I've been writing content on my blog for almost 6 years now and in that time it's seen many transitions, improvements and upgrades but one thing that's always been there is my content. Good content takes time to create and I've tried to tackle the problem of supporting that content in various ways over the years. I'm now introducing a sponsorship opportunity for my blog and there are some great reasons why that's the best way forwards.
Who here likes ads?
Raise your hand, go ahead, I'll wait... I think we can all agree that if you're here reading this blog you're probably not fond of the traditional adverts found across the web. I'm not opposed to the idea of advertising, don't get me wrong, I just don't like the way that ads work. Loading iframes, scripts and countless other assets into my page is not something I want to do, especially when I don't control the content being loaded. It's degrading to the user experience, loading 3rd party scripts carries a certain level of risk and often they're not fitting to the content of the page or me as the author. There's also a really big disconnect between me and those who get to advertise on my site which when coupled with all of the other problems is enough for me to not want to subject my visitors to that experience. Besides, who wants to see this on their site? I dare you to hover in the space below...
Honestly I had to hide that by default because it was driving me mad whilst I wrote this post!
There must be a better way
As I said, I'm not opposed to the idea of advertising, I just want advertising done in the right way that's appropriate to the content, isn't degrading to the user experience and doesn't carry the risks of traditional ads. That's why I want to introduce a sponsorship slot right here on my blog for the very first time. With the sponsorship model I can work directly with those who will be advertising on my site and make sure they're a good fit for me and my visitors. I control the message being delivered and how it is delviered on my site and that means I can make sure there are no flashy banner ads, no hostile javascript and no 2.5Mb background images either! There is of course more overhead for me in this approach compared to simply inserting some script into my page and collecting the payments, but I think it's more than worth it to ensure the experience remains great for my visitors.
The sponsor message
As you have probably already noticed, the sponsor message is now present at the top of this page, right under the nav bar.
The sponsor message is in a very prominent position, top and center of the page, but it's not intrusive because it's styled and fits in as part of the theme. That was a really important balance to strike for me because I want great value for my sponsors without the sponsor message being obnoxious or intrusive. I'm pretty happy with how it looks and I think I've managed to strike that balance nicely. The message is also prominently featured on mobile browsers too.
More information
I've created a dedicated Sponsor page alongside the publication of this blog post to provide details on what the sponsorship is about, availability, general guidelines and pricing. If you are interested in those kinds of details then please check the page out and get in touch if there's anything else I can help you with. If the sponsorship package isn't for you but you'd still like to help me out and support the site in some way please do check out my Patreon page which is great for individuals and smaller companies to provide support.