'WHEN avid blogger David Cheong Mun Hoe started his blog, titled Royalshortness five years ago, he did not expect that blogging would eventually open up doors and raise his profile as an individual. Today, he finds himself attending happening events and parties, watching movie previews, testing out gadgets that have not been released publicly and having meals at newly opened restaurants. Best of all, he’s doing all that – and more – while earning some extra money at the same time.
David started blogging because he loved to write. Half a decade later, blogging has become part of mainstream culture, especially among urban youths. Blogs have in the past couple of years proven to be an effective tool for advertising, spreading awareness and increasing brand exposure, so naturally advertisers have come knocking. The advertisers emerge
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David Cheong's blog has many pictures of him at events. |
The wide acceptance of blogs and blog advertising here was aided by the emergence of home-grown blog advertising agencies, Nuffnang and Advertlets two years ago.
These agencies While working diligently securingget clients to advertise on the hundreds and thousands of blogs in their network. To reward and keep the bloggers in their network happier, these agencies othese agencies offffer them free movie tickets and invitations to happening events in the city.
Nuffnang, which claims to be Asia Pacific’s first blog advertising community, has even taken to collaborating with its clients to organise themed parties throughout the year to bring bloggers together.
Information technology diploma student, Nigel Tee Tjin Hoe is already enjoying the perks of being a blogger just a few months after he started his blog in September 2008.
“I have taken part in more than 10 competitions over the last six months to win myself passes to parties and events organised by or associated with Nuffnang. They have been very generous in giving out tickets and I always managed to win one or two tickets,” said the 19-year-old.
Nigel added that he only started putting Google Adsense (a website advertising programme by Google) and joined Nuffnang early this year and has already earned about RM100 and RM50 from the two blog advertising programmes respectively.
“I did not start my blog with the intention of making money out of it. but because I want to blog.The money I earned through my site is just an added incentive; I am passionate about blogging.”
Money talks
While there are bloggers who are against commercialising what is essentially their personal sites for profit, people like Nigel and David obviously hashave no qualms about embracing blog advertising with an open heart and mind.
“I have nothing against blog advertising. In fact, I have a couple of advertisements on my blogs now. People are bound to catch on when they realise the impact blogs have made on the masses, cyberspace and traditional media,” said the 24-year-old business analyst.
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Nigel Tee is already enjoying the perks of being a blogger just a few months after he started his blog last year. |
David’s blog features his posts about events he attends and showcases his photos from outings, holiday trips and weddings he attends. He also gets offers of work now.
“There are people who write in to ask whether I would like to be the official photographer for their events and weddings after they saw the pictures in my blog. My blog has certainly opened up many opportunities for me and it can only get better,” said David who wishes to pursue a photography career in the future.
The two bloggers mentioned above blog a lot on food, events and entertainment. in their posts.This wasn’t always the case for Nigel. He started out as a socio-political blogger but changed the focus of his postings after reading stories about bloggers who have been arrested and sued for some of their more controversial statements and actions.
New generation
Success stories like Nigel’s and David’s have spurned a whole new generation of bloggers who are taking to lifestyle blogging, a “genre” often associated with good advertising support.
These blogs are sometimes seen to have content of little value, filled up with “cam-whoring” photos. Some bloggers, including those from the pre-blog advertising era, label such blogs as shallow and of little substance.
However, Nigel is not too concerned about such perceptions. He contended that it is their blogging style and they can write whatever they want in their blogs. “Most female bloggers tend to post cam-whoring pictures and still have huge amount of daily hits because people do not mind looking at such pictures,” he added.
Bloggers like Jamie Chin Suk Yee and Cherlin Tan Tzia Tzia feel that ultimately, it is up to the readers to decide what they like.
Jamie said that some readers are lazy to read and prefer to look at beautiful pictures instead. Cherlin, meanwhiles, concurred with Nigel that it really boils down to a particular blogger’s style. “Everyone has their own way of blogging and there are always people who will find such blog interesting. “There are always pros and cons and it is up to the readers to judge their favourite bloggers,” concurred Cherlin.
The two share a number of things in common. Both are attractive teenagers who started blogging out of curiosity and due to peer pressure. They have personal and lifestyle-themed blogs, and often feature advertorials on their blogs, which also means that they are making money from their blogs.
“Blogging is the in thing now. There are lots of bloggers out there and the number of people reading blogs is increasing every day. It is not surprising if we say blog advertising is quite an effective way of creating awareness,” said Jamie.
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(From left) Jamie Chin and Cherlin Tan both feel that cam-whoring is just another blogging style and it is up to the readers to judge their favourite bloggers. |
The other side
Still, there are downsides to having a popular blog that makes money. When Jamie’s blog began to attract more new visitors, she started to feel restricted. She refrained from writing about her family and simply ranting.
“I now write about events and places I have been to or things that I found interesting or worth sharing. My posts still convey my thoughts but nothing too sensitive or emotional,” she said.
On the other hand, the thought of earning her own pocket money has motivated Cherlin to take blogging more seriously and update her blog regularly.
“Even on days when I am less inspired or lack of materials, the thought of my readers visiting my blog hoping to read something new will push me to come up with something interesting and worth blogging about,” she said. Nevertheless, advertising is a great motivation – among other advantages of course – for one to start, or continue blogging. There are bloggers who started this pastime long before such advertising came and conquered cyberspace and are still at it.
Sure, the perks are great incentives. But in the long run, like most of things, sustaining a blog all boils down to substance, perseverance and integrity. But who is the judge of that? In the eyes of the advertisers, the readers (and consequently, the customers) are king.'
hebat! appear in newspaper summre. giler famous d. dunno whether the writer is the same guy who is crazy over the transformers movie that i mentioned about in the previous post lol. i doubt so..but same name. dunno lol. read it here.
anywayyy. i went to have dinner with yow kit at xin yun's steamboat place at kuchai. her kor kor owns the place..so went to try la right. hahaha.
it wasnt badd. the normal buffet steamboat like that la. we ate till like the place was about to close at 12 lool. so that i felt like i was carrying an exploding bomb in my stomach hahaha. so yea wasnt too bad =) im more of a shabu person anytime hahahaha, but yea ok laa. i like the chocolate =D too bad no marshmallows. lol.
we talked alot alot alot..bout school and stuff la. brought back alot of memories. hahahaha.
JEREMY JEREMY!
