Targeted Focus through Guide Sponsorship
McHenry Life publishes dynamic, high-value Local Guides, positioned toward the residents of McHenry County and surrounding areas, throughout the year. We categorize these guides into two types:
- Annual Seasonal Guides: Cover specific, recurring topics, often with a more limited timeframe (e.g., Holiday-related events).
- Active Living Guides: Cover ongoing community activities (e.g., Car Shows, Summer Concerts, and Farmers Market schedules).
Regardless of type, all guides, because they are digital, are accessible 24/7/365 on McHenryLife.com, providing sustained, year-round exposure for sponsors. We maximize their reach through active promotion on social media and featured spots on our site during their respective seasons.
Guide Sponsorship delivers laser-focused affinity, packaged in a seasonal burst or an ongoing presence over several weeks or months.
Our online Magazine has a dedicated section featuring all of the guides.
Guide Sponsorship Features
| Feature | Guide Sponsorship (Targeted Focus) |
|---|---|
| Primary Goal | Maximum exposure within a specific content guide. |
| Ad Duration | 336 days (nearly a full year of promotion). |
| Competitive Availability | Exclusive: 1 spot per Guide. |
| Placement | Dedicated spot on a single guide page. |
| Position | Prime: positioned toward the top of the page in the Guide Sponsor section. |
| Formats | Advanced: image or HTML (HTML does require extra coordination). |
Ad Options
Guide Sponsorships have a couple of format options.
Image:
- Recommended, as this is the easiest to set up, change, and can be done on your own.
- Sizes: Max size of 1,200px wide X 675px high. Standard IAB sizes like 970×250, 728×90, or 300×250 are acceptable.
- Formats: JPG, PNG, or GIF (non-animated). Ideally, 300KB or less.
- Format: Animated GIFs, ideally 200KB or less, 30 seconds or less in duration, and loop no more than the greater of twice or 30 seconds.
HTML:
- We can also create an in-page HTML sponsorship ad that combines images and text you provide.
- Total area should still comprise no more than 1,200px X 675px.
- Please contact us ahead of time before purchasing to coordinate.
Destination URL: Please have your destination page created and ready to go before submitting.
All Guide Sponsorships are prepaid.
Current Availability
(flat rate fee for 11 months unless noted otherwise)
Platinum Tier $425
Gold Tier $175
Silver Tier $75
- Christmas Tree Lighting & Holiday Light Displays Guide
- Pictures with Santa Guide
- Easter Egg Hunts Guide
Bronze Tier $50
- Trunk-or-Treat Guide
- Farmers Markets Guide
- Fall Festivals & Fun Activities Guide
- Ice Skating Rinks Guide
- Pickleball Courts Guide
- Memorial Day Parades & Ceremonies Guide
- Summer Camps Guide
- Fishing Spots Guide
- Mother’s Day Guide
Copper Tier $25
FAQs
A free Lifer account enables you to see your Ads Dashboard. It shows you what ads you have running, their placement, and performance data for your ads, including impressions, clicks, and click-thru-rate.
We wanted to keep things simple and offer you the most value for your sponsorship. 336 days, or 11 months basically, gives your sponsorship the longest run while also giving us time to renew your sponsorship or secure a new sponsor annually.
Because some guides are for annual events, this helps ensure that we have enough of a window for securing a sponsorship.
Great question. You aren’t.
Our Guide Sponsorship rates aren’t based on time, but visibility. We use web analytics data and base the rates on the views, essentially popularity, of each guide individually…and rounding up or down for simplicity.
Some guides are more popular or have been around longer, getting more views. So your sponsorship of those guides should get more views as well.
Take our July 4th Guide. It has a short window, roughly from June until around mid-July, with a huge spike right around the 4th. But that one guide, currently, receives around 1/3 of all the views of all the other guides combined.