One fan short of a hundred. :)Thanet Directory
I've been working on this for a while and now here it is The Thanet Directory. It's a work in progress that you can add to.
Thanet Star - actively improving Thanet one idea at a time
Support Grassroots Media - Sponsor Thanet Star
Thanet Star is primarily written by Matt B who has been actively maintaining blogs (a form of grass roots reporting) on different topics for over five years. The overall aim of the site is to bring news and opinion on topics that mater - especially if they are not widely addressed in the larger media. Unsurprisingly most of the readership are from Thanet and nearby parts of Kent.
Benefits of Sponsoring
By sponsoring Thanet Star you not only help to preserve and support an independent voice but you gain access to valuable brand enhancing advertising opportunities.
- Unprecedented Brand Exposure at a local level
- Unlimited* advertising impressions in the high profile advert space
- Access to an unique demographic of an intelligent and insightful audience group
- Product and website exposure
- Unique brand building opportunity
- Direct editorial attention**
- Association - your brand will become associated with local investment and community mindedness
- Increased Website Traffic*** - local search levels remain largely unchanged over the last five years but competition for that traffic has stiffened considerably.
* The 125 format and the location of the adverts has been selected precisely because of how well it attracts attention. The performance of your ad is dependant on the graphic you provide.
** Matt will endeavour to personally review each sponsoring group in order to tell readers more about you. This will be a neutral review as part of the normal editorial process. Matt will be happy to arrange to visit you at your convenience to learn more first. We hope to be proud of our sponsors.
*** This is an expected effect of the exposure you receive.
You can get hold of us via the contact form or by email.
How will my money be used?
The Thanet Star has from December 2007 to April 2008 experienced a 162% increase in average daily hits. The server hosting the site costs over £750 a year to maintain and the cost of this is shared among a number of sites dependant on usage. Thanet Star is one of the top 3 users of the server (provided by Adullam Limited) but is currently not paying for the usage. Month on month the number of local people visiting the site increases significantly.
Matt B writes for the Thanet Star and carries out a number of technical functions behind the scenes contributing around 12 hours a week to the site. He currently does this unpaid.
You can get hold of us via the contact form or by email.
Who shouldn't sponsor Thanet Star
We want to be proud of our sponsors and have reserved high profile areas to display the logos of our best sponsors.
On the whole we will be happy to consider any company, group or individual - especially those based in or operating within Thanet. However, any business, individual or group associated with hate, crime, porn, extremism, exploitation, bullying, oppression or unethical investment practices should not apply.
Additionally Matt does not feel it would be appropriate to take money from party political groups.
How to Sponsor Thanet Star
Sponsorship takes place on a closed tender basis where our strongest supporters gain the highest exposure. Once the sponsorship is agreed the logo location is yours for the entire period of the agreed sponsor ship no mater what else happens.
Thanet Star wants to be proud of it's sponsors and so has reserved some highly desirable locations of the web page for sponsor's logos.
- At the top of the page. This is by far the most desirable real estate on any web page and it is available only to four of Thanet Star sponsors.
- Below the advertisement zone. This is still a highly visible area of the page and will be noticed by most visitors to any given page.
To actually make a sponsorship bid you should settle on a monthly amount you wish to offer and the period for which you would like to sponsor Thanet Star. We recommend a year or more for maximum brand building impact.
After that you can phone, email or use the contact form to tell us who you are and how much you would like to sponsor us with each month.
When you contact us please feel free to tell us as much as you like about yourself and/or the group you represent. We are very keen to learn more about those willing to sponsor us and a good depth of information helps Matt to write a better review.
You can get hold of us via the contact form or by email.
Getting the most from your sponsorship.
In order to get the most from your sponsorship you will need to do just two very simple things which can be done in any order.
- simply email your desired image(s) (125x125 for the advert and 123x50 for your logo) and the link you would like connected to them to the email address shown.
- Make your bid.
For more information about the nature of adverts please feel free to review our advertise page or to contact Matt directly.
Making your payment
Payment can be made digitally with a credit or debit card, by cash or by cheque and will be requested once your sponsorship has been confirmed.
What to do now
The only thing you need to do is contact us and tell us how much you would like to offer each month, for how long and most importantly something about yourself and your company or organisation.
You can get hold of us via the contact form or by email.
