How we make money

A directory site has two honest ways to earn revenue: from the audience it serves, or from the businesses that serve that audience. We aim for the latter, narrowly, in ways that don't compromise the directory.

What we will do

• Featured listings (eventually). Promoters can pay to surface their event in catalog headers and the homepage. Always labeled.
• Newsletter sponsorships (eventually). A single sponsored line in the weekly email, related to the audience (smokers, knives, rubs). Clearly marked.
• Sanction partnerships. If a sanctioning body wants premium presence on their /sanction page, we'll talk.

What we won't do

• No display-ad networks. No Google AdSense, no Taboola. The page weight and audience trust loss isn't worth it.
• No paywalls on the directory. The event list stays free.
• No selling email addresses. Subscribers and submitters are not products.
• No fake-urgency or affiliate sludge. If we link to something, it's because it's actually useful.

Right now, today

CookoffList earns no revenue. The site exists because the cross-category directory should exist. Monetization comes after the directory is genuinely useful — not before.