Model Railroad Hobbyist Ad Kit

mrhmag.com Effective July 1, 2012

64,000+ web visitors per month Growing 31% year-over-year

Advertisement Pricing

Large ad Full page (see note) 1/2 page vertical 1/2 page horizontal 1/4 page vertical 1/4 page square 1/4 page horizontal

1x $550 $358 $358 $220 $220 $220

3x *$468 *$303 *$303 *$187 *$187 *$187

Advertisement sizes

6x *$413 *$270 *$270 *$165 *$165 *$165

12x *$385 *$248 *$248 *$154 *$154 *$154

* Qualifies as a sponsoring advertiser, which comes with many extra bonuses (read: more exposure).

NOTE: Our full page size is 2476 x 1800 pixels at 150 DPI. A full page is wider than it is tall, to fit a computer monitor with no scrolling.

Reserve large ad space

Small ad 1/8 page 1/12 page Business card Text only

1x $110 $83 $55 $28

3x $94 $72 $50 $22

Reserve small ad space

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6x $83 $61 $44 $17

12x $77 $55 $39 $11

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o reserve your ad space with us, click one of the buttons above. This reserves your space, but your payment is not due until your ad appears. We bill ads each month within a few days of an issue release (Note: we release a monthly issue the first Monday of every month).

Large ad Pixels (W x H) Inches (W x H) 2476 x 1800 Full page 16.5” x 12” 1238 x 1800 1/2 page vertical 8.25” x 12” 1/2 page horizontal 2476 x 900 16.5” x 6” 620 x 1800 1/4 page vertical 4.13” x 12” 1238 x 900 1/4 page square 8.25” x 6” 1/4 page horizontal 1792 x 600 11.95” x 4” Small ad 1/8 page 1/12 page Business card Text only

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Pixels (W x H) Inches (W x H) 620 x 900 4.13” x 6” 620 x 600 4.13” x 4” 620 x 300 4.13” x 2” 250 characters 2”x2” approx.

hese sizes allow the ad to look sharp when zoomed in on a computer monitor or on a mobile device high res “retina” display.

If you have been a previous advertiser, please note these ad dimensions are essentially double the resolution of the 72 DPI ad sizes we’ve used in the past, increased to look good on mobile devices.

MRH Hobby Marketplace

Ads in our Hobby Marketplace

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ach issue of Model Railroad Hobbyist includes our Hobby Marketplace, the location our readers go when looking for a one-shop-stop list of hobby vendors with products they may need.

Hobby marketplace ads are the most economical ads we offer, and they start as low as $28 per issue (or with a 12x placement, the price can be as low as $11 each).

Your hobby marketplace ad options include: 1. Eighth and twelfth page graphics ad: Eighth page and twelfth-page ads go in the Hobby Marketplace, so they get noticed. They’re small enough that they tend to get lost when placed in articles.

2. Business card graphics ad: Business card ads are the most economical graphic ads we offer. Since these ads can contain graphics, they can have more impact that a text-only ad.

3. Text-only ad: Text-only ads contain no graphics, only text and a URL link, but we do allow emphasizing some of the text according to your specifications.

MRH Ad tip: Think web, not print ...

If you want clicks, make your ad look clickable. Ad designs that look like print magazine ads won’t get clicks. You need to put obvious buttons and strong “click here” callouts in your ad if you want clicks! ●

We regularly hear from readers who tell us one of the things they like best about MRH is the Hobby Marketplace ads section.

Sponsoring advertiser bonuses

MRH circulation / audience size

Sponsoring advertiser bonuses

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f you reserve a quarter-page or larger ad space with us for 3 or more issues, then we consider you a sponsoring advertiser.

As a half-page or larger Sponsoring Advertiser, you get FREE monthly ad bonus venue: 3x sponsor - 1 bonus ($55 value) 6x sponsor - 2 bonuses ($110 value) 12x sponsor - 3 bonuses ($165 value) Select from any of these bonus ads venues:

Website header slide show ad - HOT Website forum banner ad One weekly email ad - HOT Bonus downloads sponsor logo ad MRH Audio podcast sponsorship Bonus MRH Hobby Marketplace ad

Bonus ad venues Monthly* Site header slide ad $55 Forum/blog banner ad $55 Weekly email ad $55 Bonus downloads ad $55 Podcast sponsorship $55 * Monthly rate when purchased directly (not as a free bonus). You can also buy an ad from this list directly.

Circulation: MRH tracks circulation using the official Audit Bureau of Circulation guidelines for interactive eZines.

By January of 2012, we reached a monthly audience peak of 64,662, which is 31% growth over our January 2011 number of 49,281. Throughout 2012, we’re maintaining a 30-40% year-over-year increase to 2011.

Readers can also subscribe to MRH, which is nothing more than giving us your email so we can send you weekly updates and notify you of magazine releases. As of this writing, we are going on 22,000 subscribers.

Effective digital ads

Building effective digital ads

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igital ads work differently than print ads because the readers behave differently with online media than they do with print media. When advertisers run print ads in our magazine, they don’t get clicks.

If clicks are what you want, then follow these guidelines when designing your ad.

1. Get to the point: Since MRH is going to 60,000+ online model train enthusiasts per month, their attention is already guaranteed. Forget a lot of extra details and simply deliver a short and sweet pitch with your ad.

2. Think web, not print: Just tweaking a print ad doesn’t work. Your ad needs to have obviously clickable spots like buttons and must include a strong “click here” action message. Tell them what you want them to do: click your ad!

3. Less is more: Print ads seek to inform and create a lasting impression. Digital ads seek to tease, tantilize, and pique curiosity, then drive clicks to a website. You need to grab them with as little as possible, leave them wanting more, and tell them to click to get the rest.

4. Create a landing page: When they click on your ad, they should not go to your home page, but go to an ad-specific page on your website. There you expand on your message and offer a specific call to action (but keep it concise). Your landing page should share the look and feel of your digital ad to reinforce your branding.

↑ BAD: Print-like ad with too much detail, no clearly clickable

areas, no call to action. Click to see landing page (site home).

↓ GOOD: Web-like teaser ad with a clearly clickable button and a call to click. Click to see the ad-specific landing page.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions 1. How should I produce a graphic-based ad for you?

Good ad-making applications to use include Photoshop, Fireworks, Illustrator, or InDesign/Quark. Make an ad the pixel size we specify, then build your ad focusing on how it looks visually. Save your ad to PDF format and send it to us.

2. How do I put the links in my ad?

Create an annotated version of your ad, indicating the link URLs and also send that to us as a PDF. We add the links here at MRH using a database lookup for each issue. This way we can edit a link (if needed) after an issue is released and it will always go to the latest URL we specify in our lookup database for that ad in that issue 3. How should I send an ad to you?

Please use our ad copy submission form located at: mrhmag.com/advertisers/upload_ad_copy If you have any problems, you can also get a free Dropbox account at dropbox.com, upload the ad there, and email us the link to your ad copy.

4. What do you suggest for fonts on our ads with you?

Because more readers are using smartphones to read us (always connected, always with them), you need to keep your ad font sizes fairly large. We recommend at least 20 point for “body copy” and even larger for headline type. If you send us your ad as a PDF using the default embed fonts setting, then we get the exact fonts you used, so your ad copy looks precisely like you expect.

Frequently asked questions 5. What’s the best bonus ad venue options?

Email blast ads tend to do well if they have a clearly clickable button and clear call to action. Website header banner ads are always a good choice if you want lots of exposure.

The other bonus options tend not to get as much exposure, but there’s also less competition for these bonus venues, so you can stand out more if you opt for one of them.

6. What’s a good click performance for my ad?

General web ads get about a 0.2% click through rate (CTR) according to Wikipedia. Because our ads target model railroaders probably already interested in your product, we get a better CTR. We consider a 0.5% CTR to be the minimum successful level, with 1% to 2% more common for a properly designed digital ad. Getting a CTR more than 3% is rare.

If your landing page ties to your ad well, you should expect a 3%-9% sales conversion rate for those who click your ad, with a conversion rate approaching 25% as possible if your landing page offers an especially compelling price or time savings for the modeler.

7. How often should I rerun the same ad?

Any time you rerun an ad, we see a 30% drop off in clicks over the last time you ran the ad. That means the second time an ad appears it will drop to 70% of the first-run clicks, and then drop to 40% of the first-run clicks on the second rerun. By the third rerun, you will be down to 10% of your first-run clicks. We recommend fresh ad copy every issue to get the best value for your ad dollar. You can keep the theme and branding message consistent, just change the colors and first-glance look of the ad.

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Reader Feedback

e regularly get feedback from some excited reader who has just discovered us. Many express an intense loyalty to us and our advertisers because of our free-to-the-reader business model. Here’s a sampling: “MRH online is better than any print publication I subscribe to or have ever subscribed to. Being able to link to the ad’s website is terrific. I sound like a little kid, but I am 65 years old and have been in this hobby for 50 years or better.”

— Tony M. “I’m thinking of canceling my subscriptions to the printed magazines and just rely on stuff I find for free on web sites.

What makes the MRH model work is it is free!”

— Ken L.

Model Railroad Hobbyist Ad Kit - July 2012

Questions?

Just ask Les! Les M. Halmos

Advertising Account Manager

“I love the ability to click on an ad to go directly to a sponsor’s page. I feel like the advertisers are giving something back to the hobbyist.”

— Kevin R. “I think the ads with an instant link to a product website for more information adds value to the Ezine. There are some products that I have purchased because of the MRH ad format that I probably would not have given a second thought about in a print magazine.” — Jim J. “MRH provides the same information you can get from Model Railroader or Railroad Model Craftsman but it generally does a better job of it. Even the ads are more useful since you can go directly to the advertiser’s web site to see more or get information and possibly even communicate with the folks who created the ad. Try doing that with MR or RMC.” — Irv F. “If anything, there are not enough ads in MRH - I want to see between five and ten more pages of ads, of the business card sized nature, because those offer the quickest lures to an old bottomfeeder fish like me.”

— Benny R.

800-920-6020 ext. 3 cell: 418-571-2583 Contact Les

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