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Site Updates: Site Navigation, Search, App Update, Subscriber Events

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In the last week we ran a user survey, getting input on a lot of different aspects of the site. The response was huge, with several hundred surveys completed. I wasn’t able to respond to all of them, but read every one of them, and did send out a few responses to very specific questions about the site. The important thing here is that the surveys lead to changes on the site, as previous surveys have led to a lot of our most popular features.

While I was reading the survey results, I was taking notes on what people wanted to see. I thought I would highlight some of the most common things here.

Navigating Old Articles

One of the most common questions I had was about site navigation. We post so much content during the season, and even in the off-season, that if you’re not on the site daily — or even hourly some days — you’re probably going to be way behind on articles. I had a lot of comments about people wanting an easy way to navigate old articles in chronological order.

We currently have two ways to do that, which I wanted to point out. The easiest is clicking the “Latest” tab on the right sidebar of the site. That will show you the last 20 articles that we’ve posted, all in order of newest to oldest.

If you are further behind (a lot of days in June and July we post 10+ articles a day, so that could only take a few days), then you can scroll to the bottom of the homepage, where you’ll see a list of our most recent articles, and buttons for specific pages and the next group of articles. This will allow you to browse our entire archive in chronological order. That could take some time, as the archive is over 15,000 posts.

I did receive some comments about how it’s hard to find specific articles, and in response to that, I’m spending time working on upgrading the search feature on the site this week, to allow for more accurate results.

Pirates Prospects App

As you can probably guess by the question about an app, we will be adding an app this off-season. For years, it made no sense to add an app to the site. As a free site that made money based on ads and page views, an app was a business killer. We made the switch to a subscription site at the start of the season, which left no time during the year to oversee the app, especially since the main focus during the year was adding stats and upgrading the Prospect Watch.

Now that the off-season is here, the app will be a big focus. I don’t have a specific timeline for when it will be complete, but I do have your input from the surveys, and I know what features to add.

Other Changes

There are a lot of other notes I have, some of which include expanding our stats upgrade from last year. We plan to do that, with stats for the entire organization on one page, stats on each individual player pages, and upgrades to the player pages that should be completed before the start of next season. We will also have an automated depth chart during the season, which will make that feature a regular visit throughout the year.

There were also a few requests for Pirates Prospects subscriber days, either during Spring Training in Bradenton, or during the season at the minor league parks. That is something I’d definitely like to do, and will have more details as the season gets closer.

The survey is still active, so if you’d like to add your input, please go and fill it out.

And of course if you aren’t currently a subscriber, you can subscribe today right here.

Get a FREE One-Year Subscription With DRAFTKINGS

I mention our special promotion with DraftKings during every update, but I just want to stress what a great deal this is, especially to monthly subscribers.

If you’re a monthly subscriber, then you’re probably going to be paying for at least two months out of the year. That’s $5.98 total. Our DraftKings deal gives a free one-year subscription to the site, simply by signing up as a new DraftKings customer (must be a new customer), making a $5 minimum deposit, and participating in a contest.

You could spend $5.98 on two months of access to the site, and then continue paying $2.99 per month for as long as you want to subscribe. Or, you could deposit at least $5 with DraftKings, and get a year of site access. It’s the best value for monthly subscribers, or anyone who is thinking about signing up for any of our plans.

Monthly subscribers would pay $5.98 for two months of access, or at least $5 in DraftKings for an entire year.

Annual subscribers would save at least $24.99 on their one-year subscription.

We also allow you to upgrade your free year to a Top Prospect plan, which comes out to about $1.50 per month and gives you access for three years.

And then you can use the money you deposited in DraftKings to play a fantasy sports contest, whereas before you would get nothing other than site access. It’s the absolute best value if you want to sign up for the site, or even if you’re a current monthly subscriber who plans on paying $2.99 every month.

Once you have completed the promotion (using the link above), send an e-mail to Javier Vargas at DraftKings (jvargas@draftkings.com) and let him know you are participating in the Pirates Prospects subscription promotion. Javier will confirm whether you’ve met the requirements, then will contact me so I can give you a coupon code that will allow you to set up your one year subscription.

Get a Free 2016 Prospect Guide

The 2016 Prospect Guide will be FREE to Top Prospect subscribers. Anyone who is currently under a Monthly or Annual plan can upgrade to our three-year plan by going to your Subscription page and clicking “Upgrade”. This will give you a pro-rated upgrade price, with your three-year plan starting today.

Anyone under an Annual plan will receive $10 off the book. There are no discounts for Monthly plans, although upgrading to an Annual or Top Prospect plan does give you a discount on your monthly price, not to mention the discounts for the book.

This promotion also works for the DraftKings accounts. If you wish to upgrade your DraftKings account to a three-year plan, send me an e-mail at tim@piratesprospects.com.

Anyone currently under a Top Prospect Plan is already eligible for this promotion. You will receive a coupon code when the book is released for pre-sales.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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