LeagueApps Loves Professional Designers

Feature Highlight

Professional designers makes LeagueApps look good! LeagueApps can be a digital blank canvas, and professional designers are the artists that create the website masterpieces. They are the ones that best understand how to design a LeagueApps site to best utilize all of the different features by maximizing the value of our design tools.

It is vitally important for sport organizations to create a design and theme that embodies the organization’s brand. Having the right logo and website design is critical for sport organizations. The website or logo is often the first impression for new members. People feel more comfortable when they’re on a website that has an impressive design. This becomes especially important when it comes to online registration and payments. A clean and sharp design also makes it much easier for site visitors to use tools like registration, schedules & standings and widgets.

How LeagueApps Partners With Professional Designers:

It is easy for designers to use LeagueApps. Creating a unique look and feel that captures your brand is easily attainable using our design tools. Designers will have access to the LeagueApps Design Playbook – which is an online tutorial that gives them all the recipes for success with our tools. As part of the full launch package, we will even facilitate and fully support that designer as they build out their full or integrated LeagueApps site design! We make it easy for designers to use LeagueApps for design. Here’s a quick list of the tools that we have to make the designer’s job easier:

• Theme Editor
• Help Documents
• Widgets
• Fully Customizable CSS

Professionally Designed LeagueApps Sites:

Delaware Sports League

Delaware Sports League is a very attractive example of an integrated LeagueApps site design. We worked with DSL to implement our registration widgets onto their existing homepage (see above). You can learn more about widget integration and customization here. In addition to the widgets on their homepage, we also helped DSL create a seamless registration site that’s externally linked to and hosted directly on LeagueApps (see below). This DSL LeagueApps site has a custom logo and a customer header. You can learn more about implementing your own logo and header here.

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Charlottesville Sports & Social Club

Charlottesville Sports & Social Club is a clean and eye-catching example of a full solution LeagueApps site design. C’ville is a great example of a true LeagueApps full solution site, meaning their entire site is hosted on LeagueApps, but with the help of a custom design. Their logo, header and all images are custom and were designed and uploaded into their LeagueApps site. (Learn about a custom logo, header and images here).

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NAKID Social Sports

NAKID Social Sports is an organization that has leagues in Austin, DC, and Denver – and subsequently they have three different full solution LeagueApps sites that combine into one. They are a great example of how an organization with different locations can use LeagueApps. All of NAKID’s sites have a custom logo, a custom header, a custom footer and custom CSS. Using the Custom CSS panel in the LeagueApps Theme Editor allows you to add any additional CSS styles you want. Learn more about custom CSS here.

How To Find A Good Professional Designer:

Give us a call at 1-800-257-3681! We can help advise and support you and your team as you look to find the right design partner to work with LeagueApps! It can often be tricky finding the right design resources that fits into your budget. We have plenty of recommendations, referrals, and ideas for how you can implement the design you have always wanted within the awesome tools and values of LeagueApps!

5 Ways To Use LeagueApps To Attract More Members And Grow Your Organization

Value of LeagueApps

LeagueApps has talked and listened to hundreds of sport league organizers. One of the most common wants and needs that we’ve consistently heard from all types of sports organizations is the desire to attract more participants for their programs.

How can we get more players / members?

How can we spread the word about our league / organization?

It’s crucial for sport leagues and clubs to have people find out about their programs, but unfortunately this is a common struggle. Even though there is often a high demand to participate in community sports activities, organizations’ marketing budgets are often limited and their focus is usually on actually producing the events.

This is where LeagueApps shows it’s value because the platform helps organizations with promotion and marketing by equipping them with modern digital tools that allow for continuous growth and success. In fact, organizations that use LeagueApps see 23% growth in registration volume in their first year!

Here’s 5 ways that LeagueApps helps your organization grow organically, or in other words, grow through ‘digital word of mouth’:

1. Optimize Your LeagueApps Site For Search Engines

LeagueApps equips your site with the ability to have good search engine optimization (SEO) that will allow your site to rank high on search engine results. LeagueApps lets your website have a custom domain name, custom content page URL’s, custom page titles and custom META descriptions and keywords – all of which help potential participants discover your website when they perform searches on Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, AOL, etc. This blog post explains how you can use LeagueApps to ensure your website is easily searchable.

2. Facebook Sharing

LeagueApps has incorporated Facebook features into the platform so that your organization is visible to the ever-growing Facebook community. Players can register for your leagues through their Facebook profiles with one simple click to login.

You can also incorporate various Facebook ‘Like’ buttons across your LeagueApps site, which is a great way to promote your Facebook page to your members and site visitors. Your members will be promoting your organization through their Facebook news feed every time they ‘Like’ your page.  This makes our tools a simple yet effective way to cross-promote between your Facebook page and your LeagueApps site. Our registration publishing feature also allows players to share their registration on Facebook, which recruits the friends of anyone who signs up for a league. Learn more about LeagueApps teaming up with Facebook here.

3. Simple Registration For Your Members

A simple registration process is a huge factor in membership growth and sustainability. This is why LeagueApps makes it easy to register and pay for programs online. LeagueApps has a social registration process which includes a program profile that allows potential players or members to see all of the critical details of the program before they sign up – including who has already signed up, how much it costs, registration dates, deadlines and more.

As the organizer you can set up registration by teams, free agents, groups, or any combination of the three. You can set your prices, including different prices for individuals and teams, create early bird discounts, control payment deadlines and create a payment schedule that works best for you.

Making it easy for your members to sign up and making it easy for organizers to customize the registration process is a combination that results in more conversions from people visiting your site. Learn more about LeagueApps’ online registration tools here.

4. Email Marketing

With LeagueApps’ messaging tool, you can automatically collect your member emails to use for email marketing (even non league members!), and manage them in a single, dynamic list. No muss, no fuss. Just an easy way to send messages to segments of your database. Learn about more of the features of the LeagueApps’ messaging tool here.

5. Mobile Website

This is the cherry on top of the LeagueApps features. It’s no secret that mobile is the future of how your members will digitally connect with your organization. Already, 30% of our league partners’ internet traffic is coming from mobile devices.  This trend will continue — and it’ll move quickly.  Average smartphone usage TRIPLED in 2011 (source).  In fact, mobile internet usage is predicted to surpass desktop internet usage by 2014 (source).

Prospective players and members can now access the features of your LeagueApps website on smartphones and iPad tablets. Just like the standard website, the mobile site is customizable to match your league’s branding and look & feel.  When your league members visit your site on their mobile device, they’ll now be redirected to your optimized mobile site. This feature truly allows your members to be involved with your organization before, during and after the game – and we’re continuously adding more mobile features. To learn about the specific features of mobile, read about our mobile release here and our first mobile update here.

Ready to Grow?

LeagueApps is here to make your lives easier and to help your organization grow. Our product will continue to improve with new marketing features, so if you’re interested in learning more about growing your sport organization get in touch with us now:

Your Sport Organization Should Be Ultimate…Frisbee

LeagueApps In Action

Casually tossing back and forth on a beach or in a park has traditionally been the extent of using a flying disc (Frisbee may sound more familiar). You might have a show-off friend who can toss it between their legs or behind their back with ease, but historically speaking Frisbee-ing has never been thought of as an organized team sport.

But actually Ultimate Frisbee, which due to trademark purposes is now referred to simply as Ultimate, is a very popular organized team sport. According to USA Ultimate, the official United States national governing body of Ultimate, the sport was developed in 1968 by a group of students at Columbia H.S. in Maplewood, NJ – but Ultimate has come a long way since then. The sport has grown from intramural pickup games on high school and college campuses to a world-wide flying disc outbreak.  In fact, there were 3.9 million people playing competitive Frisbee in 2006 – and that number grew to 4.9 million by the end of 2008 (source). As we’re wrapping up 2012 that number is likely nearing 10 million annual participants – and that’s just in the United States.

Over the past decade Ultimate has soared over its traditional label and is now played locally, nationally and internationally. If you run an adult sport league, a youth sport league, a recreational league or a sport and social club, than it’s time for you to pick up on the upward trend and go Ultimate.

Benefits of Ultimate Leagues

1. Just about anyone can play:

Let’s be very clear here – this is not meant to belittle the sport in any way. There are very high levels of competition in Ultimate populated by talented athletes. But having said that, ultimate is a sport that can be customized or tailored to be played by any age, gender or competition / experience level. It’s a very social sport and there’s no intentional contact involved.

2. Teams can have a lot of players:

This is another customizable factor of ultimate that makes it an appealing sport to offer. The official rules state that the game should be played with seven people per team, but given your available field space you can easily have 10 players per team on the field at once.

3. Many different field spaces can be used:

Ultimate can be played indoors or outdoors without the need for much equipment at all. The only essential piece of equipment that you need to play is a flying disc (Frisbee) – and besides that you just need to have out-of-bounds and end-zone markers. A grass field is the most ideal playing surface, but you can also play in a gym, on a beach or even in an empty parking lot. If you ensure that the rules and competition level coincide with the safety of the playing surface, your options are almost endless.

So now that you understand the appeal of starting an ultimate league, check out how some LeagueApps partners organize and execute their Ultimate leagues using our platform:

Greater Rochester Area Disc Association (GRADA) is a LeagueApps integrated solution partner in New York that’s an organization dedicated primarily to flying disc leagues and tournaments. They’re a banner example of how the LeagueApps platform can accommodate the registration, scheduling and standings needs of an ultimate league or tournament because ultimate is all they do!

California based Xoso Sport & Social League offers multiple sports including bowling, dodgeball, flag football, kickball, soccer, softball and volleyball. In May 2012 by popular demand Xoso began to offer Ultimate Frisbee as their newest sport and their members are extremely pleased with the decision! Xoso is an integrated LeagueApps partner and an excellent example of how the registration, scheduling and standing tools of our platform can be implemented into an existing site for an ultimate league.

Red Rocks Sports is a faith based organization that allows participants to stay active both physically & spiritually by offering the finest adult recreational sports leagues in Colorado. Ultimate Frisbee is one of 13 sports that Red Rocks offers and they use a draft-based league format for their ultimate leagues – very cool! Red Rocks is a full solution partner and their site is a slick and attractive example of how high-quality a LeagueApps site can look.

PlayMore Sport & Social Club , Jersey Club Sports , NLA Sports and Port Sports Social Club are a few other LeagueApps partners that utilize our platform to organize ultimate leagues.

The bottom line is that Ultimate isn’t going anywhere but gliding up – so if you’re interested in learning more about how to use the LeagueApps platform to develop Ultimate leagues get in touch with us now:

Product Update: Manager Console Improvements and New Reporting Tool!

Product News

It’s that time again – to let you guys know about a bunch of improvements we just added to the product. Our team has been hard at work making these changes, based on your continued and valued feedback. Check out the release notes below. There are a few changes you’ll want to make sure you’re aware of.

Streamlined Console Navigation

We want to make your life easier, so we cleaned up the UI navigation inside the manager console. You’ll now have a lot less “clutter” as you perform your day to day management tasks. Please take a moment to check out the new navigation structure, and make sure you’re familiar with the location of all the features.

• Most pages are in the same section as they were before — but now there are simple pull down menus from the main navigation bar. Simple.
• Note that two pages DID move: the “Manage Members” page and the “Manage Invoices” pages used to be under “Reports”; They were both moved under the “Manage” tab. We thought this made more sense.

Reporting Tool

We added a new reporting tool to help you stay on top of your programs. Check it out under “Reports > Registrations”. This first version of the reporting tool allows you to pull data from your registrations, across all your programs. We’ll be adding support for additional data sets as well, such as invoices, transactions, members, etc.

Here’s an overview of the features included in the reporting tool:

• Filter/sort across entire data set (i.e., pull aggregate data sets from ALL programs).
• Render reports in tabular listing view, including all customized data fields.
• Export to CSV, including all customized data fields.
• Create “saved reports” for subsequent ‘one-click’ report runs.

This reporting tool will serve as a time-saving resource to league partners as they address many common business scenarios, such as:

• Generating t-shirt orders.
• Identifying late registrations.
• Analyzing cross-program registrations; by sport, program status, etc.

Officials Assignment Support

We added some flexibility into the feature that allows you to assign officials to games. Now, when you assign an official, the team is shown as well — allowing you to effectively assign teams to officiate games.

Also, when your members login to your site now, they have a separate “Officiating Schedule” link under their own schedule. This shows them all the games that either they, or one of their teams, is assigned to officiate. So, now your members can easily see which games they must officiate!

Designer Resources

We’ve been working with many of our league partners as you get your sites designed and launched. We LOVE designers. They make LeagueApps look good and work well. We want to help make the LeagueApps design process as smooth as possible. A lot of the common questions and issues that arise are now being documented in a special section of the support knowledge base — we call it “designer resources”. Check it out!

Launch Dashboard

For those league partners in the process of completing your launch process, this new addition should come in handy. We’ve added a special new “launch dashboard” into your manager console. This keeps track of all the steps being completed, special due dates, and progress made so far. The page also explains each of the steps, and contains helpful reference links to help answer any questions that arise. Our goal is to make your launch process go smoothly and quickly, and we believe this new feature will help do just that.

Privacy Policy Page

We added a new default content page to your site that contains a “privacy policy”, and linked to it from your member signup page. This is a web best practice and will help ensure that your site is adhering to widely accepted Internet usage guidelines.

There is a simple privacy policy statement added by default. You can edit this to your own custom privacy policy statement by navigating to “Content > Pages” and selecting the page named “Privacy Policy”. We recommend that you check this out and make sure you’re happy with the privacy policy posted.

Additional Items

There are a number of additional items addressed in this update, including a number of issues/bugs reporting by league partners. Check them out:

• Extended character limit for content page “titles”. Supports better SEO.
• Addressed an issue with saving sub-locations to games.
• Added a “warning” message when attempting to create programs before the default registration settings have been set.
• Extended size limit for team “headline” field.
• Content page editor now allows the “article” tag in HTML.

Product Update: Mobile 2.0, Game Reminders, Co-Captains, and More!

Release Notes

Good day, LeagueApps MVPs! We have some great updates to share with you. Last week we pushed out a product release with a number of useful improvements and new features. Here’s a summary of what was included.

Mobile “2.0″

Mobile Sites were taken to the next level! You and your members will now enjoy far more benefits from your mobile site. Check out the highlights:

• The User Interface (UI) was streamlined and cleaned up. Check out the new slide down navigation menu.
• Your members can now login with Facebook. This takes the hassle out of login.
• Mobile Team Messaging was added. Now, teammates can send messages via the mobile site, and reach each other on email, mobile, as well as the full site.
• Organizer Announcements were added to the mobile site. You can post an “announcement” from the manager console, and now have it reach your members right on their mobile devices – in addition to the website and your Facebook Page.
• Game details were updated with location profiles and live google maps.

Here are some screenshots:

Note: You’ll be able to see how all these great new features look in the mobile site by logging in as a participant who has games coming up within the next week, and who is playing on one or more active teams.

Game Reminders

We added a cool new feature that automatically emails your participants a “reminder” in advance of their upcoming games. This ensures that they are aware of the game details, and it helps you out by minimizing no-shows and game forfeits.

LeagueApps is all about flexibility. As such, you and your members have the ability to control the settings for this reminder feature. As an admin, you can turn this reminder on/off and you can specify how many days before the game the reminder should be sent. You can control this setting under your program’s “Preferences” settings. Go to a program and navigate to the sub-menu option “Preferences” that appears under the “Settings” tab. See the screenshot below.

Co-Captains

You can now designate additional team players to be “Co-Captains” on their teams. Co-captains are able to manage the team and its roster. This allows your captains to share the load of the team management responsibilities.

You can control which team players are designated as co-captains from inside your manager console. Go to the “players” listing page of any program, or go to a team page within any program. Click the “move” control button (to the right) for the player you’d like to update, and you’ll then see a “Make Co-Captain” control button next to the “Make Captain” button. See the screenshot below.

iPad Support

We’re happy to announce that the manager console now works well on the iPad. We know a lot of you like to carry around your iPad and use it to manage your programs on the go, and at the field. We ironed out a few kinks that were causing issues on the iPad, so you should now be good to go!

And Many More Improvements…

We additionally made a bunch smaller tweaks and bug fixes, addressing your continued and valued feedback. Here are some of the ones you pointed out:

• Login issues fixed.
• Google Analytics tracking fix.
• Enhanced control for “unpublish” option for schedules to also account for standings table.
• Team player payment status removed from public roster views when not relevant.
• Increase length of custom field labels (supports longer ‘questions’ on registration forms).

Is Your Sports League Getting The Best Credit Card Transaction Rates?

Best Practices

LeagueApps offers and integrates with multiple payment solution options to fit the needs of all types of sports organizations. This LeagueApps blog post breaks down those options in more detail including the recent addition of the Stripe platform.

Another option is to use the Authorize.net payment gateway with their own merchant account. This solution may be ideal for an organization that processes large transaction volume and is looking to get the most competitive rates.

LeagueApps has teamed up with an expert to help navigate the complex world of online payment solutions. Meet our friend and partner John Stevenson. We originally connected with John through a LeagueApps partner that worked with him. Since then, John has helped numerous LeagueApps partners secure the right payment solution for their organization and then he ensured they properly integrate within the LeagueApps platform.

John is an expert in the credit card processing world. He switched over from the mortgage insurance business because he wanted to create ongoing relationships with his clients where he could support their business finance needs for years, instead of a one-time mortgage transaction. John has lived all over the country and currently resides in Madison, Indiana. John enjoys what he is able to offer business people who are starting or growing their companies and takes pride in the service he provides to small businesses.

John provided a few answers to some of the most popular questions we hear about payment solutions.

What is the difference between a merchant account and a payment gateway? Does an organization need both?
An organization needs both accounts to complete online transactions. The payment gateway is essentially an electronic routing center that transfers the cardholder information to the credit card processor (where you have your merchant account). The processor then moves the money from your customer’s bank and deposits it to your checking account. We typically work with PowerPay for merchant accounts and Authorize.net for payment gateways for most LeagueApps customers.

What is the typical process to secure a merchant account and payment gateway? How long does it take?
An online application that can be completed in minutes is all that’s needed to apply for a merchant account. Once an application is submitted, we normally get approval back from underwriting within 48 business hours. The payment gateway is automatically linked to the PowerPay merchant account, so all that a user needs to do is set up a gateway username and password.

How can an organization obtain the “best rates”?
The best rates are found in a cost-plus pricing model. I always recommend it whenever possible since it saves an organization the most money. The most important factor is to find a time-tested, trusted partner to be your advocate who has a track record of exceptional support and great prices. In working with LeagueApps partners, we have found numerous ways to lower the processing costs for most partners.

What are the best rates?
All credit card processors have the same cost that is set by Visa and MasterCard. With cost plus pricing, (as opposed to flat-rate pricing) you pay what the processor pays, plus a small fixed markup. It is the most transparent and cost effective way to process — there are no hidden fees or extra charges to surprise you. Some LeagueApps partners experience processing rates of fewer than 2%. The alternative option is flat-rate pricing but that typically doesn’t offer as good of rates.

Payment gateways, merchant accounts and everything else — why is it so confusing?
Just like insurance or the mechanics of how your car engine works, credit card processing can be confusing: there are many moving parts (shopping carts, secure check-out pages, payment gateways and merchant accounts) that are designed to work together to move money from your customer’s card to your bank account. Add banking regulations and government oversight and the entire modern electronic payment system is a complex enterprise. In many ways that’s good: If it were too simple it would be more vulnerable and fewer people would willing to spend money online and that’s not good for your business!

It’s my job to help simplify this complex, confusing world and walk you through each step of the process so you don’t have to worry about it. You can concentrate on bringing folks together to play sports and socialize, and League Apps and I will make sure that registrations and payments happen seamlessly.

I’m Interested. How can I get started?
If you have an existing merchant account and payment gateway, I’ll be happy to do a free analysis and evaluate your current terms to see if you have a good deal, or if we can save you money. Please complete this form on LeagueApps if you are interested.

If you’re just starting your business, or switching from PayPal, you can rest assured that our $0.00 set up fee, $0.00 early termination fee, $0.00 monthly minimum program along with our cost-plus pricing will give you some of the best pricing available anywhere.

Any tips or guidance for first time online merchants?
Yes — rely on the partner support system that is in place specifically for you. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and get support. Our partners (PowerPay and Authorize.net) are available with great support staff who are friendly, knowledgeable and well prepared to help you start accepting cards in your new venture. In addition, I will always remain a point of contact for you and am available to answer questions and help you navigate this new and interesting world! Fill out this form to get in contact with me.

Complete this form and LeagueApps will put you in touch with John.

Launch Setup Packages

Product News

LeagueApps aims to alleviate the administrative and management burden for local sports organizations. We recognize that sports organizers are at the pulse of their local sports communities and we want to be their teammate. LeagueApps mission is to make organizing sports more efficient, organized and most importantly SAVETIME!

LeagueApps is excited to offer Launch Setup Packages. These packages support our partners in the initial setup, training and launch stages. This will enable efficiency and time savings from the very start of the relationship with LeagueApps. Nobody wants to hear us tout efficiency only to then ask you to do a bunch of work setting everything up. Like any new technology, there is a FUD Factor (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) with implementing a new digital solution. That is ok. It’s now the job of the LeagueApps launch team to be FUD busters!

The different Launch Setup Packages are outlined below and cover all of the major steps for launch including payment solution, program creation, site settings, custom content pages, design and integration options, launch audit and site testing. Most importantly, we’ll provide personal and customized training sessions so our partners are comfortable with the control panel.

LeagueApps has developed multiple packages to ensure we meet the needs, timing and budget of all organizations. Here is the breakdown.

Full Launch Setup Package

This is the ideal package for the busy sports league organizer who wants a quick, efficient setup with a specific launch date. Our team will also ensure that all organizers are fully trained on how to use LeagueApps.

In the full launch setup package, our partners can practically sit back, relax (or go to the gym) and we’ll configure and launch the LeagueApps solution! We’ll schedule an initial launch call to review the organization’s needs, develop a launch plan and confirm a launch date. From there, we’ll manage all aspects of the launch process an determine the most optimal settings. We’ll even get our hands dirty making sure payment solutions, domain, and design are setup properly.

• Initial Launch Setup Call with dedicated LeagueApps launch manager
• Custom launch plan with confirmed launch date
• Live online training sessions (up to 5 hours)
• Create all initial programs and optimize default settings
• Facilitate and support design partners
• Develop basic content and create custom pages
• Setup call with merchant broker to receive best credit card rates
• Enable custom URL
• Facebook Integration Application
• Complete site audit before launch
• SEO Optimization audit (Page URL’s, page titles, meta tags, content)
• Mobile site design customization

Basic Launch Setup Package

The basic launch setup package is for organizers that are adamant about diving into LeagueApps on their own. This option is best for leagues that do not have a specific launch date and plan to take their time getting familiar with LeagueApps platform.

In the basic launch setup package we’ll act as a wingman providing our guidance, expertise and support. The LeagueApps team will be available by email or scheduled conference calls to point you in the right direction. We’ll also check-in before a site goes live to audit site settings and resolve any lingering items.

Organizations that chooses the basic launch setup package will have the option of upgrading to a full launch setup package at anytime to access the focused resources and support of the LeageuApps launch team to get a site live.

• Initial Launch Setup Call with LeagueApps launch team member
• Basic launch plan
• Live online training sessions
• Design assistance and consultation
• Setup call with merchant broker to receive best credit card rates
• Enable custom URL
• Facebook Integration Application
• Complete site audit before launch

Self-Serve Launch

The beauty of LeagueApps is that a partner has the ability to setup and launch their complete site on their own. It’s free to test out the platform, create an account and play around with our features and tools. If you are in the early stages of forming a sports organization you should feel free to have at it. The LeagueApps help site has over 50 articles that document all of the features and functionality. Remember, you can always upgrade to a basic or full launch setup package at anytime.

Introducing Mobile Sites for Local Sports Leagues!

Product News

The LeagueApps team is super excited to announce the introduction of Mobile Sites!

Mobile is quickly becoming the most popular way that people use the internet. Local sports leagues NEED to be ready for this inevitable trend in order to stay in synch with their members.

LeagueApps launched Mobile Sites in order to empower local sports leagues to recognize the benefits of mobile TODAY. Leagues can now leverage mobile to drive member engagement, facilitate real-time mobile communication, and ultimately foster a happy member community! This is just the beginning. LeagueApps is committed to delivering more and more mobile solutions as part of the LeagueApps mobile roadmap.

Why Local Sports Clubs NEED Mobile

It’s no secret that mobile is the future.

Already,30% of league partners’ internet traffic is coming from mobile devices.  This trend will continue — and it’ll move quickly.  Average smartphone usage TRIPLED in 2011 (source).  In fact, mobile internet usage is predicted to surpass desktop internet usage by 2014 (source).

What’s really interesting for local sports clubs is WHAT people DO on mobile.  Did you know that 91% of mobile internet usage is for social activities, compared to just 79% on desktops?  (source).

We’re going to make sure our league partners are ready to capitalize on this explosion in mobile internet usage.

Benefits for League Partners and Their Members

The new Mobile Sites product makes life easier for your members, which is in turn great for you.  Check out some key benefits:

Increased member engagement
Gives your members a significantly enhanced mobile experience that keeps them more connected and engaged with your league.

Real-time mobile communication
Allows you to stay connected with your members by tapping into a direct line of communication — right to the mobile device. Reach them “in their pocket”.

Keep your members happy!
Mobile information delivery prevents common issues such as missed cancellation notices, game forfeits, etc.

Features Overview

Every LeagueApps account includes its very own mobile web application that is optimized for viewing on smart phones and other mobile devices.  Just like the standard website, the mobile site is customizable to match your league’s branding and look & feel.  When your league members visit your site on their mobile device, they’ll now be redirected to your optimized mobile site.

Here are a few of the things your members can do on your Mobile Site:

• Check schedules and game details such as date/time, location and teams.
• View game results, program standings and other program details.
• Browse profiles of teams, rosters and individual players.
• Experience the mobile site in their league’s customized look & feel.
• iPhone users get quick access via an app icon on their home screen.
• View real-time organizer announcements (coming Sep 2012).
• Communicate with teammates (coming Sep 2012).
• And many more to come!

It’s easy to go in and customize your league’s Mobile Site.  Login to your Manager Console and under “Mobile” in the right column, click the “Edit Settings” link.  If you’d like to dive deeper into the available features, settings, and other pointers, check out our online Knowledge Base document ”Using Mobile Sites.”

LeagueApps Mobile Roadmap & Vision

Mobile is a major part of the LeagueApps product strategy.  We view Mobile as being one of the core “channels” that sports organizations use to engage and communicate with their members to go along with Web, Social Media and Email.

This initial release of Mobile Sites is only the beginning, and we’re excited about all the great mobile features and products we’ll be bringing to our league partners.

Members will be able to receive notifications, register for programs on their mobile phones, snap photos at games and easily share with their friends and fans, engage with other participants in friendly banter (or trash talking) from their phones, and the list goes on and on. Organizers will be able to monitor and manage leagues via mobile, collect mobile payments “at the field”, updates scores, and more.

If there is a mobile feature you find particularly interesting for your organization, let us know!

Stripe: The Easiest Payment Solution For LeagueApps Partners

Feature Highlight

Setting up a payment solution was often the one tricky item that could get in the way of quickly processing registration payments through the LeagueApps system. It was just way more complicated and expensive than it needed to be. That changes today!

LeagueApps is excited to announce a new partnership with the Stripe payments platform. Stripe has a number of incredible benefits for sports leagues, events or tournament registration.

Get Setup in Minutes

It takes just a few minutes to get setup and begin processing online registration transactions. The Stripe online application form asks for basic information and partners are approved instantly. Accounts can be created by using either a personal social security number or a business EIN number. The entire process can be completed online right within the LeagueApps setup flow. Read the LeagueApps help article to learn the exact steps to setup your LeagueApps account with Stripe.

No longer are the days of having to learn about payment gateways, merchant accounts, rolling reserves, API keys or completing lengthy applications!

No Setup or Monthly Fee

That’s right. With Stripe there are no setup fees, no monthly fees, no card storage fees, no hidden costs: you only get charged when you earn money.

A major sticking point for some of our partners was around monthly service fees. This was especially problematic for smaller organizations that did not have the budget to incur monthly fees or seasonal leagues that only have registration periods once or twice per year.

Flat Transactions Fees

Stripe charges a flat fee of 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction for all payments including American Express cards (which often have higher fees). This flat rate makes it easy to project payment processing costs for your organization.

Payments Direct To Your Bank Account

Enter your bank information into your Stripe account and payments will flow directly into your bank account once the payments are cleared. Every day, Stripe transfer the money that you charged seven days previously. Note that all funds are automatically transfered to your account (7 days from time of transaction). Nothing to do, nothing to worry about!

If these benefits are intriguing then the Stripe solution might be the right one for your organization. Be sure to learn all about the different payment solutions that can be integrated into LeagueApps. Contact us at 1-800-257-3681 to discuss the best option for your organization.

Fully Hosted Website vs. Integration and Widgets

Best Practices, Feature Highlight

LeagueApps is developed so that our partners can get the most value and benefit from the platform and features based on their needs. The truth is that LeagueApps technology and software is only as good as how well it serves our league partners. You’re the Karl Malone to our John Stockton.

One major item that we often discuss with new and existing partners is the decision to implement the fully hosted website solution or integrate the LeagueApps features and backend system into their exisiting website. Since this is an important aspect of utilizing LeagueApps, we figured it would be worthwhile to openly share the framework of how we like to think about it.

First, it’s important to note that the LeagueApps team is impartial to either setup. There is no difference in pricing, features or setup. Both solutions allow for leagues to customize the look, feel and design of their website. Both work with our mobile and social media products. So our main goal is to help our partners understand all of the aspects of both solutions and then help determine what works best for their organization.

Fully Hosted Website

In the fully hosted solution, a partner will use LeagueApps to develop and design their complete website. This means that the actual website will be completely hosted on LeageuApps. Partners will utilize LeagueApps features including homepage templates, content tools, theme editor and custom domain settings to build out their full website. Partners that use our full website solution include Midwest Sports Complex, KC Sports Leagues and Coed Sports Arizona

The fully hosted solution is optimal for partners that are looking to create a brand new website and start from scratch. In the future, we hope to further assist these partners by also recommending professional design partners to help create all of the unique aspects of design that enable a partner to further promote their brand and culture.

Integration & Widgets

This configuration is best suited for leagues that have already invested in developing their website and are more interested in utilizing LeagueApps features such as online registration and payments, schedule, results and standings modules, messaging tools, database management, etc. These features can either be linked to directly from within your existing website or can be incorporated through javascript widgets (generated by LeagueApps). This help article explains widget integration steps and procedure in more detail. LeagueApps offers widgets for online registration, schedules and standings, member login and email subscription lists. Properly using widgets further ensure a seamless experience by adding dynamic content to your site.

A major goal of the integration solution is to make sure the experience for participants and members is smooth and seamless. If integrated properly, league members will remain within the same, or very similar, look and feel of the league website with all of the added functionality of LeagueApps baked in! Checkout this list of some of our partners that use widgets for an integrated solution.

Integration also works well for leagues that are utilizing a full Content Management System such as Joomla, WordPress or Drupal that have powerful website development tools. Integration is also a good option for a partner on a tight launch deadline that needs a quick solution. We originally helped Big D Sports in Dallas launch their integrated solution in less than 72 hours so that they could open registration on time.

While the LeagueApps teams can share examples and make recommendations this is a decision that should ultimately be made by our partners. There’s no commitment though. A partner can start one way and then change at anytime based on their needs or comfort level. Social Boston Sports originally used a integrated solution (with a special single sign-on widget) but ultimately decided to become a full solution partner when they relaunched their website. Overall, our partners are actually split pretty evenly between the full and integrated solutions.

Regardless of what solution our league partners utilize, it’s our goal to provide the best platform and service possible to help our partners operate their organization and reach their goals. So call us at anytime at 1-800-257-3681 or shoot us a note. I’m confident we can find a way to work together.