| Fastpitch Central | ||
| September 2001 WELCOME TO NEW FEATURES | ||
| Dot-com companies started their economic tumble just as we launched Fastpitch Central. Oh, well! During the last nine months we've added or are working on the following features: |
| Search | Sports Communicator |
Sports Pictures |
Editor Support |
Visitor Comments |
State Updates |
Special Shops |
Tournament |
Email Recommendations |
| This request | Please add our URL address----------------to the bottom of all your emails. (Add it to the Signature [off the Insert menu in the New Message function of Outlook Express] you use for outgoing emails.) | Hey, come on, please do it now. We don't ask much. |
| GoTo (soon to be Overture) Searches | We've added search boxes and a little search window. You already search the internet. All we ask is that you use our search link one time a day. | Or, if enough of you will send us $10, we will make a no ads version of Fastpitch Central. |
| Why GoTo | GoTo (soon to be Overture) actually makes money on the internet because the top companies in your search result often paid to be there. | So, they pay us 2 cents to get you there. |
| 2 cents, why bother? | Searches per day on the internet are measured in the hundreds of millions. We're going to keep expanding Fastpitch Central (including other sport coverage) until we have one million of those hundreds of millions. | Remember, the 200 Barns project will cost us $10,000,000 dollars. In summary, please use our search links every day. Thanks! |
| Sports Communicator | Applications: 1) anywhere roster availability, 2) print reports for events, rosters and pledges, 3) one-click team contact providing email, instant messages and, soon, messages sent directly to cell phones | Send your recommendations for future development |
| The future | As prices drop handheld computers will become more common. The Sports Communicator was designed with those future devices in mind. | |
| Productivity | We need to spend more time enhancing player abilities. This tool reduces the time it takes to convey information to team families. | And, the pledge tool can be applied to improve self-motivation |
| Sports Pictures | They say a picture is worth a thousdand words. After a picture load process (not really that long) we show you 20 or 30 pictures of your favorite sport. | That's a lot of words. |
| Why? | We like pictures and we hope you do also. If you find one you really like you can make it set it as your desktop background. | You can also recommend new pictures for our database. |
| Anything else going on here? | Sure, in the upper left of our picture display window there is a search box. When you choose a sport, information is placed in the search box. So, with one click you can do a search. | Hey, we're trying to make your use of our search link as easy as possible. |
| Anything else? | Yes, you can automatically send an email to a friend telling them about this tool. | Oh yeah, clicking on a picture causes the All Posters web site to open in the sports section. |
| Editor Article Support | Now editors can add articles as well as short comments. | Some asked and its now available |
| The future | Articles creation can now be supported from state editor volunteers. Articles in skills and other areas will soon be supported. | |
| Visitor Comments | Visitors can add short comments to their state pages. | |
| Want to be an editor? | If you decide you like providing comments, please consider becoming an editor. | |
| State Page Updates | Other than Editor and Visitor comments anyone can make suggestions. Popular state sites, next year projections, interstate tournament finish information for Top Teams, college web site updates and | |
| And so on. | Additions will be made throughout Fastpitch Central to provide a more interactive site. | Let us know where you might want to provide input |
| Sport Shopping | We don't sell anything. But, we have identified customer friendly shops that already sell speciality items in the Fastpitch world. | They've agreed to pay us a small percentage whenever you buy. |
| Team Buying | Often small local businesses provide your best team prices and service. | We have our own favorite. |
| What we need. | We need you to go to the Local Shopping section of your state page and recommend local uniform suppliers. | Until we build a good list around the country we can't do a lot. |
| Tournament Email | Tournament announcements often arrive via email. Unfortunately they are difficult to list that way. No standard exists to describe tournament parameters. We're automating receipt of those emails and providing both individual and group presentation of that material. | A few good tournament sites exist. We'll be the best but we're not there yet. |
| What can be done? | We've defined some simple things email should include. | |
| Anything else? | We made up a couple web pages on this subject. As soon as we find them, we'll put them online. | That's a first step? |
| The Future | We're going to have a product like Sports Communicator specifically for tournament directors. | That means we'll have applications to specifically make the life of tournament directors more productive. |
| Email Recommendations | We love to receive recommendations. We simply can not respond individually. | |
| The best email | The best recommendations change over time. | Just send it! |
Thanks for visiting,
Bill