I’m a competitor. And I love and take pride in what I do. So when someone mentions value, or the lack thereof, of this site—or at least I take it that way—I’m going to respond. More on that in a minute…

The Numbers

A week ago, the Full Count Softball site surpassed the 1,000 posted article mark going back over the last 15 months when the site began as StudentSportsSoftball.com. This post is actually Post #1,030.

I wasn’t going to mention this milestone—which would easily have been over 2,000 if I had not packaged a lot of content early on in the “Daily Updates.”

Sidenote: these once-a-day huge Daily Update columns, sometimes 10+ Word doc pages each, had what are 3-5 separate posts today. The reason I started breaking them out was timeliness; I wanted to post something as soon as it was written up.

Also, in that 15 month time period I’ve posted 4,734 photos. The odds are I’ve run a photo of you as a player or someone you play with or know! Add another several dozen videos and there’s a lot going on here, folks.

Price Too High

But the reason I am writing this today is because I got an e-mail from a good friend who is also the parent of one of the top players in the country. This outstanding Top 25 program-bound athlete plays on an elite club team, one I cover a lot.

Here’s the e-mail I received:

“I overheard a conversation at practice about Full Count Softball and the parents were excited about it, but thought that the price was too high. They were saying that $69 [it’s actually $59.99 annually, $6.99 monthly-Brentt] was too much and were saying they weren’t signing up. I know it’s all the value built into the site and how much they get out of it.”

OK, let me respond to this.

I get that many, if not most, won’t subscribe for a variety of reasons, cost being one of them. I get that many travel players and parents are paying $5,000 to $7,000 annually to cover club dues, travel, uniforms, bats, lessons, etc.

And I’m very well that many have the attitude that the internet has enough free content on it that you won’t have to pay to get info.

However, the one thing that has led me to respond to that e-mail is the concept of value. If there’s one thing that gets my competitive juices going and my blood pressure increasing it’s the perceived criticism that Full Count Softball doesn’t have value, whatever the price point may be.

Value

If you haven’t noticed, I typically put up 3-4 articles per weekday with 2 each day on the weekends. That averages out to about 25 per week or 1,300 articles yearly.

I have not missed putting up at least one article on a day since July 15, 2013… and that includes Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day, President’s Day, International Talk Like A Pirate Day, whatever holiday you choose.

I’m very aware that people will turn away from a site that’s not consistent and so I make sure there’s something every day, especially now for those who DO see the value in paying for the volume of content.

Let’s talk content itself—the big secret, if you will, is this site is really run by the softball community. The best articles come from leads YOU provide, I just flesh them out and tell the story. I see FCS as being a reflection of what the fastpitch fans want to read about and that tends to be recruiting, ratings, profiles, human interest stories, event coverage, etc.

So, all that being said what is the value of the site?

Well, that’s really your call, beauty is in the eye of the beholder or, more accurately, the cost one would pay is based on how applicable the info is—be it educational, inspiring, interesting, entertaining, whatever.

I will say this: as far as I know, Full Count Softball is the only site that produces the volume of content day in and day out talking about club and high school softball.

Players and coaches: this is YOUR world… it’s about your sport, your teams, your peers, your competition and YOU.

Where else are you going to get 1,300 stories in a year for what comes out to be about 4.5 cents per post! If this is your passion for four years and you want to know how to get better and what’s going on in your sport, isn’t that a good value?

Call me biased, but I think so.  If not, show me where I’m wrong and I’ll improve.

Softball Market Input

If there isn’t anything of value, especially for the monthly cost of a Starbucks Grande, then I’ve failing big-time, but here’s the good news: I listen to you.

If you submit info that’s relevant and interesting…. I’ll probably use it. Your voice will be heard (I even try to answer every e-mail best I can).

Send me your likes… and dislikes. What you want to read about and what interests you (or doesn’t). I’m a big boy, I can take the feedback and input, even if it’s not positive. If I had more time, I’d go to message boards like HeyBucket and Ultimate College Softball to hear more about what I’m doing wrong!

I value YOUR opinion and together we can make this site even bigger and better. I will say this—I’m in discussions to do some sponsor and event related projects that, if and when they come to fruition, will be unlike anything ever done in softball before. These things will blow your doors off. 2015 will be a very fun year, trust me.

So keep writing and feeding me ideas, opinions, and content ideas. I’m not going anywhere soon.

And I will say this about the team I mentioned earlier: the coach subscribes and so does at least six of the players on the team so it’s not about that.

Whether the audience is 300 or 300,000 it’s all about the value. Keep me on track and let me know what you think. You want value? Tell me what’s valuable!

The reason I started Full Count Softball and continuing in softball was for one very simple reason: I love the people… the players, coaches, parents, event producers, etc.

You’re the reason this site began and will continue. So let’s keep in touch and make sure you keep me in line.

Thanks!

Brentt Eads
brentt@fullcountsoftball.com