For Whom the Cowbell Tolls - Do you read ever?

[OURstateBlog]

Evening Gents.

I recently joined the guys over at forwhomthecowbelltolls.com, and we're in the process of trying to beef up content, gain page views, comments, etc., and I'm just trying to find out what, if anything, would make you come by the site?

Keep in mind that no we will never rival BDJ or rivals or any of those sites because we are not full-time sports yukos, we're just fans who post stuff... and stuff.

But what would make you come by? Sign up and comment? Hell there may not be anything that would make you want to stop by, and hey that's okay too, just wanted to ask.

Also, if anyone is going to the open football practices coming up and wants to write some short notes and such on the practices to go on the site, PM me.

Thanks for any feedback you can give. I'll hang up and listen now

 

[RobbieRandolph]

.

 

[thatsbaseball]

run out of material. Most of it may be ******** but you`ll never run out.

 

[Hump4Hoops]

Or the not so clear "fan posts" as it's labled. 2 years or so since any new threads posted there.

 

[OURstateBlog]

Yeah i am not a big fan of how they have that "fanposts" section set up. But you're right getting conversation going on there would help tremendously. We're also about to start asking people to go on there and write a fanpost article and we may move it to the front page. So Robbie, there's your opportunity right there...

 

[kcomphlint]

the great thing about the Fan Posts area is that anyone can write, and if an editor thinks it is good enough, we can push it to the front page. That area is really more like a mini-blog than a message board. It lets fans write posts that we can push to get more exposure.<div>
</div><div>There are also Fan Shots, which let anyone share links, videos, etc., from around the internet.</div>

 

[dawgstudent]

it's not witty although that seems to have changed some as of late which would make me read more.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

As far as what would make me want to read it is concerned, what I would like is the following:
1. Good writing.
2. Regularly occurring posts which means...
3. All of the sports are covered so the amount of 'dead' time is limited.
4. Don't make it just MSU-sportscentric. Features on opposing teams during game weeks would be nice as would thoughts about what's happening in the conference, etc. Maybe continue to have guest writers from other schools post on game week (I wasn't really a fan on the whole TSUN brouhaha this past November though).
5. Be interesting.
6. Get more writers who know how to write.
7. A good copy editor (not saying you need one but I've seen so many sites that have terrible writing).
8. Maybe something non-sports too. Maybe a tailgating feature or posts from a current student's perspective.

 

[OURstateBlog]

Articles would make you want to read more?

-NOT sent from an iPhone

 

[OURstateBlog]

And believe it or not, some of those things we're already working on.

As a shameless plug, if any students read here that would want to do a piece from students perspective, let me know

 

[dawgstudent]

but genuine sports news is covered by whatever fan site you read and the newspaper. You have to have a different angle. I don't want to read a breakdown of the QB's in the SEC.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

...as opposed to news. Just have news roundups consisting of links to sites at, say, 8 am and 4 pm with maybe one at noon if there's enough info out there to share.

Edit to add: a notable exception to what I've mentioned above would be what's happening right now. Since there's little news happening since it's July, posting separate news events or press releases is very understandable.

 

[OURstateBlog]

We are trying to get more link posts posted to the site on a regular basis