What your donations mean for Skirts and Scuffs – a letter from Katy
Owning and operating a NASCAR website has been the adventure of a lifetime. It's a privilege and an honor to work with some of the most dedicated NASCAR writers in the industry, and the fact that every one of our writers is a woman makes Skirts and Scuffs even more special. While running a website at our level certainly isn't expensive, growing a NASCAR website to the level we're hoping to reach can be a daunting task. Over the last year, we've seen a massive increase in our daily traffic. We're getting more than 10 times the number of hits than we were getting just 12 months ago.
In order to continue growing Skirts and Scuffs to meet the demands of our readers, we need to step our coverage of races up to the next level. What we're hoping to do is to cover each and every NASCAR race in person for an entire season. In order to do that without putting our writers up to their ears in debt, we're hoping that our dedicated readers will be willing to help. Two weeks ago we put a donations link on the navigation bar of our homepage as a test. In two weeks we've been able to raise $500 from a few generous fans who were willing to put forth a few dollars to help offset our expenses. However, this is just a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money that we need to reach our goal.
Skirts and Scuffs has nearly two dozen active contributors across the United States, which gives us the ability to cover most, if not all, of the races on the schedule. For most of our team, the nearest NASCAR track is less than a four-hour drive from their homes, though in some instances the drive may be longer and a few lucky ladies have a track right in their backyard. Regardless of how far we have to travel, we are dedicated to bringing our readers first hand coverage of the events.
On average Skirts and Scuff writers will spend three days trackside covering press conferences, practice sessions and qualifying, along with the Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series races. Additionally, our writers try to speak with fans about their experiences at the track and schedule at least two one-on-one interviews with a driver or team member. All this is done in an effort to bring our readers timely, newsworthy coverage that proves females don't just follow the sport for attractive drivers, but because they have a passion for the sport as a whole, something that many fail to realize.
In asking our team to track their expenses for three days of coverage at the track, we've discovered that on average most conservatively spend anywhere from $200 - $250 out of pocket for their hotel room and gas. Although this is less than many families spend for a weekend or even a day at the track, the costs do add up. Many of our writers would love the opportunity to cover an event for the site, but due to financial constraints even the smallest costs are prohibitive. We're lucky that NASCAR has been generous, and as part of the NASCAR Citizen Journalist Media Corps we are provided with press credentials, which include free admission to the track - that takes a huge burden off of the financial bottom line. It's our goal to be able to reimburse our writers for a majority of their hotel and fuel expenses incurred when covering races as members of the media.
In the last month Skirts and Scuffs has received roughly 80,000 page views. If just a few of our awesome readers were to donate $1-$5, we would be able to reach our goal of being able to cover each and every race the way it's meant to be covered - in person and up close enough to get bits of melted rubber in our hair.
Please consider lending your support to our cause. We're not asking for gold-plated pistons - we just want to be the best we can be and make sure our readers get the coverage they deserve.
In addition to race-related expenses, funds donated will be used to cover website hosting costs, merchandise for site giveaways, and other incidental expenses associated with maintaining and growing the site.
We appreciate anything you can do and thank those who have already donated to help Skirts and Scuffs continue our growth.
Donations can be made through our GoFundMe.com account using your personal PayPal account or a major credit card. Donations can be made in your name or anonymously.
Katy Lindamood
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of SkirtsandScuffs.com
What your donations mean for Skirts and Scuffs – a letter from Katy
Reviewed by Katy Lindamood
on
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Rating: