I'm curious if anyone has gotten sponsership (local sponsors etc) for their websites and if so, how did you go about it? I'm currently running a site that I'm looking for sponsorship down the road, but I'm not really sure where to start. Has anyone been successful? (I don't mean like affiliate links either, I mean backing of companies to help run your site etc).
Personally I haven't, but what you can do is get out your yellowpages and look up local businesses that you think would be interested (ones related to your industry, or ones that you remember sponsoring local events in the past). Call them up one by one (you'll have a better chance calling rather than emailing), tell them a little about your site and ask if they'd be interested in sponsoring you. After you call a few you should get a feel for what they ask, why they weren't interested, and try and improve your "sales pitch"
Thank you so much for your response! I'm a little surprised that more people haven't tried this or attempted it (or maybe they have and just didn't respond!). I'm a wrong in thinking that a corporate sponsor would be a good way to supply revenue into a website? Of course, it does depend on the content of the site but I would think that if you can get a sponsor it could help with the costs and such.
A corporate sponsor might be feasible, but you will need to make it clear to them the advantages of sponsorship. Is the benefit perceived exposure and profit, or is it a charitable donation (pro bono sponsorship?) Is the site a NPO? Develop some tangible benefits of sponsoring your site, and use those as main points of persuasion. Just becuase sponsorship dollars for sites aren't common, doesn't mean it can't happen. I really encourage you to give it a try and post back your success or failures.