A couple of years ago I hired a professional design firm (Unique Blog Designs) to re-design my blog and at the same time I also hired an artist to create the mascot you see in my Blog header.

The reason I decided to invest the +$2,000 for a professional design and mascot was because I wanted to separate myself from other Bloggers out there who were mostly running free themes.  Today there are many theme websites that offer professional looking WordPress themes but a few years ago there really wasn’t that much to choose from.  You either spent the money and went with a custom design or you suffered with one of the crappy looking free themes.

The other reason I wanted to invest in a theme and mascot was because I wanted to invest some money into the project so as to motivate me further to keep going with it.  Starting a Blog can be so easy and inexpensive which makes it so easy for people to start Blogs, but at the same time it makes it just as easy to ditch them as well.  If it cost $400,000 to start a Blog like it does to start some franchises, I guarantee 98% of people wouldn’t be abandoning their business after just a few weeks.

With the launch of Paulymath.com, I redesigned my Blog design and the Blog header to be a bit more streamlined but I still wanted the mascot design integrated into the header as I think it really represents my brand.

The one thing that I haven’t done yet is to hire the artist that drew my original mascot to redesign my mascot to add my new puppy Zoe into the design.  I have my dog Kobe in the design, lying down beside my desk but Zoe is nowhere to be seen.  I didn’t have Zoe when the original design was done so that’s why she isn’t there right now.

Well, thinking about the re-design this morning I came up with the idea to offer my readers the opportunity to sponsor Zoe to be put into the design.  Meaning, to pay for the redesign of the mascot to include Zoe into the picture I’m going to be accepting donations for any amount above $5 to put towards the design.

In exchange for a donation, I’m going to offer a shout out and a link back to your website in an upcoming Blog post once the redesign is done.  This is an awesome opportunity to get some exposure for your website or company for as little as $5.  Of course higher donations will be appreciated as well, but I will remove the donation link once I’ve hit $300 in donations which is what it will cost for the mascot re-design so act quick. If someone wants to donate a larger amount or even the whole $300 they could secure an exclusive sponsor spot.

Now I know someone is going to probably ask why can’t I just pay for the re-design myself, so I’ll address that right now.  First of all, much like the first design that I paid for, of course I can pay for a re-design of the mascot to have Zoe put in, but here are 12 reasons why I think it’s way better to allow others to sponsor the re-design:

1. First of all, by paying for the re-design myself I don’t create an opportunity for people to step in and sponsor the project which I know is a win-win strategy for everyone.
2. As a Blogger, you should never pay for something that you can get sponsored for free.
3. Because Zoe is so cute, I know I have a high chance of success getting donations.
4. Successful Blogging is about creating stories.  I’m creating a story by doing this.
5. Because I can milk this story for at least half a dozen future Blog posts.
6. I like experimenting with ideas that people tell me “Oh that will never work.”
7. Because it’s going to be so much fun sending those people a link to the future Blog post when the idea does work.
8. I’m curious to see how many of my readers are dog lovers.
9. Because I know it will inspire other Bloggers to think outside the box a bit more.
10. Cesar Millan says that it’s healthy to put your dogs “to work”.  Dogs that do something to earn their food are happier and healthier.
11. Those that donate will have a sense of “ownership” on the site.  They can tell their friends “I donated to have his dog Zoe put in there, check it out.“  Once again, win-win.
12. And finally because when my intuition gives me an idea, I prefer to test it out instead of dismissing it.

Those are just some of the reasons I’m doing this experiment and I think it’s going to be fun to see what happens.

I’m going to post more recent pics of Zoe in an upcoming Blog post, but here’s a picture of Zoe that I think is so cute that if it doesn’t make you go “awwww” when you see it, you’re not human.

If you’d like to donate towards the “Zoe Mascot Redesign” fund, please use the Paypal button below to make a donation between $5-$300 and I will contact you with the link information for your site to be included in an upcoming Blog post.  Once the $300 is raised, the link will disappear.  So if you don’t see it below, it means the amount has been raised.

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