I don't mean to hijack this thread or to take into a new direction, but this thread was posted as a discussion of how 3RR may affect the growth of the contest and attracting new players. In terms of growing your contest, I've been wanting to say this for awhile, but your contests have absolutely no internet presence on the internet search engines. If you do an internet search for "Fantasy Football" or "Fantasy Football Contests" or "Fantasy Football Leagues for Cash Prizes" you have no presence on Page 1 or 2 for multiple searches. This is so basic that I figured you knew this, but in the chance you did not, I felt the need to address this. As someone who invests heavily in internet marketing for my business, I realize the value of the search engines and optimizing your website. It is the biggest worldwide marketplace there is. Your search engine optimization is basically nonexistent and getting destroyed by your competitor who is on Page 1, in case you were unaware of this.Greg Ambrosius wrote:I think we all agree that we ALL want this contest to continue to grow and be stable. Lord knows there's enough instability in this space to last a lifetime, so having a game that has legs is everyone's goal.
I don't disagree with either point. It's very possible that our growth of new players is hampered by our unique setup. That being said, the whole idea of KDS/3RR was to make it fairer for our current players, which allowed us to have an 80 percent retention rate for 12 years. Retaining players has been a key goal of ours and I think we've done that.
But I don't disagree that we all want to figure out the best way to grow the customer base and in turn the prize pool for our players. We can grow at a higher percentage than we have, but growth is definitely there. We're on pace for 5,000+ teams in the Online Championship and Cutline Championship, two very good entry level contests to bring in new customers.
I like the discussion. Good points all around. Even civil at times. Same goals in mind by everyone. That's what we like. And after drafts are done, we can discuss all of this. And we can thank Azzurri for that.
You may assume people have heard about your contest, but if you're not on the internet, you don't exist. Yeah, your Sirius connections help promote the game but that assumes someone who has a paid radio subscription and who listens to the station. I, for one, love fantasy sports, have SiriusXM, but never listen to the station as I find nothing more boring than listening to guys talk about Fantasy Sports. I only heard of this contest when it was promoted on Rotoworld some years ago. If that had not have happened, I likely never would have discovered this contest. You need to optimize your website to show on page 1 for any fantasy football related search and run a pay-per-click campaign and get people to your website. I mean look at the incredible multi-million dollar marketing done for DFS: TV, radio, etc. and your not even on Page 1 for Fantasy Football Contests on the Internet. And you wonder why DFS is dominating? Marketing. Pure and simple.
Secondly, and I speak from experience, all the Contests offered is overwhelming to a newcomer and trying to decipher what the Classic is vs. the Primetime vs. the Satellite Leagues vs. Draft Champions is confusing as hell. It took me years to realize what the Satellite Leagues were, i.e. that they are just regular leagues where all the prize money is contained within the League and not tied to an Overall Grand Prize Contest. You may assume people understand these things, but to a newcomer, they don't. Even in the front page where it has the "Which League is Right for You?" the actual differences are not highlighted very well, in my opinion. Just directing someone to the Rules Page which is written as a legal notice is not the way for someone new to the site to learn all the differences and nuances of these games. A simple page of bullet-points highlighting the major differences I feel is needed. Also, the playoffs format needs to be explained better to newcomers and not just again directed to the Contest Rules pages.
My point is we are focusing on 3RR/KDS as a possible detriment to the growth of your Contest because one guy chose not to play because of it (and maybe it is), but if you have an 80% retention rate which I assume is excellent, then you are simply not getting enough eyeballs to your site and when there, they may be overwhelmed by the offerings and not understand all the contests, and all the nuances and differences. Anyways, the growth of your game, I feel, is likey more related to your lack of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and internet presence than anything else as well as lack of clarity regarding the differing contests. Just wanted to get that off my chest, so take it for what's its worth.
COZ
