

Turning my website into a business - hoopcoach

Looking for a little advice in regard to turning my website into a full fledged business. I currently run HoopCoach.org out of my office at the high school where I work. I initially started the site as a way to meet college coaches in an effort to make the jump from high school coach to the collegiate level. The site is by no means huge with just over 9,000 registered coaches and anywhere from 25K - 50K unique visitors per month based on the time of year. It does make some supplemental income via Adsense but not quit your job kind of money. Would anyone be so kind as to offer some ideas for taking the next step? My thoughts right now go back and forth between doing basketball coach software like the basketball play software and practice plans app I have now or maybe moving toward apparel or training aids.
Thanks for reading!
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codegeek
At a high level, you need to think about the following:

1\. Your primary user base is Basketball coaches. What are the things they
would be willing to pay for ? Coach software like you said ? Practice plans
app ? May be ask them directly since it is a niche community.

2\. Start providing some sort of Premium content which is paid only.

3\. Who will pay to access the coaches on your site. This could mean a niche
job board for coaches etc. You could reach out to schools and tell them about
your specialized job board. Charge them a fee to post specific targeted jobs
for basketball coaches. Expand and scale.

4\. Partner with Basketball retailers including gear, shoes etc. Become
affiliated with the companies and post affiliate links on your site.

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sunnynagra
You could try partnering with some companies that make applications geared
toward your users and set up an affiliate system.

My company makes a basketball app <http://www.slyceapps.com/shottracker> and
our customer base seems to overlap with yours. Find others like myself and
reach out to them.

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pknight
Have you asked your members? Personally this sounds like a potential paid
membership site, lure them in with content & tools, keep them there with the
community.

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Mz
Here is a case study which might be helpful to you:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3887548>

