Dear Baltimore Feather Readers,
Last week, I was contacted by a representative of FOCO, regarding advertising possibilities on the site. FOCO, previously known as Team Beans, LLC and Forever Collectibles, is one of the leading manufacturers of sports merchandise, with products officially licensed by the NFL and other professional sports leagues. After correspondence back and forth between myself and the representative, we came to the agreement that The Baltimore Feather would become an affiliate marketer for FOCO. Because I appreciate you all for reading and supporting The Baltimore Feather, I believe it is important to be transparent about the website’s operations.
I started The Baltimore Feather in December of 2016 and officially launched it in February of 2017. Since that point, The Baltimore Feather, and all of its subsidiaries (the Nest Talk and Goal Line Stance Podcasts), has never been profitable. The only revenue generated came in one advertising deal in the form of a sponsored post, requested by a local Maryland business. It is not important to me whether I make money on The Baltimore Feather. I write and talk about the Ravens because I love to. That being said, however, I believe that The Baltimore Feather is ripe for expansion in the coming months. In a Twitter thread, I posted two weeks ago, I mentioned that I wanted to bring changes to the website. This is one of those changes.
By being an affiliate marketer of FOCO, The Baltimore Feather will receive a monetary commission (a percentage of the sale) each time someone buys a FOCO product from the links on our website and social media accounts.
Please know, I am not being greedy, nor am I “selling out” by making this decision. All content on The Baltimore Feather is and always will be free to access and enjoy. All the money earned through this affiliate relationship will be spent enhancing The Baltimore Feather. This opportunity will be the first step towards creating a better experience for you all. In the near future, I hope to expand our readership, make better podcasts, and bring in additional writers to the team.
Please know that this is not The Baltimore Feather’s first opportunity to accept an advertising relationship. Over the past year, I have been contacted by numerous representatives of gambling and sports betting companies, looking for a chance to attract new customers on our website. I refused each and every offer. It is a personal decision to wager money on sporting events, but because of the inherent short and long-term risks in gambling, I would not and will not coax our community into it. I am pleased that The Baltimore Feather can become an affiliate for FOCO, because I believe in the company’s high-quality products, and it is important to me that our community can get fair compensation for their dollar.
If you are worried that this new affiliate relationship will affect content on The Baltimore Feather, be assured, it will not. The only differences you will see are advertisements for products placed on the website, and occasional posts about purchasable products. As stated before, all content will continue to be freely accessible, and no dip in quality will occur.
If you would like to browse products offered by FOCO, make sure to use this link when doing so. If you decide to buy a product from FOCO, using our affiliate link will bring no additional cost to you, but will help The Baltimore Feather expand and produce better content.
Thank you for reading. I, as always, appreciate you for your support.
– Christopher Linfante
