LikeTheDew.com

Full disclosure: here’s how we did in the Dew Shops for December: Impressions (ad views): 139,470; Ad Clicks: 698; Orders: 25; Sales: $383.90; Commissions (total revenue, all sources to the Dew): $29.88 (as of 12/30/09). Every little bit helps. Thank you for supporting the Dew.

Lindsie: Thank you. You have joined several others who have expressed the same willingness to give to keep the dew flowing. You can make a donation to LikeTheDew.com via Paypal (our account email at Paypal is donation@likethedew.com or you can copy and paste this link in your browser address line: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=donation@likethedew.com&currency_code=&amount=&return=&item_name=I+want+to+make-a-donation-to-LikeTheDew.com) -- please note: we are NOT (at least, not yet) a 501(c)(3). You inspired me. I have now added a link for donations in the footer of each site page.

Currently, we are attempting to offset some of our expenses by the affiliate ads (we apply and approve all ads) you find on this page and throughout the site that can earn us a commission on any purchase when a visitors clicks through from our site. Frankly, we have had few visitors complete transactions and the total revenue from these efforts is less than $50 -- in spite of more 300,000 ad impressions and more than a thousand click-throughs. Prior to that, we had Google Ads on our site which payed us a small amount for each ad click -- the revenues were also inconsequential and the ads they posted on our site were intolerable. We plan to continue with the affiliate effort for another couple of months with the hope our visitors will begin stopping here first and click through to do their shopping and revenues will pick up. We are also interested in traditional paid advertising, but we are in the proverbial chicken or egg conundrum: our site visits are not yet high enough to command the ad rates that make it worthwhile, but without some capital, we cannot afford to promote the site to build readership to make advertising more cost effective for advertisers.

All to say, Keith Graham and I are planning to keep the dew going the way it is for at least a few more months to see if visits pick up to make paid advertising a viable option or the affiliate ads begin generating adequate revenue. Come Spring, we will revisit the options and determine whether a user supported framework makes better sense. Love to hear your ideas.

Thanks, again -- Lee