April 11, 2015
Saturday site stuff: Why take advertising?
49BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
A weekly look at what’s new, what’s coming on our site …
• Some subscription sites don’t take advertising, though most do. We’re obviously in the latter category, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never explained to the readership why that is.
The primary reason, of course, is revenue. Advertising accounts for 20 percent of our total budget, but it’s still essential for us at this stage. We’ve used that money — and only that money — toward travel, our own advertising and site upgrades, all of which reasonably could be considered extra operating expenses. And we’re fortunate to have been able to spend comfortably in all areas, as I’m confident you’ve noticed through the coverage, additional writers, the site itself, the app, all that.
Photo-illustration — DALI KOVACEVIC
The secondary reason is one that isn’t as obvious, and that’s loyalty to our major sponsors. Allegheny Health Network stepped up a week before this site launched and took care of my family’s insurance and other essentials, and it’s been an incredible partner. (That relationship is about to further manifest in a really fun way very soon, actually.) I’ll also single out our other major sponsor, Baymont Inns, which has done so much more for us than simply buying ad space. And we have a third on the way that’s been right up there, as well. We hope to share that soon.
We do keep all of our advertising non-intrusive, and we’re proud that we’ve turned down significant dollars to do so. That means no banner ad above the logo, no ads in the text, no Google hyperlinks in the copy, no autoplay audio, no rollouts that blanket the page, no popups, nothing of the sort.
Even on the app, the small banner stays at the bottom, with no other ads anywhere.
We’ve had only a handful of complaints, but I still wanted to share, in case this was a concern to anyone else. We strongly feel this is the best path for the business and for our subscribers.
• This week saw the very quiet introduction of our deep links. This has been in the works for a while, and it went through when Apple finally got around to publishing our newest app update. What this does is, if someone finds a link to one of our articles on a mobile device, a banner shows across the top that allows them to choose a downloading of the app or simply sticking with a mobile browser. We want people using the app, so it’s been terrific to see a huge uptick in downloads the past few days.
If you haven’t downloaded yet, here is our app for iPhone/iPad. And the app for Android.
Overall app count: 5,189 active downloads from Apple, 2,252 from Android..
• If you are an active-duty military member or a veteran — or if you know one — let it be known that subscriptions to this site are free. Simply click the big button below:
Believe it or not, we’ve actually had to stop asking for contributions toward veteran subscriptions because they came in at a rate that exceeded our ability to process the requests. We’re working on it, though, processing up to 20 a day. When we’re caught up, I’ll let you know.
• We’re selling gift subscriptions all the time. That never stops. Click the box below for all options:
• Our online merchandise shop now has mugs, mousepads and flash drives, all for $10 or less. That flash drive is actually 8 GB, which is a good deal even if it had a Flyers logo on it:
• As of this writing at 11 p.m. Friday, we’re at 9,815 paid subscriptions. We’re 8 1/2 months old, and our stated goal for the first full year was 10,000.
• If you can’t figure out something related to our site or app, please check our Support and App Support pages. About 99 percent of the questions we get can be answered right there. But if your issue isn’t there, email [email protected]
• Thank you, as always, for reading and for your support.
