GIRLHOMEABOUTFAQDIYOUTFITSCREATURESSHOP

Wednesday, May 23

Making the Switch to Passionfruit Ads

I announced a couple of days ago (on Twitter) that I have officially made the switch to Passionfruit Ads, and I have been asked quite a few questions about it.  I thought that sharing my experience with Passionfruit (so far) may be helpful for a lot of you-- some wondering what's now going on with my sponsor page, and some maybe looking to use Passionfruit for their own blog.

I previously had a very wonderful ad manager who took care of emails about sponsorship and posted the ads (which was so nice having that taken care of), but it was time for us to part ways (amicably, of course) and I found myself with a big question mark floating over my head.  What do I do now?  I had read a post over on Harper's Happenings a while back about a new company called Passionfruit that was designed to help bloggers with ad management.  I am a very skeptical gal when it comes to these sorts of things, so I decided to let some friends try it out first and observe how it seemed to be going.  Hey, I was just being cautious.  ;)

After Holly had it set up for about a month and seemed to be liking it, I decided to pop over and read up on some more details.  It seemed easy enough, so I signed up and began the process.  I first set my ad sizes and prices, and then I pasted a little bit of code into my sponsor page.  There.  Now I had the option for sponsors to purchase directly from my sponsor page instead of being invoiced or being redirected to my Big Cartel shop.


Once I had Passionfruit set up on my sponsor information page, it was time to update my sidebar with the Passionfruit coding.  There was a little more work involved with this part, but nothing too major--  I had to upload all of my existing sponsors and links into the system, but after that job was done I just pasted a little more coding into that sidebar and it was smooth sailing from there.

Okaaaaayyy... I will admit, I got a tiny bit lost in the middle of setting things up, but Jason was there for live chat and got me all straightened out.  That has been the biggest thumbs up so far with this company-- the customer service isn't just friendly and great, it's immediate.  That's good for someone like me who is NOT terrific at this sort of thing.  I understand only a tiiinnnnyyy bit about blog coding and I am very intimidated by most of it.  Jason was (is) terribly nice and extremely helpful.  A++

The biggest change for me is going to be the missing rush of emails at the end/beginning of each month.  With Passionfruit, once the ad is approved and there is space for it, it posts immediately.  That means sponsors can purchase a spot at any point in the month and it posts immediately (as long as there is room in the sidebar at the time).  If there isn't room at the time of purchase, the ad sits and waits in line, and it shows up as soon as there is space for it.

I can't say much more since this is my first time using Passionfruit, but I will report back here in a month or two and let you know how it's going.  Ads are officially for sale on my sponsor page, and if you'd like to purchase one, I'd love to have you aboard!

**As I was writing this, I was live chatting with Jason about a few details for this post and he filled me in on a big announcement that I get to share with you!  Passionfruit will now only be taking a fee of $1 + the Paypal fee per ad (instead of the previous 10% including the Paypal fee).  So, not only is Passionfruit making my ad life simpler, it just got cheaper.  Waaaahoooooo!  My experience so far has me to recommending Passionfruit to anyone interested.  :)

**This is not a sponsored post-- just a little bit of info about a company that I am loving so far!

18 comments:

  1. I love Passionfruit Ads too. I wish every blog had it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Really great article, I am skeptical of even having ads on my blog. But then I started thinking about how it would work and I got even more intimidated by the whole thing. But this post maybe me feel better. Except for the entering codes into places, I am really bad with that sort of thing .
    Carlee

    http://allthingsaveragegirl.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've really been debating about whether or not to switch to Passionfruit, and I think your post just sold me. :) Having someone else take care of the ads sounds awesome because sometimes it can be a little daunting. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts in a month or two! Thanks so much for this post!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Katie, I asked you about this on twitter the other day, so I appreciate your response there, and now this detailed post! It sounds pretty good to me too! Thanks for telling us all about your experience :)
    Kitty
    xo

    Kitty & Buck.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't have sponsors on my blog, but I bought an ad through Passionfruit and it was very easy to use. I couldn't find where to upload my ad and Jason came back to me very soon to help out. It turns out it was just my adblocker that was blocking the upload button :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That Jason is always there to help-- I love it!

      Delete
  6. Thanks for your support, Katie! We love Skunkboy!

    Everyone, if you have questions about Passionfruit's service and how it works, ask here and I'll hang out today answering them all!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is exciting. I never knew how all this worked but i would like to do it eventually, so this is good to know.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just started to learn about these ad companies cause everyones talkin about them on their blogs. This one sounds awesome and affordable. Can't wait to hear more about them in a few months!

    ReplyDelete
  9. thank you so much katie! the end of the month is always a daunting experience and this makes everything much easier. i never even considered a site like this, but had it all switched over and installed within an hour!

    xo,
    steffy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay! I love to hear that! I totally agree about the end of month frenzy-- this relieves quite a bit of that stress. :)

      Delete
  10. I'm not yet at the point where I'm accepting paid ads for my website/blog but I bookmarked Passionfruit's website for the future. Thanks so much for sharing and constructively critiquing this company! I'm sure it helps others that are, like me, still relatively new to blogging. Good luck with it all and keep us updated on what you think! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. thanks for sharing this katie! after seeing moorea's post yesterday about it... i looked deeper into it (also being a skeptical one). i saw it on someones blog months ago, but didnt really think twice about it. but the more my sponsor spots have grown, which is a beautiful blessing, the more it has become a bit insane time wise at the end/beginning of each month. after your testimonial, among a few others, im ready to make the dive! thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I just set up my passionfruit account on Tuesday and so far I love it as it is so easy to set up.
    As I am new to sponsorships all together this seems like a great way to get started. Thanks for sharing your opinion it's always great to know when others are happy and comfortable with something new.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Having just started a blog this was a really timely blogpost. Thank you for sharing information that can make our blogging lives easier.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Holy...that sounds incredible!! I am not ready to set of ad but I'm bookmarking this post for that day when I am ;)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hey that is great information!! I plan on taking a peek right now :)

    Cathy Trails

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for the info Katie. I've been thinking about switching but am a little unsure still. My biggest concern is missing the connection with the advertiser. I sponsored a blog last month through passion fruit and didn't have any contact from the blogger. It felt strange. I guess it just depends on the blogger. Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete