Replace the logo grid with a page that says what each sponsor made possible. Keep logos and links current, date past sponsors, and mark sponsor links nofollow, since Google's guidelines treat them as paid links.

Forty logos in a grid

A community event's website has a sponsors page: forty logos of the same size in rows, in no particular order, each linking to the sponsor's website.

Look closer and the grid has aged. A few logos are versions the businesses replaced years ago. Two link to sites that no longer exist, and one links nowhere at all.

The sponsor who paid for the stage sits beside the one who donated a raffle prize, at the same size, with nothing to tell them apart.

Nobody planned it that way. Logos were added each year as sponsors signed on, and nobody was given the job of taking any off.

What a sponsor gets from one logo among forty

Very little. Visitors scroll past a wall of logos the way they pass the boards at an arena, and the page never says what any of these businesses did.

Sponsors notice. Many look at the page when deciding whether to give again, and a logo lost in a crowd, or an old one, says the gift went unremarked.

The organisers meant to thank everyone equally. The grid ends up thanking nobody in particular.

What the sponsors page should say

The first item is what changes the page from a list into a thank-you. The rest keep it accurate.

Say what each sponsor made possible

Write one plain sentence for each sponsor: the sound system on the main stage, the printing of the walking tour map, the coffee for volunteers at six in the morning.

Group sponsors by what they paid for, or by level, with the largest first. A logo can still sit beside each sentence, sized to match the level.

A sentence like that is what a sponsor shows its own staff and customers. It describes something real, which a logo cannot.

Thanks where the work shows

The sponsors page is not the only place to thank someone. Mention each sponsor on the page about the thing it paid for: the restoration, the stage, the school program.

A line under the photographs of a restored porch, naming the business that paid for it, is read by everyone who looks at the porch.

Social posts work the same way. Thank a sponsor for one specific thing, on the day it happens, rather than listing forty names after the event.

Logos and links go out of date

Businesses change their logos, move their websites and close. A sponsors page built three events ago may be thanking companies that no longer exist under those names.

Ask each sponsor for its current logo when it renews, and click every link each season. A link to a lapsed domain can end on a page someone else bought, which is no thanks at all.

Keep the files the sponsors send in one folder, with the year in each file name, so the next person updating the page uses the right one.

Paid links and Google's guidelines

Google's webmaster guidelines treat links given in exchange for money, goods or services as paid links, since the credit they pass was bought rather than earned. A link earned by writing a cheque to a charity counts.

The guidelines ask that paid links carry a rel="nofollow" attribute, which tells Google not to count the link as an endorsement when ranking the sponsor's site.

A page of plain sponsor links can look to Google like links for sale, and Google may discount them or act against the sites involved. Marking each sponsor link nofollow avoids the question.

A worked example

A historical society in a small Interior town is run by volunteers. It keeps a museum in a restored house, publishes a walking tour, and holds a heritage fair every August.

Its sponsors page showed about forty logos from several years, all at one size. Two sponsors had closed, three had new names, and one link led to a lapsed domain now full of advertisements.

The new page groups sponsors by what they paid for: the porch restoration, the fair's stage and tents, the walking tour printing, the school visits. Each has a sentence and a current logo.

Every link was checked, and each now carries rel="nofollow". Sponsors from earlier years moved to a dated page of past supporters.

Each sponsor was sent the link to its own sentence, which gives it something to share with its staff and customers.

Past sponsors, kept and dated

After each event, move that year's sponsors from the current page to a dated archive. A sponsor from three years ago should not appear to be supporting this year's event.

Keep the archive. Long-time supporters appreciate seeing their years of support listed, and new sponsors can see the company they would be keeping.

Leave the links on the archive page marked nofollow as well. The guidelines do not stop applying once the event is over.

The counter-case

With only three or four sponsors, an event can show their logos in a strip on the event page. With so few, each one stands out, and a line under each is enough.

Some sponsorship agreements also specify a logo at a set size in a set place. Honour the agreement; the sentence and the nofollow link fit around it.

The grid stops working once it grows past what a visitor will read, usually well before forty. By then, each sponsor needs its own sentence to be thanked at all.

Rebuilding the sponsors page

  1. List every sponsor on the current page.
  2. Note what each one paid for or provided.
  3. Ask each sponsor for its current logo file.
  4. Click every link and fix or remove the dead ones.
  5. Add rel="nofollow" to each sponsor link.
  6. Move past sponsors to a dated page.
  7. Send each sponsor the link to its mention.

Step two is where the thanks comes from. Once you know what each sponsor paid for, the sentence is easy to write, and it is the part of the page a sponsor actually reads.

Listing the events those sponsors make possible in date order, rather than in a month grid, is what an events calendar showing an empty month recommends.

Frequently asked questions

Why replace a grid of sponsor logos?

A logo among forty tells visitors nothing about what the sponsor did, and sponsors notice. A sentence for each one turns the page into an actual thank-you.

Do sponsor links really count as paid links?

Under Google's guidelines, links given in exchange for money, goods or services are paid links. That includes a link given in thanks for a sponsorship.

What does nofollow do on a sponsor link?

It tells Google not to count the link as an endorsement when ranking the sponsor's site. Visitors can still click it and reach the sponsor as before.

How often should we check sponsor links?

Each season or before each event. Businesses close, rename and move their sites, and a lapsed domain can end up showing someone else's content.

What should we do with last year's sponsors?

Move them to a dated page of past supporters, with the year of each gift. Keeping them on the current page suggests support they may no longer be giving.

Can a small event keep a logo strip?

Yes. With three or four sponsors, each logo stands out. Add a line under each saying what it supported, and mark the links nofollow.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Sponsors page grown into a wall of logos?

Send us the page, and we will suggest a layout that thanks each sponsor for what it made possible.

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