Local Sponsorship Link Evaluation Template

Local Sponsorship Evaluation Sheet (fill-in)

When to use: One row per sponsorship offer, with local audience, event fit, deliverables and terms, lead tracking, owners and a completion check.

Local sponsorship evaluation sheet

One row per sponsorship offer: an event, team, charity or meetup. Fill it before anyone pays. Only rows marked sponsor get a budget.

Business: [name and city] - Sheet owner: [name] - Date: [YYYY-MM-DD]

Per-row detail (fill for every opportunity)

• Organizer contact: [name, role, email]
• Audience source: [last year's attendance, member list size, or organizer's estimate] - checked how: [photos, results page, social posts]
• Service area overlap: [towns or postcodes you serve that attendees come from]
• Why this audience buys from you: [one sentence]
• Cost: [cash] + [staff time, products, printing]
• Deliverables in writing: [logo, booth, mention, email, sponsor page listing]
• Sponsor page link: [URL of the page + rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" agreed: yes / no]
• Lead target: [qualified leads you need for this to be worth it] by [date]
• Reason for the decision: [one line]

Next action

• Evaluator: [name] - task: confirm audience and fit with the organizer by [date]
• Budget owner: [name] - task: approve or drop the row and sign the terms by [date]
• Lead owner: [name] - task: set up the code, tagged URL and CRM field before the event by [date]
• Review owner: [name] - task: count qualified leads and check the sponsor link [30 / 60 / 90] days after by [date]

Completion check

• The audience estimate has a source, not just the organizer's pitch deck.
• Attendees come from places you serve, and you can say why they would buy.
• Every deliverable and the cancellation terms are written down.
• Any link on the sponsor page is agreed as rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".
• A code, tagged URL or form is live before the event, with a lead owner.
• Each row has one owner and one decision. Dropped rows keep their reason.

Local Audience and Event Fit Check

When to use: Test where attendees live, whether they match your buyer and how the organizer knows the numbers.

Local audience and event fit check

Judge the people first. A sponsorship is worth it when the right locals see you and some of them become customers.

Fit score (optional)

• Local audience: [0-3] - service area overlap and buyer match
• Event fit: [0-3] - brand fit and chance to meet people
• Proof: [0-3] - how well the numbers are backed up
• Total: [0-9] - set your own bar, for example 6 or more to negotiate

Red flags

• The pitch talks about "SEO value" or "dofollow links" more than about people.
• The sponsor page lists dozens of unrelated businesses from other cities.
• Nobody can tell you how many people came last time.

Check how you rank for your main service in the towns attendees come from with the Local Rank Checker. Weak towns are where new local exposure matters most.

Deliverables and Terms Checklist

When to use: Get every promise, price and cancellation term in writing, and agree how the sponsor page link is qualified.

Deliverables and terms checklist

Get every promise in writing before you pay. Vague sponsor packages are where money disappears.

Deliverables

• On site: [booth, banner, shirt logo, stage mention, sample table]
• Online: [sponsor page listing, social post, newsletter mention]
• Audience access: [talk slot, prize draw, opt-in email list (with consent)]
• Your materials: [logo files, NAP text, landing page URL, offer code]

Terms

The sponsor page link

• A link you get because you paid is a paid placement. Ask for rel="sponsored" on it. rel="nofollow" is also fine.
• Google prefers rel="sponsored" for paid placements and accepts rel="nofollow". See Google on qualifying outbound links.
• Google's spam policies say paid links for advertising and sponsorship are normal when qualified this way.
• The same policies list buying links for ranking as link spam. Do not pay extra for a followed link.
• Ask for the business name, town and a short line about you in the listing instead. That helps readers.

Pages checked 12 November 2026.

Qualified Lead Tracking Plan

When to use: Define a qualified lead, pick a code, tagged URL or form, and set the review fields for renewal.

Qualified lead tracking plan

Decide what a qualified lead is before the event. Then count only those. Foot traffic and likes are not leads.

Define a qualified lead

• Lives or works in: [your service area]
• Needs: [a service you sell]
• Next step taken: [booked, asked for a quote, called, bought]

Tracking methods

Review fields

• Raw contacts: [number] - qualified leads: [number] - customers: [number]
• Cost per qualified lead: [total cost / qualified leads]
• Renew next year: [yes / renegotiate / no] because [reason]

Log each lead with the sponsorship as its source in a CRM, so sales follow up and you can count real customers. CRMsoftware.pro is one option.

Track the money side with the Link Building Budget Tracker Template.

Sponsor Link and Listing Check

When to use: Check the live listing: rel value, link target, name, address and phone, and whether the page is real.

Sponsor link and listing check

Check the listing once it goes live and again before you renew. It is cheap to fix a wrong phone number while the organizer still remembers you.

How to check

• Right-click the link, choose Inspect and read the rel value on the <a> tag.
• Run your own domain in the Backlink Analyzer to see your strongest links with anchors and your dofollow and nofollow split. A sponsor page may not be among them, so the Inspect check above is the one that counts.
• Compare the name, address and phone with your other listings. The Local Citation Building Template keeps them in one place.

Want help picking local sponsorships that bring customers, not just logos? See Local SEO services or book a free consultation with Anatolii Ulitovskyi.

Spreadsheet Header (CSV)

When to use: A paste-ready header row and allowed values to run the evaluation in Google Sheets or Excel.

Paste-ready spreadsheet header

Paste this row into cell A1 of Google Sheets or Excel, then split text to columns by comma. One row per sponsorship offer.

opportunity_id,opportunity_name,type,event_date,organizer_contact,audience_size,audience_source,audience_areas,service_area_overlap,buyer_match,event_fit,fit_score,deliverables,cash_cost,in_kind_cost,payment_date,cancellation_terms,exclusivity,sponsor_page_url,link_rel_agreed,link_rel_seen,nap_correct,lead_definition,tracking_method,offer_code,tagged_url,lead_target,raw_contacts,qualified_leads,customers,cost_per_qualified_lead,decision,decision_reason,evaluator,budget_owner,lead_owner,review_date,renew

Allowed values

• type: event, team, charity, meetup, school, other
• event_fit: strong, partial, weak
• link_rel_agreed / link_rel_seen: sponsored, nofollow, none, no_link
• tracking_method: code, tagged_url, qr, form, call_number, survey
• decision: sponsor, negotiate, drop
• renew: yes, renegotiate, no, not_yet

Sheet tips

• Highlight rows where link_rel_seen is none. They need a note to the organizer.
• Highlight rows with no tracking_method before the event date.
• Sort by cost_per_qualified_lead at renewal time.
• Keep dropped rows, so nobody re-evaluates the same offer next year.

Worked Example (fictional bike shop)

When to use: Three filled rows for an invented bike repair shop: one sponsor, one negotiate and one dropped link seller.

Worked example: Pellicombe Cycles

Example only. Pellicombe Cycles is an invented bike repair shop in the invented town of Dunmarrow. The events, clubs, URLs, names and numbers are made up to show a filled-in sheet.

Business: Pellicombe Cycles, Dunmarrow - Sheet owner: shop manager - Date: 2 Nov 2026

How the rows were filled

• Audience proof: the 10K results page listed finishers by town, so overlap was easy to check.
• Terms: the organizer agreed in email to add rel="sponsored" to the sponsor page link.
• Lead definition: a Dunmarrow-area rider who books a paid service.
• Review: 60 days after the race, the lead owner counts RIVER10 bookings in the CRM.
• Row 3: kept with the reason, so nobody buys it next year.

Why this works

• The decision rests on local riders and bookings, not on the link.
• The link is qualified as paid, which is what Google asks for sponsored links.
• A unique code makes the review a count, not a guess.