Welcome to the Smart Bitches Business Update, a new monthly feature wherein I talk about the site, the community within it, and what’s going on in the business side of things.
Yes, yes, cue up your Conchords. It’s Business Time. Sort of.
I had a number of questions after The Toast (RIP) announced they were closing in July 2016, including some about how the site functions as a business, and how readers who love it can support it. Which is truly lovely and made me feel incredibly sniffly and warm, so thank you.
The short answer is, by being here, you help support our community. Thank you for being here. I’m honored that you hang out with us, and am so glad you’re part of the site.
But I also had a number of questions about the business side and the technical side of SBTB, and after much encouragement, I figured a monthly column to talk about all of that might be of interest to new readers and veterans, to current and potential advertisers, and to the community. I’m going to try to keep each column brief, because while I can nerd out for hours about different parts of the site, I’m not sure anyone else is that interested!
I’ll start with some of the most common questions I received, and thank you to everyone who emailed or tweeted at me.
Who reads SBTB? Where are they?
A LOT of people, in lots of places! We have had visitors from over 180 countries in the past month. Our top ten countries (by which I mean locations or sources of traffic) are the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Germany, Philippines, New Zealand, Netherlands, and Sweden.
Fun fact: of those ten, readers from the UK spent the most time on the site in the past month, at close to four minutes average per visit. I really like imagining people savoring their reading over a very large, enjoyable cuppa.
How does SBTB earn money?
If you’re not using an ad blocker, those ads you see in the right column or between the pieces of content form the bulk of our revenue, along with affiliate income from retailers such as Amazon and AllRomance, and a few other sources such as the podcast sponsorship and the Patreon campaign.
I run the ad server and design a lot of the ads, and don’t use a third party brokerage to book the ads. That’s not to say brokerages are bad – they’re not! But when I approached one years ago, shortly after the site started and we were asked about ad opportunities, I was told that while the site’s stats were terrific, book blogs didn’t sell well enough for them to include in their networks at that time. So I installed an ad server and started running it myself, and I still do, 10 years later.
Because our traffic is from desktop and mobile browsers, our design is responsive, and we offer ads for both desktop and mobile platforms. I’ll talk more about the growth of mobile platforms in our community in a future column – it’s so interesting to see how the way in which we read online, and the technology we use to read changes month to month, and year to year.
(And, if you’re curious, we do have availability for the next four-week ad cycle beginning August 12, with options beginning at $35. If you’d like more information, please email me.)
Wait, responsive? What’s responsive?Â
We have a responsive website design that works with every size browser now – wanna see it? (Prepare for some nerdery – I think this is really cool).
If you’re on a desktop browser, grab the lower right corner of the browser window, and make the site narrower. The design will adjust as the window becomes more narrow, first for tablet, then phone-sized browsers. Neat, huh? I think it’s very entertaining.
Ok, I’m in danger of nerding out too much, so I’m going to end with our…
Fun Stat!Â
The country that spent the most time on average (over 10 minutes!) on SBTB in the past month? New Caledonia, an island the South Pacific. Hello, new friends!
Do you have questions or things you’d like to learn more about? Please feel free to email me!Â
I use an ad-blocker, but have whitelisted SBTB (which lets the ads through) because a. the ads aren’t obnoxious, b. I like SBTB and want to support them, and c. the ads are for books (which are relevant to the site, and which I’m interested in anyway), and not for gambling sites, scammy food supplements, the latest silly tech toys, or Viagra or whatever.
I am delighted that Sweden is on your top 10 list! I am also delighted that it means that I am not the only one in Sweden reading Smartbitches.
Yeah, Mikaela, i’m a bit envious about that. Because Norway hasn’t made the list. And I can’t be the only Norwegian who visits this site, can I?
I finally figured out how to whitelist SBTB in my adblocker! Thanks for the reminder. It was high time.
You are definitely not the only Norwegian! I should have mentioned – Norway is #24.
And thank you for whitelisting the site – I really, really appreciate that! One of the reasons I like running my own adserver is that I can make sure there aren’t dancing mortgage refi ads or the like. So thank you! Highest of fives!
This was interesting, especially to those of us who purchase ads on SBTB. It also made me nostalgic. I remember when this site was a little tadpole, just beginning to navigate the interwebz. My, how you’ve grown!
So I have been trying to make a point of clicking through on the Kobo links to purchase recommended books, hoping you get a cut. Do you? It’s my only way, right now as a broke student, to support the site financially. BUT, I do have an eye on your Patreon doohickey, since listening to the SBTB podcast is about the only treat that actually gets me to clean house. You serve many important purposes!
FWIW, SBTB is what gave me the courage to come out of the Romance closet, and I’m now in danger of becoming a Romancevangelist.
I also dearly love the international nature of the comments section. Would you ever consider doing a feature on Romance in translation?
This post reminded me that I needed to whitelist the site and have now done so. I agree that the ads here aren’t obtrusive at all. Like Anne, I’ve also been making sure to click through on the Amazon links here in hopes you get a cut.
I use an adblocker too and didn’t know you could white list sites. Gonna go and figure that out now cuz yes, I’m interested in ads about books and if it helps a site I love then even better. I actually had installed it when my son and I were sharing a laptop as sometimes the noxious offensive in appropriate ads would get past parental controls.
I always recommend your blog to friends – even to ones who aren’t avid romance readers because your content is always awesome.
I’m very appreciative that the Amazon links are also tied to the Smile program so I can click away without compunction, telling myself, “It’s not for me, it’s for charity!”
Learning that you run your own ad server and therefore have more direct control over your ads has just convinced me to whitelist you. 🙂
Thanks for sharing these details with us! And, speaking as a web tester, I loves me some responsive design geekery, too. I had to go hunting for a good professionally designed WordPress theme to use on my author site and one of the things I wanted to find was responsive design. Particularly to make my site mobile-friendly! And I’ve noticed sb-tb.com loads nicely on mobile, too!
For those who use ad block and would like to disable it for SBTB:
1.For this method, it’s important you are at the SBTB domain in order to disable adblock. Go to http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/
2. Find the adblock button in your browser toolbar: it’s shaped like a stop sign, with the letters “ABP” (for ad block plus) OR a hand (for ad block). The button is likely on the right side of the address bar (Chrome, Firefox) though it may be to the left (Safari).
3. Click the ad block button. A menu will appear.
4. From the menu look for something among or similar to the following:
– a Checkmark with “Enabled on this site” (this is for ABP in Chrome,
which I use)
– “Don’t run on pages in this domain”
– “Disable on smartbitchestrashybooks.com”
Click on the option as applicable to your browser. Then refresh the page. You’ll know it worked because you’ll be able to see ads.
Ad block will no longer block ads anywhere on the SBTB domain. This is an easy was to “whitelist” SBTB, though it’s not the only one, and managing ad block differs subtly between browsers.
I have disabled adblocker for now, but I’m not sure I will be able to leave it disabled as anything moving on the screen affects my already poor concentration (from pain and the drugs to help control it). Even when it’s just swapping from one screen to another like the ‘Playing by Her Rules’ad or more text popping up . I appreciate this may only be a problem for me, but I really would like to spport you by seeing the ads!
Sooo…I just realised that for the last 3 years I’ve only read books recommended here :). I am so curious if there are many people from Romania here
As a new reader of the site, I’m all for supporting you guys. I can’t believe I’ve JUST discovered it a few weeks ago! Where have you been ALL MY LIFE! This post just taught me that I can whitelist certain sites. Thank you!
Hey, thanks for this. We *really* need you not to disappear – and after losing The Toast, I’m sadly eye-opened now to what I need to do to be more supportive. So, count us all in for you!
You are all so lovely and thank you for all the comments! I’m going to try to answer your questions but if I miss one please nudge me.
@Ava: You are definitely not the only Romanian reader – Romania is #35 in the past month, and well over 330 visits originated there, so you’re never alone! And it is so, so lovely to hear that we’ve helped you find good book recommendations. Thank you!
@Jazzlet: if the rotation and animated panels of the ads makes it harder for you to read, by all means, turn on whatever works for you! PLEASE don’t make your reading experience painful or difficult just to run the ads in the sidebar. Your being here and being pain-free and not distracted is MUCH more important!!
@Alex – thank you for the instructions. That was really cool of you!
Above all, as I said, your being here and being part of the community is the best kind of support. Every time you come by to read or listen or laugh or look for book recommendations or deals, your presence matters. So thank you very, very much for that!
And welcome to the site, Elvina!!
I’m so happy to receive confirmation that ads here will remain relevant. (My wallet isn’t that happy, but who cares).
P.D: To anyone who wants to support sites but hates those big flashy ads that get in the way of your enjoyment of pages, I suggest using a flashblocker instead of an adblocker. Static or gif ads get through (All of the ones here work), and the annoying “Hit this thing 1000 to get a chance to win an ipad!” go away). Page loading improves, and the computer fan will thank you.
New Zealand makes the top 10 countries, despite being the smallest population (4.5 million). Cool!
A four minute visit to SBTB seems … short. Really short.
I love to see the book ads on the right. Sometimes they are quite humorous.
I believe that SBTB earns affiliate income for all Amazon purchases that linked to Amazon from this site. Not just books.
I am from Sri Lanka and use your site for at least 30 mins a day on weekdays (while at work … *looks nervously over shoulder*) for both stress release and for advise on sales and books to buy.
The few who read English for pleasure in my country read mostly self help or non fiction books and look strangely or even sneer at my choice of reading (Bodice rippers and Scifi/Fantasy). Never been happier when Kindles came available and no one needs to see what I am reading on the bus!!
You guys rock! I have passed on your website to others in SL – not sure how many have visited 🙂
Another Romanian here, and grateful to have discovered many, many books and authors in the past years, all recommended by you!
<3 <3 <3
Yes! I love this new feature! Thank you for being willing to share with us all.
Do you mean http://the-toast.net/ in your link?
“I run the ad server and design a lot of the ads, and don’t use a third party brokerage to book the ads.”
Because of this, I just turned off my ad blocker for all of SmartBitchesTrashyBooks.com. 🙂
I would very happily let you have all my affliate clickthrough spend for Amazon but the links on the posts obviously go to American Amazon and I’m in the UK – would it be too much of a faff to add UK links or does it not work like that?
@Alex: Thank you! That’s very awesome of you – but alas, I don’t think it’s possible or feasible on my end. I really appreciate that, though. And like I said, that you’re here makes the biggest difference, so thank you.