Believe it or not, I’m pretty conscientious of the advertising on this site. How much of it there is, what it’s for, where it’s placed, and how it behaves. I do try and make money from the site, but I always say no to the most annoying stuff. On this site: ads look like ads, there are no disguised text links, no super shady companies, no flash, and no popups/popunders or otherwise aggressively placed ads (e.g. “after title before content”).
With the limited space available, there are more companies that want to advertise than can fit on the site. It sucks saying no to good companies that want to give you money, especially now as I have moved into a rather expensive area of the country.
And thus was born the idea for Deals for Designers. This is a new page of the site that is full of promotions for companies that are offering a deal of some sort on their product or service. This way I can say yes to more companies wanting to advertise, but hopefully not annoy folks or break any of my rules.
I think this is a win for everyone. Readers like you can check this page out if they are in the market for some kind of web design product or service (e.g. hosting, themes, training, etc) and want to save money. Companies can get some promotion. I can earn money in the case that company has an affiliate program.
Here are the facts:
- Companies don’t pay to be on this page.
- If they have an affiliate program, I use it.
- I either use or would use all of these products/services.
I’d like to grow it out, so if you’d like your company on there get in touch. And the rest of you, go check it out (ooooh the ads are even responsive =)).
It seems strange putting ads (even free ones) on a page that most people will just ignore – but the best of luck anyway. I’ll be interested to see any follow up stats etc in a months time to see how successful it’s been …
… if it works, you’ve started a trend then we’ll all copy you <_<.
Cheers
I
I figure people might check it out once, then ignore it until the need to buy something, then come back and snag the discount. That’s the idea, less in-your-face and more useful.
Not saying it’ll work, just hoping it does.
I did check it out before the post, so it works :)
why is the squarespace bigger?
The SquareSpace div is not smaller, just the background image is 50px taller.
First off, great idea and thanks for taking us into consideration. There are some design sites I stay away from because of those annoying practices. I also enjoy this site tremendously because you value users over money.
The situation Isiah poses is a valid one, I think perhaps you should change something (color, put an asterisk, something) when new “deals” are updated, that way you avoid what you said about ignoring it and coming back til they need something. I mean if it’s a sweet deal, I would like to know.
Nice idea,
Just so you know, that the deals don’t show up if one has Adblock Plus for Firefox installed. Had to turn it off on the page to actually see the ads.
Same here. Was wondering if there was anything on that page at all until I looked at the code :)
great idea for a section. i love the way you give so much to the community chris! i only got where i am today because of your website. Rock On!
I think it’s a great idea, and suits the site well.
Last month I signed up for Media Temple hosting for all my sites, and about a week ago I was about to pre-pay for a year’s hosting, to get the discount, and noticed your “deals” page just in time. So I got 20% off with that coupon code. Thus avoiding having to haggle for a better deal.
So…. thanks! :)
Y U NO HAVE WORDPRESS ON THERE?
Its 100% free and awesome! Can’t get a better deal than that ;)
Awesome! So when I need some designy product or service, I can check this collection of deals instead of firing the googler for online coupons, it’s a win-win-win!
free design stuff is always welcome
I just purchasing MediaTemple hosting 2 weeks ago, it’s a shame I didn’t see this earlier. I’ll have to keep my eye out for any other deals I may need.
Your Deals page is broken