Free Ad Space for Your Startup

Update: The ad space is now fully booked, and I notified the 10 selected companies. Thanks everyone.

So I’m about to release a beta version of my new startup project and I’m planning a marketing campaign to get the word out [can't tell you much about it yet, and if you're one of the few friends I've demoed it to, please don't reveal it until Tuesday]. And since I learned from previous lessons and made sure that my new web site is very simple, now I have some empty space on my home page that I want to fill rather than leaving a big empty spot. So I thought I’d give out free ad space to fellow entrepreneurs who could use the free marketing. I’m doing this to help new startups, like mine, get some needed visibility. So, here is what you get:

1. A totally free, no-strings-attached, ad spot. I want to help; I’m not looking for anything in return.

2. The ads will be on the home page. And they’ll be rotated with other ads.

3. Each ad is 125×125 pixels; GIF, JPG, or PNG. Animated gifs are okay as long as they’re not too flashy.

4. I’ll keep the ads for about 2 to 3 weeks. Although I reserve the right to remove any ad earlier for any reason.

5. I’ll accept up to 10 ads max.

And this is how I plan to choose what to display:

1. I intend this to help new startups, so my preference will be for early stage startups. Especially those with no marketing budgets. If you’re still not released, that’s okay; as long as the link points to a demo of some sort, or at least a page with a screen cast or screen shots.

2. Preference will be for ads I receive first; but I will skip ads that don’t look professional, don’t match the above criteria, link to pages that are ugly or lame, compete with my own startup, or any other reason that make it inappropriate for me to put that ad.

I’m planning to announce my beta release on Tuesday, the 25th, and hope to have it covered by as many bloggers and media as possible. Of course I can’t guarantee that anyone would cover it, but if they do, you’ll hopefully get some exposure as well.

So, if you’re interested, send your images to: waleed-at-ninua-dot-com by Sunday 9/23, along with the target URL and the image alternate text. I’ll email those who are accepted on Monday. Best of luck.

Update: I just received a generous offer from Adpinion (a YC company). If your ad is selected then, in addition to the 2-to-3 week period your ad will show on my web site, you’ll also get a $40 worth of free advertising on Adpinion’s network at large. I think this is a great opportunity to get publicity for free. Don’t delay.