Nuffnang Under Fire

A couple days ago a blogger complained about not getting any ads from Nuffnang. He was figuratively banging his head on the wall trying to figure why since among his other blogger friends, his blog was the only one without an advertisement from Nuffnang. This prompted a long discussion at Plurk where sentiments poured in. Some were dumbfounded about having ads from the network despite having two post up since 2009 came, while another was having the same thoughts as the earlier.

To make the long story short, they want to know the criteria set for selecting a blog to place an ad. They want to know because they want to make the necessary change needed so they too can have ads in their blogs from Nuffnang like the others.

Then this “bigger” issue came, actually this was an issue since the Nuffnangs Sony Expo experience contests, sorry for those who were involved. Everyone was shocked to learn that the winner was a newbie blogger with a less than a month old blog with three entries on it. The grand prize was a Sony VAIO, the prize was not just something but a laptop from a biggie company.

I do not deny that the entry was very impressive, an AVR presentation about her Sony Expo experience. But it was crazy that the winner was not even from the VIP winners invited by Nuffnang. If I remember it right they said the winner should be from the VIP’s so most were shocked how this blogger won.

Anyway, that bloggers win was a big question for everyone since 1) she was not a VIP; 2) the blog was barely a month old; and 3) the Sony Expo experience was her third entry. Having said that blog advertisings main purpose is to advertise and gain publicity so how come they choose a winner with no relevant traffic coming in and is hardly noticed by Google. As far as I know Google index a blog after three months existence.

So the big question was, why did Nuffnang allow the win? Did Nuffnang verify that blogs existence? What was the criteria for judging? The answers will come in later, read on.

Meanwhile, a couple days ago, Nuffnang announced the top 20 bloggers for the My Shopaholic Confession. Another issue afloat with the same issues raised. What was the criteria for judging? Do they actually read the blogs? Or were giving considerations to new bloggers who joined their contest for the selection of the top 20?

Honestly since I was one of the shortlisted I was kinda hurt a bit with this but well for all I care I enjoyed writing the post and I was one of the top 20! I grabbed some goodies, watched a funny movie and had some TV exposure at ETC, what more can I ask for.

Anyway, you can not please anyone. Some were happy by the result especially the winners and some are unhappy and bitter for not making it to the top.

I understand some sentiments though. Taking it from the blog contest theme “shopaholic” I would expect some real shopaholic moments. Some of the top 20 (except mine of course lol) and of Lizz, Malen, Frances, Maria, Jori, KCee, Badet and Daddy Mike (my favorite entries) whose post stood in my mind and actually have a recall. The others I barely recall, sorry. There are other post that I read that I think were deserving. Yeah I blog hopped to check out the competition.

So the throbbing question was what was the criteria for judging?

I talked to a Nuffnang representative about this issue, well actually they approached me regarding this Shopaholic Contest issue, they were not aware of the Sony Expo snaffu, mind you probably because it was a holiday. I will not name the person I talked with unless after reading this they will allow me to do so. I did not told them I will write about this by the way so this will come as a surprise for them. However, I felt obliged to do so since I want the 1,000 members of Nuffnang informed about this since I do not have the capacity to talk to them one-by-one.

As I was saying I talked with Nuffnang and their answer to all our question was very simple:

1) They don’t actually have a criteria for judging. As long as you are a Nuffnang member you can join all the contest they have (this also applies with blog ad placement).
2) However, Nuffnang only submits the entries/blogs to their client/advertiser and its up to the client/advertiser to choose the winner or where to place their ads. Nuffnang does not have the hand in choosing the winner.
3) Nuffnangs role here is to verify if the blog chosen by the client/advertiser is a true-blue Nuffnanger and that’s it.

Got that folks?

Without being asked I still gave my unsolicited advice, for the companies sake since their existence means revenue for bloggers like me who earns from their blog ads. I give them the the benefit of the doubt despite being unhappy with past experiences with them.

My unsolicited advise which was noted by Nuffnang were:

1) They should include a disclosure on the next contest telling everyone that picking the winner is not up to them but the client/advertiser, the client/advertiser has their own criteria for judging. Nuffnangs role in the blog contest and ad placement is to verity their membership only.
2) For the upcoming contest, Nuffnang should be careful with the verification of a blogs existence. For greater chance of traffic Nuffnang would benefit if they set a criteria that a blog should be at least 3 months old to qualify for the win.

I know this sounds restricting but advertising is all about publicity and creating a buzz, how can a 1 day old or a 1 month old blog influence some possible clients if they don’t get any viewers except for maybe the blog owner alone.

Now folks if you have more to add feel free to do so and we will tell it to Nuffnang! They are just new and they are the first blog ad network here in the Philippines so instead of breaking them lets help them prosper. Lets create a win-win situation for bloggers, advertisers and Nuffnang.

Nuffnang has great projects in store for all bloggers out there and they have awesome clients /advertisers coming. So, let’s all be patient and give them the space to grow. If you have more suggestions toss them in here or tell them directly they need all that help for them to improve.

Gawd I sound like their lawyer. I am not. This is not a paid post either!