Advertising policy on Grumpy Traveller
Grumpy Traveller is written for human beings, not Google. If the sole purpose of advertising is to boost your company’s position in Google search results, then you’ve come to the wrong place. There are plenty of other terrible-to-mediocre blogs out there that will let you hide links in posts and write scarcely concealed advertorial about your company. They’ll probably do it on the cheap too. Alas, there are thousands of these sites, quality standards are almost non-existent and the business models are clearly doomed to failure. So buyer beware…
I have a bit more respect for Grumpy Traveller’s intelligent, knowledgeable readership. I won’t feed them crap. Quality content counts, and the more poor content there is out there, the more valuable the good stuff is. Advertise here, and you’re associating with the good stuff.
Vetting
I reserve the right to refuse advertisements from companies for whatever reason I choose. Potential advertisers should have at least some link to travel. All adverts will be vetted for content before going live, as will all advertiser-supplied copy for the bottom of sponsored posts. The sponsored post copy should be aimed at letting readers know what the company does rather than attempting a hard sell or cramming with keywords for the benefit of search engines. Essentially, if I think the wording is in the wrong spirit, I won’t allow it.
Sponsored posts
All topics are chosen by the author, who has complete editorial control. In other words, I’ll not do a post on travel insurance because travel insurance company X asks me to.
Placement and conflicts of interest
In order to keep editorial and advertising separate, I have to maintain strict rules on adverts from companies that have hosted my travel. Therefore, any company that hosted me in any way that is relevant to a particular post (ie. provided meals, flights, tours or accommodation) cannot advertise on that post.
Design
The advertiser is responsible for providing the correct HTML code for the advert so that it can be placed in position on the site. The advertiser is also responsible for sending through copy for the bottom of sponsored posts.
Changing an advert
Once an advert is accepted and paid for, it doesn’t get changed unless the advertiser is prepared to pay the same fee again for a new ad. Advertisers are advised to design their adverts and word their sponsored post copy with this in mind – focusing on temporary special sale deals is not a good idea.
Payment
Payment must be received before the adverts are put on the site. Direct bank transfer is the preferred option.
No Follow or Follow?
All links are follow links, unless set otherwise by WordPress. I do not look at whether links are set to follow or not – they’re left as they are. As I say, Grumpy Traveller is written for human beings, not Google.
