SportzHype: Showing You Sports Through the Eyes of Others!

3 thoughts on “SportzHype: Showing You Sports Through the Eyes of Others!”

1. 1. My first impression is that this looks like a site that either publishes or aggregates sports news stories. But other than that, I know nothing about how the site works at a glance.
    
   2. I wanted to find out how the site works. For instance, is this a site where I can publish my own reviews of games? Is this a site that aggregates news from other sources? Can I fill out a profile and network with other sports fans? What exactly can I do on your site? I’m invited to create an account, but what would I do with it? I didn’t see any informational pages that would really explain that to me. 
    
   3. At this point, no. Your site hasn’t explained to me why I would want to create an account, subscribe, etc. What would I do with my account, subscription, etc.? Publish my own sports reviews? Upload photos? Just comment? However, because I’m reviewing the site, I’ll go ahead and sign up.
    
   Ok, after signing up, I see that I can indeed upload my own topics, photos, and videos, and there also seems to be a social networking component to the site.  But none of this is explained beforehand so that I have an incentive to sign up.
    
   4. I looked up “sports social networking” and initially found SportShouting.com and Sports Buddies. The first seemed more oriented toward sharing reviews and opinions on message boards and Twitter-style, although I saw that you could also upload videos. The second was more oriented toward finding friends with similar sports interests. Then I looked up “sports photos” and found a lot of sites that feature their own professional photos but none that really encourage members to post their photos or share their picks from other sites like Tumblr or Instagram. So, I don’t really see any sites that are all that similar to yours. However, you may notice that the two sites I named (SportShouting.com and Sports Buddies) take a moment to explain what the site is about and who it’s for on the home page.
    
   5. It seems you may have a somewhat unique concept here. However, I think the downfall of SportzHype is that you don’t explain this unique selling point to visitors. When I landed on the page, I thought, “Yeah, a bunch of photos from games aggregated from different sites. Ok. I can find this anywhere.” It wasn’t until I signed up that I realized I could post and share my own photos and videos and network with other people. But the average visitor probably isn’t going to bother to sign up if they don’t understand this beforehand. So I suggest you look at sites like SportShouting.com and Sports Buddies and see how they use the home page to hook people in. They explain briefly what the site is all about and who it’s for. If you can do that, I think more visitors will be encouraged to become members.

2. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?

    As I was looking around the home page what I felt I was looking at is a site full of articles that deal with sports. I thought it was too full which made me feel lazy to actually read anything, it was too much to see on one page. 
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?

    The search engine was easy to find and the person I was interested in came up quickly and without any confusion. I didn’t think I was going to find what I was looking for but I did but the only thing I had a problem with was that there weren’t many articles dealing with this particular individual. 
   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?

    I am not too savvy when it comes to sports so in all honesty I wouldn’t sign up to actually write something but to read some articles I would. The truth is, is that if I was to sign up to write something I’d be fearful if my article would just get lost in the shuffle, there are just too many articles on one page. Maybe there should be categories or options as to what kind of experts give input to this site.
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?

    I went to FanForum which is more of a blogging site about sports. I was immediately encouraged to read articles as they were set up in a way that didn’t seem so crowded. There search engine was a little confusing and the overall presentation seemed cheap and uninspired but at least I wanted to read. Your site seemed better presented and tendered but sadly I wasn’t encouraged to join or read on. I preferred the FanForum due to readability.
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.

    The only feedback or suggestion I have is to make the articles more readable and stay away from a crowded page because that could put off potential visitors. Aside from that I think this is a fantastic idea, I write reviews for films so having my voice heard about a medium that I love is definitely something that interests me. I would have liked to see links to Facebook or other social mediums just in case there is an article I want to share?

3. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?

    My initial response is that the site is a bit bland. The logo needs to be redesigned so that it stands out. A bigger font, different color, and maybe with an image next to it. It will also look better if it was off to the right. The white background on the posts is also boring and makes some photos look like they’re not centered. The same goes for the menu section.
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?

   I searched for 2013 to check out upcoming events. I did get a some posts such as “What to look forward in 2013.” It would be nice if there was a section on your site that listed all the upcoming events and maybe times they are to show on TV.
   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?

   Not really, because I can look through the website without the hassle of signing up. If you have something else to offer, something special, then your visitors may think about joining.
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?

   I typed in Sports and clicked on https://www.usatoday.com/sports/
   I like this site better because it is a lot more colorful, inviting, and although the background on the “headline” photos are white, they have a border that makes them stand out.  
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.

   The site could use a bit of work on the design to make it more attractive to visitors. Also, an about page and contact page would be nice. Lastly, the page that pops up when you press on a post has a lot of empty space in it. Ads, other posts, interesting blogs, etc. could be featured on there to the side or bottom to fill some of the emptiness. 

Comments are closed.