Do you need one?
Does a sports club need a website?
A fair question for a club with a Facebook group. But the honest answer turns on newcomers: families search for local clubs online, and join the one that clearly welcomes them.
From £297, live in 7 days, on your own domain.
Does a sports club need a website?
The honest answer
Does a sports club need a website? If you have all the players and members you want, and never need to recruit or attract sponsors, then perhaps not. But the honest answer turns on how newcomers find a club, which is by searching. A family looking for a club for their child, or an adult wanting to join, searches for a local club in the sport, looks for what it offers and how to join, and chooses one that clearly welcomes newcomers and is easy to get started with. A club with no findable, welcoming presence gives them nothing to go on, so they join a club they could find and understand. And a community club depends on that flow of newcomers to keep going, so being invisible to them is not a small loss. The real question, then, is whether you want to recruit and sustain the club, because without a website you lose newcomers to a club that welcomed them, at the very start of their search.
Families search for local clubs online
Finding a sports club, especially for a child, is something families do by searching now. They want to find a local club in the sport, see what it offers, the teams, the age groups, the training, and understand how to join, before they turn up, so they look online and choose a club that welcomes them clearly. A club that is not findable, or that a newcomer cannot get information from, simply is not part of that search, so the family joins a club that made it easy. And because a community club lives on recruiting new players and families, being absent from where they look is a direct threat to the club’s health, not just a missed opportunity. A findable, welcoming site, by contrast, meets a newcomer exactly where they are searching, shows them the club, and makes joining simple, turning their search into a new member. Being found and welcoming is how a club keeps recruiting the newcomers it needs.
A site does what a Facebook group cannot
The natural objection is that a Facebook group covers it, and a group is genuinely useful, but for keeping existing members updated, not for the jobs a website does. A group is closed or cluttered to a newcomer, hard to find in a search, and unconvincing to a potential sponsor, whereas a site welcomes newcomers, is findable when families search, and presents the club credibly to the sponsors that help fund it. So the group and the site do different jobs: the group serves your current members, and the site reaches everyone else, the searching families, the newcomers, the sponsors. And even word of mouth runs through the site, because a family who hears of you at the school gates still looks you up for the details, and families new to the area search cold, so a site catches the newcomers a group and word of mouth miss. Far from being replaced by a Facebook group, a good site does what the group cannot: it brings the world to your club.
So the real answer to does a sports club need a website is: yes, if you want to recruit and sustain the club, because families search for local clubs online and join the one that clearly welcomes newcomers, so being absent means being overlooked. And finding out costs just £99 up front: I build the site on spec, from £297, and you see it finished before you pay the rest, so you can look at your actual site, ready to welcome newcomers and be found, and decide from there, knowing the members and sponsors a good site brings more than cover the modest cost.
How it works
From message to live in four steps.
- 01
Message me
Tell me your trade and your town on WhatsApp. No forms to wade through, no call to book.
- 02
£99 to start
A £99 deposit gets your build going and comes off your quote. It covers some of the build time.
- 03
I build it, you see it
I build the whole site, framed around your work, and send it to you finished to look at.
- 04
Pay the rest, go live
Happy with it? You pay the balance, it goes live on your own domain, and it is yours to keep.
What you get
What a sports club site from me includes.
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Built on spec
I build it first and send it finished. You see the real thing before you decide, not a mock-up.
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Live in 7 days
From the go-ahead, your site is live within a week. No months of back and forth.
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On your own domain
It goes live in your name. You own the site and everything on it, with no lock-in.
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Genuinely fast
Static pages, no WordPress. Fast pages rank better and turn more visitors into calls.
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Found on Google
Built to be found in local search, with the plumbing done properly from day one.
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Looked after
Someone looks after it and changes it when you need. Two small edits a month, your listing kept current.
What it costs
A straight price.
From £297 to build it, first three months of Care included, then £49 a month.
You own the site outright and can stop the monthly plan whenever you like. Hosting is part of Care and Grow, so one of those keeps it online after the first three months, or you host it yourself. See the full pricing.
Common questions
Questions I get asked.
Does a sports club really need a website?
If you want to recruit new members and keep the club healthy, yes, because families search for local clubs online. A family looking for a club for their child, or an adult wanting to join, searches and chooses one they can see welcomes newcomers and is easy to join, so a club with no findable presence is overlooked. Without a site, you lose newcomers to a club they could find and understand.
Isn't a Facebook group enough for a sports club?
A Facebook group is good for keeping existing members updated, but it is closed or cluttered to a newcomer, hard to find in a search, and unconvincing to a sponsor, whereas a site welcomes newcomers, is findable, and presents the club credibly. So a group serves your members, but a site is how new families find you and how sponsors judge you. The two work together, the group for members, the site for the world.
Why do families look online for a sports club?
Because they want to find a local club for their child or themselves and see what it offers and how to join before turning up, so they search. They look for the teams, the age groups, the training and how to get started, and they choose a club that welcomes them clearly. A club with no findable, welcoming presence gives them nothing to go on, so they join one that does.
We recruit by word of mouth at the school gates. Do we still need a site?
Word of mouth helps, but even a family who hears of you looks you up to find the details and see the club, and families new to the area search cold. So a site both catches the searchers word of mouth misses and gives referred families the information they need, which a passing mention does not. It supports your word of mouth and reaches beyond it.
When could a sports club skip a website?
Realistically, only if you have all the players and members you want and never need to recruit or attract sponsors. Because families search for clubs online, most clubs without a findable site lose newcomers to those they can find. For any club wanting to grow or sustain itself, the case for a site is strong.
Is a website worth it for a small community sports club?
Often especially so, because a small club depends on recruiting new players and families to keep going, and a findable, welcoming site is exactly how it reaches them, at very low cost. A simple site can win a small club the newcomers and sponsors it needs to thrive, and the few members it recruits more than cover the modest cost.
How much does it cost to find out if a website is worth it?
Just £99 to start with me, and it comes off your quote. I build the whole site first and you see the finished thing before you pay the rest, from £297. So you are not gambling on a maybe, you are looking at the actual site for your club and deciding then. Given the newcomers and sponsors a good site brings, the risk of finding out is very low.
Tell me your town and I'll build you a sports club site on spec, so you can see it before you pay. Or read A Checkatrade alternative, see the full pricing, or get in touch.