How do you grow your league?  Player registrations are a critical component of growing a great league.  Without player registrations, competition grows stagnant.  Infusion of talent slows. 

The old method of growing player registrations was twofold:  run a high quality league and let word of mouth grow it, or get a soccer celebrity to headline your league to attract players.  Both methods work.  Of course, it's understood that you need to run a great league, but how do you keep increasing player registrations?

That's where the power of search engine optimization, or SEO, comes into play.  SEO is basically the method of allowing search engines like Google find your website.  SEO is the method of moving your website up into the search engine rankings.  While you can pay to have your website found--otherwise known as pay per click--SEO is by far the critical method in getting your website found.  Ideally, you want to be in the first page of rankings.  The first four is even better.  Thus, if someone searches for Louisburg Kansas Soccer, you want to be in the first page of results.

By being in the first page of results you are going to have a greater chance of having parents find your league.  By finding your league, you have a greater likelihood of player registrations.  And the great circle is complete.

Search engine optimization is not an accident.  It happens by intentional act.  You must first, of course, have a website.  From there, you can look at your competition, determine key words by which you want to be found, and key your website according to those key words.  SEO work can often be done by your web programmer, or by local SEO experts.  There are also freelance websites like www.elance.com that allow you to seek request for proposals for this kind of work.

Keep in mind that as you do this work, and players begin to find your website, you'll want to have online registration for tryouts, camps, leagues, and tournaments.  That's where online registration through www.htgsports.net comes into play.  By allowing for online registration, you allow people to find your website and then immediately sign up.  It's a mistake to allow people to find your site but not allow them the ability to sign up.  We are an immediate gratification age.

The recipe is pretty simple:  find your site through SEO + online registration = player registrations which equals a growing league and player development.

--William High is a freelance writer.