John Saddington, Desk.PM:
A lot of people have asked me whether sponsorship and advertising on John Gruber’s Daring Fireball actually works. What they are asking, more specifically, is whether it’s really worth the investment, because advertising is not cheap on DF.
Desk is new Mac OS X app dedicate to beautiful, distraction-free, blogging. I bought the app last month and I’ve used it for a few pieces for this very blog. Made with bloggers in mind by a blogger himself, Saddington has delivered a great product. One that I’ve been looking for. 1
Also a fan of Daring Fireball, John bucked up the cash to sponsor the blog for a week. 2 The results have come in and he seems to be pleased. This is a rather candid post I didn’t expect to read. I’m glad he found success in the campaign.
Blog sponsorship is something I dream to incorporate into this site. I love to write and I hate ads. Hate them. Why use a flashing GIF in the header of your website when you can provide more context in a simple text post? That’s what Gruber and so many of my favorite tech writers have been doing to generate income on their thoughts an opinions. 3
Now, am I in a position to provide a business access to a network of readers (and potential consumers) with my blog? No. Not yet. I’m just getting this ball rolling, but I did code this site with sponsorships in mind. When the time and audience comes, I just have to turn on the switch.
I’m glad to see these numbers. Two products I use mutually benefiting each other is good for me, the consumer. Desk’s 2014 sales means I’ll see updates to the software I gladly paid $30 for.
- Blogo is a great alternative that is promising Tumblr support soon. Try it free for WordPress sites. ↩
- As of January 2015, this sort of sponsorship costs $8,750. ↩
- See 512pixels.net, MacStories.net, and SixColors for examples. ↩