People who are writing for PayPerPost will be no stranger to this new thing called Argus. It’s not really unveiled yet, though obviously judging by the comments in those forum, there are some posties who know more than others. Basically from what I gather from their announcement board, it is some kind of real live stats tracking device you insert into your HTML page. Not unlike those stats counter we insert in our blogs, but perhaps a tad more sophisticated.

Now, I’m not going to go into the technicality aspect, I’m merely putting down my thoughts. Firstly, becareful what you wish for, it might come true. People had been bitching about Google PR ranking. Of course Alexa is worse. While PR ranking indicates page relevance as a guideline in determining the importance of a page to the search engine, it does not really reflect real traffic. With the implementation of Argus, PayPerPost now can bypass Google and put their very own stats analyser in place. PPP no longer needs to rely on Google PR as an indicator.

Now, how does it affect posties in general? Having real live stats of your site meant it is not just good enough you have a blog/site. You now had to have real traffic to show. Real visitors coming in. On the other hand, it will definitely be good news to those newbies who had just started a blog with decent traffic/visitors. No longer these newcomers are at the mercy of Google pagerank. Guess the next Google PR update will not bring as much excitement. And jitters.

From an advertiser’s perspective, this is good news. I do not know if PPP will be charging advertisers who chose to utilize their Argus more, but definitely advertisers will have more control than ever over who does their ads. If advertisers like this so much, it will ultimately give PPP a competitive edge over their competitors.

My thought is, will PPP competitors resort to similar means to give advertisers real live stats and information to level their playing field? PPP changed the landscape of paid post a little more than a year ago. Dang, are they going to do it again with Argus? Only time will tell.

I’m not exactly rolling out the red carpet though…

Reading this recent post from a blogging buddy, I’m compelled to add my thoughts.

A few months back, one of my friend who is doing his MBA course was asked to offer a local ice-cream company ideas on rebranding the company name. This confectionary company has been around Ipoh 20+ years. Wait, is it possible a company which is around more than 2 decades command amnesia from locals? I can tell you even local bred Ipohnites have no recollection of this brand name. The only reason I knew this company existed was because it was previously located on my route home. Can’t really ignore something I see everyday.

This company has no identity. Let alone brandname. Most soft-serve ice-cream in local malls are using their products. Not their name though. I wouldn’t know my favorite green tea ice cream from the mall comes from this company had my friend not told me. I’m of course not to be blamed. A green tea vendor is selling the ice-cream under the green tea vendor name. This company does sell their ice-cream under their own name in supermarket throughout Malaysia. But then, it’s not really doing well. Recently this company had even extended their business to China. They have factories over there but it’s the same old story.

My friend suggested to the company board, how about internet advertising?

Lo and behold, my friend related to me it was the most humiliating reaction ever in his life. The board was looking at him as if he’s an imbecile. “Who on earth would read an ad in the internet? How many people actually surf the net in this country? How is this going to increase our sales? Forget it. Let’s concentrate on the usual buy 1 free 1 promotion…”

Well, who’s the imbecile?

You might say this is just ONE local company. True. The fact is, this is the shared conception of MOST local companies. Many still think the internet is meant for social activities and online gaming. No way the internet will help sell their products.

Now, I do agree the internet may or may not help companies sell their stuffs, which is of course dependent on what they’re selling in the first place. Not everything can be purchased online. I concede. But then aren’t all of them missing out on the big picture? Internet advertising is not just about selling products. It is there to promote your greatest company commodity….. your brand name.

I guess the East and West have different approach when it comes to marketing. The West think brand name. They are willing to fork out money and effort to promote their name. The East? The East, I meant Malaysians here, are more interested in the sales and products. Now wait, I’m not saying the sales are not important. Sales meant profit. Profit is always good. But, products come and go. You need to diversify with trend. But, the brand name is there on the long run. Any diversification in products are much easier accepted by the public if there is a known trusted name behind it.

I’m not discounting the importance of a good product behind a name. But then, unless your product is so unique there is no competition, there are just as many companies out there selling the same product which is just as good. Where is the deciding factor?

Local companies in Malaysia who successful created a name for themselves from zero are few. The only ones I can think of had to be Ogawa and Secret Recipe. The Ipoh Kopitiam chain is doing not too bad either. You know, the local scene is still one generation behind. Let’s hope some young blood will help change the current perception regarding internet/blog advertising.

No.

Whoa, I know people will be unhappy. So, let’s put it another way. Is blogging a profitable business? Yes, it can be. Now, see the difference? A good business should be rightly profitable, but, a profitable business may not be good business in a business sense. Am I confusing you? Hang on.

Can somebody running a number of blogs call their blogs their business? Yes, if they are making money out of it. No doubt. Bloggers who make money out of their blogs are running a business. They are self-employed. They dictate their own working schedule and are the masters of their own earnings. The principal is easy. Self-employed folks get what they worked for. Put in the hardwork and hours, they will earn more. Slack, they know they will get penalized. Their earnings are in direct proportion to their hours and effort. But then there are of course bloggers who do it because they relish the sense of independence and the respect from peers they commanded in the blogosphere which is reward in itself. Monetary profit may or may not be the only motivating factor for all. Either way, successful self-employed people, bloggers included, prided themselves on the fact they are in-control of their earnings. Of course by my definition of self-employed person, I’m not limiting it to bloggers alone. Doctors, plumbers, mechanics, insurance agents and other well-educated professionals are bundled in.

With me so far?

Back to good business. What is defined as good business? Yeah, profit is a must. But then good profit does not necessarily meant it is good business. Why? Realistically, a good business does not stand alone on the strength of an individual. It should rightly be consisted of a set of system. A group of people which enable the business to run smoothly at all time. Now, say Mr.X is a successful surgeon. Mr X is constantly upgrading his skills and kept up-to-date with the latest surgical tactics. Naturally, Mr. X can command a better price compared to his peers. But what happens to Mr X if his hands are not as steady with age and has to retire? Can Mr X’s practice continue to generate income should he retire?

The fact is, self-employed people owns a job. A good business should own a set of system. A system that will continue to generate income without relying on the volatility of any one individual.

Hey, wise guy, I can always buildup my blogs and sell it to the highest bidder!

Can you? Blogs are personal. The value of a blog is not in the blog itself (not the design or even if it’s tuned for SEO by big guns), but the interaction between a blogger and his/her readers. There is a certain ‘personal’ element there. Any change of hands, the connection is lost. But then I won’t disregard there are indeed suckers out there who think they can buy over a blog and call it their own.

Why should I care? I’m making money….

Yeah right. If it doesn’t bother you, why should anyone care. While some may disregard the distinction between a profitable business and good business, that doesn’t mean it’s not there. You might not care, that is fair enough. But let’s not get upset when someone calls an orange an orange and an apple an apple. There is no malice in distinction.

Last week, nobody heard of this thing called Blogrush. One week later, the name is sprouting up all over the net. Yeah, everyone knows the name, but how many know how it works? Honestly, I don’t… well not until I read from here. At least one guy can explain to me in plain English. Wait, I assume he’s a guy….

The big guys are saying it’s harmless to try it out. There’s no money involved. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Come to think of it, not much. Just don’t get your hopes too high though.

To my understanding, unless people put the widget on a good spot, nobody’s going to see your headlines. Let alone click. Wait, do people actually bother looking at your sidebar? Money making blogs have better chances grabbing attention. The ‘money‘ word never fails. Honestly, people who do extreme blog hopping searching for the elusive money making tip WILL notice the ‘money’ related headlines. For the rest of us with personal blogs, I doubt people would care enough to click to hear our rants and babies.

Geez, that’s plenty of pessimism…

I know, I know. There are sane good folks out there who do read personal blogs. I mean blog readers not from those niche personal blog network who comes to your blog because you always politely leaves a comment at theirs. They do exist, but fast facing extinction.

So, is Blogrush going to benefit personal blogs? Damn, do I look like Lilian Too? I could guess….. only if you resort to sleazy tabloid-like headlines to lure unsuspecting folks to your blog. Scheming is not worthy of the death penalty in the blogosphere but unless your content matches your headline ’steam factor’, people won’t be back.

Anyone signed up? I’m not signing up though. I’m not saying it won’t work for everyone with personal blogs , I’m only saying I doubt it’ll bring much benefit to me. Who knows? It might work for you.

I’ve not been updating as often probably because the initial ‘paidposts’ novelty is wearing off. I am guilty of having a short concentration spam. In fact, those PPP big bucks Tuesdays and Wednesdays are starting to tick me off. Yeah, it was fun initially. But then, there was one night I napped every hour and had the alarm clock set every hour to get me to refresh my browser to tempt my luck.

Logically speaking, with my slow WIFI connection, I doubt I stood a chance. But then it’s human nature to persist in face of those big bucks.

Read The Full Story…

I’ve not updated my blog this week because, I’ve been busy reading other people’s blog. I don’t know, can one blogs and not care about what other people has to say? I think you can but the results cannot be half as rewarding.

This week I’ve been jumping all over blogs and most of which are not my usual blog haunts. Now, I always say I get to learn a thing or two about paid posts writing. I still believe in good quality paid posts regardless I’m getting paid 5 bucks or 50. OK, I never had a 50 offer…. I’m just trying to make a point. Another plus regarding good writing, I can learn NOT to sound like a used car salesman the next time I write my sponsored post.

It’s always too easy to get greedy when USD is staring back at your face. You get tempted to write about things you DO not believe in. The thing that struck me when I read my favorite paid post blogger is, the feeling of honesty reflected in his post. Damn, he’s really good. I cannot speak for others who monetize their blogs, I can definitely speak up for myself and not turn into a fake in the name of making a few bucks.

Sometime back, I took my outstation friend to my favorite Japanese restaurant. Personally, I think this restaurant offers the best tasting Japanese cuisine. My friend, an avid traveller was however not impressed. He told me yes, the food tasted good, but then you cannot exactly call their food ‘authentic.’ Huh? My friend being one of those lucky people who got to travel around the world and sample the best cuisine each country has to offer, explained to me authentic Japanese food is supposed to be bland. The de facto essence of Japanese cuisine is the harmonic balance between freshness of ingredients and taste. However, my friend being a Malaysian and had just as much as I, subjected our taste buds to the extremity of what our local cuisine offered, concurred the restaurant food is good in a Malaysian kind of way. No, it might not work for the Japs, but the locals loved it. Their business is good.

Now, when we talk about blogging, I’ve seen enough people finding disdain when blogs go ‘localized.’ The language purists will shout ‘Murder.’ Murdering English with colloquial writings and localized slangs only true blood Malaysians would know. I of course cannot say any individual is wrong to think that…. as long as he/she keeps it as their personal belief and conviction. Unfortunately the fact is, many of these individuals has been especially vocal, condemning localized flavored blogs, convicting them for killing the English language.

Read The Full Story…

I got this piece from Ah Pek.

Buy a blogger. Another money making avenue. Despite the ugly sound of it, it’s perfectly respectable. Nothing illegal. Yeah, I know, it sounds tacky. Cheap. Personally it’ll sound a whole lot more respectable if it’s just called Blogs For Hire. But then, where money making is concerned, nobody gives a hoot.

Bloggers interested in getting hired are asked to register for free. I did. You can put up your picture for potential advertisers to see and needless to say, I did. I’ve no stats to back me up, but common sense tells me if I am a potential advertiser, I would like to see a face. The very least, know whom my money is going to go to. No?

Who says? I say. I’m not the one forking money to pay you people but I’m already just as curious what you folks look like. Now, imagine I am standing from the advertiser viewpoint as the one paying. I sure would like to see a face.

Still not convinced?

Alright, I’ll come clean. I admit I am just saying it because I want to see your face. Make things easy for the hired marksman to identify and take out the competition. However, you can always turn things to your advantage. Just put up the picture of your hated co-worker or ex-lover. Yes, or boss. Then I’ll be doing you a big favour.

Seriously, if you are a potential advertiser, I do think this is a great alternative. You get to deal with the blogger directly and eliminate the middleman. That is good business sense. Everybody is happy.

I love their Terms of Service. Now, I’m no fan of reading those Terms of Service. 50% of the time I’ve no idea what they’re talking about, the other 50% I can’t even make out the fine print. Do I look like someone from the legal profession? Geez. But check out Buy a Blogger’s TOS.

Basically, we are not responsible for anything regarding payment, quality of blog posts, untimely deaths, or anyting else under the sun. We are a middle man that provides a free contact avenue between advertisers and bloggers. The road ends there for us.

Really, in the blogosphere how do you define sincerity? You might say, who cares? Well, obviously there are plenty of people out there who cares. More than you know. Really, there are good folks out there who think they ought to be showered with sincerity before you’re worthy of their attention. Meaning, worthy of them to drop by and read your stuffs. Sometimes not regular, even sporadic blog hopppers are demanding bloggers to be sincere.

Now, we know measuring sincerity is no exact science. You cannot measure these things. So, if exact is not in the books, let’s resort to the conventional. Like? Like do you see any bling bling stuffs on the sidebar? Oh, Oh, do I see advertisements? Next, the worst fornication - the unholy matrimony of bloggers and paid posts. Do I see the damn word ’sponsored.’? That’s it, that’s it. I’m not coming to this blog because I don’t appreciate being used as a tool for this blogger to make money.

Now what’s all this? It’s just a little thought of mine when I went to visit one of my regular blog haunt. This blog I went, is one of those ‘thinking’ blogs. The blogger writes good mind provoking pieces. Not ramblings like mine, but real thought-out pieces. And yes, they’re long. One fine day, this blogger put up a poll. I don’t know if the blogger is serious or just poking a bit, the poll asked his readers to give their take. Would they come to his blog if he’s doing paid posts?

You know what? Majority of them voted they will never come again if he starts to write paid posts.

Huh? Look, this blogger is not those who write 2 lines and furnished the rest with photos. Neither is there any sloppy C&P job. I can safely say, the pieces he put up is oozing with sincerity.

Question time - if sincerity is such a rare commodity these readers valued so much, then are we talking about one sided sincerity? If you place your faith on something, I can only think it is logical you ought to be practicing what you believe. Sincerity.

Will the sincere ‘unconditional’ blog reader please stand up?

We need more of you.

I will be in utter bliss if I get a decent paying opp. Regular PR (2-4) blog like mine cannot be choosy. Of course I’m not saying regular ranked postees do not have choices. They do. I do. It’s a matter of choice if I want to go against my good judgment and write stupid opps or wait out to preserve my integrity. It’s not the best option on the table, but nevertheless there is option. I’m thankful for that.

Min PPP opp pays about USD5. Honestly, this is the only thing our low Malaysian currency rate work in our favor. Times 3.6, USD5 translate to about RM15. Which is pretty decent considering most low paying opps requires only 50-100 words. Plus some research, it’ll just come to about an hour’s worth of work. Better than waiting tables at McD. At my age, doing part-time at McD or anywhere else isn’t what I would call doing wonders to my self esteem. Not that I’m saying there’s anything wrong working part-time taking orders, it’s just something for personal reason I don’t relish.

Was checking PPP for opps when all my rants just poof into thin air. I got 2 votes from the advertisers. Now, now this is not exactly something to pop a bottle of champagne over, but heck I’ve done more for less.

Advertisers don’t exactly take time to give postees their vote. I don’t blame them. There’s so many freaking postees around. That is why all the reason for me to be in utter bliss. Honestly, I cannot say i don’t feel ecstatic when some advertiser is kind enough to give a vote. It just makes everything right. All the questions whether it is worth it to go through all the research and grammar check for a meagre 5 bucks are answered……

You bet. Damn, I’m so easy. So sue me.