And Now a Word From Our Sponsor…
I got an email yesterday from a friend of a friend. I met her on the most amazing bachelorette weekend ever, filled with incredible women, delicious food, and mass quantities of Prosecco. (It's particularly good when you float berries at the bottom.)
Elise (nope, not talking about myself in the third person — her name is also Elise) wrote to me because she has a thriving business called Go Coffee Go, selling fresh-roasted artisan coffees online, and she was hoping I'd help by becoming an affiliate. She wanted me to place a banner on this site, then I'd get a percentage of any sales from people clicking through.
I told her no, not because I'm against that kind of thing, it's just not what I'm about on this site (the links to her on this page are not affiliate links, they're just links). But while I'm not about selling products, I'm all about promoting things that are great, especially if I love the people behind them.
Given all that, here's what I said I'd do — I told her I'd blog about our chat here, then order some of her coffee online and try it. If I love it, I'll rave about it in another post, officially add her site to my Links page, maybe use the coffee as a prize in a giveaway… all that good stuff.
So while we're on the topic, here's a question: what do you think about sponsored ads on book-world blogs? Personally, I think it depends on the blog. If it's an author site, I'm not a fan. The author site is already promoting the author and his/her books and projects. Not only would outside ads muddle the message, but they would also make the site seem very sales-y and offputting.
Book bloggers, however, put extraordinary amounts of time and effort into their blogs without any commercial upside. They're not promoting their own books or other goods, they're just sharing their passion because they love it so much. If they want to earn a little revenue to help them finance this passion, I think it's great, especially when it's handled with taste and class.
Kristi The Story Siren has perfected this balancing act. The blog ads on her site are subtle and effective, take nothing away from her gorgeous layout and detailed content, and give her the chance to take the financial edge off running her blog. I don't know what she makes off the ads, but I can all but guarantee that they don't come close to compensating her for the many hours she dedicates to the site.
What's your take on blog ads? And what's your take on the coffee list at Go Coffee Go? I'm trying to figure out which kind of coffee I should order for my little taste test, and I'm kind of overwhelmed (in a good way) by all my choices. If you were me, which would you choose?
