All-Star Gym Websites

[Cheeraholic]

Maybe not the results of every single comp, but at minimum, this is what NEEDS to be clear and up-to-date on a site.

1. Teams. What teams do you have? (i.e. Tiny1 BabyCats, Y2 Little Cats, whatever. Just an overview of your teams.)

2. TRYOUT INFO. Who, what, when, where, how much?

3. Other programs. All-star prep, classes, etc. Dates/times? Costs?

4. Who are you guys? Staff info. Certifications, other experience? Parents want to know that Bob is fully USASF/USAG Cert and cheered at Bama for 4 years.

5. Some sort of Whatever All Stars FAQ page or packet. How do you decide who is on what team? Give them a cost ballpark. When the teams can expect to practice. What some of your policies are (i.e. missing practices, etc.) Not a 200 page Bible but something that covers a lot of commonly asked stuff. Example: I think Cheer Athletics has a GREAT Tryout/Gym Info Packet (google it.)

It's funny that you mention Cheer Athletics. They were one of the first ones to have their current summer camp info posted so that's what we signed up for. Some of them still have camp stuff up from 2 years ago. Why?

 

[Cheeraholic]

The website itself represents more the business side. I am working on updating Rays (it has needed it for a while) and I am trying to make sure it has a lot of info that doesn't need constant updating.

The twitter account and the facebook account will take care of the more fun social parts.

The new camps webiste: Camps with Stingray Allstars | Camps run by the Stingray Allstars!

Oh good...looks like my post maybe inspired at least one gym to update.

 

[Just-a-Mom]

Ultimate Athletics is also superb at keeping their website up (of course now that I'm saying that... I haven't looked at it recently) When we were looking, they had all their teams listed, a handful of photos (yes, uniform is part of what people are looking at when shopping for a gym), photos of their facility, and a few downloadable pdf's with tryout info and costs fully broken down.

That's really all I think most parents are asking - since there's about a 90% chance we will NEVER reach someone via phone or email, give me some info so I don't have to drive over an hour to ask simple questions that you already know I'm going to ask.

All we want to know is:
Do you have an age and level appropriate team for my child?
Ballpark figure of how much it's gonna cost
What do your uniforms look like? (yes, it matters)
Are you qualified to coach?
When, where, and how can we tryout?

Once you've got all the basics covered, then by all means, throw in some marketing mumbo jumbo to further sell your place.


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[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I think about when I was doing tee ball research for my son.

If I looked at your league or team site for more than 5-10 minutes and could not find the following, I was moving on to the next one:

Date of sign ups (and list of what I need to bring)
Costs
Location/dates/times of practices
Game locations
Coach names/contact info

That's basic info. I work a regular school day (except for weather days like today!) I do not have all afternoon to make calls, send emails, etc. just for tee ball. I could see if I had a unique question, but if I have to CALL or email just for practice times, I'm not interested.

 

[CGAcheer]

@Just-a-Mom, @Cheeraholic does my site pass? www.CGAcheer.com We haven't set our Tryout details yet though

 

[Cheeraholic]

@Just-a-Mom, @Cheeraholic does my site pass? www.CGAcheer.com We haven't set our Tryout details yet though

I LOVE that you have a calendar with the competition schedule. This is a huge time and money commitment for us parents. We might want to go to a competition to check out your team before we make that commitment. I also like that you have current events scrolling on the side. I'd like to see a general idea of the costs involved and competition results. Where did you go and when? Which teams did you bring and what are their divisions. And how did they do...out of how many teams? Nice clean looking, easy to navigate site.

 

[Just-a-Mom]

@Just-a-Mom, @Cheeraholic does my site pass? www.CGAcheer.com We haven't set our Tryout details yet though

I'm on my phone but I'll check it out when I get to work.

(the fact that you're on here means it's already probably better than most, without me even needing to look! )

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[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

@Just-a-Mom, @Cheeraholic does my site pass? www.CGAcheer.com We haven't set our Tryout details yet though

May I say something? I will say that I think your All Star cheer page gives a great sort of "overview" of everything. I'd suggest including a ballpark cost estimate in there (let me know if it's there and I didn't see!)

 

[Emily]

Some gyms also need to put the address of the gym on their website. I don't know at how many gym websites I have looked and after that I still had no idea where they are located.
If your gym (or the entrance to the gym) is difficult to find or get to: put some directions on your website as well.

 

[ashscott41]

@Just-a-Mom, @Cheeraholic does my site pass? www.CGAcheer.com We haven't set our Tryout details yet though

Not either of them but I'm procrastinating, so I'll throw out a few things I immediately noticed. I've seen you post on the boards for years so I know you operate a trustworthy gym, but there are a few things I would change to impress someone who does not know your product. The content of your about us and allstar cheer pages are great, but the random capitalizations and occasional grammatical errors make it seem that attention to detail may not be a strong suit. Your first sentence of about us doesn't read correctly (missing an a in there and the random caps are just weird to me-again, not a big deal, but this is pretty much the first thing people will read on your site). I've seen this on so many gym websites and I consider unfollowing CheerUpdates for this every day. It kills me. Also, the upcoming events scrolling on the side is a great idea, but having generic times and no locations in there doesn't really add any benefit. I'd suggest a page dedicated to your teams. In order to find what teams you offer I had to download a PDF of your class schedule and that doesn't tell a prospective new parent anything about ages or what the levels mean. I loved all the videos, pictures, and parent testimonials. I'd give your site a B, but it could easily become an A with a few tweaks.

Putting this out there for anyone making websites, flyers, or any kind of material that will be seen by the public: have an outsider look at it before publishing. There are tons of grammar Nazis on the boards who would be willing to help you. I may not be able to design a beautiful uniform, but I can certainly edit things to make your gym look as professional as possible. Anyone is welcome to PM me with anything they want edited and I'll do it for fun

 

[SharkDad]

Do gym owners genuinely not realize the monetary value of having a good, user friendly website?

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NO. I can tell you this as a fact from conversations with actual gym owners. Like some have described, their priority is coaching and not something as mundane as updating a website, or effective communication with their customer.

@ashscott41 I hope if you ever follow me on Twitter you will be patient with my tweet-grammar.

 

[ashscott41]

@ashscott41 I hope if you ever follow me on Twitter you will be patient with my tweet-grammar.

That's the beauty of context! Personal accounts on any social media can have whatever grammar they want going on and I'm fine with it. I realize I'm a little crazy and it's not a priority to everyone, but as soon as it becomes something "official" and mistakes are still being made, people are getting side eyed

 

[DaniV]

Anyone willing to check out our website - www.NWXtremecheer.com and provide feedback if you have time?

Reading through this thread makes me happy to see that I do keep some of the stuff updated parents find important and try to keep it as simple as possible but I know we are missing somethings. Prices are not online for all-star teams and our tryout dates are still being finalized at this time.

 

[gofriars610]

I edit things for a living if anyone wants me to give their site a once-over. Please PM me or tweet me @Crousselle.

 

[KDCheerMom]

I've wondered about those bids. I see all these gyms with quarter season worlds teams. I've seen two around here that just started practicing in February and they won a bid in March. How can that be? And where are all those new cheerleaders coming from? I thought earning a bid to worlds, paid or otherwise, was an honor. But if they just pass them out it makes it seem like they're only trying to get more money. And it kinda dilutes the honor of earning a worlds bid.

the quarter season team usually come from high school programs - since cheerleaders in illinois can't be in both HS competitive cheer and all star at the same time.