The Marple Website is pleased to offer low cost advertising opportunities geared towards the local business community that can be of benefit whether or not you have your own web site. In addition, you will be helping to support the running costs of the Marple Website and The Virtual History Tour of Marple & District.

It's also possible that you will be helping local good causes too, as at Christmas 2011 the year-to-date income of £1,000 from the banner adverts was donated to Friends of Marple Memorial Park.

Although I can't promise to do this every year (especially if I manage to give up the day job) I have pledged the income from the banners for the rest of the 2011/12 financial year to the same cause.

Banner Adverts on The Marple Website

Advertising banners rotate at random at the top of The Marple Website, which receives in the region of 24,000 visits per month and over 168,000 page impressions. For no extra charge they are also included on the popular Forum and Notice Board. The banners are a great way draw attention to your business and can be linked directly to your own web site or to a 'Business Card Page' if you don't have your own site (see below for more details).

The standard rental cost of of a banner advert is just £2 per month (based on a 12 month agreement) plus a one-off £15 set up fee. Additional banners can be purchased at £0.50 per month each, increasing the frequency at which they appear. Provide your own 468 x 60 static banner or I can create one for you for an additional £20 using your graphics.

Banners are strictly limited to Stockport based businesses and for Marple Business Forum members and local web design clients a 15% discount is available.

All banner customers also get a link to their site on The Marple Website with suitable anchor text to help their search engine rankings.

Banner Adverts on The Virtual Tour

Advertising banners can now also be added to the Virtual Tour, which in 2011 received over 326,000 image views in the year. That's more than 6,260 per week or 893 per day. The cost for these banners are the same as for the Marple Website - just £2 per month (based on a 12 month agreement) plus a one-off £15 set up fee - however, they're available at a 50% discount and no further set-up fee if you take a banner on the The Marple Website, or if you are an existing advertising customer.

Banners on the Virtual Tour are also strictly limited to Stockport based businesses and for Marple Business Forum members and local web design clients a 15% discount is available.

All banner customers also get a link to their site on the Virtual Tour with suitable anchor text to help their search engine rankings.

'Business Card Pages'

These are small pages on the Marple Website containing one or two graphics and your business and contact details. They can be done in a colour scheme and style of your choice using your own graphics. They work best in conjunction with a banner advert to gain the attention of visitors, who will click this to discover your 'Business Card Page'. An additional advantage is that they will also work in conjunction with the site search engine when keywords relating to your business are used.

A 'Business Card Page' is a low cost way of integrating your business with the Marple Website Community. If you have your own web site already it's also a good way of bringing it to the attention of more visitors and the link to your site from the Marple Website will even help to boost your Google search engine rankings.

The standard rental cost of of a 'Business Card Page' is just £1 per month (based on a 12 month agreement) plus a one-off £20 set up fee. If taken out at the same as a banner the set-up fees can probably be combined.

As with the banners, these pages are strictly limited to Stockport based businesses and for Marple Business Forum members and local web design clients a 15% discount is available.