. Make sure you offer the expected staples of that coverage, but also make sure that you deliver aspects of __________ coverage fans can’t get elsewhere. Make your siteindispensable to fans.
Third, the sports blogosphere/mediasphere has always been behind the curve. Politics, tech and entertainment, etc… have always been more forward-thinking categories, so scour those type of outlets for new ideas. It’s a good way to stay fresh and ahead of the competition. You can also use these types of sites to add new wrinkles to existing content, allowing you to beat the competition at their own game. This technique isn’t new. When the biggest fantasy writer in the world, Matthew Berry, is in season, he doesn’t read other fantasy columns. He wants both his style and insight to be wholly original. Musicians like Jack White, Jay-Z and Kanye West — who have been labeled geniuses on many, many occasions — completely ignore all of the current music in their genre and instead look outside for inspiration. This goes back to it being a copycat world and people liking new, ambitious products.
Blog Often
The Staff Approach
For a lead writer, if you publish the minimum number of posts allowed — see below — you will be read and likely make a nominal amount of dough. You might even get credentials and/or opportunities. That being said, if you double or triple that post production, things will be much, much better. Still, that is easier said than done. Most of our best sites have leads that produce more than 20 posts per week. That isn’t always possible for everybody, given posting style and available time. Only about 5% of our sites hit the monthly 100-post mark, a mark that ensures great success for a TMSNX website. On the other hand, it’s very possible to hit 50-100 posts if you recruit and manage a staff.
We know, we know. You signed up with TMSNX to do less work and focus on writing. Fair enough, but we see this as a little more work upfront so you do less for the duration of your tenure. We also see this as an opportunity to delegate out the content that is less desirable to you given your unique style, and a way for your site to offer variety. Most importantly, any knucklehead can start a site by themselves. If you have a dedicated and talented staff serving under you, then you and your site must be legitimate. That’s not always the case, but it presents a façade of success and perception is everything , or at least very damn important.
Blog Obsession
This one is as simple as it gets. “If your heart isn’t 100% into something, it’s not into it at all.” That’s a Ditka quote. The best writers, in any category, love their craft and love their topic. If you are doing this for just the money or just to have a website, that will be transparent. Sports fans are more passionate than just about any group on this planet. They want someone at least as passionate as they are representing them.
If for some reason you slipped through the cracks and aren’t covering a team or topic you are passionate about, let us know. We will figure out a better spot for you. That being said, we are confident that 90% of the time or more we correctly place our new staffers due to our priority on passion.
Lead Writer Post Requirements
If you want to become somebody in this industry as a writer, as a reporter, as a blogger, as a sports journalist, then you should blow by our lead writer post requirement (a post per day, 30 per month) like Dwight Freeney getting blocked by a high school left tackle. If you are only doing three, four, even five posts per week, you are contributing on strictly a hobby level. Now, if you want to just be a featured writer and do this as a hobby and/or slowly work your way into the industry, that’s fine. We’d love to have you on our staff writing as your schedule permits. But when you commit to being a lead writer/editor and don’t meet the post requirement you set the network back, you set that team site back, possibly permanently, and you roadblock somebody else from getting an excellent opportunity.
We’d even argue that just barely hitting the minimum every week and doing seven posts isn’t enough. Did anyone great ever become great in this world by doing just the bare minimum? It’s like Office Space. We can only ask you to wear so many pieces of flair, but if you’re a lead blogger and you only show up with seven you aren’t going to get much out of the TMSNX experience. We set the bar there because if you post any less than that you will have no shot whatsoever at any substantial traffic or money.
As featured contributors, yes, every contribution is valuable. If you are a lead writer who is not meeting the required posting amount or barely skating by you are wasting your own time and the time of everybody in the TMSNX family. The point of this isn’t to be mean — exactly the opposite. The point is your time is very precious, as is ours. We want to make sure that all our lead writers are fully committed to their position, because if they’re not they are going to waste a lot of people’s time — most importantly their own.
Promotion/Networking
We think the biggest single misconception in the blogosphere today, in all categories, not just sports, is that you can do what we call “post and ghost.” As in post content, disappear and expect readers to just magically find your content and love it without any promotional work on your part.
My old man once told us that you should spend at least as much time studying as you do in the classroom. The same is true with promotion/networking and writing. You need to spend about the same time marketing the site as you do producing content. This isn’t always necessary, but if a massive tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it really fall? The same is true with content. If you write an opus of a post but nobody reads it, was it really a great post? There are plenty of people out there who have blogs that are glorified versions of their mom’s fridge. That’s not us. We write to be read and to provide a service to our readers, so we have to make sure we are doing all we can do ensure that they are getting delivered our message.
All leads should be connecting with other top writers and bloggers who cover their topic. They are, in the end, competition — but not really. Sports fans are fanatical enough to visit a handful of different sources daily to get their fix. This network would not exist if Arrowhead Addict and Phin Phanatic, our first two sites, hadn’t made such strong allies in the Chiefs and Dolphins, communities, respectively. Reach out and introduce yourself. Be complimentary. Kill ‘em with kindness. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Who knows what doors will open for you, and you’ll probably get twice as much traffic back your way as you send out. By the way, when you link out to other sites, sure, you are linking the competition. But you are also doing your readers a service by making your readers’ search for great content easier. In turn you make your site a hub for fans of your topic. That’s the end goal: to be the hub where fans of your topic start every day.
All leads should manage Twitter and Facebook profiles and add a personal touch to them, so they don’t just seem like spambot-operated accounts that are a 100% aggregation of new post links. FB and Twitter account for over 10% of our total traffic, and that number is climbing rapidly. Especially with Facebook. 1 of every 13 people on this Earth has a Facebook account. Over 70% of the U.S. web audience is on the site. Almost 50% of young Americans say they first hear about news there. It couldn’t be more important.
Who are the big-time sites and bloggers that feature links to content, stories and breaking news, which result in huge traffic? SI Hot Clicks. Yahoo! Blogs. Deadspin. The Big Lead. ESPN’s NFL Blog Network. Local Papers. Etc. The traffic spike might only last for a day or two, but it will lend credibility to your site and some of those eyes will stick.
Code of Conduct
For the most part, our TMSNX team members make us swell with pride 24 hours a day. 99.99 percent of the time you represent us in a manner that makes us feel lucky to be associated with you. Every once in awhile, however, there will be a situation that jeopardizes the winning culture that all of us here at the TMSNX family are working hard to build. Generally, we prefer to use a three strikes policy, where we give a TMSNX staffer a couple of warnings before they are removed of their duties. At the same time, we must reserve the right to remove any TMSNX team member at any time.
Once again, overall we have been blessed with the best team of creative, unselfish, respectful team players one could ever ask for. But we have had a few issues along the way. Those issues have taught us one thing — nobody is bigger than the TMSNX family. It doesn’t matter how many hits your site gets. Doesn’t matter how well you write. Doesn’t matter how long you’ve been writing. Doesn’t matter what contacts you have.
Two things are vital to us right now: teamwork and branding. Any unnecessary negativity can disrupt our efforts on either or both fronts. In our opinion, no one site is bigger than the whole. TMSNX is a team working together towards a common goal in harmony. Behavior that disrupts our collective direction is grounds for removal.
Such behavior includes:
- Attacking commenters
- Attacking fellow TMSNX writers
- Conflict of interest breach — writing about your topic elsewhere without prior leadership approval
- Prejudiced content (racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.)
- “Insider Trading” — giving away company secrets, literature, etc. to competitors
- Unauthorized partnerships (advertising, media, etc.)
- Calling out the TMSNX leadership (founders and directors) in public. If you have an issue, take it up in private with Adam or Dorf. We welcome dissent, but please keep these discussions internal and between you and leadership.
Now, here are the reasons TMSNX leadership holds you, and ourselves, to this standard. Primarily, when you combine this exemplary conduct with our product, outsiders will start to identify the TMSNX brand with excellence. So, when your name comes up and is linked to TMSNX, the hope is it will, in turn, also be identified with excellence. We started this company because we found the wall blocking up-and-coming sportswriters from entering the industry to be too daunting. Our brand name, our credibility, our professionalism, paired with the excellence you guys bring on a site-to-site level, all of that combined can help us help you scale that wall. We’ve already seen it start to happen in the industry. Our ex-Blazers writer is now the official team writer for the Miami Heat’s official website. There’s interest in our writers, because our brand name is starting to earn a lot of respect. Of course, on a company level we’d also like to continue to forge bigger and better partnerships as well.
There’s also the community aspect. If we treat our readers with the utmost respect, they are much more likely to make homes out of our sites. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the way some message board/forum frequenters treat each other — doesn’t exactly make one feel warm and fuzzy. We want our sites to become communities, so that our readers are checking in multiple times daily and hanging around for extended periods of time. In order to accomplish that, they need to feel comfortable on our sites, like they’re at their favorite sports pub. We need to treat our commenters with the common courtesy we’d want extended to us if we were a visitor stepping foot into somebody else’s home. Simple enough, right?
Also, there is a language change that we are making. The words “shit” and “fuck” will no longer be allowed. These words threaten our search engine placement and advertiser interest. You can do things like “@#$%” and “f****” and “sh**”…to fill in for those words. Writers who depend on those words as crutches typically aren’t very good, and our staff writes very well. That being said, this shouldn’t be a big issue. This isn’t censorship, as much as us protecting all of our best interests with a minor language tweak.
Lastly, no plagiarism will be tolerated. If reported and verified, it is grounds for immediate removal.
Time-Stamping
No need to make this more complicated than it needs to be. If you have a schedule that makes it hard to post during certain periods, you can schedule posts to be published at any time in your post publishing options by using the time-stamp feature. It is very easy to figure out, but if you have questions ask the TMSNX leadership.
Image Guidelines
We are currently looking for an image database partner. In the interim, please do two things:
- Try and stay away from all Getty images
- Source/cite all images visibly on the site underneath the image in the caption section.
Here’s an example…
Inability to Post
If you need to leave your site for any solid chunk of time and the timestamp option is not an option, notify us. The only thing that ever truly offends us is when our writers disappear or quit without communicating. Everybody at TMSNX (including each and every writer) works their butts off for you to have this opportunity, so please respect that hard work and the opportunity by communicating. If you are going on a long vacation, are physically ill or have a personal situation that requires a leave of absence, or are just moving on, let us know so we can get the site covered. We will never get upset if you chose to take a break or move on. Hey, it’s your life. But we need to know if you do make a decision like that so we don’t have a dead website on our roster. Also, all writers who leave on good terms will be considered for recommendations. We feel it is always important to move on amicably, instead of burning bridges, especially in this industry.
Gameplan/Structure
Our most successful writers have a daily blueprint or schedule, some structure to their blogging. Sure, their features may be spontaneous topically, but they know what they need to write when (as well as the rest of the staff’s schedule), and have staples they go to again and again — especially when time is scarce. That way they don’t have to throw up a quote or a video by its lonesome and say, hey, this will get me by with the brass and my readers for a day. It won’t. Our eyebrows will raise and your readers won’t come back. Honestly, we’d rather have nothing up than a half-assed post.
Remember, we preach these points not only for our own benefit, but also so you can get the maximum return on your time investment. Thanks for reading!
