I just did a quick scroll on my traffic stats from my food blogs and realised how much our local establishments are losing out. They are ignorant so I am going to teach them some useful lessons once and for all. If they missed this lesson, sorry lah.
I see that many of the hotels and restaurants probably paid some obscene sum of money to hire some kick-ass web designer to make some super blek web designs with flash and those pain in the ass stuffs, slow to down pages to impress. But what these people do not know is - A good site like that doesn’t give you any mileage! It will be buried in millions of other web pages and yours probably never see the daylight.
Then, they paid even more money to get themselves on print media. Like RM10K for a full page advertisement in the local news which probably end up on someone’s jamban or use to wrap some woman’s used pads. Serious! That’s a good RM10K down the sewers.
Now, if they are serious of doing business, it is time they learn how to improve their web traffic. How to get their website popping high up when on Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines when potential clients hunt for their stuffs. And how do they do that? Easy. Get us bloggers to talk about them. Pay us. Give us some money and let us write about it.
But do they know that? NOOOOOO…..they think Malaysia only got one Ah Beng blogger, one PMS-ing female blogger and one Ah Pek politician wannabe. It is the same old people that they target. Really wasted lah, I tell you.
Meantime, the bunch of us bloggers are giving free publicity to these establishments. For nothing. Really a waste of our fingers strength.
So, now I am much smarter. I don’t feature any more restaurants unless I really like it. I do give free publicity to smaller shops I like because I like the owners or their concept. And I have tested how far the publicity goes. For one, I like Cooking Island and the couple, Erina and Lawrence told me they have customers coming from other countries/states to their shop after reading about it in my food blog. It made me very happy because I know the power of my blog.
Local Malaysian companies - Time to wake up, catch up with technology and be a bit more IT savvy lah. Stop wasting your money on print media. People see it for only one day and that’s all. Try us bloggers because the post remains on the internet for eternity, i.e. as long as we leave it online. That is value for money. People no longer thumb through magazines and newspapers or get those horrid Yellow Pages to search for your contact. HARRLLOOOOOWWWW….wake up from your slumber. This is the age of Search Engine Marketing. SEM, get it? We are your goldmine but probably, by the time you realised, many of us are no longer interested in writing for RM. I write for USD. Nyek…
This is another techie message brought to you by 5xmom, the techie wonderwoman whose sites mostly come out #1 on search engines for make money online.
And nope, I am not writing for money. I am just damn sienz with the lembab-ness of local Malaysian companies. Where badly designed websites can give you seizures with their flash. Like our Malaysian Government websites for example. LOL.
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- SponsoredReviews - The next big wave
- Wahahaha…bloggers for hire (not on Malaysiakini)
- How much have I made from PayPerPost?
- Blogger’s block
- LiewcF said I am in the Adsense Club!!! Wheee!!!!
- Save your code of ethics for bloggers for yourselves, Pak Hamid and Pak Rocky
3:15 pm on November 27th, 2006 1
Ooh ooh…what have I done. After reading this, I tried google Al Diafah, and mama22beas comes on top! Cheh free publicity to them…but ok la since I like them, but I will like them even more if I got money for that hehe.
Anyway, happy belated Anniversary
3:18 pm on November 27th, 2006 2
mama23beas - Yalor, some of the restaurants do email me for free meals but I reject it lah. But one nasty one tak shiok with me and flame me like mad because I wrote a neutral post! I never condemn them, only point out a few things they can improve and they hentam me below the belt. That’s why no more restaurants will get featured by my food blogs unless they impressed me.
3:18 pm on November 27th, 2006 3
True, true, how true. That’s why i never mention which specific shop i buy my things from. Dont rave about any restaurants i go to…. etc. SImply because of what u said,. They dun pay me to say good things bout them. But if i get shitty service from anything, i may rant bout it.
3:28 pm on November 27th, 2006 4
Bravo Aunty!!
Hmmm, maybe you can start small, in food review, like the Michellin Guide and name it the 5xMom guide and who know’s it can become a huge mega corporation
and you can then charge the companies that advertise in your blog or who you featured in your blog 
But yes, as you said, a lot of people fail to catch up on the idea on blog advertising, which is a pity, but I think the idea is slowly slowly catching up….I think lah…
4:19 pm on November 27th, 2006 5
Dear Lilian,
Spot on!!! You are absolutely right. Regards
Donaldghtan
4:45 pm on November 27th, 2006 6
Pfft, just say you want money-lah, no need to scold those people advertising in the newspaper. The readership of newspaper greatly exceed of that of a blog. 10K is pretty cheap to get millions of people to see it.
4:52 pm on November 27th, 2006 7
anon - You actually believe the ‘millions of readership stats’? Oh wow…I am speechless. Which era do you come from? I never shy to say I make money from blogging what, so what for I want to hide-hide like you?
Donald - Tks! The power is in the internet and bloggers.
QV - No lah, I am not interested in doing reviews. Can get boring after a while.
7:52 pm on November 27th, 2006 8
Agree, it is the content that sells. Things like newsletter are tactics to make sure the consumer stay connected to the “brand”, but who will read the content-less toilet paper astroguide?
IMHO, you are doing the content stuff for the “pay per review”. Too bad, it will take a long time for Malaysia company to ditch the freebies behavior.
11:48 pm on November 27th, 2006 9
Saya sokong!
A lot of companies are still in the dark about the powers of the blogging world. They seem to think that blogging is just another form of online diary, nothing more. No doubt lots of blogs are crap, even by online diary standards, nonetheless there are gems, like yours, that food establishments should open their eyes to.
11:44 am on November 28th, 2006 10
i am blocked
11:45 am on November 28th, 2006 11
oops… Aunty ah, your spam filter really annoying lah. That day I wanted to wish you Happy Anniversary oso cannot coz I was marked as a spammer
10:17 am on November 29th, 2006 12
U are right…blogs are very powerful. I went to alot of the places u recomended in your blogs, and i may not go if i read it in a paid advertisement.