Information for blog sponsors

Looking for a sponsor

Currently, I’m using Google AdWords to get some money out of the effort I'm currently pushing into my blog. Actually, I’d like to remove Google AdWords to provide more valuable and more relevant advertisements to the readers. I don't want to annoy readers with AdWords banners and another downside of AdWords is that it gets blocked by ad-blocker, so it doesn't reach all of the readers.

I’d like to add a short note at the end of every blog post similar to Scott Hanselman’s blog where he is mentioning the current sponsor of that specific post.

This kind of advertisement won’t be blocked by any ad-blocker and it won't annoy y reader. This note will be visible on the website and in the RSS/Atom feed as well.

How to sponsor

I thought a lot about what kind of sponsorship would be the best option. Shall I choose the pay-per-post option or the pay-per-month option?

• Pay-per-post:
  • The note about the sponsor would be placed explicitly for that post and is part of the content.
  • New sponsors will be visible only on new pages and posts.
  • Older posts will keep this specific sponsor note forever.
  • Less value for the sponsor for the short term, but the value continues for the long term.
• Pay-per-month
  • The note about the sponsors will be part of the templates
  • The note will change on all pages and posts if the sponsor changes
  • More value during the sponsoring period, but value ends with the end of the sponsoring period

In the end, I decided to go with the pay-per-post option because I think this will be more valuable for the sponsors. (Please tell me, if you think differently.)

Sponsored post

I also decided to place sponsored post. These posts should fulfill specific criteria to not annoy the readers:

• The content should be related to the topics of that blog
  • (ASP).NET (Core), C#, development tools, hosting, community
• The content should be relevant for the readers
  • Should be related to web development based on .NET and C#
• The content should add value for the readers
  • Tools and services described should be useful to the readers
• The content should be written as a tutorial
  • About how to use your tool or your service
• The content should be authentic and target developers
  • Dev speak, no marketing speak
• It would be the best option if I write that post to keep my style in the blog.

I don't accept a sponsored post that doesn't match these criteria. I won't add more than one sponsored post per quarter.

A sponsored post will be marked as sponsored posts. These posts also won't have the sponsor noted at the end of the page.

Rates

After some discussions, I will go with the following rates:

• One post: 20 €
• 5 posts: 80 €
• 10 posts: 120 €
• 20 posts: 200 €
• 30 posts: 250 €
• 30 posts + one sponsored post: 300 €
• One sponsored post: 100 €

Some numbers about this blog

Here are some numbers about the blog:

• The blog has around 5500 unique visitors per month and around 6500 sessions
  • Around 7500 page requests.
• The RSS feed (includes the content) has around 1200 views and around
  • 2500 clicks back to the site per month, which results in page requests.

• Some posts will be cross-posted on DZone and linked on dotnetkicks.com and discover.NET.
  • DZone probably will remove the sponsor note but will generate traffic anyway

• Some posts will get listed on http://asp.net and mentioned in the ASP.NET Community Standup

  • That will generate traffic as well

• I promote my posts on

  • Facebook 460 followers (less relevant)
  • Twitter 1500 tech-followers (pretty much relevant)
  • LinkedIn 660 followers (relevant)

Google Analytics statistics:

The FeedBurner statistics:

Thanks

I hope you find this information useful. Feel free to share your ideas and thoughts.

If you are interested in a sponsorship, feel free to contact me via email: [email protected]