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Advertise With the Handmade Beauty Connection
Announce Your Message
to Nearly 5,000 Loyal Handmade Beauty Subscribers!!
Welcome to the Handmade Beauty Connection Media Kit & Advertising Information Page!
Introduction & Advertiser Feedback
Editorial Calendar
Subscribership & Circulation
Subscriber Profile
Subscriber Satisfaction Rating & Newsletter Visibility
Sponsorship Opportunities & Rates
Advertising Tips
Contact Information
Introduction & Advertiser Feedback
The Handmade Beauty Connection is the handmade beauty industry's first and
only professional, regularly issued online publication. Since 2000, over 270
issues have been published, each one containing content that is 100%
original. Our readers never find cookie-cutter
article reprints of dubious authorship in our publication. You will not see
the kind of industry news and information covered here anywhere else --
online or off!
In conjunction with the Handmade Beauty Network, the leading trade organization representing the handmade
beauty industry, our mission is to advance consumer awareness of the benefits of handmade beauty products and encourage excellence in the industry as a whole. Founded in January 2000 by attorney, entrepreneur and handmade toiletries “junkie” Donna Maria Coles Johnson, the Handmade Beauty Connection showcases
fresh, evergreen, original content not found anywhere else in the world. Here's
what some of our advertisers have to say.
- "Our sponsorship of The Handmade Beauty Connection
went over very well, we had a huge number of hits on the day
the newsletter was published, plus we got quite a few new customers.
In fact, we enjoyed a lot more hits than ever before after sponsoring the
newsletter which is great!" Lori Kimble, The
Scent Shack.
"The returns from our newsletter
ads just keep on coming!" Dennis Fioravanti, Essential
Wholesale.
I just wanted
to let you know that we are so pleased with the performance of our
ad in The Handmade Beauty Connection. We can track where our
visitors come from and they increased significantly on the day our ad ran
in the newsletter! This is amazing and I am so pleased. Let me know when
other sponsorship opportunities are available!. Emma Payton,
General Manager, Green
Valley Aromatherapy
Our
dedication to quality, style and originality has made The Handmade Beauty Connection the premier online publication of the handmade toiletries
industry. Our publication is thus the perfect avenue to promote your products and
services. Our publication is the perfect avenue to promote your products and
services.
- raw materials and packaging supplies for cosmetics products
- quality finished handmade toiletries products that make great gifts
- essential oils and other aromatherapy-related products, as well as other fragrant ingredients
- toiletries-making equipment such as molds, pH testers, mixers and soap cutters and stamps
- industry-related books, correspondence courses and other educational materials
- professional services that support manufacturers large and small (legal, accounting, public relations, technology, etc.)
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Editorial
Calendar
Our 2005 Editorial
Calendar makes it easier and more fun for readers and Sponsors to enjoy
our publication. By announcing in advance the focus of our Featured Article
of the Week, everyone can look forward to what each week will offer for them.
As holidays approach, feature articles will be prepared around the
appropriate holiday theme. The rest of the year will feature interesting
topics of interest to our readers such as pregnancy care, hair health, herbs,
battling depression naturally, etc. Many articles feature comments and
editorials by professionals in their fields. For example, the issue on the
importance of sleep will feature quotations from health care providers about
the importance of sleep, while the article on well baby care will feature
information provided by a pediatrician.
As always, our Editorial
Calendar is
subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances, but we plan to hold to
this schedule as closely as possible and any substitutions will be
complementary.
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Subscribership & Circulation
As of December 2004, The Handmade Beauty Connection has nearly
5,000 subscribers
worldwide, and subscribership often grows by an average of 200+ per month. All subscriptions are 100% opt-in, and subscribers can easily unsubscribe at any time using the user-friendly instructions contained in each issue. Unlike most online newsletters which routinely include in their circulation numbers email addresses that are dead or which regularly bounce back the newsletter, we “clean” our subscription list regularly to ensure that we are quoting you the actual subscription numbers of actual newsletter readers.
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Subscriber Profile
Our subscriber feedback shows that nearly all of our subscribers are either handmade
beauty business entrepreneurs or avid hobbyists seeking to one day start their own handmade toiletries businesses. A growing number of our subscribers are freelance writers and magazine editors who have subscribed to our newsletter to remain abreast of industry news and trends. A large number of subscribers are soapmakers, and many are active in the aromatherapy industry. Our subscribers value the Handmade Beauty Connection because it provides them with reliable information about the handmade toiletries industry, tips on growing a successful
beauty business, and other useful and informative content that is easily incorporated into their lives.
Our Fall 2004 survey reveal these statistics about our readers.
- 98% are women
- 60% are between the ages of 21 and 45
- 62% have an annual household income of between 36,000 and
$100,000
- 80% live in the United States
- 72% own their own handmade beauty businesses
- over 95% of readers told us that our newsletter is visually
appealing to them, that they are satisfied that our newsletter provides
them with useful information and is well written and that it features
products that interest them
- on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being most likely to buy), 78% of
readers rated their likelihood of buying products featured in our
newsletter as between 6 and 10
Our subscribers include executives, managers and front-line employees of some of the top names in the handmade beauty industry, as well as a highly sophisticated group of hobbyists and consumers who are interested in using and/or making handmade toiletries products containing natural ingredients.
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Subscriber Satisfaction Rating & Newsletter Visibility
Feedback reveals that Handmade Beauty Connection readers are pleased with the quality of the Newsletter, providing an average rating of 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. Each issue of the Handmade Beauty Connection is uploaded to our popular Web site, http://www.HandmadeBeauty.com, which receives an average of
over 42,000 visits and nearly
90,000 successful page views each month.
By far the most popular pages at our website are made up of our
newsletter Archives. Unlike almost all other publications, the Handmade Beauty Connection accepts only one carefully selected sponsor per issue. We consider our sponsors’ ads to be an integral part of our newsletter content, and we regularly refuse ads that our readers will not immediately identify as complementary to our mission. Our sponsors thus receive unsurpassed exposure as the first thing our subscribers see when they open their email or click on our Web site to view our newsletter. Since we keep our newsletters in our extensive archives at the site, ads continue to work for our sponsors as more and more people around the world visit our site for the latest news and information from the handmade toiletries arena.
Sponsorship Opportunities & Rates
The Handmade Beauty Connection offers paid sponsorship opportunities for companies that wish to promote handmade beauty industry-related products and services to our highly targeted audience.
Consistent sponsors include Essential Wholesale, The Scent
Shack, Green Valley Aromatherapy and Monave Mineral Cosmetics. All sponsors must include appropriate content, and all ad text is subject to review and approval by the Handmade Beauty Connection.
The price to sponsor the Handmade Beauty Connection is $50 CPM. CPM is the electronic publishing industry’s term for cost per thousand. Thus, an ad is priced at $50 for every 1,000 subscribers. At
nearly 5,000 subscribers, $50 CPM results in an ad price of
close to $500.00, which we round down as indicated in Figure 1. As subscribership increases, the price to sponsor the newsletter
may also increase. For this reason, we reserve the right to change the rates and terms specified in this document at any time prior to execution of an advertising contract. Our sponsorship options are shown in Figure 1. Sponsorships may be reserved at any time on a first-come, first-served basis.
Our ad format is as follows:
Width: no less than 300 pixels and no more than 375 pixels
Height: no more than 200 pixels high
Weight: no more than 20K There will be no exceptions to these size
requirements.
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Advertising Tips
We are frequently asked questions about what is and is not an effective ad for an online publication. Our experience has shown the following:
- short and to the point is more effective than long and drawn out
- color is always attractive and if you wish to have an animated
graphic, please submit it as a single animated gif file
- opening an ad with your main attraction works well as an attention-getter. The first line of your ad should mention your free offer, free shipping, discounts, free gift with purchase, etc.
- mentioning reasons why readers should buy from you is important, especially if the market for the product you are advertising is particularly competitive
- preparing a link allowing readers to quickly find the item(s) you are advertising is important. Nothing is less effective than advertising a product with a link to a generic home page that does not tell the would-be purchaser exactly what to do to find the item(s) advertised. Make it easy for readers to find what you are promoting
- providing a deadline for response to your offer, i.e., the last day for free shipping or the date the sale ends, helps readers remember to respond to your ad
-- this also prevents people from expecting to benefit from a discount
months or even years after you ad appears
- providing a variety of ways to contact you (toll free number, email, Web site, etc.) is always helpful
- linking to special pages within your site that you don't advertise
elsewhere is a good way to gauge how much response you get from
Handmade Beauty Connection readers!
Since studies show that people are much more likely to remember a message if they have seen it at least three times, we recommend that advertisers place an ad in 3 consecutive issues for maximum results. Of course, we realize that not all businesses are inclined to do this, so we offer 2x and 1x placements as well. (See Figure 1.)
All ad submissions must be grammatically correct and free of spelling errors. At this time, we do not offer advertising text-writing services, but we will work with you to the extent we can to ensure that your ad reflects positively on both you and the publication.
The price to swap out an ad that already appears in our Archives is $100.
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Contact Information
I welcome the opportunity to serve you by bringing your message to our
readers. To discuss your requirements in detail and book a sponsorship, please contact
HBN's president, Donna Maria, at (301) 464-4515 or email
Donna Maria.
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