blog advertising

My interview on CNBC

- Sheylara 4 Comments

I got a call last week from CNBC reporter Cris Prystay, wanting to interview me for a story on CNBC.com.

It was nice. We spent about 20 minutes chatting about my blogging career.

I feel quite lucky that, so far, all my interviews have been quite positive. I mean, I haven’t gotten any reporters trying to wrangle nasty stories from me or purposely misquoting me just to make me look bad.

(Okay, except for that little thing in Maxim, but that was probably my fault for reading the question wrongly, and partly their fault for phrasing it badly. But it wasn’t like a deliberate sabotage.)

This CNBC interview was for a business story, anyway, so I wasn’t expecting anything nasty, although I didn’t know the angle of the story when we were chatting.

Turns out I’m a case study for a bigger story on how blogs are today a dominant influence in consumer markets. I feel quite amused. And somewhat flattered, I suppose.

Anyway, what the report didn’t mention is how thankful I am to have supportive readers who enjoy reading what I write. That’s what keeps me happy and inspired.

 

Click here to read the full report on CNBC.com.

CNBC report

 

So, I just wanna take this opportunity to once again thank my readers for reading. You’re the reason for my existence!

And thanks for the mention, CNBC!

Nuffnang’s November Featured Blogger…

- Sheylara 16 Comments

…is ME!

Haha. Ming very kindly invited me to be Nuffnang‘s featured blogger for November. And he made me write something about myself, but he didn’t say what exactly.

So I just conjured up some nonsense and sent it to him, along with a couple of old pictures never before seen on my blog. (Didn’t have time to take new pictures lah!)

GO CHECK IT OUT!!!

Nuffnang is really great. I knew about it even before it offcially started in Singapore. I signed up very early on because I saw the promise of fun and the value it would bring to the blogging culture in Singapore.

I haven’t been disappointed so far.

There have been countless blog posts commenting on the lack of ads and all that, but I don’t think it should even be about the ads.

For me, having an ad on my blog is a bonus, just some extra income to pay for web domain and hosting. But if there aren’t any ads, I still enjoy being a Nuffnanger and am perfectly happy to carry its banner on my blog because of what Nuffnang stands for: Fun and community spirit and, uh, tons of other cool stuff.

If you meet Nuffnang founders Ming and Timothy in person, you’ll find them to be genuinely warm and friendly people who want to make a difference in a good way.

For me, that’s enough reason for me to support Nuffnang.

So, I’m truly honoured to be this month’s featured blogger.

Thanks, guys! ;)

Pimping my blog for fun

- Sheylara 10 Comments

I was wondering how many people noticed the Nuffnang ad on my right sidebar when I first put it up a couple weeks ago. It was then a small blue ad like this:

It totally fits the colour theme of my blog so I thought it would blend in so nicely that some people might not even notice it.

But it seems like the ad has now turned into a big red Nike ad, so I think it’s time to say something.

I have till now been iffy about putting ads on my blog because I don’t want to mess up my blog’s clean design. But I discovered Nuffnang, a new blog advertising community that just set up office in Singapore. And I felt compelled to sign up because:

  1. The founders seem like fun and creative people and I like supporting fun, creative people. [Read their story here…]
  2. Their logo is cute and their corporate colour is my favourite colour.
  3. Nuffnang has a community element and organises events for members and I’m just a sucker for fun events.
  4. I could even earn some money while being a part of this fun thing just by giving up a tiny portion of my blog space for ads.
  5. Having more money would help because then I won’t have to temp so much to support myself and I would be able to spend more time blogging! (Ok, I totally have no delusions of earning heaps from this but every little cent counts lah.)
  6. The Nuffnang ad was cute and funny and I didn’t mind having it on my blog.
  7. The ads that will be served hereafter will be local ads to appeal to local readers, which I think is exciting.

So please support me by not minding the ads on my blog. I think Nike being the first advertiser is so cool, even though the ad colour doesn’t go with my blog, because I love Nike stuff.

Which reminds me… my poor Nike shoes are breaking apart (soles coming off) and I need a new pair for my jogging sessions with Nanny Wen. Arghh… I wonder how long it will take for me to earn enough money from Nuffnang to buy a new pair?