Download the Discover Torrance app for the National Games!

National Games is coming up this weekend and Discover Torrance has an app to make your trip flow even smoother, if you are staying or playing near the Torrance fields. 
With this app people who live across the street or across the country will know where to go and what to do while in Torrance. The app includes two tabs that are dedicated solely to AYSO families for the National Games. Below are just three of the many tabs to check out on the app.

·         AYSO: This AYSO National Games exclusive tab includes information about the host hotel, events, schedules, scores and field locations.

·         Deals: This tab has information about any special offers going on during National Games for AYSO families.

·         Food: This tab features over 400 restaurants located in Torrance and will ensure that your family always has an array of options.

How to Reach a Bigger Facebook Audience

 Organic reach numbers are decreasing on Facebook business pages all over the country because of the updated Facebook News Feed algorithm. Simply, the new algorithm cuts down the amount of posts that a user receives in his/her News Feed. It’s great for the user, but at the same time prevents some information that your Region might post from getting to your usual target audience. 

What is organic reach? 

Organic reach is the number of people who saw your Region’s post through unpaid circulation. Paid reach is the number of people who saw your Region’s post as a result of Facebook ads.

 

3 Reasons Your Region Should Have a Newsletter!

How many times in a season do you get the same question from dozens of parents? How about the early-morning phone calls about whether the game is still on? Here are three big reasons why your Region should have a newsletter. 

1. Communication: Having a newsletter allows you to keep communication open with parents and volunteers. It helps you answer questions before they are even asked! Whether your Region is big or small, having a newsletter will help you stay connected and keep everyone in-the-know. 
2. Sell Ad Space: When you have a strong newsletter going out consistently to an engaged audience, you can sell ad space to local businesses or show love to your current sponsors. 
3. A Place for Content: Your newsletter is a place to publicize early-bird pricing, registration dates, meeting info, volunteer openings, upcoming tournaments, the list goes on! Have a good time using your creative juices, but remember that the most successful newsletters are the clean and consistent ones. 

Print vs. Web Photo/Graphic DPI Resolution

Have you ever printed a photo/graphic that looked great on your computer and distorted or pixelated on paper? At some point everyone has come across this situation. This becomes a problem when you are using photos/graphics at the wrong resolution.

Why is it important to understand resolution? Because if you are looking to print something with quality images or are tasked with including vibrant pictures on your Region website, knowing a few basics will save you a lot of time and give you the best results.

DPI: Dots Per Inch. DPI is used to measure the resolution of an image both on screen and in print . The more dot’s ( higher DPI ) the higher the quality the more detail can be shown in an image. What’

Have You Checked Your Region’s Yelp Reviews?

Yelp can be as impactful for your Region as your other social media platforms. Not long ago, great youth programs were marketed by word of mouth, but these days, more and more organizations are relying on online platforms.

If you are going to a restaurant and want to know if the food is good, chances are you might check Yelp to view the star rating and read other people’s reviews. A lot of parents do the same thing when it comes to choosing what league their kids are going to play in. Does your Region take advantage of Yelp reviews?

Sans-Serif vs Serif Fonts

Choosing the right font for your website is so important when you’re trying to deliver your message in a clear and effective way.

Did you know that all fonts are broken down into two different categories? Those categories are Serif and Sans-Serif. The difference between the two is very simple: A Serif is a small line attached to the end of a stroke in a letter or symbol. For fonts without a small line attached to the end are called Sans-Serif. The word “Sans” originates from the French language, which means without.  

Fonts for Digital Media

Sans-Serif fonts are considered to be one of the most legible fonts on computer screens. Because of the constraints of screen resolution, the Serifs in some fonts can make text difficult to read on screen. For example, the San-Serif font used in this blog is Arial.

Sans-Serif examples: Arial, Verdana, Tahoma

Best used on: Websites, emails and smart devices

How to get more people to like your page

In a “like” driven world, getting more people to give their stamp of “like” approval on your page is hard. Below are just five things that I recommend trying when you’re looking to get more likes on your Region’s Facebook page.

1.    Be consistent
Try to post on your Region’s Facebook page at least once a week, so your page is always fresh with new information. Don’t leave a stale page, it’s the worst advertisement for a Region!

2.    Use pictures and lots of them
There is a reason why platforms like Instagram and Pinterest do so well in the social media realm. They use photos! On Facebook, pictures tend to be the most shared of all posts and you can really say 1000 words with the tap of an upload. Plus, people love to see their kids, so if you have pictures from the games, use them! 

SEO and User-Friendly Content

As an AYSO webmaster , you have your work cut out for you. Even to many seasoned webmasters, the dos and don’ts sometimes seem to be written by aliens in another language. You probably wear many hats and have many other tasks to perform as well, so making sure that your website is search engine friendly can sometimes fall by the wayside. Today we’re going to briefly discuss SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and how you can perform a few easy tasks in your day-to-day website upkeep to make sure your website stays code-modern and content-focused.

1. Get in the niche

We’re all about soccer! What does that mean for your website? Try to think about terms that folks will search for, and incorporate them into your content whenever possible. Phrases like “Local Game”, “Youth Soccer”, “Pick-Up Games”, these can be valuable for improving your search engine results. If there are ways to make your tour or activity even more specialized, then you might want to consider them. Perhaps you could mention your town, city, state, local fields where games are typically played? Providing a specialized offering means that the content you create for your website content in general will be more relevant to you, and therefore, your target audience.

TIP: As a specialized webmaster, you are the expert! Share your knowledge with good key words and phrases!