Does Nuffnang make sense (cents)?

Nuffnang is a local blog community portal that serves as an advertising platform for bloggers like myself to monetize my blog through their fuss free CPM/CPC models. To date, they have over "40,000 bloggers" signed up from Singapore and Malaysia. This number is commendable and i must applaud their initiative in giving bloggers an avenue to make some form of revenue otherwise unseen. If you are not familiar with their model, read this first.

In summary, you can either earn through signing up for global cpc ads which pays upon click through. Or if you qualify to sit in their CPM band, you can be targetted to earn based on the number of ads you serve on your site. Most of you are probably using Nuffnang as i write as it really is the dominant ad serving network for local bloggers like myself.

But, how robust is this engine? And are the pricing/qualifying metrics correct? I will approach this from 2 points of view, the advertiser and the blogger. Let's look at the blogger's scenario first.

Based on the CPC method ( since you have no entry control over the CPM method), you have no idea what the actual COST per click is until your cheque comes in the mail. This is an issue of transparency which is debatable as Nuffnang can choose not to disclose how much of the click they are earning from. But shouldn't we get to decide if the value of the click is worthy of the inventory we have?

For example, assuming advertiser A is paying 20 cents a click. Nuffnang may take 10 cents and pay you 10 cents per click. So if you know its 10 cents per click, you can decide if this is a worthwhile ad campaign to be a part of. Of course discretion is key but as with all ad networks, pricing should not be a 1 way process that is decided by advertiser and agency. Bloggers need to start thinking about the worth of their inventory space.

This brings me to my next point of inventory maximization, going back to my earlier example of Advertiser A's 10 cent per click campaign, assuming you have an excellent CTR based on this particular ad, (perhaps the ad speaks very strongly to your blog audience). Shouldn't you be rewarded with more ads thus giving you the opportunity to make more $$? This makes sense for Nuffnang and for you.

Random global ads serve as a very good measure of finding out whose blog is the most efficient use of the ad distribution, but then once Nuffnang susses out who's doing a good job based on ctr, then it makes more sense to serve this blogger more of the same. I'm not sure if Nuffnang already has this algorithm in place, if not, it's something to think about. Nuffnang will stand to gain as well as serving more effective CPC ads means they get to report better CTR to the advertisers.

Now, lets examine the nuffnang CPM method. I would like to suggest that evaluating a blog by unique visitors alone is an extremely crude way of determining a blog's relevance to a CPM campaign. CPM campaigns are mostly used for branding which is why eyeball traffic is the primary qualifier Nuffnang is using. However, from an advertiser's point of view, serving my branding ad to a site based on purely similar content and unique visitors is like standing in the middle of a crowded street shouting out to every passerby. Presence is NOT recognition.
Nuffnang needs to define their blogger bands much better. I suggest these inclusions

1) The number of people subscribed to this blog. This is an indication of audience loyalty. If i get 2000 unique visitors but these are all wayfarers, then the potential retention of the brand message isn't as high. If however, 500 of this 2000 come regularly then this tells the advertiser there is more engagement and involvement happening with this blog's audience.

2) Participation. This is also linked to point 1 but it can be measured by activity on the site such as comments, ratings, widget interaction. The interactive value of each eyeball is just as important as the number.

Also, back to pricing, if i were a blogger who qualified for a CPM band, i would certainly want to know what the price per ad unit is.

Lastly, i would like to say again that i think Nuffnang has done a good job so far and many bloggers have received money they would never have seen otherwise. However, like most things, it's always healthy to have the light shined on areas that can be improved and i hope my article has shed some illumination on this. Comments are welcome especially if i have made any factual errors on Nuffnang's operations.

Another great feel good pop song that radio will never play

Erin Mccarley is relatively unknown all the world over, this will probably change soon as this song is making steady rotation in the US midstream charts. It was featured on Grey's Anatomy and if this is an indication of the work, her album due in 2 months should be something to look out for.



I have a few friends who mentioned my 2 recent marketing posts have been somewhat negative and not particularly constructive so tomorrow when i talk about a new local startup that has caught my critical eye, i will try to be as constructive as possible. I promise. .... really.. .......hmmm.

Mediacorp is missing the point

So, i watch the occasional free to air television when i have some down time. I tuned to ch 5 last night to watch some meaningless tube and i saw some Mediacorp house ads. They were using the latest AC Nielsen results to brag about how much better they've been doing compared to their traditional rivals SPH. Let me state on record how absurd AC Nielsen, Synovate and the rest of these media index / research companies are. Most of their qualitative research comes from a "sample size" that somehow represents the rest of the entire population. Gee, i didn't know some sample dude out there representing me out right now, is thinking about how useless sample dudes are.

Take a radio survey for example, unless AC Nielsen is listening to every single person in a specified age group 24 hours 7 days a week over a period of time. How the hell do they suddenly stand up say "we have the answer to which radio station won in this age group and if you would like to know, here is the price".

Unless we are all living in some AC Nielsen bubble ala the Truman show, i don't think my radio activity is being monitored by some AC Nielsen monkey. So if you are in some a position of marketing influence, the next time AC Nielsen comes to present some "findings" to you, do yourself a favour and ask them this right at the end of the presentation : "I've listened to you and your colleague today and i have concluded you are both idiots. Now, assuming you are the sample size representation of your company, i have also concluded your entire company is full of idiots"

Anyway i digress terribly, back to Mediacorp. So, they have taken an aggressive stand against an old war horse to shout to the rest of the advertising dollar that they are somehow the better media of choice. Am i the only one who thinks Mediacorp is thinking like a MediaC**k? Helloo.. the real media you need to confront is the online media. We (collectively the upwardly mobile geeks) are spending more time watching shows via IPTV, we listen to music from live streaming and music portals, we read the news with live updates via digital readers or streamed video. We "discover" new topics by wikipediaing everything. So Mediacorp and SPH really need to redefine their market dynamics and realise they are both in the same position. I wont even consider Stomp or Razor TV or Mobtv initiatives that prove Mediacorp and SPH are embracing digital content delivery because the competitor is NOT the medium. Their increasing worry is globalization of the consumer and ease of access. Now that we have global options, we can choose not to endure lousy content no matter what the medium.

I would love to support what Ive said about increasing eyeballs glued to the monitors instead of the tv screens with some local media audience measurement stats but that would mean talking to Nielsen online to get the numbers and we all know who works for AC Nielsen. Idiots.

Plurk you twit.. or should it be Tweet you plurk!

Hello world..This is my first post as a social marketing observer. More about me i suppose in the future posts, no better way to know a person than through the passage of time.( and blogs)

Most of you on this humble blog site would recognize it as "that annoying music blog", well it still is; except now i want to annoy most of you further with my "outsights" on stuff that's happening in the world wide web of 2.0.

Plurk is a "free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates (otherwise known as plurks) through short messages or links, which can be up to 140 text characters in length.". Sounds alot like Twitter which sounds alot like a talkative friend whispering absolute garbage into your ear all day.

I haven't jumped on this micro blogging bandwagon as most see it as some license for non censored, unrepentant drivel to make your already boring day that much more meaningless with tweets that inspire one to watch their toenails grow.
What possible intelligent reply would you expect from me after you posted " just had a subway.. yumm".

I know i'm ruffling some twitter's plurks at this very moment but let's look at micro blogging in relation with the rest of the free world.
Yes, you can get opinions, answers, meet new friends ( this is debatable if you start questioning what qualifies someone from being a photo on your twitter wall to an actual friend) and importantly, connect with lots of like minded individuals.
But this is where micro blogging stops making sense.

The assumption that keeps twitters plurking is that there is "someone listening." And most often, there is. But WHO are these "someones" and why are they listening? In my brief fling with twitter and even shorter 1 nite stand with Plurk, i've come to the conclusion that aside from some purists, the majority of people involved in micro blogging are using it because they have to. If you are in web 2.0 at all and you don't own a twitter account, god help you with your virtual social standing. Guess who WONT be invited to the next plurk gathering. So, joining and using Twitter/Plurk/watever is really all about " Better to have and not need /use it than to be found out at the next unconference caught with your twitter pants down."

Most of us already spend way too much time glued to our mobile screens and laptop monitors. Lets use micro blogging wisely shall we? it's a great way to get traffic by tweeting updates, it's also fantastic as a broadcast tool for events, gatherings, its superb for asking for directions if you're in a foreign country. It's wonderful for group project live updates and WIP notes. But it is not a validation for you to tell the world how sleepy you are at 4pm in the afternoon!

Remember technology serves us. Not the other way around. If you're a web 2.0 junkie, get some help. And lastly, being a twit won't make you a "cooler geek" you plurk. Now, how do i convert this whole article in 140 characters?

Loving this band!

Great song.. fantastic album..quick post

Band: SafetySuit
Song: Someone like you

Vid is an acoustic version .. but its still excellent