Frugal Foodie Mama: Rolling Out A New Sponsorship Program annndddd... The Winner of the Delallo Giveaway!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Rolling Out A New Sponsorship Program annndddd... The Winner of the Delallo Giveaway!

This first month of dabbling in having ads on my blog has taught me quite a bit.  I am still a newbie, but I am pretty sure I know what direction I want to take with sponsorships on my blog from here on out.  
Starting this week, I will be reducing the amount of ad spots that will be available on my blog.  I want to comfortably give each of my sponsors the attention they deserve, as well as have plenty of time to be the stay-at-home mama I want to be.  I will be eliminating the A Quart sized ads.  Honestly, I feel I pretty much gave the same attention and social media promoting to my A Quart sized supporters as I did to my A Peck sized supporters.  So, why not just do away with the A Quart sized ads and keep the Pecks?  
There will be six A Peck sized ads available for purchase each month for $6 each.  That is a 200x200 ad spot in a prominent rotating position on my sidebar.  A Peck package will also include:
  • Lots of promoting on my Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest pages.  
  • You will also have an option for 1-2 group guest posts (themes chosen by me) and the option to participate in a group giveaway.  

I will only have four A Bushel sized ad spots on my blog for purchase each month for $8 each.  That is a 250x300 ad spot near the top of my sidebar.  The A Bushel package includes:
  •  Everything that the A Peck package has 
  • An option for an individual supporter spotlight post, an individual guest post, or an individual giveaway (or a combination of any of these).  To see what an individual supporter spotlight on my blog looks like, CLICK HERE.  P.S.  These will NEVER be titled "Sponsor" anything.  Let's be real for a sec.  How many of us ever click on a new post when the word "Sponsor" is in the title??  Not very often in my experience.
  • You will also have first dibs on co-hosting any link-up parties I host that month, such as my monthly Pinspiration in the Kitchen Party.  
Now,  here is what I am really excited about. :)  Every month I will have one (just one) Friendship Bread ad spot available.  What is a Friendship Bread ad spot?  How many of you have ever made Friendship bread?  You know where you need a friend to give you a starter first, and then you make your bread and pass it on to the next friend?  Well, this is a little like how my newest ad spot is going to work. ;)  I am going to give one blogger or small shop owner a 250x300 ad spot on my blog with all the fixings for FREE.  Yep, no cost.  The only requirements is that you be a smaller blog (200 GFC followers or less) or be a fairly small or new shop.  Just apply for the ad, and if I feel you mesh well with my blog and that I can help you grow your readership or customer base then I will approve you!  Easy, peasy.  (See my Sponsor page for the promo code to go ahead and apply for the Friendship Bread ad spot.)  My hope is that if I am able to help you grow a bit that maybe you will turn around and offer some love to another new blogger or etsy shop owner. :)

Okay, so why should you consider supporting me over or in addition to all the other awesome blogs out there?  First, my blog is growing.  And quickly.  I have seen over 100% growth in my followers in the past 30 days.  I also have a fabulous Twitter presence.  I have over 560 followers and none of them are spam bots.  I weed those out about two times or more a week.  I want real followers, not numbers. 
I follow my supporters on every social media outlet I use- Twitter, Facebook, GFC, Pinterest.  If I am promoting you, talking about you, singing your praises, you will know. :)  I am happy to say that I have built some lasting relationships with most of my sponsors, and will probably not be falling off their grid if they decide to not renew ads with me for next month.  

I only accept ads from sponsors that I can get 100% behind.  I like their blogs.  I like their content.  I adore their shops.  In all honesty, I cannot promote something that I cannot believe in.  

As far as group guest posts and group giveaways go, I try to keep them themed and relevant.  For my August group giveaway, I hosted a Blogger Appreciation giveaway- all ad spots, blog planner, blog design prizes.  Not a hodge podge of this and that.  To see this giveaway, CLICK HERE.
For the group guest post, I asked my Supporters to share their #1 money saving tip.  September's may be your go-to football party recipe, or on the cheap laundry tricks.  You get my gist. ;)

I really feel how much exposure you get with me, how much traffic you get by sponsoring me has a lot to do with how willing you are to communicate with me- to let me know when you have a post or giveaway happening that you really want promoted, if you are willing to participate in the group posts and giveaways and get that information to me, etc.  In my experience, my Supporters who communicated with me well got the most out of their sponsorships with me.  I wish I could be a mind reader, but alas I am not. ;) So, just let me know what I can do to help you. 

Last but not least, I will still do button swaps with any blogs that would like to.  I will just not be using Passionfruit to do these.  If you look under Blogs I Love... on my right sidebar, you will see where your button would go.  Just send me an email at thefrugalfoodiemama@yahoo.com if you would like to request a button swap and we can make that happen. :)

I look forward to collaborating with each of my future Amazing Supporters and hope that you will be one of my next ones!  If you have questions or concerns about how my sponsorship works, please do not hesitate to email me. :)
CLICK HERE to go directly to my Sponsor page and get started!

And now for the winner of the Delallo Pomodoro Fresco Sauces Giveaway!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway