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
Seeking Blog Angels
About 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 in and around Thanet - especially if they are not widely addressed in the larger media. Unsurprisingly most of the readership are from Thanet and nearby parts of Kent.
It costs around £1200 a year to keep each of the blogs Matt runs online and Thanet Star accounts for at least £600 of that cost. The cost is made up of server hire (paid yearly), domain name renewal, bandwidth costs and Matt's time. Previously these costs were covered as part of Matt's business activities which have now come to an end. Recently Matt has been covering all of the costs himself and giving his time for free.
What is a Blog Angel
A Blog Angel is a local business or very generous individual that is willing to commit to supporting Thanet Star for a small amount of money each month over a set period. In return the Angel gets a unique sponsorship opportunity and local exposure for their business.
The price of becoming a Blog Angel for Thanet Star is just £25 a month and you will be asked to commit to that for at least a year.
Benefits for Blog Angel
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
- 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
- Website Traffic** - local search levels remain largely unchanged over the last five years but competition for that traffic has stiffened considerably.
* Matt will endeavor to personally write a review of each Angel business and will (as articles allow) make reference to the blog angles in a positive tone. In order to tell readers more about the Blog Angels Matt may focus research and social time in their direction making their businesses and announcements part of the article creation process. This will be in the form of a neutral review as part of the normal editorial process and/or factual announcements (such as event dates) as available. Matt will arrange to visit each Angel to learn more first hand and to be discover how best to make your time as a Thanet Star blog Angel mutually beneficial.
We hope to be proud of our Angels.
** This is an expected effect of the exposure Angels receive during the editorial process.
Thanet Star is popular and so are you
Thanet star is a popular blog and has been since the start. By showing a small amount of support for a popular Thanet web destination you will be sending a strong positive message about your brand.
Who should not be an Angel
We want to be proud of our Angels and have reserved high profile areas to display their logos. If you can not afford to commit to £25 a month for a year then this is not the time for you to be our Angel likewise if your business methods might cause us to be ashamed of our relationship Thanet Star will end the relationship early.
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.
Be Thanet Star's Blog Angel right now
Getting the most from our relationship.
In order to get the most from your sponsorship you will need to do a few very simple things which can be done in any order.
- Make available to us your desired image(s) (ideally 123x50 for your logo) and to the email address shown.
- Tell us your site address so we can direct our readers towards you
- Stay in contact
Promoting events, nights and special offers
As a Thanet Star Blog Angel your success is very important to us and so is the success of any events, activities or special offers you have coming up. Make sure that we can find out about your events and offers so that we can tell our readers about them.
Recruiting staff, bands or specialists
Are you looking for something special. An artist to transform your walls, new staff for your growing business or some bands to play in your event's line-up? Then let Matt know in plenty of time so Thanet Star can help her Angels to spread the word.
Raising money for charity
Likewise when you run a charity fund raiser - as our Angel we want to help you get the word out there.
Yes I want to be a Blog Angel
The £25 a month payment that secures your business a position as one of our four Blog Angels can be made digitally with through PayPal for your protection and convenience.
