Sponsor the Cichlid Room Companion, get the benefits!

Since 1996, the Cichlid Room Companion has been uninterruptedly on-line, providing an increasing amount of free quality information about cichlids to any interested party around the world, supplied by the top experts and most skilled aquarists and writers there are. Month after month, the traffic of requested material has been steadily increasing, adding up to millions of files and tens of gigabytes of supplied information every month nowadays.

With it's increase in popularity, the resources to keep the Cichlid Room Companion going have been equally increasing. While in the beginning the hosting services were provided for free, this is no longer the case. In keeping with it's current needs, the Cichlid Room Companion is now being hosted by a top commercial Internet Service Provider.

The amount of information about cichlids is endless, and just to make apparent any change in the home page an increasing amount of effort is necessary. At the present possibilities however, the page will never comply with it's end of supplying quality information about ALL cichlids, as well as the number of services available electronically today.

The Cichlid Room Companion needs your help!. For providing the funds necessary to grow at an even faster rate and cope with the increasing traffic I have devised a plan based on sponsorship and advertising. Should it be successful, the page will keep on-line, providing everyday an increasing amount of quality information about our beloved cichlids.

Sponsorship is devised by way of direct donations for support of the home page, in exchange of services. It is customized for three different type of sponsors;

1. Clubs: Clubs can sponsor a cichlid species for a year term and in return they get:
   
1. A web banner (468x60 pixels) placed in the cichlid species page for the length of their sponsorship period. The banner will contain a link to a URL the donor provides.
2. For each cichlid species sponsored after two, clubs get 9,000 printings of their banner in random Cichlid Room Companion index pages, distributed during the term of their sponsorship, a geographical target can be set for their banners (e.g. Banner are just shown in the US).
3. Clubs Get listed in the specialized section and their events could be advertised in the events section and through Cichlidae on-line.
4. Clubs enter a monthly raffle for a featured sponsor, whose banner is distributed in Cichlidae on-line electronic magazine.
5. Clubs get listed as Cichlid Room Companion sponsors.
2. Companies: can sponsor a cichlid species for a year term and in return they get:
   
1. A web banner (468x60 pixels) placed in the cichlid species page for the length of their sponsorship period. The banner will contain a link to a URL the donor provides.
2. For each cichlid species sponsored after two, companies get 9,000 printings of their banner in random Cichlid Room Companion index pages, distributed during the term of their sponsorship, a geographical target can be set for their banners (e.g. Banner are just shown in the US).
3. Companies enter a monthly raffle for a featured sponsor, whose banner is distributed in Cichlidae on-line electronic magazine.
4. Companies get listed as Cichlid Room Companion sponsors.
3. Individuals: Individuals can sponsor a cichlid species for a year term and in return they get:
   
1. A web banner (468x60 pixels) placed in the page of the cichlid species they sponsor for the length of their sponsorship period.
2. Individuals get a credit for $60.00 US to buy pay-per-read documents in the Cichlid Room Companion during the period of their sponsorship.
3. Individuals optionally can get a sponsor page with their picture and information about their involvement in the aquarium hobby.
4. Individuals get listed as Cichlid Room Companion sponsors.

Cost of sponsoring a cichlid species for a year term is $50.00 US, Those species are found in the Cichlid Room Companion cichlid catalogue, and a index with information on the species will be included and updated as it become available. Payments can be done by PayPal through this page.

Advertisement comes in three different ways.

1. Banners: Web banners (468 x 60 pixels) are offered to be printed in random index pages in the cichlid room companion (In their upper 500 pixels). A third party provider (http://www.adbutler.com) will administer them and the following services are provided: Geographical targeting so ads can be seen in the countries selected by the advertiser. Day capping so just a certain amount of banners are printed each day. Banner sets, so several different banners can be used in the campaign and campaign administration, where a personal account is provided so the advertisers can monitor the performance of their campaigns. Many other features are also available for campaign managing.
2. Buttons: Similar to banners but smaller, normally 120 x 60 pixels but custom banners are also supported. they appear only in index pages and several can appear per page on the lower part of the lateral menu bar. Same features as banners.
3. Breeders: Tropheus or other cichlid breeders can also advertise as such for a small yearly quote, a fixed button with a description provided is included in a breeder's dedicated page. The Tropheus section of the Cichlid Room Companion will have it's dedicated breeder page.

Discounts: Volume discounts are available as well as special discounts for clubs advertising their events. In your first buy of banners, you pay 1 CPM (one thousand printings of your ad) and your get free 4 CPM, so you can evaluate the campaign administration and performance.

Information: For more information or cost inquiries please contact us!. Payments and donations are received by means of PayPal.