Interview with Timothy Tiah, founder of Nuffnang, social media advertising for bloggers

Name: Timothy Tiah
Product: Blog advertising, bridge between advertisers and bloggers
Name of Company: Nuffnang Sdn Bhd
Company Website: www.nuffnang.com.my
Start-up date: February 2007
Start-up capital: RM 150,000
Yearly Sales: RM 9.13 million in 2010
Earnings: RM 840,993 in 2010






The article below appeared in TheStar newspaper on 4.4.2012

Think about it. Sitting back at home, writing freelance (and some say freestyle) about gossip based on published news and simply earning money through people reading your material and advertisers on your blog.

A decade ago, it may not have been a very plausible business plan, but things have changed tremendously over the last five years, resulting in some bloggers earning up to RM100,000 a year.

Thanks to blog advertising businesses like Nuffnang Sdn Bhd, the bridge between advertisers, bloggers and recurring income has become a concrete reality.

The company describes itself as “Asia-Pacific’s first and leading blog advertising community”. Its online solution allows advertisers to place advertisements in more than 300,000 Malaysian blogs hosted on various platforms.

Start-up idea

Nuffnang co-founder Timothy Tiah, who started the company in 2007, said the idea to create a community for bloggers was mooted when he was blogging from home while studying in the United Kingdom.

“There was a lot of traffic and I realised there were many others like me too. Looking at the situation, I saw what was actually needed was a company/community to represent bloggers to advertisers.

“So I promised myself that if nobody was doing it in Malaysia, I was going to do it when I returned and that’s how my partner, Cheo Ming Shen and I started off,” said Tiah.

With RM150,000 as start-up capital, Nuffnang.com.my was launched in February 2007, and within the first three days, it had signed up 300 bloggers. Today, the company has some 300,000 registered bloggers in Malaysia and a million collectively in the Phillipines, Australia, Thailand and Singapore.

Business plan

The idea is based on a simple business model that works for Nuffnang, advertisers and Nuffnang’s community members in a symbiotic way.

“Basically, we connect the advertisers to bloggers and this depends on a blogger’s popularity, readership and hits (number of visits to the blog).

“We sign up bloggers and plan out an integrated social media advertising campaign and when there’s an advertiser wanting to put up specific ad, they pay us and there is a cut for the blogger,” Tiah said.

Advertisements can range from reviews to advertorials as well as from banner advertisements and money is paid according to the number page views or clicks on ads.
Engrossed: Tiah working on some ads.

“Either way, bigger bloggers (about 10,000 visits per day) and smaller ones (20 visits per day), both make money,” said Tiah.

Why blogging ?

Most bloggers do not start with the intention of making money. Instead, writing comes first as a blog is a personal space to share their thoughts. Blogger Ahmad Nazuwan Amran, 29, who manages www.beautifulnara.com, started off as a travel blogger while studying in South Korea in 2008.

“It was a hobby, but after a gossip post about an artiste in 2009, I noticed a sudden increase in readership and that was the turning point to in the change of direction for my blog.

“Still, it was not business-centred, but gradually, with 150,000 hits per day, it opened up ways for me to consider advertisers. The key is always to write the way you feel about things,” said Ahmad Nazuwan who works exclusively with Nuffnang and makes a five-figure annual income from blogging alone.

Like any other income, money earned through blogging is also taxable and Nuffnang always sends out reminders to bloggers to declare their earnings.

For long-time blogger, Tan Hui Ling, 27, of www.cheeserland.com, what started off as an online diary in 2004 flourished into a full-time job eventually.

“I was in a phase where I liked cheese, so I did cheese reviews and from there I wrote about college life and that evolved into lifestyle writing.

“The change has been massive — something that I never dreamed of,” said Tan, whose blog gets 10,000 views per day.

Having a distinct personality also helps to establish and sell herself better to readers and advertisers. Being in the lifestyle category, her advertisers range from airlines, food and beverage to fashion.

“Right now, I’m into Japanese culture and fashion. It started with my interest in Japanese dramas. Naturally, I also wanted to look nice, so I started dressing up more. I also review clothes sponsored by local online boutiques to help me stay on top of trends,” said the entrepreneurial young woman.

Tan is currently an ambassador for a range of Japanese colour contact lenses known as RainbowColor.

“I think monetising blogs has become very competitive these days. I am glad that I started off early, but content is still the most important factor to build a successful business,” she said.

Blogging has always been a personal passion for another long-time blogger Poh Huai Bin, 31, of www.sixthseal.com. The freelance writer, who used to publish controversial posts about what can only be diplomatically described as “chemical mood enhancers” during his years in Australia still has an avid following for his current content.

Having blogged for a decade now, Poh feels the scene has evolved greatly and the trend now is for shorter posts, with spacing being an important factor too.

“Of course, if it’s a very important post and people want to read it for its own value, they still do. Stories with extreme topics will sell well and garner readership. Daily or frequent updates are also important to keep a constant supply of visitors at all times.

“And then there are those who sell themselves as a brand in areas like technology and parenting,” said Poh who gets about 6,000 hits a day on his site.

Other social media

Social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook also help to push readership and blogging as a business. For that, Tiah said his company has Churp Churp which is a community for social-media addicts.

“This is for people with lots of followers on Facebook and Twitter. This attracts advertisers too.

“When linked up, we run contests and give members products or ask them to attend events. Sometimes they get paid for advertorials or to become ambassadors of a brand on social media,” he said.

Churp Churp is now currently popular among local celebrities including singer Ning Baizura and TV personality Adam C.

“Blog advertising has been around for some time now, and social media is still picking up.

“In a year or two, it will be as popular if not more,” said Tiah, adding that blog traffic is also huge now as bloggers also link to Facebook and Twitter.