Advertise

Why advertise in the Lincoln Squirrel?

More people get their local news online than ever before, and the most effective way to reach them is through ads on a website that your readers visit every day. Here’s why:

• Our ads are much more affordable than newspaper ads.
• Your ad appears in full color on every single page of the Lincoln Squirrel website.
• Readers can click on your ad to go right to your website to learn more about your products and services.
• You’ll get an individualized report about how many people have visited the site and clicked on your ad while it was running (see “Seeing your results” below).
• We have a loyal and growing audience:
  • From January 2022 to September 2023, the Squirrel has been averaging about 300 users per day (see chart below).
  • As of September 1, 2023, we have 558 subscribers (Lincoln has 2,566 households and about 5,000 residents over age 18).
  • Subscribers receive an email each weekday morning with links to new stories from the previous day. The open rate for those emails is about 77% (far higher than the media and publishing industry average of 22%) and the click rate is over 50%, vs. the 4.6% industry average.
  • Readers are spending a lot of time on our website exploring other pages after their initial entry. Our bounce rate has been only 14.6%, compared to an industry average of 35–60% for non-e-commerce websites (references here and here). 
  • Desirable reader demographics according to Zillow and 2020 census data:

   

  	Average household income	Average home value
  Lincoln	$145,833	$1.43 million
  Massachusetts	$84,385	$424,700

Lincoln Squirrel site visit data from January to September 2023 (click to enlarge).

The Lincoln Squirrel is the best way to reach not only Lincoln residents, but people everywhere who are interested in Lincoln — including area shoppers and property buyers as well as former residents and students who may have moved out of town. And if someone shares a link to a Lincoln Squirrel story, all the recipients (colleagues, friends and family, etc.) will see your ad as well. The price is low, but the potential reach is unlimited!

Ad sizes and prices

Sizes of ads on every page of the website (click to enlarge).

Display ad positions rotate at random, so if there’s more than one ad, it may show up at the top of the column sometimes, or lower down at other times. Every time a user accesses the site or hits “refresh,” the ads get reshuffled. You can make your ad always appear at the top of the column for an extra 25%.

Discounts and extras

• There is a 10% discount on ads that run for six consecutive months. If the Lincoln Squirrel designed the ad and you want it changed slightly during that time period, there is no extra charge.
• We will design your ad for an additional $100. Please include in your email the text you’d like, plus any digital images, color/font preferences, etc.
• Ads for nonprofit organizations get a 20% discount on both advertising and design fees.
• Making your ad “sticky” (always appearing at the top of the column of ads in the right-hand sidebar) is an additional 25%.
• Current Swellesley Report advertisers can run the same ad in the Lincoln Squirrel for a 25% discount.

Submitting your ad

If you already have your own ad, please attach it to an email addressed to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com along with the following information:

• Your name, telephone number and email address.
• How long you would like your ad to run.
• The address of the website you would like your ad to link to.
• Your ad attached as a digital file in PDF, JPG or PNG format.

New ads go up on the 1st and the 15th of the month to simplify bookkeeping.
 

Seeing your results

As part of your invoice, you’ll get a report on website’s overall traffic and the number of clicks on your ad (click image to enlarge):

Payment

We will send you an invoice via email after your ad has finished running. If you prefer to pay using a credit card via PayPal, please let us know and we will generate your invoice through PayPal, or you can simply send payment to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. We also accept Venmo; please call to connect. Checks should be made payable to “Watusi Words” (not “Lincoln Squirrel” or Alice Waugh)* and sent to:

The Lincoln Squirrel
178 Weston Rd.
Lincoln, MA 01773

* Watusi Words is the freelance writing and editing business owned by Lincoln Squirrel editor Alice Waugh.
 

Legal notices

Governments, businesses, and others may run legal notices in the Lincoln Squirrel for a $100 fee. They will be accessible on the free (nonsubscriber) portion of the Squirrel website for one year from publication.
 

Policies

1. Ad positions are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
2. The presence of an ad or its content will have no effect on editorial content (e.g., stories and calendar events) in the Lincoln Squirrel and vice versa. There will be no explicit or implicit connections between an advertiser’s ads and any editorial coverage that mentions that advertiser. The exception is sponsored posts, which are marked as such.
3. Invoices must be paid in full within 30 days of receipt.
4. Ad fees are not tax-deductible.