The first three weeks of SocialSpark have been absolutely amazing. We have broken every benchmark we set with launch of PayPerPost and then some. Blogger and Advertiser reception has been strong, but I also want to acknowledge that we have a long way to go and there is much room for improvement.
One of the biggest complaints that we have had is about blog sponsorships. Specifically, bloggers were complaining that the bottom bar was too big and the SocialSpark branding was too prominent. That will change with tomorrow’s release. We have shortened the height of the sponsorship bar and made the SocialSpark branding less visible. Here is the before:
And here is the after:
We have reduced the bar by 22 pixels which allows for more content on smaller monitors while still putting the advertiser front and center. We always have to balance the desires of advertisers with bloggers and readers, I think this is a great solution.
The other request we had was the ability to require or not require the interstitial (which we call the blog welcome). This feature has been part of SocialSpark for some time, but not every advertiser may know this. You set that feature on the first page of the create blog sponsorship page, section 3.
I hope you all like the new bar. Keep the feedback coming!
