New content on the Badminton Bible It's been a long time since I added anything to my website. Quite simply, I've not been able to find the time: those articles take ages to write. The solution is obvious: I need the site to bring in some income, so that I can afford to spend the time working on it. That's where coaching videos come in. You can now access coaching videos on my site, by paying a small subscription. As well as getting the benefit of the videos, subscribers are effectively funding me to create more free content for everyone. The plan is to bring out new articles and videos every month. The subscription costs £3 a month, and you get a month's free trial. This is an introductory price: I'm just starting up, and I'd like to encourage and reward early subscribers. Take a look, and let me know what you think. Please let me know if you encounter any problems with the new site: I've tested as carefully as I can, but the internal changes are so substantial that there may still be some rough edges. Filming videos is new to me, so I hope I've created something useful and easy to understand. As we're just getting started, this has all been done on a shoestring budget; I'm not entirely satisfied with the video/audio quality (especially the audio), and I'm looking to upgrade our filming equipment soon. There's a lot more to do, and much that could be improved. Still, I think this is a good start. Hope you like it. This month's content This month we have two new articles: Net shots Return of serve -- preparation The net shots article covers straight net shots and cross-court/angled net shots (both overhand and overhand). I'll add spinning net shots later. The return of serve article covers the preparation: how you stand, where you stand, racket position and grip. In my opinion, getting the preparation right is the foundation of your serve return; if you can get this part right, you're halfway there already. As this is the launch month, we have quite a few videos: Straight net shots (basic technique) The four types of badminton serve Backhand low serve technique Backhand flick serve technique Return of serve basics The elements of movement in badminton Lunge technique The four-part low serve video gives you an idea of where I'm heading with this material: start with the absolute basics, and build up from there. You can expect to see other videos gain multiple sections over the coming months. Of course, that's just for the basic straight low serve to the T in doubles. I haven't touched on wide serves or advanced variations yet. You get the idea. On a personal note My god, I can't believe I've finally finished this. This project has taken longer than I care to admit. Because I have no money to pay developers, I've done pretty much everything myself (on the plus side, at least I understand it and control it). When I started, I had no idea how much techy-stuff I'd have to learn. It might look simple on the outside, but on the inside there's a metric tonne of programming in multiple languages. I now have some small inkling of the incredible amount of work that must go into a major website such as Yahoo. I'd like to thank my dad, Phil, for his help with this project. Although I've been doing almost all the work, he's been instrumental in several supporting roles (for instance, he's my cameraman). Right, I think I've earned the afternoon off work.
Gollum, that's excellent! You have been and are an immense contributor to the understanding of badminton online. For sure, I'll be willing to subscribe... should be better than Ong Ewe Hock's version, right?
Gollum , can't really express the help that your website does. By helping me , I help others with the information. This probably passes on to others and so on. Just wanted to express my thanks to you! Should be subscribing!
Excellent work (as always). And nice touch with the 1 month free subscription. I'm hooked even before the trial. I wish the site every success since the more successful it is, the richer the contents and the better value for my already low subscription.
That's the idea. I just need enough to make it sustainable. I also want to keep the price low, as that makes it accessible to more players. Ideally, I'd like to be able to work on this more-or-less full time (not completely full time, or my coaching will go off the boil!). But I'll just have to wait and see what happens!
Excellent! Gollum, This is excellent-A video will explain thins much better. And congrates to your idea of generating revenue from Videos and at the same time, keeping loads of content for a badminton luving teanager who may not be able to pay. All the very best you. Hope authorities like BWF realises your service to the game and recognize you in some way. NP
Paypal will let you subscribe using your credit or debit card. You don't need to set up a direct bank connection. At the end of the process, they will create a Paypal account for you (you just choose an email address and password), as Paypal requires this for managing the subscription. So really, all you're doing is entering your credit/debit card details as you would for any other online transaction. The only difference is that, unlike most things you buy online, you get a month to evaluate it. Later on, I might add alternative payment services, such as World Pay. But these are really just doing the same thing: they take your card details. Still, if people prefer World Pay, I'll add it.
