Blogs As An Advertising Medium

This entry is an advertorial. I make it no secret that I welcome limited amount of ads on my blog.

Advertising on blogs is nothing new. Since way before I started, local Malaysian bloggers have already figured out a way to optimise their page for cash.
Unfortunately for us, those advertisements are mostly in the form of Google Adsense, littered liberally all over their site and often at the expense of user-friendliness. These blogs relied heavily on traffic coming in from search engines, engaging in a practice known as Search Engine Optimization, because few readers would access their page directly.

It’s not to say their blogs are not interesting. They are, especially since most of them are have blog titles like “Funny Junk” or “Addicting Stuff”. But half the time, these bloggers’ inspiration and content are copied from elsewhere, carefully threading the line of splogs – which are spam blogs created SOLELY for the purpose of making money.
At first it was just a few, then more and more jumped on the bandwagon.

Example of a spam blog created by a Malaysian “blogger”

Before you know it, instead of reading good quality local content by Malaysian bloggers, you are reading about how to Make Your Penis Bigger or Consolidate Debts because those are keywords that generate the most cash in Google Adsense.
Worst of all, those ads aren’t even relevant to us Malaysians. Most of our readers are from Malaysia or Singapore. And if I’m living here in Malaysia, why the hell would I wanna waste my time finding out about a product or a service all the way in the United States?

I swear this isn’t as gay as it looks

The rise of these borderline splogs also gave way to the demise of petalingstreet.org – which was until 2 years ago the only online community where Malaysian bloggers get together. It’s a sad thing.
For a while, I thought no one is interested in writing a good blog for Malaysians anymore because it seems like everyone out there is trying to optimize search engines in order to make more money. Trust me, at one point in time, I felt the same way too.

Luckily, around about this time, local companies began to take note of blogs as a viable advertising tool. And why shouldn’t they be? Compared to advertising in traditional printed media, blogs are a lot cheaper, faster, and more effective too. Readers don’t have to go to the newstand and pay money to read blogs. Unlike in newspapers or magazines, advertisers don’t have to compete with the hundreds of other advertisers vying for space on printed media.
On top of that blog readers are mostly the youthful, literate and tech-savvy crowd – a demographic highly sought after by advertising agencies.

One by one, Malaysian companies began to embrace what I’d like to call “the word-of-mouth advertising of the new age”.
First Pixart, then Fare.net, then Crocs, LG, Nokia, Intel and so on. For once, these ads are actually relevant to Malaysians.
Finally, you can actually enjoy the products or services being advertised on Malaysian blogs!

However, that phenomenom in itself created another problem.
Up until recently, local advertising on blogs are largely the domain of bloggers with higher traffic on their site. In Malaysia, that’s namely Jeff Ooi and myself. There are still PLENTY of Malaysian bloggers out there whose audience size are smaller than ours, and yet they are being ignored by the local advertisers.
This is understandable. Most blogs are too small to attract any advertisers, and advertisers find it too much of a hassle to source them out one by one. They’d rather just deal with the “bigger” blogs and that’s it. All the other Malaysian bloggers are left out cold.
That’s where Nuffnang steps in.

Conceived by Timothy Tiah, he himself a blogger, Nuffnang‘s goal is to unite all Malaysian bloggers coming under its flag and matchmake them to relevant Malaysian companies.
Here’s how it works. You put up their code on your page, and Nuffnang will help you find advertisers. When there’s someone wanting to publish their ads on your page, you get paid. Once you accumulate more than RM100 in your account, they send you a cheque in the mail.

Everyone gets a piece of the action

In other words, you don’t have to be big, you don’t have to slut your blog out to Google Adsense, and yet you’ll still be able to make money with your blog, and you will still be able to provide relevant local content for your blog readers.
You happy. Your blog readers happy. Your advertisers happy. Nuffnang happy. Everyone happy.

See? Timothy so happy.

Relevance. That’s the keyword.
No longer do blog readers have to put up with irrelevant advertising on Malaysian blogs. Nuffnang claims it is Asia’s first blog advertising network, and I have no reason to doubt that at all.
Mark my words. If things go smoothly for them, Nuffnang could very well revolutionize not just the local Malaysian blogosphere, but the entire advertising industry as well. That’s exactly why I am throwing my support behind them. It is a service by Malaysian bloggers, for Malaysian bloggers.

Malaysia’s Nuffnang Vs American-based Ad Agencies

If you’re a local blogger and you don’t mind making a few ringgits on the side from your blog without sacrificing relevancy, go ahead and sign up with Nuffnang. You’ll get paid for your efforts and help a local startup company grow big in the process.
Heck, if you’re lucky you could even win an iPod nano.




To start, just click here.


Has anyone heard the Spanish version of that song Irreplacable by Beyonce? As if they haven’t played the original English version too many times on the radio, they wanna kill us with the Spanish version. Why Spanish? We don’t live in Spain.
Then again, can you imagine what that song is gonna sound like in Malay?
“Di kiri, di kiri.”
“Semua you punya barang dalam kotak itu di kiri…”

81 Replies to “Blogs As An Advertising Medium”

  1. I do not know what is so great to be the 1st, 2nd or 3rd 1 to leave comments here
    But I hope Kenny would use his wisdom to spread his influence here… Really disheartening to see the previous post…

  2. Hey Kenny, your’re running out of ideas or what? Also, never bother with any of the ads anywhere.

  3. kanata ur a tool. u posted ur first comment b4 u even read the post, just so that u can say ur no3.
    KABLAH! I’ll play my banjo to scare strangers away from my church, “Oh how I love you jeezus”

  4. Better is the song is in Sarawak Malay dialect…
    “Ke kerek, ke kerek…
    Barang kau ada dalam kotak belah kerek…
    Dalam lemari ia barang aku…
    Nak aku beli kau iboh megang…”

  5. Haha, i don’t care about you posting advertorials on your blog, they’re an interesting read anyway, why? Relevance, just like what you said. It’s relevant to me so I don’t mind it. Btw, the last pic is funny 🙂

  6. come on, if you’re so desperate for funny stuff just go visit a joke website or smt, a blog doesnt haf to be funny does it?
    anw im from singapore, so.. not relevant to me.. not exactly.

  7. This is kinda cool… Hopefully there’ll be less spam blogs among Malaysian blogs.
    However, I guess I’m more in favor of trying to remove ads from my site. Still haven’t got a chance to redo my website though…
    I actually like cheeserland’s way more. Opening up an online shop. 😀

  8. i read and i don’t fancy ads. if you want to make extra $$$, do what cheeserland is doing, as some has mentioned. sell things, be creative and not rely on ads. open up a kennysiashop and sell boxers? 🙂
    and blogs are meant for the writer to share his/her experiences and to let others know what he/she is doing. no secret, etc. that’s why it’s called blogging. sharing is caring. popular blogs or not, who cares? writer just want to share as i have said, among friends, colleagues and strangers.
    a famous blogger doesn’t have the right to change what blogging means. need $$$ go work, promoting friends and business partners here, it’s just taking advantage of your popularity.

  9. Dude, this is a terrible review. Nuffnang is a bag of hot air, empty PR crap, with a terrible logo – but your review takes the cake. How much did you get paid for this?
    What’s with the last pic…Nuffnang’s avatars falling off a cliff? Its pretty negative towards your “client”, innit? The guys in red supposed to be Advertlets.com or what? Or the bloggers?
    And what’s with the random pic of the girl dancing? And Crocs? wtf? seriously?

  10. i watched the mtv, spanish version of the Beyonce song on … it came out looking like a deleted version of an english-subbed japanese movie. but watching her moving around was a whole lot of fun.
    u should have done hokkien….

  11. Kenny’s been getting boring-er and boring-er prolly try too hard to up traffic for his the good of his ads and his money :/

  12. Lol, typo’s…
    Kenny’s been getting boring-er and boring-er prolly trying too hard to up traffic for the good of his ads and his money :/

  13. “Di kiri, di kiri.”
    “Semua you punya barang dalam kotak itu di kiri…”
    LMAO! That made me laugh out loud.
    Anyways, I don’t mind reading your advertorial posts. They’re interesting, anyway.

  14. you ppl, if sien dun read la, who ask u to read? u see that cross at the top right of ur screen? click it, its that easy.
    grannysia, if u got the balls (or boobs) state who you are. kenny mia blog, dia suka letak apa dia munya pasal la. u sad coz no sane blogger would wanna promote advert-what-is-that-again? in case ur that josh asswipe fler, u got pwned my fren.
    Nuffnang wins adverTITs hands down.

  15. Wow…i cant believe that after reading this article, i started clicking on the ads on your blog.
    I just love saikaiball.com, its nice has replays of good matches. i am gonna abandon livescore.com and switch to saikaiball.com

  16. yeah i think most bloggers have lost their initial reason to start writing and put the adbrite adsense ads in your face
    i do have adsense but i try to blend it lah
    good advice .. aiya if only that nuffnang applies for Singaporeans too?
    cheers

  17. Assuming that you, kenny sia have used nuffnang, I have 2 questions.
    For google adsense, it ranges from 1-3%. 5 cents per click on a good day. 3 dollars per click if it’s a loan website.
    Honestly, eventhough the purpose is to unite malaysian bloggers and advertisers, not many have that much traffic to reach RM100. That check may take some time to reach yah.
    I know some people who reached only 2 dollars using google adsense in a year.
    First question :
    You posted a picture of USD 280.(RM967.68)
    Is that from google adsense alone, or from nuffnang ? Because nuffnang only gives out ringgit malaysia.
    Second Question :
    How much do you earn per month, if you have the coconuts, to share with us ? This way many bloggers can analyze the traffic ammount and see the gains, and see the real potential.
    It takes years of dedication and commitment to write and write and post and post and unyielding creativity, to make a good blog. While readers must only type one address to enjoy the content, it is perfectly fair that bloggers got some money back for their hard work.
    Oh, by the way, that’s only for men.
    Women only need to dress in a sexy way and have enough money for first time plastic surgery, and post lots of pictures. Lonely males will keep visiting the blog. I mean, look at dawn yang, xiaxue. Still, it was hard work and is respected. *Thumbs up*

  18. Point 1:
    To founder(s) of Nuffnang, your tagline is “Malaysia’s First Blog Advertising Community” or “Asia’s First Blog Advertising Community”? Your title says “Malaysia’s…” but your top banner says “Asia’s…”. Please make up your damn mind.
    Point 2:
    I guess the picture of the fish with the tag “Everyone gets a piece of the action” sums Nuffnang up pretty well. A pond with hundreds of fish and +/- 10 ‘pieces of food’. Now with a whale (Kenny) in the pond, I wonder how many more will starve to death. Haha!
    Point 3:
    GrannySia is right, your last picture is a kick in your clients butt. I wonder if they will request you change that picture. Just because their ‘stickman’ is facing right, does not mean you have to put them on the left (and losing the ‘battle’). Just flip picture horizontally, then they’ll be on the ‘winning’ side. Unless, that’s how you think things will work out for them.

  19. 10thofmarch
    i tink kenny’s pix was to say that NuffNang beats the crap out of the stick figures (americanbasedadagencies) no?
    either way, is good that blogs can generate money coz hobbies can be expensive, what better than a passive income generating hobby?
    but don’t lose focus on what a blog is.
    it is you. not george washington.

  20. grannysia: i think you’ve mistaken the ‘bag of hot air’ to be advertits.. last i heard, they promised their paid ads after the first week. it’s been 3 weeks and still nothing… advertits is full of crap. at least nuffnang has advertisers that pay

  21. kennysia.com is not meant to be a joke blog so what’s wrong with writing something aside humour? and nuffnang’s a somewhat unprecedented idea in m’sia co-founded by two fresh graduates so i thought this itself deserves some recognition. ppl who only condemn and not contribute anything to the blogosphere really should not kill the efforts of nuffnang, and kenny to have supported their idea.

  22. @mia
    Nuffnang IS the stickman. If you check out their website (kenny posted one too), you’ll notice that Nuffnang’s logo/mascot is the stickman. 🙂
    I guess for Nuffnangites to get their money, they’ll have to jump off a cliff while bleeding half-to-death.

  23. Just an update:
    Nuffnang did make up their minds. Haha. It’s official now. ASIA!
    Now I guess their next move will be, “Kenny, change the damn picture or you ain’t getting your paycheck.”
    One question. I’m not really good in marketing, or advertising, or whatever it is. But I thought you CANNOT claim you are “the NUMBER ONE”, or “the FIRST”, or “the BEST”, or whatever unless you have a real statistic or study or something? But I may be wrong.

  24. Kitty: In case you haven’t noticed, we already have paying opportunities. You might like to know that quite a few bloggers have taken up on the RM15,000 for 300 bloggers sponsored post program. We have some surprises in store for the next two weeks, maybe you’ll like to wait and see before you pass judgement?
    Also – it’s been a more than a year since whatever misunderstanding your posse had with me. Time to let go, don’t you think? If you really want to know the true story (and what I actually said), e-mail me.

  25. Give Kenny a break guys. He’s just sharing something with you. Instead of getting ripped off my Google Adsense in your earnings and putting up irrelevent ads, Nuffnang, a Malaysian version of Adsense is here. It’s not a bad thing at all.
    It really surprise me at how quickly some people here get on their moral high horse and start attacking Kenny just because he’s endorsing NuffNang. So all of you who are agains blog advertising is against making money? You mean to say if you see RM100 on the street you won’t pick up? I bet you’d pick up if its even 10sens. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make money, I think Kenny made it clear about splogs on the post. READ and don’t just look at pictures like a dumbass.
    And get off your moral high horses too, you
    “I’m-holier-than-thou” degenerates 🙂

  26. hmm well i tried to sign up..
    but it looks like this offer is only available to malaysians..
    well too bad then..
    tell me bout it when it accepts people from other countries as well yah 😉

  27. yeah ppl get off kenny’s back. it’s bad enough we don’t often credit his blog with due recognition of his efforts, so if you don’t wanna see the adverts just don’t come back anymore. i agree that a blog’s true meaning should not be lost, but kennysia.com is far from being a lousy advert blog. plus he could have just dumped a plain endorsement of his advertisements here, but he chooses to painstakingly come up with a (more or less) interesting discussion about the product.
    in essence, don’t keep attacking kennysia’s morals and all. who won’t wanna make more money?

  28. YESS!! I AM # 66!!!!!!!! Woohoo!! Lucky not 666!!
    I had nuffnag on my blog for over a week now, still not 1 sen.. better keep my day job.. kekekeke
    Eh, whats this??
    Too many comments have been submitted from you in a short period of time. Please try again in a short while.
    -I never commented b4 also, weird..

  29. @Ryan
    If you check each post, you’ll notice some lamers shouting phrases like, “OMG, I’m the first!”, “hooollly! I am No.3”, etc. However, I think Kenny should change it so that it only applies to posts number 1-10 maybe. That is the ‘zone’ where ‘they’ will post. Having it in every single comment is distracting and irritating.
    @The Expedited Writer
    I’m not against making money, nor advertisements in blogs. And for your question, I won’t take the RM100. Foolish, but true.

  30. Perak Hotel is adverising on my site…woooooooooot. Where is Perak Hotel eh?? lol. So much for relevance but what de heck…so as long my darlin Kenny like it…I will put lo. Kekek

  31. yay!!..73!!!…
    i love those ads at ur blog seriously…wudnt hv know wad’s croc if it werent u..thanks lotss..

  32. Damn, my free wordpress blog doesnt allow adverts and I have few hundreds hits per day! KNN -_-
    BTW, that guy with the mole is very much more handsome now 😛

  33. Kenny, care to give an estimate of how much you earn per month ? This is not an attack against you.
    It’s a curious question by a curious reader.
    The closest you mentioned was “pretty good side income”.
    Tell me……….. if your coconuts are still as big as you proclaim, damn it !! 😛

  34. kenny, in addition to the spanish version of beyonce’s song, even avril lavigne has a spanish version to her song ‘girlfriend’. but hold on, she also has a mandarin version for that song. check it out on youtube. damn funny. wo bu xihuan ni de nur peng you (i don’t like your girlfriend). wo bu je tau if tt’s correct in hanyu pinyin. haha

Leave a Reply to fookiat Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Navigation