Advertising with Paddle Planner.com

Outfitters and other outdoor related businesses can benefit with advertising on Paddle Planner.com. The average visitor spends over 7 minutes on the site. The graph below gives an idea of how much traffic Paddle Planner receives. Traffic levels on the website vary with the season, but it does receive a steady stream of visitors year-round. (If you would like more detailed statistics, please contact us.)

Paddle Planner has two different packages for outfitters and advertisers: an outfitter membership (usually only for outfitters) and traditional advertising (open to any related business). You can sign up for one or both. Here is a brief summary of the difference between the two:

Outfitter Membership - The main focus of this package is using the Paddle Planner tools in your business. You get an icon on the map where your business is located. You are put ahead of non-premium outfitters on lists, such as in the outfitter database. You get full use of the mapping and routing tools on the site, you can send links to clients that will show just your ads (instead of a random outfitter's ad), and you can embed maps on your website. You can receive permit alerts (via email and/or text message) when a sold-out permit opens up. There is also some minimal "traditional" web advertising included, but the main focus of this package is the icon, lists, and the tools. This is $99.99 per year.

Advertisements - This is the more "traditional" web advertising option. You can purchase advertising space in addition to the outfitter package or instead of it. We charge $0.015 (one and a half cents) per expected view. At the beginning of the year, we look at how many people visited the website during the previous year and assume we will have that many people visiting again. Actual views can be different than the expectations. For sold-out advertising areas such as the Boundary Waters and Quetico, we work on adding and renewing advertising partners in November. If you are interested in advertising in sold-out areas, let us know so we can add you to our contact list. For areas in which ads are available, you can contact us anytime to set up an advertisement.

Just to emphasize, ads are seen a small percentage of the time with just the outfitter package. Your ad would be shown about 0.5% of the time on the home page and maps. If you want your ad to be seen more, you will need to purchase an additional advertising slot. Further details on both options are below.

Outfitter Membership Package (For Outfitters Only)

For $99.99 per year, an outfitter can receive:

• All Expedition Leader Membership features ($59.99 value)
• Customized icon on the interactive map(s) with a direct link to your website
• Listed ahead of non-sponsoring outfitters and highlighted on all outfitter lists on Paddle Planner
• Ability to send customers links to Paddle Planner that show only your ads
• All links on Paddle Planner go directly to your website
• Rotating ad on the home page and the interactive map (see Ads on Home Page and Interactive Map)
• Embedded maps on your blog or website have your logo and name instead of Paddle Planner's
• Unlimited permit alerts for covered areas (BWCA, Voyageurs, and Ontario parks)

To take advantage of this offer, contact us to get directions on sending your logos and icons. We will make sure everything is set up correctly. Then upgrade to the outfitter version to make your ads and icons active on the site.

The customized icon on the map is 16x16 pixels. An example is shown above. The icon will provide a direct link to your website in the popup window. (If you do not have a website, you will receive an enhanced listing on Paddle Planner.com.) If you need help designing your icon, just contact us for free help.

There are a few places on Paddle Planner that list outfitters, including the outfitter database, entry point database, and entry point details and Route Finder results on the interactive maps. Your listing will be placed ahead of non-sponsoring outfitters, be slightly highlighted, can have an icon next to it, and the link will go directly to your website.

As a subscriber to the outfitter membership package, you also are included in the ad rotation on the home page and one interactive map region. How much will your ad be seen if you purchase just the outfitter premium package? This depends on how many advertising slots are available that month and how many premium outfitters subscribe to Paddle Planner. Details are found in the "Ads on Home Page and Interactive Map" section, but a basic illustration will be given here. On the home page and the interactive maps, the ad shown rotates between different "slots." The number of slots available varies by month based on traffic on the website. All of the premium outfitters share one slot. The rest of the slots are available for purchase.

For illustration purposes, let's say that there are 4 slots available for purchase and 1 slot for the premium outfitters, making 5 slots in all. When the home page is viewed, one of the 5 slots is chosen randomly, so each slot should be seen about 20% of the time. If the "premium outfitter" slot is chosen to be shown, one of the premium outfitters' ads is randomly selected. Therefore, if there are 10 premium outfitters, your ad will be viewed 10% of the time that the premium outfitter slot is shown, or about 2% of the time overall. This is just the portion that comes with the premium outfitter package. You can purchase additional advertising slots if they are available. In high-adverising areas such as the Boundary Waters, the outfitter ads are not shown much (usually 0.5% of the time), and it is recommended to purchase additional advertising slots. In low-advertising areas, the outfitter package may be sufficient to show your ad.

Ads on Home Page and Interactive Map

We divide up our advertising into "slots," where each slot corresponds to 1,000 expected views. Each monthly slot costs $14.99 per month, or $0.015 per expected view. Your advertisement is viewed on the home page and one of the interactive map regions.

How do I get started?

Contact us to make arrangements to have your advertisement on the map and home page. If you do not have an ad readily available, we can help design one.

How many ads are shown? Why does the number of slots available vary?

The number of advertising slots varies by month. The number of slots is determined by the number of pageviews on a region's interactive map during the same month the previous year. One slot is given for every 1,000 pageviews. For example, if the BWCA/Quetico map had 6,000 pageviews the previous July, then 6 advertising slots will be available the next July. As long as the number of website visitors stays the same or increases over the previous year, each advertising slot will receive at least 1,000 views.

At least one advertising slot is assigned to each area, whether or not it receives 1,000 pageviews. On these maps, the advertisement may not reach 1,000 views. The ad, though, will be shown on the home page as well as the interactive map, so it will get some exposure whether or not the interactive map is viewed at all that month.

One advertising slot is reserved for the outfitter members. (See the Outfitter Premium Package section.) This reserved slot is not shown in the table above.

How large is each ad?

Each ad must be 728x90 pixels.

How much will your ad be seen?

As long as the traffic stays the same or increases over the prior year, each advertising slot will receive at least 1,000 views per month. The number of views, though, could be more if not all the slots are taken and/or the website traffic increases. Here is an illustration:

Example

Let's say that there are four BWCA/Quetico advertising slots available in April. There would be four slots because the BWCA/Quetico map received at least 4,000 pageviews the previous April. There is also one slot for the outfitter members' ads.

Since there are 5 advertising slots, each slot will be shown 20% of the time on the BWCA/Quetico map. If traffic remains exactly the same as the previous year, each ad will receive 800 views on the map.

The ads are also shown on the home page. However, the BWCA/Quetico slots also rotate with the other regions. This example assumes all the other regions have one slot each.

With the addition of the other areas, 9 slots rotate on the home page. Each slot will receive about 11% of the traffic. The home page is viewed more than the individual maps, but for simplicity, let's assume the same 4,000 people also viewed the home page. Each slot will be viewed about 440 times on the home page.

In this example, between the interactive map and the home page, each BWCA/Quetico advertising slot will receive over 1,200 views during the month. This could be more since, as is often the case, not all of the slots may have been purchased for the month. Unfilled advertising slots are ignored, so the percentage of time every other slot is shown increases.

Can I change my ad?

Yes, it is very easy for us to change which ads are showing. If you would like to change your ad, just contact us.

Can I purchase more than one slot?

Yes.

What if there are more people that want to advertise than there are slots available?

In some areas, such as the BWCA and Quetico, we have more advertisers than slots available. We want to give everyone a chance to advertise, so we attempt to divide up the advertising equitably. We do this during November, so if you are interested in getting into one of the sold-out areas, let us know so we can add you to our November mailing list.

You can imagine that our advertising space is a birthday cake. We cut up the birthday cake into equal-sized pieces. Then we ask everybody at the birthday party if they want a piece. After everybody has gotten a piece that wants one, if there are still pieces left, we ask if anyone wants seconds. After everyone has had seconds that wants it, if there are still pieces left, we ask if anyone wants thirds. And so on until the cake is gone.

If there are more people at the party than slices of birthday cake, we cut the pieces smaller. If we have to cut the pieces smaller, everyone will get a slice, but they will be smaller than usual. No one will get seconds because the cake is all gone.

Each month we have an advertising "cake." The number of people on the website last year determines how big the cake is and how many pieces we have. We like to have our "slices" be 1,000 expected views with a cost of $14.99. That means that if you buy one slice of cake for $14.99, you can expect your ad to receive approximately 1,000 views during that month. For example, May 2023 had approximately 16,000 people view the BWCA/Quetico map. For May 2024, we create 16 advertising slots that should receive 1,000 views:

After everybody has had a chance to claim a slice of the advertising cake for May 2024, you can have seconds if there are any left. If you purchase another slice for an additional $14.99, you can expect to receive an additional 1,000 views.

If we have more people that want an advertising slot ("piece of cake") than are available that month, we make the pieces smaller. We also charge less for each slot. For example, in the graphic above, we had 16 advertising slots for that month costing $14.99 each. If there are 20 people that want a piece of the cake, we divide it up smaller and charge less for each piece. Instead of 16 slices of 1,000 views each (16,000 views total), each piece will only be 800 views (16,000 / 20) and cost $11.99 each ($14.99 * 16/20).

In this scenario, you can't get seconds because there is no advertising space left that month.

Finally, each area/map has its own advertising "cake" each month. These are the different areas you can advertise in:

• Algonquin Provincial Park
• BWCA/Quetico
• Sylvania
• Manitoba-Ontario Wilderness Area (Woodland Caribou, Atikaki, Nopiming, Whiteshell)
• Voyageurs National Park
• Everglades National Park
• Yellowstone National Park
• Apostle Islands
• Wabakimi Provincial Park
• Northern Highlands American Legion State Forest (Wisconsin)
• Frontenac Provincial Park
• Killarney Provincial Park
• St. Croix/Namekagan

Please note that the BWCA and Quetico are in the same advertising area. These advertising slots typically sell out, so you would need to contact us to get on our November mailing list. We have not sold out the other areas in prior years, but you should still tell me if you are interested in advertising on those maps so we can reserve your spot and get everything set up.

For the sold-out areas, during November, tell me what months you would like to advertise, how many advertising slots ("pieces of cake") you are interested in, and the paddling area you want to advertise in (BWCA/Quetico, Wabakimi, Algonquin, etc.). At the end of the month, we will give everybody advertising space that wants it. We will divide it up as we described above with the cake example.

Of course, actual results can be different than the expected. The expected views are based on the actual views from the previous year. Paddle Planner traffic has gone up almost every year since we started in 2011, so the actual views have usually been more than what was billed. We cannot guarantee that, though, since stuff happens (like Google changing their search algorithms).

Free Listing

All outfitters that service the areas covered by Paddle Planner can have a free listing in our outfitter database. If your business is not listed yet or you would like to have information corrected or updated, please contact us.

Other Opportunities

Become an Affiliate - Get Paid for Sharing Paddle Planner

Want to get paid for sharing Paddle Planner? Become an affiliate! The program is open to anyone, including outfitters. The program is especially good for outfitters and other advertisers since you already use Paddle Planner in your business. The affiliate program is a way to get paid for talking to your customers about us. We encourage all our outfitters and advertisers to sign up for the affiliate program.

Specifically for outfitters, if you sign up for the affiliate program, your outfitter links are automatically converted to affiliate links, so you do not need to change all of the links on your website. Most affiliates get paid monthly, but for advertisers we usually just put a discount on your next invoice.

Your outfitter/affiliate links will automatically track sales. Sometimes, though, people hear about Paddle Planner from you directly rather than through a link. If they heard about it from you or picked up a flyer instead of clicking a link, we still try to give you credit, but they have to tell us that they heard about it from you (otherwise we have no idea how they found out). After someone signs up, we show them a page asking how they first heard about Paddle Planner. If they say they heard about it from you, then we give you credit for the sale. You could tell your customers to write your name in that spot. NOTE: Many of Paddle Planner's subscribers say they heard about us from an "outfitter," but they do not say which one. For us to be able to give you credit, they must say specifically which outfitter.

To sign up for the affiliate program, visit our affiliate page. If you have questions about the program, please contact us.

Do you have an idea?

We love working with others to create innovative ideas and solutions that benefit everyone. If you would like to work with us in some other capacity, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you!