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About Knitter's Review Knitter's Review is a weekly publication for fiber enthusiasts, established in September 2000, and based in Blue Hill, Maine. Our mission is to provide quality product information to help knitters make informed purchasing decisions and, ultimately, have a more fulfilling lifelong knitting experience. Geared toward the serious fiber enthusiast, regardless of skill or experience level, Knitter's Review features in-depth yarn reviews, tips and how-tos, online yarn shop profiles, book reviews, fiber information, forums, and interactive polls. Who Produces Knitter's Review? Knitter's Review was founded by Clara Parkes, a print and online publishing veteran who escaped the hubbub of Silicon Valley and now lives in coastal Maine. Prior to founding Knitter's Review, Clara was Editor-at-Large of Intelligent Enterprise magazine, produced a major comparison-shopping Web site, and received a Society of American Travel Writers award for her profiles of San Francisco restaurants -- all the while her true passion was knitting for the love of yarn. Our operations guru is long-time Web professional Clare Potter, who was in on those heady early days of the Web as Director of Content at Worldview Systems Corporation, a co-creator of Travelocity.com. She's an able and talented editor who also provides much-needed reality checks. Clare is also an associate with The VIA Group, LLC, in Interactive Development. We were lucky to find Janice Webster who has joined us as Print Production Coordinator. She's sharing her knowledge of color, paper, and printing, helping us soon launch a line of paper products for the discriminating knitter. Janice holds a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from the Maine College of Art and has experience as a designer and production manager for local agencies and an ouput service bureau. Janice is currently a colleague of Clare's at The VIA Group, LLC. Invaluable technical support is provided by Charlie Darling, the co-founder of Quilter's Review and chief content architect at OpenMoves.com. Charlie's experience includes 10 years as President and Chief Systems Architect of Better Business Solutions, a software development firm. Who Reads Knitter's Review? Each week we send our newsletter via email to over 8,500 subscribers across the United States and Canada, as well as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries. Our subscriber base grows on average of 7% per week. Our unsubscribe rate is less than 0.5%. Readers include novice to experienced knitters, yarn shop owners, knitwear designers, yarn producers, and fiber-animal farmers. Many of our readers also actively quilt, crochet, sew, spin, and/or weave their own textiles and garments. Approximately 60% of newsletters are sent in HTML format, with the other 40% sent in plain-text format primarily for AOL subscribers. How does Knitter's Review obtain subscribers? Knitter's Review is 100% opt-in. Nobody receives the newsletter without subscribing or specifically asking us to subscribe them. We never buy lists, harvest email addresses, or send spam. Likewise, we do not make our list available to advertisers under any conditions. Subscriptions to Knitter's Review are free and available from all pages of our Web site. People can also subscribe by sending an email directly to Knitter's Review. About Our Yarn Reviews Each month we select a sampling of yarns in a particular fiber category. We try to balance our coverage between large-scale and smaller-scale manufacturers. We produce several handknit swatches of each yarn and subject them to a standard battery of tests designed to show how they perform under duress. Yarn producers: If you'd like us to include your yarns in our reviews, please send samples and any background press materials to: Knitter's Review Note: Reviews require a minimum of 100 yards. What makes Knitter's Review unique?Knitter's Review is the only weekly knitting newsletter published on a large scale in the United States via any medium. It is also the only independent weekly publication to focus on fiber, yarns, and the online yarn-shopping experience. Knitter's Review does not routinely publish patterns or knitting techniques. We believe the knitting pattern and technique market is adequately served by major knitting magazines, book publishers, and independent designers. Nor does Knitter's Review sell yarns directly to the public. Rather, Knitter's Review publishes frequently and focuses on the online knitting experience. Our in-depth reviews of small- and large-scale knitting yarns always include links to online sources where readers may purchase the yarns. Our online shop profiles, book reviews, yarn manufacturer profiles, and regularly updated events calendar always include links where readers can find additional information. What are people in the industry saying about Knitter's Review? "We were very interested to find out about your newsletter. Your yarn reviews are great - I get a lot of calls about yarns and I will now refer people to your site when they ask about a specific yarn. I also enjoyed how interactive your site is and all the links that you offer. You have done a very nice job and I hope your newsletter continues to grow. Best wishes, Robin K. Troxell" Interweave Knits "Thank you giving us the opportunity to provide some information for Knitters Review. I have visited your site and found it very informative and a great encouragement to knitters. We will always be pleased to provide information as you require it, and to support your Web site. Nicola Earnshaw" Rowan Yarns UK "What a delight it was to check out your site, Clara! You can be sure that when I put the links page together, I'll include a link to your site. It's very fast, easy to navigate, and pleasing to the eye. Warmest regards, Ann Cannon-Brown" Elann "I just wanted you to know I am very impressed with your site. It's funny, I am doing this out of passion also, and when I visit a Web site like yours, I realize how little I know about what is going on out there. It is tough to spend time seeing to the needs of the business, but also staying aware of what's happening elsewhere. How great it will be to get a glimpse of good sites, AND the good things they have to offer through your site. Jennifer Dexter" ForKnitters.com "I am really interested in your site. What a great idea. Thanks for doing what you do. It is a great service to knitters. Sincerely, Jan MacMillan" Knitwear Architects What do readers think of Knitter's Review? Many readers email us about the site. Here's a sample of what they have to say. "You don't know how much I love all of these articles and your e-mail. I'm new to knitting and especially to all of the new yarns. Years ago when I knitted (back about 20 years ago) there wasn't much around but the acrylic stuff at K-Mart. Your site and newsletter are such a wonderful and easy to understand way to learn about different yarns, textures, and more importantly, what knits up the best with each yarn. Thank you so much! Beverly R." "I just had to tell you that you have the best newsletter on knitting. I love the format and your info on mohair has motivated me to try knitting with it. I do not delete your newsletters since I like to refer to them often. We are eager to have you move West to review some of our local yarns and shops! I know -- so much yarn, so little time. Thanks for this great newsletter. Sincerely, Linda R." "I love your newsletter. I truly look forward to Thursdays and my new message. Your reviews are informative and real -- I like that you seem to be a reality-based knitter, one that actually understands the every day issues associated with knitting, e.g. interuptions, normal wear and care, ease of patterns, falling in love with yarn, etc. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Julia P." "I just finished the newsletter and I want to tell you how happy I am to be getting it over the computer. It is a great newsletter so keep 'em coming!! Best regards, Beverly B." Advertising Opportunities Knitter's Review recognizes that no two advertising budgets are alike. That's why we provide several advertising opportunities to help everyone reach our readership. Newsletter Sponsor We offer one exclusive sponsorship opportunity per newsletter, giving advertisers a prime position for maximum exposure to our readers. Approximately 8,500 distributed each Thursday via email to registered subscribers. Sponsorship includes:
Specifications:
How does advertising on Knitter's Review differ from print publications?
Ready to sponsor a newsletter? Contact us and we'll get you started! Web Advertising Opportunities For more information on how you can advertise on the Knitter's Review Web site, contact us. Payment Terms All figures are in United States dollars. Payment is accepted via PayPal.com, a guaranteed secure online credit card transaction service, or by check drawn on a U.S. bank account. Space will be held only for paid insertion orders. Sponsorships must be paid in full prior to commencement. We are happy to cooperate with media brokers. Suitability We are pleased to accept advertising focused on knitting, spinning, weaving, crochet, or other topics of obvious interest to our audience. We do not accept sexually oriented advertising, nor advertising for programs that offer quick riches. In addition to those two categories, we also reserve the right to reject any ad for any reason. Reporting We are able to offer click-through tracking of links, which use a redirect with our domain name. Alternatively, we can give your URL a code such as http://www.yourdomain.com/?KR123. Anything after the "?" in a URL will not affect the destination but can be identified in your traffic logs. While our site is too small to provide regular third-party audits, we will work with our advertisers and their auditors to assure them of the integrity of our system. Frequently Asked Questions What's the difference between the newsletter and the Web site? The Knitter's Review newsletter is sent via email to a targeted group of self-selected subscribers every Thursday. It contains our weekly editorial followed by several brief paragraphs highlighting what's new on the site. Each paragraph links to the full text of the article on the Knitter's Review Web site. Our Web site contains all our editorial content, including newsletter archives, yarn reviews, fiber profiles, book reviews, online shop profiles, carefully selected links, interviews, news updates, reader-submitted patterns, polls, and more. Newsletter archives contain all HTML-formatted newsletters, sorted by date, complete with the original sponsor message. We promote the Web site to a broad international audience through partnerships with About.com, GoTo.com, and other major online resources. How much traffic does the Knitter's Review Web site get? Our Web site averages 50,000 individual user sessions per month. What kind of click-through rates can I expect? Knitter's Review is a very targeted site, so it's reasonable to expect click-through rates to be substantially above industry averages if you approach our audience correctly. Actual results bear this out. The industry average is 0.5%. Click-through rates depend almost entirely on the strength of the concept you present, its appropriateness for our readers, and the quality of your creative. Therefore, we cannot guarantee CTRs nor sell advertising on a pay-per-click basis. How long does it take to get my ad up and running? Generally your ad will be up and running within two business days. How many impressions can I purchase? You are welcome to purchase as many impressions as you'd like. Ad space is limited, and all purchases are on a first-come-first-served basis. What benefit is there to me when my ad is displayed but does not produce a clickthrough? Your ads build name recognition for your company and establish you as a major force in the industry. Then, when consumers are ready to buy, your company will come to mind. By advertising on Knitter's Review, your message is seen by a motivated audience of fiber enthusiasts who are consumers, designers, producers, publishers, and manufacturers. What if I decide to cancel my sponsorship? All sponsorships on Knitter's Review must be paid in full prior to commencement. At that point, we close that advertising opportunity to other advertisers. For this reason, we do not provide a refund if you choose to cancel your sponsorship. This also applies to partially completed sponsorships that are scheduled to run over several weeks, although we will review special circumstances on a case-by-case basis. |
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Copyright © 2000-2006 Clara
H. Parkes
All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce is required. |
