Sponsors, please send your latest copy to tamparail@gmail.com. Please put your business name in the subject line, and don't forget to add your images. If you need a reminder or a course in the stipulations, here they are. New sponsors!, be sure to read the stipulations. You must include additional information with your first post.
About
If you own or operate a physical business located within one mile radius of any urban rail line in Tampa and Hillsborough County, you may submit an entire entry for posting. Such a posting is considered a Tampa Rail sponsored entry and it is what it is. There's no shame in suggesting you'd be doing it for the advertising potential. The success of your business is Tampa Rail's business and I am all too happy to give you the floor. Submitting a full posting puts your ideas front and center to Tampa Rail's daily web and Twitter audiences.
All that reach for a simple well-written blog post? Dave, you gotta be kidding! No I'm not. If you're catching on to Web 2.0 marketing, you know what a great deal this is. For similar reach elsewhere, you're going to have to pony up cash. Here, TR just wants your meaningful input. Tampa Rail readers are Hillsborough County progressives. They are social-minded, and most importantly, motivated to enrich businesses that support Hillsborough County's pro-rail agenda. Let this audience know about you and your experience with Tampa's ongoing urban rail emergence.
Example
Here's an example of a sponsored Tampa Rail entry. Normally, I'd like to see a picture of your business instead of hamburgers, and, preferably one that somehow includes an urban rail feature nearby. However, for berevity, this will do. Those of you near the Teco Line Streetcar can probably get a picture of a streetcar going by with your business in the same frame.
Click on image for full size.
Stipulations
Your business must be within a 1 mile radius of an existing urban rail station (this automatically includes most businesses in the Ybor/Channelside corridor by virtue of the Teco Line Streetcar System).
Along with your first post you must provide your complete name, business address, e-mail address, and, contact telephone number for verification purposes. If you are not the owner of the business, please explain your title and role. Your first name and title will be published, but no other information will.
You must include a digital photo of your business from the street front outside, and preferably, or in addition to, in some way such that the proximity of your business to the rail line or its apparatus is visible. For instance, if you can catch a streetcar running by your business, that would be a great picture. These pictures will be used and re-used at the site for all your postings by default (any others related to your posting's specific topic will also be included).
Free copy editing is provided by Tampa Rail. Your post will be edited for any typos, presentational issues (e.g., all CAPS will likely be removed in favor of italics), etc. Some re-wording and omissions are possible, as is the injection of the moderator's voice (e.g, moi').
While you may use your posting to advertise or link back to any other link related to your business, the posting cannot be solely advertising. Your posting must in some way speak positively to urban rail's impact on your business, or, otherwise demonstrate your support and enthusiasm for Tampa urban rail solutions. It must in some way contribute to the rail discussion in Hillsborough County. Find yourself a tie-in that works. Embedded with that, of course, should be references to your business, and, links back to your own website.
Regarding creative (e.g., pictures and other images) Your posting will not be accepted if it is little more than a glorified web banner. Your posting may not draw creative calls from other servers or reference any affiliate advertising network. Pictures, if any, that appear with your post must be submitted directly. It should be noted that images may be re-sized by TR to accomodate TR's presentational standards. TR's standard image size for pictures within postings is 320 x 240, and the limit is three images per post.
Slander and other legal issues: Your post must refrain from speaking ill of another business or establishment, or even mentioning them. In general, your posting will be scrutinized for legal liabilities and, in cases where risk is spotted, your posting may be declined.
Each accepted posting will receive, at minimum, 24 hour play as Tampa Rail's top entry. Within 24 hours (or, perhaps many days later) it will be supplanted by organic TR content or, possibly, by another sponsor. However, it will continue to be seen, for many months on average, on the main display page until it is eventually archived.
No attempt will be made to regulate competitive presentation between sponsors. It's possible your entry will be followed by a new entry posted by a business competitor. However, this should not be a signficant impact since each posting should be balanced to discuss an unrelated (albeit rail-oriented) topics, along with facts and niceties about your business in general. If you want to displace a competitor's post, I would suggest contributing another post quickly.
Your posting must be no longer than 3 paragraphs.
Remember: Your postings are subject to open public commentary. Aside from common sense moderation moves related to legal and other issues, comments by the public are never removed. If your post receives unflattering commentary, please ignore it or simply offer a rebuttal in the same thread. If you run a good business, this won't be a problem.
