Launched in April 2009, “What Allergy? is growing fast; partly due to brand awareness on social networks, but also boosted by regular topical blog posts. Monthly unique vistor numbers keep climbing every month and are now at over 120,000! Subjects include gluten free beer, celery allergy, lupin allergy, nickel allergy, tips for avoiding cold sores, egg intolerance, allergy free stock cubes and gravy and allergy jokes, to name just a few.
What Allergy? was voted by the people as The Best FreeFrom Blog in the UK 2014 in the Foods You Can People’s choice awards and won the Free From Hero Award in 2021.
Also voted in the Top 5 Allergy Blogs and also in the Top 10 Health blogs two year’s running (2014/2015) in the UK by Cision UK, What Allergy? is a favourite with many allergy sufferers, professionals and free from products. Read the testimonials and comments of just a few happy readers and followers here.
Created by Ruth Holroyd from a passion to help those with allergies to find out information quickly and easily and work out the best way to cope day-to-day; What Allergy? is all about questioning, learning, sharing and exploring life with allergies. Ruth has spoken at allergy lobby events at the Houses of Parliament about life with allergies and what the NHS service was like throughout her life and also at the FDIN allergy and intolerance forum in 2013. She also gets invited to speak at allergy events including The Allergy Show London and the BSACI Annual Conference. She is also a regular judge for the Freefrom Food Awards FreeFrom Eating out Awards and FreeFrom Skin Care Awards.
Ruth has also written two books.
- Anaphylaxis – The ultimate guide to living with life threatening allergies
- The Shape of Skin – poetry for people with eczema, psoriasis, topical steroid withdrawal and sensitive skin.
What allergy? is a great source of information to help you when eating out, going for dinner with friends, buying lunch and shopping for groceries etc. All these things create daily challenges for anyone with allergies and intolerances; What allergy? aims to provide you with ideas, inspiration, answers and a whole lot more.
Visitors have steadily grown to over 50,000 unique hits a month, and increasing all the time.
A regular weekly newsletter is also sent out to a growing list of over 2,000 avid readers.
What Allergy also gets great comments. There are over 4000 comments on articles at the moment with some articles generating over 300 comments when a real debate is sparked. This proves that visitors are really reading stuff, and they are raving fans of the content, so it’s a great place to advertise and get your product noticed.
Statistics about allergies
More than one child in 100 is believed to suffer severe allergic reactions to peanuts, tree nuts or both. A small but significant number are affected by other foods. (Ref: http://www.theallergysite.co.uk) and this trend is growing year on year.
The number of children treated for life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods has more than doubled in five years, according to government research.
Figures from the Department of Health show the number of Adrenalin injections prescribed for children under six suffering severe allergic reactions rose from 15,100 to 37,235 between 1999 and 2004, an increase of 146%. It’s a worrying pattern, and one which continues to grow, with very little research into why this is happening.
In 2003, a study conducted by St George’s hospital, London, showed admissions for people suffering from serious allergies had jumped dramatically over the previous decade.
Earlier that year a report by the Royal College of Physicians also warned of a steep rise in allergies.
Yet our health service is disappointingly short of allergy specialists, with most people having to wait months or more for a referral to a specialist. The government doesn’t seem to see this worrying rise of anaphylactic reactions as important and continues to ignore the issue.
I hope that What Allergy? will help everyone who suffers from allergies, or has a child, partner, or friend who does, to find the answers they need without the copious years of research and struggling I have had to endure myself. It isn’t easy to get help, and often sufferers are just given an Epipen and left to get on with it with very little guidance or assistance. Things are changing though so don’t give up hope.
Who should advertise?
Companies supplying products to the allergy market such as free-from food companies, allergy product manufacturers, publications, websites etc.
How much does it cost?
Home page banner advertisement
Small square banner on the home page
(Banner size: 135 x 100 pixels)
- £50 per month (minimum of 3 months)
- £40 per month (minimum of 6 months)
- £30 per month if booking 12 months
Large banner on home page
(Banner size: 280 x 100)
- £80 per month (minimum of 3 months)
- £70 per month (Minimum of 6 months)
- £60 per month (Minimum of 12 months)
Top ranking featured blog advertisement
Banner on relevant blog page
- £80 per month (minimum of 3 months)
- £70 per month (minimum of 6 months)
- £60 per month if booking 12 months
Banner size: negotiable. No wider than 550 pixels for a landscape banner.
Other options:
- £200 for a sponsored blog post (copy written by What Allergy?)
- £100 – Guest blog (copy provided by your company, subject to approval)*
- £150 for a product review – (as long as testers enjoy or find the product useful**)
Affiliate schemes
There are a number of affiliate schemes on the site at the moment and they work really well. If you think yours would work please contact what allergy to discuss. It is preferable to see and try out a product before approving for affiliate suitability.
**What Allergy? reserves the right to refuse advertising if it is not in keeping with our ethics and views and also if not of the required quality standard.
Comments from readers:
“Ruth your newsletter is absolutely brilliant. I’m so proud to know you… you are going to be one of the leading authorities in allergies EVERYONE will want to advertise on your site. “ Dr Lynda Shaw www.drlyndashaw.com
“Do you know what Ruth – this is the first time I looked at your business web site. This is pretty impressive, actually brilliant.” Jeanette Dixon
Read more testimonials here.
To discuss rates and book a banner advert contact ruth at whatallergy dot com.