Your sales toolkit

Who to call first

Start with businesses that already spend money to be seen locally: sponsors of school teams, businesses running Facebook ads, and shops that host events.

What to sell

Four simple packages. Lead with the smallest one. It is easier to grow a sponsor than to win a big one.

What to say

Replace the brackets, keep it short, and always end with one clear ask.

Subject: Getting [Business] in front of Hollywood readers

Hi [Name],

I'm [Your name], the affiliate of the Hollywood Community Observer, a local news site with weather, headlines, TV and video for Hollywood.

I'm lining up a small group of local sponsors this month and [Business] came to mind. Sponsors get their name and logo on every page, clearly labeled, next to the news people check every day.

Could we talk for 10 minutes this week? I can send a one page proposal first.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Phone]

Hi [Name], I'm [Your name], the Hollywood Community Observer affiliate. We're adding a few local sponsors this month and [Business] would be a great fit. Want me to send you a quick one page proposal?

Hi, I'm [Your name] with the Hollywood Community Observer, the local news and weather site. I'm working with a few local businesses on sponsorships. Do you have two minutes so I can show you how it looks?

Hi [Name], following up on the proposal I sent for [Business]. Happy to adjust the package or start smaller with the Neighborhood Partner spot. Do you have 10 minutes Thursday?

Build a proposal

Make a clean, shareable proposal for a business in under a minute.

When they push back

Your first 30 days

The goal is your first paying sponsor. You have 60 days, so this leaves room to spare.

The more you sell, the more you keep

Each percentage applies to the dollars in that band, so selling more never lowers your pay.

Launch boost: for your first 90 days you keep 70% of everything you sell.

Build a real local site and keep even more

Your share goes up as you run a full site: a current calendar, fresh content, contributors, high school coverage, and food, money and fitness voices. Run a bare site and it stays lower. It is measured automatically, every day.

• 📅
  Keep the calendar currentEvents coming up in the next 30 days
  up to 2 pts
• 📰
  Publish fresh local contentOriginal posts in the last 30 days
  up to 2 pts
• 🧑‍🤝‍🧑
  Add contributorsContributors who posted in the last 30 days
  up to 2 pts
• 🏆
  High school sports coverageHigh school games and scores in the last 3 weeks
  up to 2 pts
• 🏈
  Pro and college commentaryGame takes and commentary posts in the last 30 days
  up to 2 pts
• 🎸
  Entertainment and live showsMusic and arts events coming up, plus entertainment posts
  up to 1 pt
• 🍽️
  Food and drink bloggerFood posts in the last 30 days
  up to 1 pt
• 💰
  Money and finance bloggerMoney posts in the last 30 days
  up to 1 pt
• 🏃
  Health and fitness bloggerFitness posts in the last 30 days
  up to 1 pt
• 🎙️
  A local podcastEpisodes in the last 45 days
  up to 1 pt

Every new affiliate has 60 days at the Starter share while the site gets going. The share you keep for a month is the middle of that month's daily readings.

You run the town. We run everything else.

A fair split for what each side does.

• No setup fee, no monthly bill up front, no minimum ad budget and nothing to buy. The small site fee comes out of what you earn and can never be more than you earned.
• You are paid on ads that sponsors have actually paid for. Refunds and chargebacks come out of the same month.
• One community per affiliate to start. A second unlocks after 90 days at Publisher or above.
• Use it or lose it: a community stays yours while it stays out of the Needs attention level. After 90 days there it reopens to other applicants, with 30 days notice to you.
• Ads that the network sells and that run on your site earn you 30% while they run.
• Your launch boost: keep 70% of everything you sell in your first 90 days.
• Local advertisers only. Every ad you sell must be for a business located in or serving your community. National brands are welcome through their local store or dealer, using that store's own page, so the Ace Hardware in your town is welcome and national Ace Hardware is not. No affiliate links, tracking links or affiliate programs (Amazon, travel, coupon networks and the like) in ads, spots, events or stories. The network runs those itself.
• Network placements: the network reserves the right to run Amazon Associates ads, travel and booking widgets, house ads and network promotions in the network strip on every page and in any placement that has not been sold, at its discretion and within the site templates. That revenue belongs to the network and is not part of your commissionable sales. A sponsor you sell always keeps the placement they bought, and network placements do not change what your sponsors bought.

These are the working terms and can change with notice. Have your own advisor review the agreement before you sign.

Every sponsor can become a bigger customer

When a business you introduced buys another of our products, you earn 20% of what they pay for the first 12 months.