A seasoned tournament director and founder of a sports organization, I have learned many things over the years about fund raising through golf tournaments, worthy of that learned through trial and error. My goal is to share what I’ve proven to work and to prevent others from making mistakes.
Let’s get started and talk about The Money! Begin by defining your goals :
1. How much money do you want to manufacture?
2. What do you want this tournament to do for your group?
3. Who is your audience?
4. Define a “successful outcome” in detail.
You have heard it before. If you don’t have a goal, how can you expect to reach it? Decide how much money you want or need to make with a tournament fund raiser. If you need less than $3,000, a tournament is noteworthy work for that amount. You may be better served with another vehicle to make money. Set your goals higher! If you need $5K – $100K, a tournament can work for you!
Golf tournaments seem to be increasing in popularity. But can you succeed with one? There is a difference between a few groups playing and a truly successful fund raising event. What does it take to make money?
The Approach
The event is a fund raiser first, golf tournament second. A tournament is just the vehicle to make you money. People aren’t just paying to play golf, they are donating to your cause. If you arrive this as a fund raiser first, you will have much more success. You cannot be stunned to ask for players or sponsorships. You must be willing to ask anyone and everyone for money.
The Committee
Do you have people enthusiastic who will donate or can work to get sponsors? Take a look at what you have right now. A well connected committee makes all the incompatibility in your fund raising dollars. Meet with your group to see who has potential sponsors TODAY as you are thinking about this. A safe rule is to have $5,000 in reliable sponsors or you will not make money and the tournament will not be worth the work. A successful tournament will have a committee of dedicated people determined to see that it is a success. The committee uses their individual contacts for potential sponsors. Therefore, it is best to have a well connected committee to the business community or those who can provide large sponsorships.
The Answer
If you have the come and the committee, you are on your way. After I meet with some groups, they decide a tournament is not for them at this time. It is better to know now than to put in all the work and not make the money you want and need.
There are tournaments that raise $1,500 and tournaments that raise $175K and they all take almost the same steps. So what is the difference between a tourney that nets $1,500 and one that is over $100K? Sponsorships versus single players.
Sponsorships make the difference
If you plan to market your tournament to single golfers and sign up friends, you will not make money. Here’s why; though the tournament fees you see are generally $100 or more, 90% of that goes to the course for green fees, the meal, the shirt or golfer give-aways, signs and the list goes on. You may make $10 per player. Even if you have a full group of 144 golfers, the most you will make on the fee is $1,440.
Selling sponsorships raises revenue significantly. Example: Selling five Corporate Foursomes at $1,000 each brings in $5,000, your cost is twenty golfers at $90. You acquire $3,200 with only twenty golfers so far. Sell ten sign sponsorships for $200 each, with a sign cost of $20, you will net $1,800. Now you detached only have twenty golfers and $5,000 in your pocket, with plenty more spaces to fill. And it grows from there.
Sell, sell, sell
It is essential to offer other opportunities to make money at the event. Running incidental contests and drawings offer additional revenue with no cost. Mulligans, tickets for drawings, betting holes, silent and live auctions all make great contributions to your bottom line. These will be discussed in greater detail later.
The Sponsors
If your sponsors are high profile businesses such as banks and law firms, they may get two to three golf tournament or fund raising invitations per week. Obviously they can’t and don’t play in all of them. So what can you do differently to have them play in yours?
The personal connection
Having a business or valid relationship with the potential sponsor is key. Your committee should have contacts that can garner a yes from many people. Good committee members include Rotary Club members, Chamber of Commerce members, local politicians, and large business leaders.
Follow up
You will not get many sponsors if you do not call or visit them after initial contact. If you simply send out invitations you will not have success. You must follow up continually until you have either a commitment or a “no”. I call three times before I will write it off. Sometimes they are getting a team together and want to wait until they have all the names before they call back. Don’t get discouraged. If you do this single thing, you will find at least 50% more players than by calling no one.
Who do you know
Ask for more names/leads from sponsors. Do they know of anyone else who might like to play? Another branch perhaps, or neighboring business? If you have two neighborhood banks in, this is also good leverage to get a third and forth.
Icy calling can bring in sponsors, and is a must. An example of how to do this is; “I am with the ABC Foundation and we are doing a golf tournament on June whatever. I noticed I have First Bank of Dexter and United Bank participating and wondered if your bank would like to join us as well”. Always ask for the president when cold calling. His or her assistant is just as valuable and should never be dismissed. The assistant can develop the difference in a sponsorship as he/she holds the key to whether you obtain to speak to the moral person. Explain why you are calling, and be ample. I have found assistants invaluable, and they know unbiased as much about what your chances are for a sponsorship are as anyone at the company.
Ask if the president is a golfer. If not, who in the company is? Maybe the CFO loves golf. See if you can be directed to their office instead. Though you are calling for a fund-raiser, it is helpful to mumble to someone who plays golf. They always want to play in tournaments, and if it turns out they cannot, they may try to get a donation for the tournament anyway.
Competition is everywhere and is driven by things we may not be aware of. Mr. Smith may have unbiased been lured from one bank to a senior position at another and now would like to flex his novel muscle in front of some old colleagues. You would be surprised! This works well with any type of business from insurance companies to bicycle shops.
After you have sent out the invitations, here is a sample follow up:
Prospect Script:
Hi, this is Jenna from the Welshire Historical Society. I am just following up to see if you received our tournament information?
If yes – Great, did you want me to reserve a foursome for you? It is filling up hasty and we don’t want to miss you.
Yes – Do you know the names of your players?
No – If the person says they do not want to reserve, listen to their reason. If they cannot play due to a scheduling conflict, would they like to buy a price sponsorship, make a straight donation? Could you offer a door prize or auction item? If you don’t ask for it, it probably won’t be offered. If they still say no, thank them and complete call.
If they have not received invitation
Can I fax/email you the information again? It is going to be a fun day! I will follow up tomorrow, or next week.
If they don’t have the names of their players just reserve four spots under the company name to launch. You can add them later.
Exclusivity
Do you have one bank that wants to commit early? Here’s where you can sell exclusivity; For $, I can offer your bank exclusivity and no other banks will be allowed to sponsor participate in the tournament. Make sure it is worth your while. I would not sell exclusivity for under $1,000. This works well with restaurants or bars, liquor companies, beer companies, soft drink companies. Examine some of your potential first sponsors and see what develops.
Sponsorships
Sponsorship levels depend on how much you want to raise and the market you are in. A good rule is to have at least five different levels of participation to near as many people as possible.
An example of a Scholarship Tournament:
Title Sponsor at $10,000 Co-presenting Sponsors at $5,000 Corporate Foursome Sponsors at $1,000 Hole or Signage Sponsorship $300 Single players $200
Knowing your vendors and contacts, you may choose to adjust the fees accordingly. No matter what the market, you will need at least five sponsors at the $1,000 level to make a tournament truly worthwhile.
Offering marketing opportunities on the course will help your sales of sponsorships. Example: An insurance company doing a hole sponsorship can send out a representative to offer a prize for a drawing. They collect business cards or believe out cards for the drawing to be held at the awards banquet. The insurance company now has dozens of new leads and can talk to people in a friendly environment. This can be true for many different types of businesses. Selling the hole sponsorships often requires a bit of creative marketing for those potential sponsors to see what they can gain.
What can you offer for the sponsorships?
Celebrities
Offering the golfer spots is just the beginning. Sponsorships most often include course signs, banners, press listings, brochure listings and so on. For the larger donors, being able to play with a celebrity is also a good draw and selling point. These can range from local to national, which can bring a higher level of interest in your event and will position your tourney apart from others in your plot.
To pair a large donor with a celebrity, I recommend selling a threesome with the VIP filling the fourth spot. However, you may also sell a foursome and have the celebrity be the fifth player. Be sure to see what the course rules are regarding this, as well as the availability for extra carts and drivers. For a few celebrity five player teams, there should not be much of a slow in play. I would not recommend five in all groups as play will be slower, particularly if there are over 120 players.
CAT AND DOG FOUNDATION MILLION DOLLAR CELEBRITY GOLF CLASSIC Sponsorship Opportunities
Presenting Sponsor - $20,000
Includes:
* Title naming rights
* 3 foursomes with one celebrity in each foursome
* 4 tables of eight for the Awards Dinner and Presentation Full page benefit cover of event program
* Logo an all print material (tickets/banners/course signs) 2 participants in the Million Dollar Hole in One event Display tent for sponsor, course signage
* Featured on website
* Listed on all press and media
St. Bernard Sponsor - $5,000
Includes:
* Two foursomes with celebrity in each foursome
* 2 tables of eight for the Awards Dinner and Presentation
* Full page in event program
* Banner and promotional rights at Pairing party and on the course Logo on all print material
* 1 participant in the Million Dollar Hole in One event
* Logo on all print material (tickets/banners/course signs) Featured on website
* Listed on all press and media
Tabby Cat Sponsor- $3,000
Includes:
* One foursome with a celebrity
* 1 table of eight for the Awards Dinner and Presentation Banner and promotional rights on the course
* Course signage
* Listing in event program
* Featured on website
Dalmatian Sponsor- $1,000
Includes:
* One foursome
* 1 table of eight for the Awards Dinner and Presentation Featured on website
* Course signage
* Listing in event program
Separate Pricing
Program ad space:
* Full page $1,000
* Half page $ 600
* Quarter page $ 400 Business card $ 200
* Awards Dinner $50 per person Single Golfer $175
* Million Dollar Hole in One Entry $50 Hole Signage Sponsorship $200
Setting the stage
You may notice the foundation is for cat and dogs, and the sponsorship names are using that theme. Be creative and use the name of your tournament and the purpose of the foundation to set the theme. Carry this through even on the mulligans. Instead of giving tickets as mulligans, give stickers of cats and dogs that the player puts on his/her shirt. Exercise your imagination and keep the theme going in all aspects of the event.
Tournament Day Preparation
The golf planning is the second aspect of your event, and just as distinguished as the fund raising. The golfing day is a climatic end to a hard road. If you have done everything well, the tournament should be the easy day. After all, the hard work is done!
Where, when, how
Setting a date is the first task. I usually start by picking the month, and then the day of the week that works best before picking a date. Picking a day is key to your audience. If you are looking at mostly business and corporate players, I would choose a weekday. Church groups and organizations drawing only from their members may want to choose a Saturday. I avoid. Sundays, as that is a family day for many people, making turnouts poor.
Weekdays work well for a number of reasons. Many companies see a tournament as a business function and do not use count these as days off. Another is hole sponsors who indeed are working also bask in a midweek tournament. A good compromise is a Friday afternoon tournament.
Determining where to hold the tournament
Many considerations need to be made for the location of your event. Do you need to have it in a particular city or county? Tournaments for a city or community entity should stay in the community they serve.
If you want a Saturday tournament, which courses allow tournaments on Saturday? Courses often reserve set days of the week and set times available. Find which course will work with your time desires. Typically, a shotgun start (all players tee off at the same time on different holes) will only be 7:30 am and 1 :30 pm.
Public or Private
You are choosing the level of your event, and what will best match your needs. Neither is better than the other in general. What you must determine is which offers what your group needs. If you want to be open to anyone who would like to play, public courses generally have lower green fees, which can make your entry fee low. My entry fees range from $65 to $250 per person. Review your audience and goals.
Public Course Pros
Typically, a public course will have less expensive green fees and offer more days available for tournament play. The dress code is typically more relaxed than private, allowing for non-collared shirts and denim shorts or pants. Players may be familiar with the course, making some more comfortable with play.
Public Course Cons
Staff services are microscopic so it is best to find out what is and is not included in the tournament fee. The course may be start for public play during your event. Course conditions will vary.
Private Course Pros
Private courses can command a higher registration and/or sponsorship fees if the course is members only. This means unless the player belongs or plays in a tournament there, they would not otherwise have access to play there. More services are offered, with more personalized attention given to your group. Course is usually closed and reserved for your group only. Course condition should be excellent.
Private Course Cons
Tournament days and times are limited, and fees are more expensive. Dress codes are strictly enforced, which may require a player to purchase appropriate attire from the pro shop before being allowed on the course.
Services
Courses offer different services. Here are some items to look for in determining how powerful you are getting for your tournament fees. Will the staff:
Produce pairing boards
Tally and post scores
Valet bags to carts
Print score cards
Print cart cards
Form rules sheet
Set up/take down course signs
Set up/take down contest holes
Provide beverage carts
Offer rental clubs
Take delivery of hole in one cars or allow them placed on the course Place hole in one cars or other prizes
Offer forecaddies
Provide volunteer carts
What to ask for
Deposit
You will book the course months before your tournament, and no sponsorship money is in yet. But the contract from the course says they need a $1,000 deposit now. What do you do? Ask the course to allow no deposit or a small deposit now, with the remainder at a future date. This is almost always negotiable.
Can the course offer you 15-30 days to pay in full after the tournament? Some sponsors may be outstanding at the time of play and this can buy you the time you need to collect.
Vendors
A sales point for some potential sponsors is the ability to offer their products for trial at the event. For example, a soda or beer company would like to do a sponsorship, and would like to have their product available for sampling on the course. Negotiating this will depend on the course policies on outside food and beverage, but there are facilities that will work with you. Don’t be afraid to ask!
Donated Food
Some courses will allow outside food vendors to back the lunch or dinner. Perhaps the Sub Shop or Steakhouse would like to donate lunch for the players. This will significantly save your costs, and give the restaurant ample exposure.
Tournament types
Shotgun, reverse shotgun and tee time play
How many players can I have?
A full shotgun is 144 players, having 8 players on each hole. Examine a slower round, at least 5 hours for this many golfers. Therefore you should be able to sell up to 36 foursomes. If you have over that, you will need to add an additional shotgun start. You can race a two day event at that point, or have a double shotgun in a single day.
Double shotgun tourneys
A double shotgun will accommodate up to 288 players in one day. You need to be prepared to have lunch available during the day, at least for the volunteers. You do not have to feed they players lunch, however you should make obvious the course restaurant offers lunch.
There are two ways to run a double. You may want treat the flights as separate groups completely, or have them combined. If separating them, you will have a luncheon banquet for the first flight with awards for those winners, then a dinner banquet with awards for those players. It is purely up to your preference.
Pairings - The good, the bad and the ugly
This is the game before the game. Pairings are not as easy and you need to pay conclude attention to them. Treat pairings delicately and you will be all the better for it the day of the event.
Believe it or not, some players score into arguments on the course. A day of fun can turn into a day of disaster if the players become unhappy with each other.
1. Do not put better players immediately behind slower ones. This causes frustration, which causes problems. They may obtain fidgety and tee off while the other team finishes the hole, causing an altercation to ensue.
2. If there are two companies who are putting in twosomes, AL WAYS clear the pairing with each other before the fmal pairings. Most will happily salvage, the ones that don’t can then be placed in a more suitable group.
Political Candidates/Elected officials/Local Celebrities
Be very cautious when candidates, officials or celebrities are playing. Be especially wary when placing them with other players. ALWAYS clear them with the potential partners. In fact all single partners should be cleared with each other, but this is especially true with political or high profile personalities. For example, DJ. Rick from 98.7FM is joining us for a day of fun. All the players love this guy and want to play with him because he’s a local celebrity, just? Wrong! Pair him up with Jeff Jones who hates Rick’s show and you have the makings of disaster.
Competitors
If you do have several of the same types of companies involved, do either space them out or separate for the pairings and signage on the course. Express competitors like Coke and Pepsi for instance, SHOULD NOT be placed near each other in either category. Indirect competitors such as a formal restaurant and a casual one may like to be placed near each other for pairing nnmo_e_
Hidden Money
Selling sponsorships to tournaments is just one way to bring in money for a tournament. However, there are many other “hidden” ways to bring in more money at the tournament. Once you have the players there, you can easily raise thousands more the day of the event.
Mulligans
Mulligans are simply a “get another shot free” card. The most common way to have mulligans at your tournament is to sell them at registration. Mulligans can be stickers players keep on their shirts, tickets, what ever your imagination can near up with. One tournament I do uses peanuts as mulligans.
Most players will buy mulligans. The type of tournament you have will dictate how many mulligans to sell to each player. For a very informal “fun” tournament, offer unlimited’ mulligans. I recommend selling them for $5 each. For a more competitive tournament with cash as prizes I would have a limit of two per player to make the playing field as even as possible.
You can recognize how if you have one hundred players and if eighty buy two mulligans each, you have made $800 with little effort. You will need one person selling mulligans at the check in region to make this successful. You can even offer mulligans for sale out on the course once the golfers are playing.
Drawings
Drawings are another enormous plot to make extra money on tournament day. I refrain from calling them raffles, as some states have strict rules governing tme raffles, including a license by the state. By running a “drawing”, you avoid this technicality.
One way to run a drawing is by giving each player a numbered designate upon check in. Let them know it is for a door prize drawing later. Then, at the awards banquet, offer more for sale, giving them better odds of winning. Or, you may not give out any free tickets and have a few great items available for a drawing. This makes it mandatory to purchase a brand if they want to win. You can sell the tickets for as puny as $1 or as much as you like,,depending on the prizes. Generally, I ask my winners must be present, as it makes things run quickly and eliminates trying to distribute prizes later.
Auctions
Silent Auctions
Silent auctions are simply auctions with bidding sheets that are run for a place time frame. This allows the players to view and assure on items at their leisure. During a tournament, most bidding will take place as players come in from playing. To ensure time to grunt, do not have the food ready immediately as they come in, but allow fifteen minutes of bidding time to start before serving. After the awards, have another five to ten minutes before closing the bidding, and announce a final close time when sheets will be pulled.
Live Auctions
Live auctions will have an auctioneer or someone facilitating the bidding process. I recommend having items worth $200 or more for live auctions. It is completely pretty to have a mixture of both auctions at an event, and I do this quite often. We offer lower priced items on the silent auction tables, and a few select larger items for the live auction. Previous auctions I have run in conjunction with a tournament have raised from $600 to $25,000.
Course Contests
Contests to consider are betting holes, longest drive, and putting contests. One way to set up a betting hole is to spend a par three and have a circle around the hole, in a 10ft radius. Players put in a minimum of $5 to have a chance to double their money back. If their drive is within the circle, they rep $10 back. Only about 1/3 of the players win with this game. And if they do win always ask if they would like to donate their winning back to the charity, most will if asked. For longest drives or any other contest on the course you may be running, have someone at the hole collecting money. Each player must pay for a chance at the contest. We have used this for the hole in one contests as well.
For a putting contest, it is best to run this before or after play. Ticket with tees on the putting green a launch area and a hole to put to. Have three balls and a putter as well. When the players arrive, charge a minimum of $5 for three chances to hit the ball in the hole for a prize.
Think of each player that arrives having $20 in his pocket, and think of modern opportunities to get each dollar. After all, this is a fund raiser!
Filed under Email Marketing Pro by on Jan 29th, 2012. Comment. 
A seasoned tournament director and founder of a sports organization, I have learned many things over the years about fund raising through golf tournaments, much of that learned through trial and error. My goal is to share what I’ve proven to work and to prevent others from making mistakes.
Let’s get started and talk about The Money! Begin by defining your goals :
1. How much money do you want to obtain?
2. What do you want this tournament to do for your group?
3. Who is your audience?
4. Define a “successful outcome” in detail.
You have heard it before. If you don’t have a goal, how can you expect to reach it? Decide how much money you want or need to develop with a tournament fund raiser. If you need less than $3,000, a tournament is much work for that amount. You may be better served with another vehicle to make money. Set your goals higher! If you need $5K – $100K, a tournament can work for you!
Golf tournaments seem to be increasing in popularity. But can you succeed with one? There is a difference between a few groups playing and a truly successful fund raising event. What does it take to make money?
The Approach
The event is a fund raiser first, golf tournament second. A tournament is just the vehicle to make you money. People aren’t just paying to play golf, they are donating to your cause. If you approach this as a fund raiser first, you will have much more success. You cannot be stunned to ask for players or sponsorships. You must be willing to ask anyone and everyone for money.
The Committee
Do you have people involved who will donate or can work to get sponsors? Rob a look at what you have right now. A well connected committee makes all the difference in your fund raising dollars. Meet with your group to see who has potential sponsors TODAY as you are thinking about this. A good rule is to have $5,000 in favorable sponsors or you will not manufacture money and the tournament will not be worth the work. A successful tournament will have a committee of dedicated people definite to peek that it is a success. The committee uses their individual contacts for potential sponsors. Therefore, it is best to have a well connected committee to the business community or those who can provide large sponsorships.
The Answer
If you have the approach and the committee, you are on your way. After I meet with some groups, they decide a tournament is not for them at this time. It is better to know now than to put in all the work and not make the money you want and need.
There are tournaments that raise $1,500 and tournaments that raise $175K and they all take almost the same steps. So what is the difference between a tourney that nets $1,500 and one that is over $100K? Sponsorships versus single players.
Sponsorships make the difference
If you plan to market your tournament to single golfers and sign up friends, you will not make money. Here’s why; though the tournament fees you see are generally $100 or more, 90% of that goes to the course for green fees, the meal, the shirt or golfer give-aways, signs and the list goes on. You may make $10 per player. Even if you have a chunky group of 144 golfers, the most you will obtain on the fee is $1,440.
Selling sponsorships raises revenue significantly. Example: Selling five Corporate Foursomes at $1,000 each brings in $5,000, your cost is twenty golfers at $90. You win $3,200 with only twenty golfers so far. Sell ten sign sponsorships for $200 each, with a impress cost of $20, you will win $1,800. Now you still only have twenty golfers and $5,000 in your pocket, with plenty more spaces to have. And it grows from there.
Sell, sell, sell
It is significant to offer other opportunities to make money at the event. Running incidental contests and drawings offer additional revenue with no cost. Mulligans, tickets for drawings, betting holes, restful and live auctions all make great contributions to your bottom line. These will be discussed in greater detail later.
The Sponsors
If your sponsors are high profile businesses such as banks and law firms, they may get two to three golf tournament or fund raising invitations per week. Obviously they can’t and don’t play in all of them. So what can you do differently to have them play in yours?
The personal connection
Having a business or friendly relationship with the potential sponsor is key. Your committee should have contacts that can garner a yes from many people. Good committee members include Rotary Club members, Chamber of Commerce members, local politicians, and large business leaders.
Follow up
You will not get many sponsors if you do not call or visit them after initial contact. If you simply send out invitations you will not have success. You must follow up continually until you have either a commitment or a “no”. I call three times before I will write it off. Sometimes they are getting a team together and want to wait until they have all the names before they call back. Don’t salvage discouraged. If you do this single thing, you will gain at least 50% more players than by calling no one.
Who do you know
Ask for more names/leads from sponsors. Do they know of anyone else who might like to play? Another branch perhaps, or neighboring business? If you have two neighborhood banks in, this is also genuine leverage to get a third and forth.
Cool calling can bring in sponsors, and is a must. An example of how to do this is; “I am with the ABC Foundation and we are doing a golf tournament on June whatever. I noticed I have First Bank of Dexter and United Bank participating and wondered if your bank would like to join us as well”. Always ask for the president when cold calling. His or her assistant is just as valuable and should never be dismissed. The assistant can make the difference in a sponsorship as he/she holds the key to whether you get to speak to the right person. Define why you are calling, and be friendly. I have found assistants invaluable, and they know impartial as remarkable about what your chances are for a sponsorship are as anyone at the company.
Ask if the president is a golfer. If not, who in the company is? Maybe the CFO loves golf. Scrutinize if you can be directed to their office instead. Though you are calling for a fund-raiser, it is helpful to speak to someone who plays golf. They always want to play in tournaments, and if it turns out they cannot, they may try to get a donation for the tournament anyway.
Competition is everywhere and is driven by things we may not be aware of. Mr. Smith may have just been lured from one bank to a senior situation at another and now would like to flex his new muscle in front of some obsolete colleagues. You would be surprised! This works well with any type of business from insurance companies to bicycle shops.
After you have sent out the invitations, here is a sample follow up:
Prospect Script:
Hi, this is Jenna from the Welshire Historical Society. I am unbiased following up to see if you received our tournament information?
If yes – Great, did you want me to reserve a foursome for you? It is filling up quickly and we don’t want to miss you.
Yes – Do you know the names of your players?
No – If the person says they do not want to reserve, listen to their reason. If they cannot play due to a scheduling conflict, would they like to buy a sign sponsorship, compose a straight donation? Could you offer a door prize or auction item? If you don’t ask for it, it probably won’t be offered. If they still say no, thank them and complete call.
If they have not received invitation
Can I fax/email you the information again? It is going to be a fun day! I will follow up tomorrow, or next week.
If they don’t have the names of their players just reserve four spots under the company name to start. You can add them later.
Exclusivity
Do you have one bank that wants to commit early? Here’s where you can sell exclusivity; For $, I can offer your bank exclusivity and no other banks will be allowed to sponsor participate in the tournament. Make sure it is worth your while. I would not sell exclusivity for under $1,000. This works well with restaurants or bars, liquor companies, beer companies, soft drink companies. Examine some of your potential first sponsors and see what develops.
Sponsorships
Sponsorship levels depend on how considerable you want to raise and the market you are in. A good rule is to have at least five different levels of participation to reach as many people as possible.
An example of a Scholarship Tournament:
Title Sponsor at $10,000 Co-presenting Sponsors at $5,000 Corporate Foursome Sponsors at $1,000 Hole or Signage Sponsorship $300 Single players $200
Knowing your vendors and contacts, you may decide to adjust the fees accordingly. No matter what the market, you will need at least five sponsors at the $1,000 level to make a tournament truly worthwhile.
Offering marketing opportunities on the course will help your sales of sponsorships. Example: An insurance company doing a hole sponsorship can send out a representative to offer a prize for a drawing. They collect business cards or fill out cards for the drawing to be held at the awards banquet. The insurance company now has dozens of unusual leads and can talk to people in a friendly environment. This can be true for many different types of businesses. Selling the hole sponsorships often requires a bit of creative marketing for those potential sponsors to glimpse what they can gain.
What can you offer for the sponsorships?
Celebrities
Offering the golfer spots is just the beginning. Sponsorships most often include course signs, banners, press listings, brochure listings and so on. For the larger donors, being able to play with a celebrity is also a good draw and selling point. These can range from local to national, which can bring a higher level of interest in your event and will set your tourney apart from others in your area.
To pair a large donor with a celebrity, I recommend selling a threesome with the VIP filling the fourth spot. However, you may also sell a foursome and have the celebrity be the fifth player. Be sure to see what the course rules are regarding this, as well as the availability for extra carts and drivers. For a few celebrity five player teams, there should not be much of a slow in play. I would not recommend five in all groups as play will be slower, particularly if there are over 120 players.
CAT AND DOG FOUNDATION MILLION DOLLAR CELEBRITY GOLF CLASSIC Sponsorship Opportunities
Presenting Sponsor - $20,000
Includes:
* Title naming rights
* 3 foursomes with one celebrity in each foursome
* 4 tables of eight for the Awards Dinner and Presentation Full page back cover of event program
* Logo an all print material (tickets/banners/course signs) 2 participants in the Million Dollar Hole in One event Note tent for sponsor, course signage
* Featured on website
* Listed on all press and media
St. Bernard Sponsor - $5,000
Includes:
* Two foursomes with celebrity in each foursome
* 2 tables of eight for the Awards Dinner and Presentation
* Full page in event program
* Banner and promotional rights at Pairing party and on the course Logo on all print material
* 1 participant in the Million Dollar Hole in One event
* Logo on all print material (tickets/banners/course signs) Featured on website
* Listed on all press and media
Tabby Cat Sponsor- $3,000
Includes:
* One foursome with a celebrity
* 1 table of eight for the Awards Dinner and Presentation Banner and promotional rights on the course
* Course signage
* Listing in event program
* Featured on website
Dalmatian Sponsor- $1,000
Includes:
* One foursome
* 1 table of eight for the Awards Dinner and Presentation Featured on website
* Course signage
* Listing in event program
Separate Pricing
Program ad space:
* Bulky page $1,000
* Half page $ 600
* Quarter page $ 400 Business card $ 200
* Awards Dinner $50 per person Single Golfer $175
* Million Dollar Hole in One Entry $50 Hole Signage Sponsorship $200
Setting the stage
You may stare the foundation is for cat and dogs, and the sponsorship names are using that theme. Be creative and employ the name of your tournament and the purpose of the foundation to set the theme. Carry this through even on the mulligans. Instead of giving tickets as mulligans, give stickers of cats and dogs that the player puts on his/her shirt. Use your imagination and keep the theme going in all aspects of the event.
Tournament Day Preparation
The golf planning is the second aspect of your event, and just as important as the fund raising. The golfing day is a climatic end to a hard road. If you have done everything well, the tournament should be the easy day. After all, the hard work is done!
Where, when, how
Setting a date is the first task. I usually start by picking the month, and then the day of the week that works best before picking a date. Picking a day is key to your audience. If you are looking at mostly business and corporate players, I would choose a weekday. Church groups and organizations drawing only from their members may want to choose a Saturday. I avoid. Sundays, as that is a family day for many people, making turnouts abominable.
Weekdays work well for a number of reasons. Many companies see a tournament as a business function and do not utilize count these as days off. Another is hole sponsors who indeed are working also appreciate a midweek tournament. A beneficial compromise is a Friday afternoon tournament.
Determining where to hold the tournament
Many considerations need to be made for the location of your event. Do you need to have it in a particular city or county? Tournaments for a city or community entity should stay in the community they serve.
If you want a Saturday tournament, which courses allow tournaments on Saturday? Courses often reserve status days of the week and set times available. Find which course will work with your time desires. Typically, a shotgun originate (all players tee off at the same time on different holes) will only be 7:30 am and 1 :30 pm.
Public or Private
You are choosing the level of your event, and what will best match your needs. Neither is better than the other in general. What you must choose is which offers what your group needs. If you want to be open to anyone who would like to play, public courses generally have lower green fees, which can make your entry fee uncouth. My entry fees range from $65 to $250 per person. Review your audience and goals.
Public Course Pros
Typically, a public course will have less expensive green fees and offer more days available for tournament play. The dress code is typically more relaxed than private, allowing for non-collared shirts and denim shorts or pants. Players may be familiar with the course, making some more comfortable with play.
Public Course Cons
Staff services are petite so it is best to find out what is and is not included in the tournament fee. The course may be begin for public play during your event. Course conditions will vary.
Private Course Pros
Private courses can insist a higher registration and/or sponsorship fees if the course is members only. This means unless the player belongs or plays in a tournament there, they would not otherwise have access to play there. More services are offered, with more personalized attention given to your group. Course is usually closed and reserved for your group only. Course condition should be excellent.
Private Course Cons
Tournament days and times are limited, and fees are more expensive. Dress codes are strictly enforced, which may require a player to purchase appropriate attire from the pro shop before being allowed on the course.
Services
Courses offer different services. Here are some items to survey for in determining how much you are getting for your tournament fees. Will the staff:
Effect pairing boards
Tally and post scores
Valet bags to carts
Print gather cards
Print cart cards
Produce rules sheet
Set up/take down course signs
Set up/take down contest holes
Provide beverage carts
Offer rental clubs
Take delivery of hole in one cars or allow them placed on the course Place hole in one cars or other prizes
Offer forecaddies
Provide volunteer carts
What to ask for
Deposit
You will book the course months before your tournament, and no sponsorship money is in yet. But the contract from the course says they need a $1,000 deposit now. What do you do? Ask the course to allow no deposit or a petite deposit now, with the remainder at a future date. This is almost always negotiable.
Can the course offer you 15-30 days to pay in full after the tournament? Some sponsors may be outstanding at the time of play and this can buy you the time you need to collect.
Vendors
A sales point for some potential sponsors is the ability to offer their products for trial at the event. For example, a soda or beer company would like to do a sponsorship, and would like to have their product available for sampling on the course. Negotiating this will depend on the course policies on outside food and beverage, but there are facilities that will work with you. Don’t be afraid to ask!
Donated Food
Some courses will allow outside food vendors to back the lunch or dinner. Perhaps the Sub Shop or Steakhouse would like to donate lunch for the players. This will significantly save your costs, and give the restaurant great exposure.
Tournament types
Shotgun, reverse shotgun and tee time play
How many players can I have?
A full shotgun is 144 players, having 8 players on each hole. Expect a slower round, at least 5 hours for this many golfers. Therefore you should be able to sell up to 36 foursomes. If you have over that, you will need to add an additional shotgun start. You can run a two day event at that point, or have a double shotgun in a single day.
Double shotgun tourneys
A double shotgun will accommodate up to 288 players in one day. You need to be prepared to have lunch available during the day, at least for the volunteers. You do not have to feed they players lunch, however you should make definite the course restaurant offers lunch.
There are two ways to urge a double. You may want treat the flights as separate groups completely, or have them combined. If separating them, you will have a luncheon banquet for the first flight with awards for those winners, then a dinner banquet with awards for those players. It is purely up to your preference.
Pairings - The good, the bad and the ugly
This is the game before the game. Pairings are not as easy and you need to pay close attention to them. Treat pairings delicately and you will be all the better for it the day of the event.
Believe it or not, some players catch into arguments on the course. A day of fun can turn into a day of disaster if the players become heart-broken with each other.
1. Do not put better players immediately behind slower ones. This causes frustration, which causes problems. They may get fidgety and tee off while the other team finishes the hole, causing an altercation to ensue.
2. If there are two companies who are putting in twosomes, AL WAYS clear the pairing with each other before the fmal pairings. Most will happily find, the ones that don’t can then be placed in a more suitable group.
Political Candidates/Elected officials/Local Celebrities
Be very cautious when candidates, officials or celebrities are playing. Be especially wary when placing them with other players. ALWAYS clear them with the potential partners. In fact all single partners should be cleared with each other, but this is especially true with political or high profile personalities. For example, DJ. Rick from 98.7FM is joining us for a day of fun. All the players love this guy and want to play with him because he’s a local celebrity, right? Noxious! Pair him up with Jeff Jones who hates Rick’s show and you have the makings of disaster.
Competitors
If you do have several of the same types of companies involved, do either space them out or separate for the pairings and signage on the course. Direct competitors like Coke and Pepsi for instance, SHOULD NOT be placed near each other in either category. Indirect competitors such as a formal restaurant and a casual one may like to be placed near each other for pairing nnmo_e_
Hidden Money
Selling sponsorships to tournaments is objective one way to bring in money for a tournament. However, there are many other “hidden” ways to bring in more money at the tournament. Once you have the players there, you can easily raise thousands more the day of the event.
Mulligans
Mulligans are simply a “get another shot free” card. The most common blueprint to have mulligans at your tournament is to sell them at registration. Mulligans can be stickers players put on their shirts, tickets, what ever your imagination can come up with. One tournament I do uses peanuts as mulligans.
Most players will buy mulligans. The type of tournament you have will dictate how many mulligans to sell to each player. For a very informal “fun” tournament, offer unlimited’ mulligans. I recommend selling them for $5 each. For a more competitive tournament with cash as prizes I would have a limit of two per player to make the playing field as even as possible.
You can see how if you have one hundred players and if eighty buy two mulligans each, you have made $800 with runt effort. You will need one person selling mulligans at the check in station to effect this successful. You can even offer mulligans for sale out on the course once the golfers are playing.
Drawings
Drawings are another great way to make extra money on tournament day. I refrain from calling them raffles, as some states have strict rules governing tme raffles, including a license by the place. By running a “drawing”, you avoid this technicality.
One design to run a drawing is by giving each player a numbered ticket upon check in. Let them know it is for a door prize drawing later. Then, at the awards banquet, offer more for sale, giving them better odds of winning. Or, you may not give out any free tickets and have a few big items available for a drawing. This makes it mandatory to purchase a ticket if they want to win. You can sell the tickets for as little as $1 or as much as you like,,depending on the prizes. Generally, I ask my winners must be present, as it makes things run quickly and eliminates trying to distribute prizes later.
Auctions
Silent Auctions
Silent auctions are simply auctions with bidding sheets that are run for a set time frame. This allows the players to view and bid on items at their leisure. During a tournament, most bidding will take place as players come in from playing. To ensure time to bid, do not have the food ready immediately as they near in, but allow fifteen minutes of bidding time to start before serving. After the awards, have another five to ten minutes before closing the bidding, and reveal a final close time when sheets will be pulled.
Live Auctions
Live auctions will have an auctioneer or someone facilitating the bidding process. I recommend having items worth $200 or more for live auctions. It is completely fine to have a mixture of both auctions at an event, and I do this quite often. We offer lower priced items on the silent auction tables, and a few select larger items for the live auction. Previous auctions I have run in conjunction with a tournament have raised from $600 to $25,000.
Course Contests
Contests to consider are betting holes, longest drive, and putting contests. One way to set up a betting hole is to use a par three and have a circle around the hole, in a 10ft radius. Players put in a minimum of $5 to have a chance to double their money help. If their drive is within the circle, they win $10 back. Only about 1/3 of the players come by with this game. And if they do obtain always ask if they would like to donate their winning back to the charity, most will if asked. For longest drives or any other contest on the course you may be running, have someone at the hole collecting money. Each player must pay for a chance at the contest. We have used this for the hole in one contests as well.
For a putting contest, it is best to run this before or after play. Mark with tees on the putting green a start area and a hole to set aside to. Have three balls and a putter as well. When the players arrive, charge a minimum of $5 for three chances to hit the ball in the hole for a prize.
Think of each player that arrives having $20 in his pocket, and believe of unique opportunities to get each dollar. After all, this is a fund raiser!
Filed under Email Marketing Pro by on Oct 26th, 2011. Comment.
So you’ve written a poem or short story and you’d like to have it published, but you don’t know which magazine would be the best fit. You could examine through Writer’s Market, but at more than one thousand pages, the task is overwhelming. Luckily, there are many sources online that make the process of finding the right market for your work a little easier. Here are six:
New Pages
Modern Pages (www.newpages.com) lists literary magazines, independent publishers, alternative publishers, and more. Click the links in the left sidebar to see separate lists for print, online, and alternative magazines. Sponsored magazines in each list will appear along with descriptions, which include the cost and size of the magazine (if it’s print), frequency of publication, website address, contact information, and previous contributors. Click on “Complete List” in the right sidebar for hundreds more, all with links to the magazines’ websites.
New Pages also has a contest page, which includes the magazine name and genre, the deadline, and a link the magazine’s site. Don’t forget to take a look at the review page where New Pages posts reviews of specific issues of magazines to help writers get a feel for the style and tastes of the editors.
Laura Hird
Laura Hird’s website (www.laurahird.com) showcases both individual writers and magazines. Click on “Lit Mag of the Season” to accept to Lit Mag Central. Here you’ll find one magazine featured each season, along with a list of other literary magazines, both online and print, which can be shown alphabetically. Listings include a description of what each magazine is looking for and a link to the website.
Laura Hird also has a review share, which features “Microscopic Press Roundup” and “Best of the Small Press” columns written by Kara Kellar Bell. There are also reviews of specific magazine issues which describe what each magazine looks like and the style and genre of the stories. These reviews also discuss specific stories within the magazines to give writers a feel for what the magazine is looking for in submissions. Be sure to read the discussion board, as well, where writers talk about everything music and writing related.
Ralan’s Webstravaganza
Ralan’s Webstravaganza (www.ralan.com) specializes in humor and speculative fiction, but lists other genres, as well. Speculative fiction, also known as specfic, consists of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. The sidebar on the lawful lists links to market categories, including response time, genre (general, adult, humor), and pay rate. Markets are listed alphabetically within these categories.
The latest news and new markets are posted at the top of each category page. Below that is the regular market list, which includes pay rate, genre, date of the last publication, type of submission (email or snail mail), deadlines, and market notes for each magazine.
The sidebar to the right also has links to helpful writing information such as associations, classes, online writing groups, contests, and articles about marketing and submissions.
Spicy Green Iguana
Keen Green Iguana (www.spicygreeniguana.com) specializes in speculative and alternative magazines. Their market lists are categorized by print, online, pro, semi-pro, and small press. Magazine descriptions, which are listed alphabetically within each category, include contact information, genre, word count and payment range, frequency of publication, any applicable market notes, and links to the magazines’ sites.
The sidebar to the left contains a link to “Spicy News,” which lists contests and other information. The resource allotment includes links to newsletters, articles, and critique groups. There is also a forum where writers discuss markets.
Writer’s Planner
Writer’s Planner (www.writersplanner.com) is the newest of the bunch. Writers create personal accounts where they can store their work, track current submissions, and plan future submissions. The Writer’s Planner market list is collected growing and users can add magazines as they go along. The market list is alphabetical and include links to Duotrope’s statistics, along with general information and links to magazine websites.
Duotrope
Duotrope (www.duotrope.com) is one of the most comprehensive market lists on the internet. It includes well over a thousand markets of all genres, updated once daily. Markets are categorized by short fiction, poetry, and novels/collections. Within each category is a detailed search function, which includes genre, word count, pay range, and submission type. Users can also search the list alphabetically. Each magazine on the list has its own page, which includes genre, market notes, pay range, response time and acceptance statistics, and a link to the magazine.
Writers can create user accounts, which allow them to track their submissions. The submission tracker includes the estimated response time as provided by individual magazines and the average response time as reported by Duotrope users. The submission tracker will also notify the user if a submission has been out for longer than the expected amount of time so the writer can send a status ask to the magazine.
Writers have a control panel in their account which lists the number of submissions sent out and how many are still pending. It also lists their favorite markets, markets on their ignore list, and where they’ve sent submissions.
At the top of Duotrope’s webpage is a “What’s Original” link. This link shows recently added markets, along with updates on already listed magazines. It also lists all market responses reported by users in the last seven days.
The Theme Calendar lists upcoming publication themes and contests. It also shows how many days are left before each deadline. Writers can click the “Track This!” link to add specific themes and contests to their personal control panel.
With all the information available at these sites, you should be well on your way to finding the right market for your masterpiece. Good luck and enjoy the process.
Filed under Email Marketing Pro by on Dec 30th, 2010. Comment.
Contents;
1. What Should You Do Online?
2. A Guide To Blogging
3. A Guide To Making A Website
4. A Guide To Home Business
5. A Guide To Audio Production
6. A Guide To Video Production
7. A Guide To Photography
8. A Guide To Game Development
Chapter 1- What Should You Do Online?
It’s the question everyone asks themselves before going into online business. The Internet has become a place of Gigantic income potential over the last few years. Now you’re wondering, “If it’s such a great station to make money, how come so few people are doing it? “. There are alot more people than you might realize making huge amounts of money online. Objective about every website on the internet has Ads on it. Thats right, those irritating banners at the top of your current site, trying to originate you do offers for a free Television. Lots of people click those, and every time it is clicked, the web owner(s) make money on that click. I’ll go over how you can make money from this strategy in my next chapter on blogging and website making. Now, if you’re not the person who wants to create a website or blog, there is still a huge potential income for you. If you’re talented enough, you can make a ton more money than blogs and websites. Audio, Video, Photography, Gaming, Software, Computers, it’s all the future. It’s no secret that people like comfort, and people are willing to pay to be entertained with your product. No matter what you want to do, all of the things covered in this LONG article, are things that will only grow in potential as entertainment becomes the main source of society. So Read on, or skip to the chapter that covers what you want to learn. I’ve gathered this info since I was Nine years old, and after all these many years, I am just beginning to reap the benifits. It takes work, and dedication. And if you have that, you can be something titanic.
Chapter 2: A Guide To Blogging
Intro
Over the last few years, the internet has absolutly exploded with blogs. Heck you’ve probably seen specials on the news about blogging. So what is blogging exactly? Basically it’s just a watered down website, which makes it really easy to use and design changes each day. Why would you want to create a blog? Blogs are a vast way to originate a splash online because you basically catch a free website, with no ads. Places that offer free websites always put their own ads on the page, so they can detached make money on your website they gave you. Most blogs don’t have ads on them, which entitles you to establish your own on it.
How To Make Money
There are many ways to form money blogging. First and foremost, is whats known as affiliate marketing. This kind of marketing is one of the most popular forms of money making on the web today. It even pays peoples livings in many peoples cases. So how does affilliate marketing work? Basically you allow a company to advertise on your residence, and you regain paid for it. Most affilliate deals allow it to where you pick up paid per click on their ad from your site. Now this may not sound very salubrious. (The pay per click can range from .25 to like $1.00 for starting affiliates. Im not a hundred percent sure on that, but if I remember right, that was the standard last time I looked. What you have to aim for is making your blog be seen by the masses. Unbiased because you have a blog on the internet, doesn’t mean it is going to indicate up in google’s search engine on even the first 10 pages. You have to advertise your blog. One great reccomendation I have is joining online Message Boards (Forums). Make a few friends, and then put up a post asking what they think of your blog or something like that. That used to score me hundreds of extra views for each of the forums I put them in.
Get Your Blog and Decide What To Do It On
So you like the way blogging sounds right? Now it’s time for the hard part. First, you need to setup a blog with a good blogging company. The ones I can personally reccomend are Blogger.com (Great for beginners) and WordPress.com (a little more advanced). There are others like Typepad.com and of course a Myspace blog. But the first two I gave, I feel are the best. And of course they are free. Blogger even has built in abet for Google Adsense. Which is what I will discuss in the next part of this chapter. Before that is discussed, you need to get an idea of what you will blog about, which is what keeps most people from making successful blogs. Don’t create a blog on your life (unless you do something really interesting) because people don’t typically care to be honest. The best arrangement to go about it is to create a niche blog. A niche blog is a blog created around a centered topic, like Video Games, or Arts and Crafts. Creating a site like this brings in people interested in that topic, and if you have interesting enough articles, they will come back often. You MUST update these types of blogs regularly, about 4 times a day will suffice. Do you think Perez Hilton’s blog made him a millionaire because he updated it once a day? ………..No. It takes work. The other type of blog I can really recommend requires you to be smart. Yup, you have to know something to make this kind of blog. Do you know how to scheme well? Accomplish a blog on how to draw things. Do you know how to program? Effect a blog about programming. Have great ideas on how to make money? Construct a blog about it.
Get Affilliates
So where do you get the affilliates for your advertising? Occupy it or not, the answer has been right under your nose for sometime now. Ever been to E-bay? Scroll down to the bottome of the page, and click Affilliates. There you go, sign up an account and achieve their ads on your site. Go to all your favorite sites and look at the bottom of their pages for how to become an affilliate of them. Most major websites do this. The other type of affilliate marketing I reccommend is the most popular. Ever go to your favorite site, and see a box that says ads by google or something like that? It’s called google AdSense. Basically you heed up for Google AdSense and become an affilliate of google, which is an affilliate of a ton of other places. AdSense only displays ads relative to what your place is about. Which is why it is important to procure a niche for your site.
In Conclusion
Like I’ve pointed out, all the guides I put in this article are handsome basic ways to get started in the online industries. So this is a basic guide to blogging. From here you can go wherever your success takes you.
Main Points To Remember About Blogging;
Find a Blog Company that satisfies your needs. (ex; blogspot.com, wordpress.com)
Make a niche blog that centers on a kind of content. (ex; Video Games, Arts and Crafts)
Find Affilliates to team up with to get paid on a payperclick basis.(ex; Ebay.com, Walmart.com, Google Adsense)
Keep updating your blog at least 4 times a day, bringing current, interesting content on your subject.
Chapter 3- A Guide To Making A Website
Intro
So if making a blog is so easy, why make a website? They work essentially the same way, both use affilliate marketing to make money. The thing about a website is, it can be expanded to be mighty bigger than a blog. Most blogs that become really successful, switch over to being a website eventually. The more content you have, the larger and better organized site you need. And if you wan’t to initiate an online business, a blog is out of the question. One thing that needs to be realized about a website, is that it is something your really can’t do for free and still make money on it. All the many places on the net that give your free websites (Tripod.com, Freewebs.com, ect.) all put ads on the site they give you and basically prevent you from putting your own ads on it to make money. They also make you use a subdomain. So instead of “Scottsreallycool.com” you site would be something like “Scottsreallycool.tripod.com” This makes your website look REALLY unprofessional and I highly reccommend you don’t even try it as it is just a waste of time.
Get A Domain Name and Hosting Account
So here is basically the first step. Find a company that offers Domain Names and Web Hosting. What is a domain name? www.google.com. That is a domain name. It is important to have an actual domain name instead of a sub domain name, like “www.scottscool.tripod.com”. Domain names either cost a flat yearly fee, probably around $6.00 to $10.00, or come free with your web hosting fable. There are so many places to do web hosting it isn’t even funny. So now I’ll obvious up which ones are the best for what you may need.
If you are a beginner that needs wait on building your site
www.1and1.com (These guys will host your site and give you a free domain name for only $4.94 a month, my highest reccomendation.)
Yahoo Web Hosting (I can’t remember the exact address, look it up, it’s worth it. Yahoo gives you the unimaginable UNLIMITED amount of region for your site and is only $11.95 a month.)
www.Tripod.com (They aren’t the best by any means. Their prices aren’t all that great and you don’t accumulate a whole lot of disk space, but they have a really sterling website builder that I like alot.)
If you are building you own website and just need a location to upload it to the internet
www.bluehost.com (These guys seriously give you a TON of situation for your website for an extremely suited heed. I think it was either $4.94 or $6.94. You gather an over a Terabyte of space for that tiny notice.)
www.hostgator.com (I think their prices are about the same as Blue hosts, and you get a little less space, but I have heard alot of people like their service.)
Ways To Build You Site
There are three main ways to make a website. The first (and easiest) is to utilize a the online site builder that one of the beginner hosting sites I listed offers. These site builders let you do all your region building without any programming knowledge and you do it all directly on the website while it is already on the internet. This perform it very snappily to create a website, and it looks good too considering these websites give whats known as templates. Templates basically manufacture the design of your region with the click of a button, all of the sites I listed in the beginner section offer them.
The second way is to build the site yourself using whats known as a WYSIWYG editor, a.k.a What You See Is What You Obtain. My reccommended editors are Ewisoft Website Builder, and Web Page Maker. They are both really easy to use, and require no programming. They both also have good template designs, but also let you build your believe design from scratch. Once you have a website built with them, just click the publish button in them to send them to the domain you have at one of Advanced hosts I listed above. Its really as simple as that.
The third arrangement is the most expensive way, but can also make your site stand out BIGTIME. If you really thing your position is going to do well, you might want to hire a Website Designer. I never did use one, but I’ve seen some of their work and it really does look gracious. If your interested in this, I reccommend honest typing in “website designer” in google and looking through Google’s sponsored results, (to effect sure you get a legit company). Designs can go from very cheap, up to around $10,000. So choose what you need.
What Should I Do My Place On?
Thats entirely up to you. I will point out that once again, you should secure a niche to build your dwelling around. Choose a center point of content to consume. The problem still remains though that most of the really good ideas have already been done to death. Mabey you want to make a Video Game website. Ign.com and Gamespot.com, and Gametrailers.com basically have those sections dominated. Sure you can make a decent site that might generate some viewers, but what can you offer to make your site different from the thousands that already do that same thing? Think of content, or ways you can differientiate yourself. Offer contests, free stuff, ways for the community to interact, interesting videos or something like that.
Main Points of Making A Website
Decide what you site should be about, and a good design for it.
Find a reliable hosting company. (ex; www.1and1.com, www.yahoo.com, www.bluehost.com, www.hostgator.com).
Build a website around a niche using either the online editor with the hosting company you are using or an offline editor like Web Page Maker.
Find ways to make your site stand out.
Integrate Affilliate marketing into your dwelling.
Chapter 4: A Guide to Home Business
Intro
Home-based business….it’s what everybody wants to do. Why not? You net to work from home, it takes distinguished less work and money than opening a retail store, and its easy to earn money. There are many difficulties involved too though. Where are you going to get products cheap enough to sell for more? How are you going to find noticed on the net? How are you going to get products to your customers? And the question I myself forgot to think about; How will accept their payments? All of this is covered in this lovely chapter.
Where To Bag Your Products From?
There are many, many ways to get good products cheap in this world. Most of them just so happen to be hidden from you sight unfortunatly. Their are two main ways that I have found that help you get products for your business. The first is whats known as a drop-shipper. Here’s how dropshipping works basically; you advertise a product they offer at a higher price than what they sell it for, (which can sometimes be very cheap) and once a customer places an order for it, you simply place the order from the company, and the company sends it directly to the customer. What is great about dropshippers? You don’t have to buy up any inventory, and you don’t have to mess with shipping your products. What’s bad about it? Alot of dropshippers are scams, and you also have to still deal with returns of products from customers. There are alot of exact dropshippers though. They hide from the public because they only want to deal with business’ instead of silly accepted people that don’t know what they are doing. So how do you derive these places? My best reccommendation would be a site known as www.worldwidebrands.com. This place lets you pay a flat fee for a lifetime membership to their archive of legitimate dropshippers. They also have many tools to help with marketing. This is also a space I’ve had reccommended to me by people I know, so it’s one I can say is real.
The other place I reccommend to get products from, and probably the most legitimate, is the only and only ebay.com. Go ahead, click on the categories tab on the top of the ebay website. You’ll notice that most of the main categories have a wholesale lot option. This shows you the superb business-y stuff. You can bag unbelievable deals from doing this. For example, you can buy a lot of 5 computers for $1000. Then sell each of them for $500 a peice. It’s an expensive price to pay, but if you do your homework on the profit possibilities, it can be an amazing thing. Heck while you’re there, make an ebay store. Ebay quiet makes people huge incomes impartial selling junk. Bags of sand have sold on ebay for money! Almost anything you put up for a reasonable note, can be sold.
How To Get A Website For Your Business
Sure you could try to use a cheap-o personal website package from a hoster for you business website. But that would just be stupid and unprofessional. The best and easiest way to go about it, is to get whats know by some as an e-store. Yes, these are expensive. Most range about $15.00 a month for one that sucks, to $50.00 a month one that actually works. Both Yahoo and 1and1.com offer e-stores. The large thing about getting an estore is that it comes prebuilt with all the things you would normally have to work hard to do. It integrates payment methods into your site. Paying the proper price for an e-store gives your customers the options to pay with credit cards, paypal, checks, ect. Which is something customers EXPECT. Most people don’t want to do money orders online. Another thing an e-store gives you is probably the most important. SECURITY. Your customers aren’t going to put their credit card numbers on the web unless they are in a secure sever. Ever notice that little lock symbol that appears in your browser when you are paying for somthing, at say, Walmart.com. That shows that you are in an encrypted status that hackers can’t gawk. Make sure when choosing an e-store package, that you get one that has SSL securtiy or something like that to protect your customers.
In Conclusion
Making a business online is a really smart move on your part. It’s the future. People are lazy and will only get more that plan over time. People want a way to do their shopping from the comfort of thier own home, and thats what online business’ do. There are alot of difficulties, like dealing with returns, finding products, and that sort of thing. But with the right determination, you can make ALOT of money and continue making it as we progress into a more digital age.
Main Points of Making An Online Business
Think of a product that will sell, why not look at other sites and see what they make the most money on.
Choose the upright package from your webhost! It must have easy ways for customers to pay, and get environments for those payments.
Only deal with dropshippers you TRULY believe are legit. If you have any doubts, dont do it. You can always try my example of www.worldwidebrands.com.
Be prepared to deal with customer returns and that sort of thing. Discuss these with the dropshipper before you sign up with them.
HAVE PHONE SERVICE!!! Your customers want to have someone to call if they have trouble. Don’t use Email support. Use Email Support AND Phone Service.
Chapter 5: Audio Production
Intro
So you treasure music, but you want to turn your passion into something more. Where do you start? I know I used to gawk MTV shows and see the music stars say that you have to be born with musical talent to be able to do it. That’s not the slightest bit true, but it music is something you have to be able to feel to do moral. It sounds lame, but you’ll understand as you progress. So how do you get in the groove?
Where To Start
First I’d reccommend downloading a free “Wave Editor”. There are many of them around, so just google it and collect the one that suits you. I’d reccommend using XPS Audio Studio. It’s what I started out with. Now you can’t expect to be able to do many things with a wave editor. Basically all you can do is take .wave music files (which are typically what you get when you record sounds) and edit them in simple ways. Try recording youself playing an instrument with a microphone attatched to the pink hole next to where your computer speakers are connected. If you dont have a microphone, most normal headphones you listen to music with will work. After you have recorded it, just take time to try different editing effects on it, like tuning the Equalizer, adding echo, reverb, distortion, ect. This may seem like a silly task, but it is what I would consider to be a very important step for a beginning musician. It helps show you some of the effects you will come to know with better editing programs.
I’ve Got A Basic Understanding, Now What?
Now you need to be sure of the genre you want to do. (Rap, pop, rock, metal, techno, ect.) Then find programs to exercise your abilities in them.The first and foremost thing you need is whats known as a music arranger. These programs let you lay out your songs using a thing known as “loops”. You will come to stare loops as one of your main tools in sound production. A loop is simply a certain melody of sound that you can replay over and over again. Need an thought of what a loop is? Listen to any rap song, the piano in the background, the synth you hear chimeing away, those are music loops. Using them makes your music get produced much easier and is basically madatory if you are going to be Rap or Techno. A music program I would reccommend that you can get for free is known as “Sony Acid Express”. Its a great music arranger, and costs you nothing. You simply drag loops into the arranger and stretch them out to the sizes you need.
Ready To Make Real Music?
I’ll impartial be honest, the odds of you becoming a musician from a free budget are very low. You need good tools to form good music. If you are a rocker, you need things like a Guitar, or a software guitar like Fruity Loop’s Studios’ “Slayer”. If you are doing techno, you are basically fully based on software instruments. Try some of these, “Fruity Loops Studio”, “Decka-Dance”, “Rapture”, “Sonar 7″. Those are few good music studios that can help you out alot. All of those are really great for rap music too. Although, alot of rappers use whats known as a production area. These are extremely expensive tools, (ranging from $299-over $1000.) but they also make immense rap music easily. If you really want to do good in music, you need tools like these. The best place to get them that I can reccommend is GuitarCenter.com. It has a perfect selection of all of these things, and has good prices.
How Do I Get Noticed?
More and more big time musicians are coming from the internet. Artists like Sean Kingston, Timbaland, and others all got their start from the net. It just so happens that place that they came from is none other than the notorious Myspace.com. If you are ready for the world to gaze you, then head to Myspace.com and start an artist yarn and get your music uploaded to it. If you wan’t other places to help get noticed, there are many other great websites out there. Try places like Fuzz.com and Garageband.com.
In Conclusion
There is alot of great money in Audio Production now-a-days. You could go for the big time and try to become a famous music artist, make a sell music loops for other artists to utilize, or mabey make music for movies and commercials. If you REALLY want to do something in music, you should probably invest money in it and go big.
Main Points of Being An Audio Producer
Get a feel for music, learn how to design attractive sounds using good effects and such.
Use good music arrangers to design your music. (Sony Acid Pro, Magix Music Maker, ect.)
Find reliable software studios and instruments. (Fruity Loops Studio, Sonar 7, ect.)
Make youself visible with pleasurable websites like Myspace.com and Fuzz.com
Chapter 6: Become A Video Producer
Intro
Video, it’s something we all inspect constantly. Whether it be television or Youtube, video entertainment will continue to be one of the greatest forms of entertainment in the industry. Many people are beginning to see the great potential of videos and start producing their own assert. It’s more than possible to compose Colossal money in the video industry. Im not going to lie though, even though I have a basic idea of how to compose money with this sort of thing, and have done a microscopic bit in it, I’m not super amazing at this sort of thing. Video Production just isn’t one of my major interests.
What Do I Need To Start?
Well, first and foremost, you need a decent camera. Now this doesn’t mean go and buy a $1000 camera, far from it actually. I reccommend recall a one of the many Mini HD Camcorders coming out nowdays. They are exquisite cheap, compact enough to fit in your pocket, and have perfect quality for what you need in online videos. You need a camera you can have with you to use whenever inspiration strikes. You also need a decent Video Arrangement and editing tool. You can find decent FREE editing tools online on sites like Freewarefiles.com. You can also exercise the Windows Movie Maker Program that comes preinstalled on Windows XP and Vista computers.Exercise these to add decent titles and editing to your videos.
My Videos Rock! How Do I Gain Money?
You would be amazed at the kinds of money people make on just some silly videos they upload. If you are a wonderful video producer and want in on the action. Head on over to Metacafe.com and start uploading. There are people there that have (Not Kidding) made nearly $30,000 on just humorous videos. This is the only site I ever really looked into making money on videos. I’m sure there are more out there, but this is the one I know of and reccommend. If you’re actually making MOVIES, like the ones you see on DVD. I would reccommend contacting movie companys like Warner Bros or something like that. I know there are whats known as independent movie labels out there, so they might be easier to work with as starter projects.
What Kind of Notify Should I Make?
Alot of different Video Content works well in today’s world. Comedy is something people adore. And it’s also the thing the millions of kids just playing around on the internet search for. When they go to youtube, what is the most popular keyword they search for? “Comic”. Funny videos are extremely popular, try to produce just funny, off the wall things like making fun of a approved movie. You can also try making how-to videos. People like the visual representation they can only get from a video tutorial on what they want to learn. Take time to really expose them how to do something, like cook a edifying recipie, or build a computer. The amount of announce you could do your videos on is unlimited. Do what you are interested in.
In Conclusion
The online video world is a rather huge one right now. With places paying big bucks for captivating content, the possibilities are rather endless. Just grab a camera, and start filming what you think would be good ideas, and study where they go.
Main Points of Being A Movie Producer
Get a camera compact, but high quality enough, to have with you at all times. To be ready when inspiration strikes.
Get a decent editor to make your videos gaze at least a little bit professional.
Find a website that pays for the amount of views that your videos get. (www.metacafe.com)
Create content to capture people’s attention. (Comedy, Action, Animation, ect.)
Chapter 7: Become a Photographer
Intro
So, becoming a photographer sounds enticing to you does it now? That would execute sense considering most other people on earth like the idea of getting paid to take pictures. The taking pictures part is easy and fun, providing content that people will be willing to buy……not so much.
What Do I need?
First of all, you need to understand that you aren’t going to get away using the good’ ol’ family camera that has like 5 Megapixels. And you definitely are not going to be able to use your cell phone camera. The least I would reccommend having in your camera is about 8 Megapixels. Yes, this can be expensive (probably in the $200-$800 range.) but it is whats required of you. Websites that pay for photos have minimum resolution requirements that are very high, which requires a higher megapixel from your camera. I myself went out and bought the Nikkon Coolpix S51, which will more than suffice your needs as a media producer (and for the nice designate of $229). You also need to have a decent image editor. You can definitly get away with using objective the plain old Photoshop Elements (around $89-$99) and it is really all you will need for now. Basically those two things are all you need to salvage started.
What Do I Take Pictures Of?
To find out the reply to this favorite question, you need to do a little research yourself. Try browsing through photographers websites and seeing what they take pictures of, and how they make them appealing. You can also go through the stock photography sites I am about to discuss in the next section. Try looking through the most popular photos and see how they work. Try to think of things other producers might need. Mabey a family enjoying a game of cards, mabey a dog lookin’ cool. Figure out people’s need and try to build for them
My Pictures Rock? Where’s My Money?!
Alright now you are ready to start raking in the dough right? Now we get to the interesting part. We will see if your pictures you have taken appeal to the people. What you need now are some good stock photography websites. These websites have different ways of paying you for each time your picture is downloaded. My reccommended websites are “istockphoto.com”, “shutterstock.com” and mabey “fotolia.com”. These sites all have ways to pay for your photos. istockphoto requires some samples from you first, and then sells your photos for more and more depending on the size people want to download the photo. Shutterstock pays you 25 cents per photo (yeah that sucks) but once you get 2000 downloads in a month, they pay you $500. Which to me is a decent way of doing it if you have the talent. Fotolia works pretty similar to Istockphoto.
In Conclusion
Being an online photographer can be a fun way to bring in decent money. You have ALOT of competition, so be ready to fight to make the best content. Use your photo editor to make your pictures more attractive, like messing with the lighting levels in photoshop elements. Read Photoshop tutorials to find out what you can do to make your pictures better.
Main Points of Being An Online Photographer
Get at least an 8 Megapixel camera, that is a decent brand. (Nikon, Canon, ect.)
Get a decent photo editor. (I HIGHLY reccommend it be Photoshop Elements.)
Read Photoshop tutorials to find ways to bring out the best in your photos.
Take you photos to places like www.istockphoto.com, www.shutterstock.com, and www.fotolia.com.
Chapter 8- Game Development
Intro
Game Development. It’s something almost every gamer has had at least a slight urge to do. Now believe it or not, just you yourself can pretty easily develop a great game the world will love. It just depends on your standards. 2 deminsional games will never really go out of style, and if you don’t mind being limited to them there is a world of potential for you. 3-d games will continue to be extremely difficult to make for years to come most likely, and require teams of people to make them. You can still make a game that is good enough for people to pay for though.
What You Need For Game Development
You really only need one thing to begin developing your little gem of a game, which is a program called Gamemaker. Gamemaker could very well be one of the most impressive programs I’ve seen still to this day, and best of all is that it’s free. You just have to put up with the ad that shows up before your game loads each time. I seriously reccommend buying it as you get really important features that aren’t in the free version, and it’s only $20. Once you have Gamemaker, all the power goes to you. You can get Gamemaker by going to www.Yoyogames.com. Once you have it, go to the tutorial section of the yoyogames website and go through each of them. They are well written and will take you quickly through the learning process. You don’t need any programming knowledge to be a great programmer with Gamemaker.
Well, I’ve Made My First Game. What Now?
Now that you have made your game, you need to upload it to the yoyogames website. Over time it will generate reviews and scores. There are also other websites out their that you can submit it to for review, but they probably aren’t very good and I never bothered with them. After it is uploaded, try advertising your game in message boards and things like that. Ask for helpful tips on how to make your game better. Now you are probably thinking of names for your development company, and nicer games to make. Not to mention, making money on them. Hold up, you need to make sure that your game is up to par with what games need nowdays. Go through the checklist I have provided to help keep your games professional.
A main menu for users to select options from. (Like what mode of the game to play, looking at high scores, ect.)
Give options to return to this menu easily from in the game. (Have a button for the user to click to return to the main menu, lots of developers forget this.)
Make sure all graphics, text, and audio are your own. (Don’t include music, images, or names from other peoples things.)
Give it enough gameplay to actually be considered a good game.
Be invintive if you can, think of new things to add in.
Keep difficulty balanced, you should let a friend of yours play it before you release it and let him tell you what he thought.
In conclusion
The money making part of this deal is up to you. You can provide free demos of your game, make a website to promote it, advertise with people, whatever you need to do to get the word around that your game rocks. REMEMBER, online message boards are an extremely good place to get opinions on your work, and promote it.
A Word From Me
I hope you all enjoyed this mini book of mine. I know I probably missed out on some important points, but I hope it helped beginners get an idea of where to go with their ideas and how to make money on them. I’ll be publishing many more articles to come, including a book on how to build computers, and all sorts of other neat stuff. THANKS FOR READING!
Filed under Email Marketing Pro by on Sep 14th, 2010. 1 Comment.
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Filed under Email Marketing Pro by on Aug 13th, 2010. Comment.