TenthOfMarch.com

So the battle between Nuffnang and Advertlets is heating up. Recently, I’ve read a few posts and comments (even in my blog) that some publishers from both companies are ranting about not being served paid ads yet. I’ve said this many times, we (the publishers) must be patient. Both companies are new and therefore the number of advertisers are small but growing. Angel left a comment in freethinker’s blog that I do not agree:

The ‘cake’ is only ‘this’ big. But the number of ppl who wanna eat the cake is increasing. You are a smart chap. You know where I’m leading to

The ‘cake’ is only ‘this’ big for now. It’s true that the ‘cake’ cannot support the whole population yet. However, it is constantly growing as time passes by. Again, patience is what we need. Correct me if I’m wrong, Advertlets has 2 or 3 advertisers so far, while Nuffnang has 6 or 7. Nuffnang’s “weekly campaign” means you get a chance every week. Check out this “post-length” comment I left on freethinker’s blog for more explanation.

Now back to the main point of this post. I have found a way for Advertlets’ publishers to get a paid ad served to them almost immediately. Sorry to Nuffnang publishers, because I doubt this method works for Nuffnang. At least Advertlets’ publishers get to “enjoy” this tip. I came up with this “formula” after reading a few blog posts and doing some “investigation”. I will only mention 3 of them here.

**********

First is babyfiona’s blog. In her post To PULL or Not to PULL (original post removed), she mentioned she was thinking of taking down Nuffnang and Advertlets’ banners because no ads have been served so far. In her next post Back Dated Post-Someone Disturb Me Buy Spotlight.., she mentioned that Josh Lim called her up on the same day while she was searching [REMOVED]. Guess what? She has been served an ad soon after.

**********

Second is drizad’s blog. In his post Running test - Malaysian ads for bloggers, I noticed the image posted below. The account status is still “Pending” but he has been served a paid ad. I thought a publisher will only be served a paid ad after they have successfully fill up the 50 answered polls?

Image from drizad’s blog.

Before I go too deep into this, I tested this myself — I still have a test account with Advertlets. So I filled up the 50 polls myself. Yes — for those Advertlets publishers who haven’t already know, you can fill up the polls yourself. I got my 50 polls answered in 10 minutes. That was when I realize that this could be a bug because after filling up the 50 polls, my status is still “Pending”.

**********

Third is freethinker’s blog. In his post Nuffnang : What Over Speculation Would Sound Like, he ranted spoke his mind about not being served an ad from neither company. What I want to point out is one of the comment he made, “Then after munching 2 hours of Bauer, I came back and see JL (aka Josh Lim) had served up an ad in this blog… what a coincidence…“.

**********

So, what is my “formula” or secret to be served an ad from Advertlets almost immediately? Just RANT! Rant about not being served any ads. Rant that you will ditch both banners immediately if no ads are served to you within X days. Rant that both companies suck and that they are just cheating you to help them advertise themselves. RANT! JUST RANT! To increase the possibility, put up both Nuffnang and Advertlets banners.

I am confident, in “no time”, Josh Lim will give you a buzz, and you will see an ad served to you almost immediately. Desperate situation requires desperate action. I guess my initial speculation might be true after all. Their “tactic” of serving ads to publishers who rant about not getting ads (especially) from BOTH sides, could be a desperate attempt to “WIN” their hearts over. I wonder if their “Monthly Impressions Available” counter not working has anything to do with all this.

After digging up a few other blogs and interviewing the blogger, I have conclusive evidence that Josh Lim is serving ads to “unqualified” publishers (ie. those that have not filled up the 50 required polls). And because one of them has requested that I do not disclose his/her identity, I have decided not to disclose anyone of their identities. If you are an Advertlets publisher and has been served an ad even when you are not “qualified” for it, do contact me or just leave a comment.

To Advertlets’ publishers, I hope you enjoyed my “tip”. Use it wisely!

Stumble it!   Share it!   Subscribe to my feed

I noticed a couple of changes that Advertlets made to their system and policy. Those that is worth mentioning are:

1. Minimum unique visitors per day decreased from 100 to 50.
2. Demographics Poll needed decreased from 100 to 50.
3. Mimimum payout amount decreased from RM200 to RM100.

You can get the above information from this post in their blog. At the bottom of the same post, they quoted a sentence from Cikgu Azleen’s blog:

CikguAzleen also mengatakan bahawa Advertlets telah mengubahsuai requirement mereka untuk membolehkan anda menjadi blogger mereka.

I went over to Cikgu Azleen’s post and found that there were more things Cikgu said that wasn’t quoted (that I found amusing). Here’s the “full version” of it:

**********

Pada hari yang sama jugak, Advertlets telah mengubahsuai requirement mereka untuk membolehkan anda menjadi blogger mereka. Requirement yang baru adalah:

1. Jumlah pelawat unik ke blog anda: 100 50
2. Jumlah poll demografik dari blog anda: 100 50
3. Jumlah bayaran minimum yang boleh dikeluarkan: RM200 RM100

Lebih baik kan? 50% diskaun! Hahahaa.. Saya rasa mereka terpaksa mengubahsuai requirement ni kerana terdapat saingan daripada syarikat yang satu lagi tuh. Hahahaha.. Ohhh.. Saya tidak akan memberitahu anda dalam posting ini siapa saingan mereka, kerana anda sendiri tahu dan faham bahawa sekarang ini hanya ada dua syarikat pengiklanan blog dari Malaysia.

**********

I’ll translate the last paragraph into English:

That’s better, right? 50% discount! Hahahaa.. I think they are forced to modify this requirement because there is competition from the other company. Hahahaha.. Ohhh.. I won’t tell you in this post who their competitor is, because you should know that there are only two blog advertising companies from Malaysia.

Two weeks ago, Nuffnang posted up The Nuffnang Community’s Reach and Coverage with pretty impressive figures — to say the least. They mentioned that they “serve out approximately 21,180,000 ad impressions” in a month. Compare that with the 1,800,000 impressions Advertlets have. That shows Nuffnang has almost 12 times more ad impressions to sell and may I add, 12 times stronger.

(Note: At the time of writing, the “Monthly Impressions Available For Advertising” counter on Advertlets system is not functioning. The figure 1,800,000 is what I think the last number I saw — I may be wrong. I’ll update the figure once the counter starts to work again.)

I guess it’s true that Nuffnang’s strategy to include the long tail of bloggers has really paid off. This is apparent especially when Advertlets are starting to reduce their requirements by HALF of what they used to be. From my perspective, Nuffnang is way in the lead. Advertlets would have to play catch up before Nuffnang disappears ahead.

Oh, have I mentioned that Nuffnang is now officially multinational?

Stumble it!   Share it!   Subscribe to my feed