OTF Classic

To kick off this series of articles general sports-blogging articles here at OTF Classic, I think it's best to start with a comment that Brad left here last week, after I shared my goals for 2012 , which include specific revenue targets: I considered diving into the world of internet marketing myself, but I felt that my friends would hate me for bugging them about stuff. I mean, it's pretty low-risk high-reward, so it's tempting. I wouldn't mind reading about tips on how to maximize impact of blogging in general to make it a legitimate income source. Trying to make money at sports blogging can be a very touchy subject - for the vast majority of us, this is an activity we pursue to both exercise our creativity and share our love of the game, whether it's hockey, football, badminton, whatever, with fellow fans. Mixing that personal conversation with a commercial message can turn people off, especially if it becomes too intrusive for the reader. It's not unrea...

2011 proved to be a turning point in my approach to hockey blogging, and I'm really looking forward to a productive 2012. They say that writing down your goals is the first step towards making them happen, so here we go... In order to set my goals for 2012 in proper context, I think it's worth sharing some of what got done in 2011: Roughly doubled the readership & traffic levels at OTF compared to 2010, which was honored by the Nashville Scene as Best Sports Blog in Nashville . Added Marc Torrence ( @OTFMarc ) and Sam Page ( @predsblog ) to the writing staff at OTF, bringing different perspectives to the table. Went through a redesign of Hockey Gear HQ  and dove into the concept of internet marketing, earning just over $900 in revenue for the year. Having published less than 1% of the planned content for that site, I'm extremely hopeful that this can turn into a significant income generator. Published an e-book on my fantasy hockey draft strategy , which, despi...

What a pain Russian hackers can be, eh? My last couple weeks have been consumed by an infestation over at my side project, Hockey Gear HQ , which ultimately required burning the site to the ground and rebuilding it from scratch, making sure that my WordPress installation is air-tight this time around. I'm not completely done with the job yet, but the site is back up and running (quite safely I might add). There was an opportunity in this effort, however, to freshen up the look of the place, which I was never quite happy with. So I've gone with the Genesis Theme Framework from StudioPress, using the News Child Theme , and I'm thrilled with it so far. The site not only looks more integrated and professional than my previous attempt, but the flexibility of the platform is amazing, I've only begun to dig into the various features that it offers. In particular, I like the basic setup I've got in the main column, with the 5 most recent Featured articles showcased i...

This summer I  set a goal for myself of completing and marketing two products for hockey readers, as a step towards turning what has been a longtime hobby into something which might provide at least some kind of significant supplementary income. Well, here we are at the start of the 2011-2012 NHL season, and while I fell short of the goal, I am encouraged by what I did achieve, and the prospects I see going forward. I think I've finally passed the first milestone, which was to bring in more money from writing about hockey and the Nashville Predators than I would by scrubbing toilets at their games (4 hours per game, minimum wage, 40-50 games a year depending on playoffs... do the math), so that's something. For the first product, I was able to record a partial success, because while I didn't complete a full commercial product there, I was able to publish a  fantasy hockey draft strategy eBook  which I made freely available over at HockeyGearHQ.com, asking only that p...

In my never-ending quest to figure out a model for making what is currently my hobby & passion into something bringing in at least a side income, I've decided to set a couple goals for myself to complete during the rest of 2011. Simply put, I plan to publish two products over the next few months, which I hope will provide real value to hockey fans, and that they'll be willing to pay for. Will it succeed? Will it fail? The only way to know is to put my nose to the grindstone and get these two things done (I'll keep the details under my hat for now). The important thing to note is that these efforts are in addition to anything I'm doing over at OTF . Taking away what we're doing over there and asking people to pay for it is a surefire lose-lose all the way around, because if there's anything we've learned over the last few years, it's that people love to read about sports, but only for free. I'm also optimistic about Hockey Gea...

While my writings about the Nashville Predators are being posted over at OnTheForecheck.com, rather than this old site, I thought it might be worth touching base here every now and again to touch on "meta" issues, related to blogging in general. In particular, these days I'm very much interested in how I can turn this time-consuming hobby into a bit of a revenue generator. Since I receive a small stipend from SB Nation to run OTF, I declared that income on my taxes last year, and realized that I should also be recording my expenses (for example, parking fees downtown when I go to cover a practice or press conference, mileage, etc.). It was a bit of a reality slap to see exactly how much I was spending on this endeavor, and with 3 kids heading off to college in 9-10 years, there's a bit of a financial imperative to turn the tables there. So here's a few ideas I'm considering/pursuing: A website devoted to hockey gear and accessories, HockeyGearHQ.com . The idea...

A nice perk from having gathered a decent-sized Twitter following (you can find me at @Forechecker ) is that sometimes companies want me to help get the word out about something new. Today, it's a trailer for "The Black Mamba", featuring Kobe Bryant's alter ego. It just hit the web a few hours ago, so enjoy...