If you’re a coach, player, or just a passionate fan of a sports team, you probably know the importance of having a website that effectively represents your team. A well-designed website can help you attract new fans, promote upcoming games, and showcase the team’s achievements.
Creating a website from scratch, however, can be intimidating, especially if you have little or no experience in web design.
Luckily, in this article, we will walk you through the essential steps of creating a website for your sports team — from choosing the right platform and hosting provider to designing an eye-catching layout and integrating useful features.
Let’s get started.
What is a Sports Teams Website?
A sports team website is a website that provides information about a specific sports team. These types of websites usually contain news relating to the sports team, schedules of its games, player stats, a team roster, and other relevant information about the team.
They are designed to provide fans and supporters with relevant and up-to-date information about their favorite team.
To achieve this, a sports team website can have anything from photos to videos, relevant blog articles, and information about the team, as well as more interactive features like forms, social media integrations, and other features that will drive engagement up.
What Should a Sports Teams Website Include?
The Basic
1. A Homepage
The homepage is the main page of a website, and it serves as an entry point to the site’s content. For this reason, it’s one of the most important pages on your website.
Since it’s the first page your visitors will see and as it sets the tone for the rest of your site, it’s prudent to consider its design, your branding, and how it will be represented, including colors, fonts, logos, and taglines.
With a well-designed homepage, you can create a positive first impression and encourage visitors to explore your website further.
A homepage usually contains the following elements:
- A site navigation menu with links to important sections and pages that will allow users to easily navigate your website.
- Call-to-action buttons (CTAs) that will be clearly visible, with a clear call-to-action text that will encourage users to click on it and perform the desired action, like, for example, signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.
- Many homepages contain a hero section to immediately catch the user’s attention and nudge them towards performing a certain action.
- Depending on the type of website (blogs, in particular), homepages can include a list of recent and/or popular content for easier navigation.
For a sports team’s website, you should consider adding the team’s mascot or logo, adding pictures from their games, and choosing the team’s colors to associate better with them.
2. An About Us Page
Another essential page to have on your website is the “About Us” page. This page is crucial to establishing credibility and building trust.
The about us page often contains information about the organization, its mission, its history, and the people behind it, enabling users to establish a connection with the company and learn more about the organization and its values.
For a sports team website, this could be information about the team, or perhaps the people behind the website, be it fans, or the coach, for example.
3. A Contacts Page
A “Contacts” page is another, very important page to have on your website. It provides visitors with a way to get in touch with the website’s owners or administrators. Typically, it will include contact information about the business (like a contact email address, phone number, and physical address), as well as a contact form that a visitor can fill out and send to contact the website’s owners.
This page helps to further build trust, improve user experience, and enable other businesses to contact the website owners regarding open new business opportunities.
4. A Header & Footer
Headers and footers have become an integral part of website design, and anyone building a website should add them to their website.
Having a header and a footer on your website will improve navigation, create a consistent look, support your branding, provide important information, and improve conversion with CTAs.
The header typically includes branding elements (like the colors, logo, company name, etc.), and navigational menus (to other pages, login options, etc).
The footer will also include branding elements, as well as links to other pages, but its design enables adding more links, CTAs, and other information, in an organized and aesthetically pleasing manner.
The Advanced
While the above elements are true for all websites, a Sports Teams website requires a few more pages or sections.
A Team Information Page
This should include the team’s history, the current roster, and the coaching staff. You can also include information about the team’s mission and values.
Schedule & Results Pages
Fans will want to know when the team is playing, where the game is taking place and the results of previous games, so be sure to create a page with this information.
News & Updates Pages
Keep fans informed about the latest news and developments related to the team, including updates on player injuries, team trades, and other relevant information.
A Merchandise Page (if applicable)
If you have the option, and legal rights to do so, you can sell team merchandise, such as jerseys, hats, and other gear, through an online store. For that, you may need e-commerce capabilities, which may affect the choice of your website builder.
A Player Profiles Page
Dedicated pages for each player can provide fans with more in-depth information about their favorite players.
A Tickets Page (if applicable)
A page dedicated to ticket sales can allow fans to purchase tickets for upcoming games. This may require some research into whether you are allowed to sell tickets or not, at the very least, however, you can direct your fans to services that sell those tickets.
How To Create a Stunning Sports Teams Website?
Step 1: Choose Your Website Builder
There are lots of available website-building platforms today. How many you ask? Well, there are well over 200 website and e-commerce builders.
Clearly, not all are on the same level or for the same purpose, but the sheer amount is both fascinating and scary. Fascinating because it means that there’s a lot to choose from, and scary because there’s too much to choose from.
Luckily, there are around 20 that truly stand out in terms of the features they offer, how easy it is to use them, and their prices. We have a great article about the best website builders out there that you should definitely take a look at.
Great Website Builders for a Sports Teams Website
While the above gives you a broad overview of website building, here are some website builders that could be great for building a Sports Teams website:
WordPress
WordPress is a powerful and flexible content management system that can be used to create a website for a sports team. It offers a wide range of templates and plugins that can be used to add various, helpful features like schedules, results, and player profiles. WordPress is free, but you will have to get a hosting plan with a domain name, and some of the templates and plugins may require payment.
Wix
Wix is a user-friendly website builder that is perfect for beginners. It offers a wide range of templates and tools that make it easy to create a professional-looking sports team website. It’s not free, but should you decide to purchase one of its plans, you will get the hosting and the domain name for free, as well as the templates and some additional tools.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a popular website builder that offers beautiful templates and easy-to-use design tools. It could be perfect for creating a sleek and modern sports team website. Squarespace does offer a free trial, which is great if you want to take it for a test drive, and should you get one of its paid plans, you will also get hosting and a domain name for free, not to mention the templates.
Playpass
PlayPass is an event ticketing and management platform that offers a website builder as part of its services. The PlayPass website builder enables the creation of a custom website without needing any technical knowledge or expertise. Common Ninja has a large selection of widgets for PlayPass.
JerseyWatch
JerseyWatch is a website builder that is specifically designed for sports teams and organizations. The platform offers a range of features that allow sports teams to easily create and manage a professional-looking website, without the need for any technical knowledge or expertise. Common Ninja has a large selection of widgets for JerseyWatch.
Pitchero
Pitchero is another website builder that is designed specifically for building a sports team’s website. You can use the platform to easily create and maintain a professional-looking website, without having any technical knowledge. Common Ninja has a large selection of widgets for Pitchero.
Teampages
TeamPages is yet another website builder that is designed specifically for sports teams. It offers a variety of features that make it easy for sports teams to create and manage websites without having any knowledge or expertise in web design. Common Ninja has a large selection of widgets for TeamPages.
Teamsnap
TeamSnap is yet another website builder that is designed specifically for sports teams. Without requiring any technical expertise, you can easily create and manage professional-looking websites using the platform. Common Ninja has a large selection of widgets for TeamSnap.
Choose a Hosting Plan (Optional)
Depending on what website builder you chose, you may have to get a hosting plan separately. We have a great guide on the top 10 hosting providers available on the market. Mind you that many of these offer the option to get a domain name, too.
Choose a Domain Name (Optional)
Depending on what website builder you choose, and on what hosting plan you choose, you may have to get a domain name separately.
Step 2: Start Designing Your Website
Choose a Template (Optional)
Some website builders offer pre-made templates that you can choose from for specific website types. This is a great way to save time on design. For example, these website builders offer great templates for Sports Teams’ websites:
WordPress
If you choose to build your website using the WordPress platform, you’ll be happy to learn that ThemeForest and TemplateMonster offer lots of templates for sports team websites.
Wix
If you decide to build your website using the Wix website builder, then know that you can find several templates that cater to sports team websites.
Other:
Two additional website builders that offer good sports templates, albeit not necessarily for sports teams, are Ucraft and Webflow.
Choose Color Schemes
Website colors play an important role in creating a visually appealing website. It’s even more important when dealing with sports team websites since every team has its own color with history and meaning.
Color theory suggests that different colors evoke different emotions and can influence the way people perceive your website, so when choosing colors for a sports team website, it’s important to consider the team’s branding and the emotions you want to convey. For example, using colors that match the team’s logo can help create a cohesive look and reinforce brand identity.
Choose Fonts
Choosing the right fonts for a website is crucial for creating a visually appealing website. Font pairing, or the art of selecting two or more complementary fonts, is also an important consideration as it can enhance the overall design and readability of a website. When it comes to sports team websites, the right fonts can help convey the team’s identity, style, and energy. Sans-serif fonts such as Gotham, Proxima Nova, and Montserrat are popular choices as they give a modern and sleek look to the website.
Add a Hero Section
Many websites have a hero section that draws attention immediately upon visiting a website.
The hero section is typically the top part of the website, above the fold, and can feature a large and impactful image or video that showcases the team’s identity, achievements, or spirit.
Add CTAs
CTA’s are important for conversions, no matter what you are looking for. Whether you want users to subscribe or purchase something, you will need a CTA. CTAs prompt website visitors to take specific actions, such as buying tickets, signing up for newsletters, or following the team on social media. It’s important to ensure that the CTAs are clearly visible and concise to increase the likelihood of visitors clicking on them.
Some CTAs you might use on your website:
- Join the Club
- Get Tickets
- Follow Us
Step 3: Publish The Website
The last step of building a website, is to publish it. So when you are done designing it, simply publish your website for all to see, and that’s it.
How To Enhance Your Sports Teams Website for Better Conversions?
Enhance Your Website With Powerful Widgets
While many of the website builders we recommended are great for building your Sports Teams website, they are somewhat limited in the features and tools they offer, and, in a competitive world, every additional feature that you can add to your website can be a game changer.
That’s where Common Ninja comes in to save the day.
Common Ninja offers an extensive, ever-growing collection of professional and reliable widgets that will help you save time and money and improve your website beyond what your current website-building platform offers.
Common Ninja’s widgets are free, fully customizable, perfectly responsive, and easy to use (just check our YouTube guides), so be sure to check them out, and greatly improve your website.
Common Ninja — The Only Collection of Widgets You’ll Ever Need
Content
Content is an important part of any website, no matter what niche it’s in. Content can include anything from text, images, videos, and other media that informs, educates, or entertains the audience, and we highly recommend that you add good content to your website.
It is crucial for several reasons:
- It provides value to visitors — good content, can provide value to users, whether these are guides, service or product comparisons, tips, tricks, or other equally helpful content.
- It builds trust and credibility — by creating good, well-written, and well-researched content, you can increase trust in your brand and improve its credibility.
- It improves SEO: Search engines like Google prioritize websites with high-quality, relevant content, so by creating content that includes relevant keywords and provides value to your audience, you can improve your website’s search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your website.
- It drives conversions — well-written content that addresses pain points, with strategically placed CTAs can drive conversions, such as sign-ups, purchases, or inquiries, up.
- It establishes your brand’s voice and identity — the content on your website is an opportunity to establish your brand’s voice and identity. Consistent and high-quality content can help your brand stand out and create a memorable impression on your audience.
Optimization
Optimizing a website is essential for improving its visibility on search engines, increasing traffic, and improving the user experience, and we’ve written a great article about it.
Here are some effective ways to optimize your website:
- Remove unnecessary distractions
- Improve page speed
- Optimize for mobile
- Optimize forms
- Write good copy
- Write good CTAs
- Define and communicate your value proposition
- Localize content
Promotion
Promoting a website is essential for increasing its visibility and driving traffic to it.
It requires time & effort, and here are some ways that can help you promote your website:
- Social Media: Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram are great for promoting your website, building a following, and driving traffic to it.
- Email marketing: Building an email list is an effective way to promote your website, reach your audience directly, and keep them updated on your latest content or products.
- Paid advertising: Paid advertising through platforms like Google Ads or social media ads can help you reach a larger audience and drive targeted traffic to your website.
- Collaboration: Collaborating with other websites in your niche can help you gain exposure, drive traffic to your site and improve your SEO via backlinking.
- Incentives: Offering incentives like discounts, free trials, or giveaways can attract new users to your website and encourage them to share it with others.
Conclusion
In conclusion, building a sports team website is an essential step in establishing a professional online presence for your team — no matter if you are a die-hard fan, the coach, the owner, or anyone else. And, with the help of website builders, you can easily create a website that showcases your team.
By following the tips and best practices outlined in this article, you can create a website that effectively communicates with your fans, sponsors, and team members.
