It’s that time of the month where I like to mention and thank the sponsors of ProBlogger who have been generous enough to partner with us over the month and help us to keep the blog moving forward. Pay them a visit today.
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LinkWorth – Size Does Matter!
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Become a ProBlogger Sponsor
Thanks to this month’s publishers. If you’d like to join them (our ad spots are currently sold out for this month but future months have spaces open) contact our ad sales team at b5media through the Advertise on Problogger page.
I’ve seen more and more blogs thanking sponsors these days. They really should be thanking the readers. After all, you wouldn’t have a successful blog if there weren’t any readers. We need some sort of blog reader appreciation day.
Nice to show your sponsors some love Mr Rowse, im considering buying a spot in the future, im guessing its going to be pricey ;)
Agreed Manthem… ;D
I don’t think anyone is going to disagree with Manthem since everyone is a reader of this site. This is a good idea and I will make sure my readers get their own day!
I love to come back and read your blog. It always shows me new and different ways to make money with blogging. I will definitely be taking a look at your new sponsors.
Thanks for the info.
Susan
http://www.susanvlz.blogspot.com
Manthem, I think Darren does a pretty good job accommodating his readers and reaching out to them, but it’s a two way street and he’s got to thank the guys who are paying the bills too!
Of course. I’m not trying to attack Darren or anything. I love ProBlogger. Just had a random idea after seeing a few ‘thank you sponsors’ posts and added my thoughts.
On the subject of thanking the readers, Patrick Schaber at the Lonely Marketer wrote a post about this very subject last month (and, it happens that I’m the reader he bought the beer for, but that’s not really the point).
http://www.lonelymarketer.com/2007/07/11/i-just-bought-a-subscriber-a-beer/
I think you’re right also Manthem. I’ve actually got a post coming up about it in the 31 Day project. Stay tuned – and…. thanks :-)
Well first of all, Darren has to pay the bills somehow, and by showing potential sponsors that he is willing to put them right in front of his readers, I think the potential sponsors are more willing to spend their cash.
As for the reader appreciation topic. How about an entire blog based on reader appreciation. http://www.raproject.com/ I came across this site through some other site and it mainly discusses everything there is to do with appreciating your readers. A pretty good read, most of the time.
… and here’s an article from RA Project on some benefits and drawbacks of Thanking Sponsors: http://www.raproject.com/articles/id-like-to-thank-my-sponsors/
Although I personally don’t like “thank you sponsor” posts, I don’t think there is a fine line in the sand where a blogger should or shouldn’t do them. I know Darren appreciates his readers, and he’s helped me out a few times as well when I have e-mailed him in questions or relevant links.
Sponsors and readers sustain a blog. Readers enable a blogger to have sponsors, and sponsors enable a blogger to be compensated for his/her efforts. And in the case of the ProBlogger group projects, sponsors also give back to the readers.
Thank you Jeffro2pt0 and Vivien for mentioning raproject.com
As a Sponsor, I can tell you how much it means to us. It’s a personalization thing that really adds huge value to the product we pay for. We’ve spent millions of dollars with Google & Yahoo/Overture/Goto and not one single time have they ever told any of their other site visitors who we were, what we did and to go sign up with us.
Most sites or networks don’t have to personalize the advertising product by making the special sponsors post, but the whole point of selling ads is to make your advertisers feel they get their money’s worth. How that happens is to make sure their readers know more about us rather than just seeing our little graphic that can kind of blend into the site design.
Darren does a wonderful job in bringing the sponsors out of our little box and saying, “Hey, all of my readers. Have you met Ron w/ LinkWorth.com? No, well here he is and this is what he does.” This makes us more than just a graphical banner on his site and it does wonders for visits to our site.
I have to admit that advertising on the b5 network is one of the smartest advertising moves we’ve made in our few years of business. Our conversion rates from problogger averages 1 out of 7 visitors sign up with us, which is amazing. When Darren makes the sponsor post like this, our clicks increase 50-60% and conversion rate changes to 1 out of 4 sign up ! ! !
If your product or service caters to the blogger audience in any way, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND giving b5 media a shot.
Thanks for the mention Darren, we appreciate it very much.