racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

I don’t believe I’ve publicly announced this before (though I have put in discreet notices). If you’re interested in sponsoring this blog, then sponsorship starting September is open. You can purchase the entire 728×90px header space and/or the rightmost column 160×600px vertical space (to replace the adsense banners) for a nominal amount. I’m also introducing 125×125 buttons and text links on the rightmost sidebar. Discounts apply to volume—more than one ad or more than one month.

Google Pagerank is 5/10, with EatonWeb overall metric of 38.38%. Daily readership is at about 1,500 uniques with approximately 4,000 daily page views. The site has 220 RSS feed subscribers.

You can contact me in private for the rates, and to negotiate. If you’re interested in sites with wider coverage, I can also offer you ad spots on several Splashpress Media properties, including the Blog Herald, Tubetorial, Performancing, 901am and the like. More expensive, of course, but given the rate and quality of readership there, value is justified.

I’m not selling my soul. It’s just that while AdSense and the few TLA ads still continue to help pay the bills, I prefer having more control over advertising. And selling direct is always best—it’s cheaper for the advertiser, and I don’t have to split proceeds with the middleman.

Update: The masthead banner has been taken. I’ve got myself an excellent long-term deal for that one.

If you pay for something, should you still see advertisements?

This is one question that has been looming on my mind since the first time I ranted out about advertisements on Sky Cable a couple of years back.

When you pay for a premium Flickr account, do you get ads? No? When I bought myself a Flickr Pro account, the promise was for ads to disappear unless it was absolutely necessary to display advertisements. And Yahoo!/Flickr made good on their promise.

What about SkyCable? No.

Take Nickelodeon, AXN, Cartoon network, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel. All of these channels that feature ads for their own shows during breaks now also feature ads for Sky, Home Cable, and affiliated companies like Sky Internet.

I mean I pay PhP 800 plus (~$16 +) per month for a Sky Cable Gold subscription, and I expect nothing but quality ad-free programming. But what do I get? Advertisements.

Let’s put our laptop lid advertising (Sacha, Blogging Pro, bLaptops, the J Spot) concept to the test. I’ll be speaking at the 3rd Techfactors Regional Educators’ ICT Summit this Wednesday, August 30th at the University of the Philippines (my topic is The Learning Preferences of the New Generation). The audience will consist mainly of about 200 educators in the various ICT fields from Metro Manila schools.

Unlike Sacha, who’s selling space by the square inch (or quarter of an inch, even), I think I’ll go in larger chunks, considering the affair will not be as intimate as BarCamp, and I’ll be speaking at front, and not mingling with the crowd (well, mingling comes during the break times). So visibility from greater distances is important in this case.

Okay, I’m interested. How much will it cost?

Considering that my laptop has a relatively larger screen and lid real-estate than Sacha’s ultraportable, we can go in chunks of 4” x 4” or even 8” x 4”. This is a 14-inch widescreen, and the actual area of the lid is about 13” x 9”. That leaves enough space for six 4” x 4” images or three 8” x 4” stickers comfortably side by side on the lid with enough free space in between.

The prices:

• US$ 50 for a 4×4 image
• US$ 75 for an 8×4 image
• US$ 100 for an 8×8 image

Okay, we can go smaller, but you’ll have to email me so we can agree upon a price. And, this is first come (or first emailed?), first served. Hey, the 8×8 space is cheap (do the math). You can slash off 100% from the price of four 4×4s if you and three friends are interested in putting up 4×4 ads each.

The Elevator Pitch

This arrangement goes with the standard elevator pitch, meaning if someone asks about the ad, I’ll introduce the product/service/site to them in less than a minute (which is enough to capture the interest of people if done right). This means I cannot possibly pitch stuff that I’m not comfortable using myself, so I reserve the right to turn down unsuitable ads.

Materials, images, URLs, etc.

I’ll supply the materials and do the printing myself, unless you have some need to send me some specialized, embossed, gold-plated, diamond-encrusted logo of your company. Just send me a suitable image in print-size resolution, along with instructions to add a URL or some text, and let’s talk business.

Also, to give proof of your product’s exposure, I’ll email you back pictures from the event with your ads prominently placed on my laptop lid. Heck, I’ll even post them here on my blog.

Contact Me

Get in touch with me via the usual email address – jangelo at racoma dot net. You have until tomorrow evening (August 29th, +0800H GMT) to place your orders, as the event will start early on Wednesday.

I think our PayPal for the Philippines logo should have a spot.

Chris Pirillo did it with his chest—his rent my chest idea seemed quite novel (probably would’ve been better if Chris were a girl ). Andrew Fischer rented out his forehead for ad space. Now Sacha Chua is tempted to sell ad space on her laptop lid, just as Stowe Boyd did with his T-shirts. Apparently, Stowe likes the idea.

There’s actually a business plan in there somewhere. People register with the company, get sent a new sticker every month that covers the lid, and take pictures to show they’ve put in on at the start and that its still there at the end of the month, and they get sent a small check. Fun!

I think it’s quite cool, too. Companies should be sure, though, to target people who frequently use their laptops in public, and not just laptop owners who usually leave their machines at home or on their desk at the office.

I think it doesn’t even have to be revenue-based, but it could be in-kind.

Hey, if someone will sponsor my coffee, snacks, WiFi connection and fare/gas every day just to get me to spend a few hours at Starbucks or Seattle’s Best, I would be all right with slapping some stickers on my V2000. I’ll be able to get some work done, get my daily caffeine fix, satisfy my sweet tooth, and probably get some extra dough.

Imagine if I spent three hours in Starbucks every day with a large “Seattle’s Best” sticker.

At any rate, revenue model or not, I think Sacha got it right that stickers on laptop lids—especially large stickers that shout out a statement—would definitely help in getting people’s attention. Who knows? You can even make friends along the way.

Want to meet interesting but don’t want to have to make the first move? Use the back of your laptop to get people to talk to you. Stickers are a great way to do that. My laptop reads “The geek shall inherit the earth.” I can’t count the smiles, chuckles, and conversations I’ve gotten out of it—and all I have to do is open my laptop!

I used to do this with my old ThinkPad, but I would probably have second thoughts about slapping on a sticker on my new Presario. Okay, it’s more than a month old. Still, the the likelihood of leaving sticky residue on my laptop lid is quite a worrisome thought. Someone should develop laptop-friendly stickers!

Hey, maybe K2 Interactive can do this, along with their regular marketing via blog ads. Or, I’ll probably work on the idea myself!