Organizing an Online Media for Philippine Blogs

Just finished a meeting with the people at K2 Interactive this afternoon and they consulted with me a plan to organize an ad network for Filipino blogs. K2 is a communications agency based in Ortigas and a top notch solutions provider with clients like Ayala, Glaxo-Smith Kline, SM Prime Holdings, HSBC, Jollibee, MTV Philippines, Mead Johnson and Unilever.

I believe they are in the best position to represent the the top Filipino blogs in the market since they already have the connections and the experience in traditional media advertising.

When I started out Pinoy Top Blogs a year ago, one of the goals I had was to show to the market that there is enough traffic in the Philippine blogosphere and this traffic is a good venue to advertise aside from mainstream media (MSM). The people at K2 has recognized this potential and are willing to take the risk to become the sales rep of Pinoy bloggers. I think this is a major step for us Pinoy bloggers and I am closely coordinating with them to make this a successful one.

I have already agreed to run an ad campaign for one of their clients this September and there are several other bloggers who have been contacted as well. What we are aiming is to gather the best and most trafficked Filipino blogs and package them for targetted online ad campaigns. This is actually similar to what John Battelle is doing on Federated Media.

So what are the traits of a potential candidate for this ad network?

Blogs with niche topics
Bloggers who have a loyal subscriber base (RSS feeds)
Consistent high-trafficked blogs
Bloggers that are influencers in their field, credible and transparent

We will start by looking at the Top 100 blogs in Pinoy Top Blogs, review the blogger’s profile (so be ready with your About page), and assess them accordingly. I have sent out a short-list of blogs that I can vouch for but will keep on looking at the list for more (yes, the more the merrier). Those who are interested to join may leave a comment and provide a link to your About page (please include your blog’s target audience, demographics and stats). I suggest making your SiteMeter/Statscounter publicly viewable.

We will organize a formal gathering for everyone and personally introduce to you to guys from K2 Interactive (also for MOA signing). We are looking to roll this out within a month’s time.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

23 Comments

SELaplana says:

18 years ago

if sakali implemented na to, pede bang mareview ung main blog ko baka sakali mapasama? nakalink po sa dito ung mainblog ko
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Christine says:

18 years ago

hi — how do you define high traffic? I run 3 pro blogs under the b5media network. One of my pro blogs gets an average of 10,000 visits a day. Is that high enough? However, that blog is a celebrity blog and targeted for readers around the world and not just pinoys.

Will that work?
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mister says:

18 years ago

Napakaraming mayaks talaga, lagi na lang akong nakaka recieved ng email at gusto bilhin ang domain name ko, ano ba yan para gawing mail order website?? Meron na bang mail order blog ngayon? Wala akong problem sa site trapik ang problema ko eh mag-sulat (nga may sense) o content. Try nyo to http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mobile+gadget pang apat ako dyan.
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Obet says:

18 years ago

Our blog (putanginamo.com) is full of trash. FHM and Maxim would be interested. Hehe.
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Benj Arriola says:

18 years ago

I’m interested in this. I have to be updated on how this goes so I will keep checking out your blog.
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kutitots says:

18 years ago

abe… my usual concern… with this ad thing, may option ba na magblock off ng specific advertiser? same question as I asked you before… I would definitely not put a design-related advertiser on my site. I would have earned more with an actual web project than one click from a competitor (which is at most about a dollar only). So yun. Pwede ba mag-specify na you would not put ads from a certain industry or is it mandatory na dapat tanggapin kung ano man lalagay nila?
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Abe Olandres says:

18 years ago

@ Chris

You have a point. There will be some matchmaking to be done here.

@ jomar

I will have to make it clear that the ads will not be part of a blog post. We have to start somewhere and PinoyTopBlogs IS probably the most comprehesinve list we have of Pinoy blogs so far. If you can point me to another list, we’ll look at it and see how their traffic fairs as against the list we have. As I said — the more blogs, the merrier.
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jomar says:

18 years ago

first impression.:
impressive. to be like John of FM is great.

2nd:
lets look at the client list:
Ayala, Glaxo-Smith Kline, SM Prime Holdings, HSBC, Jollibee, MTV Philippines, Mead Johnson and Unilever

Does this mean:
you must blog (somewhat) about:
real estate?
retail products?
drugs?
medicine?
malls?
bank services?
food?
music and videos?
retail products?

or do you we just ensure that these products target markets are a match to the kind of readers we have?

hm, most bloggers prob’ly don’t know much about their readers, short of what topics they like. maybe it won’t matter?

3rd (a bit sad) impression: it seems like only the ones registered under pinoytopblogs could ever be considered as “high traffic?”
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Chris says:

18 years ago

How about Filipino bloggers abroad especially OFW’s? I’m sure you have a bigger market for them since they have more buying power when they get back for vacation in the Philippines right? You get them advertise Philippine Products on their blogs.

regards,
Chris

http://www.lifeonthespot.com
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Andrew says:

18 years ago

Sweet! Hopefully this plan goes through. Not all bloggers are in niches that are usually high-paying (Adsense-wise), so another source of revenue such as this will help a lot.
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markku says:

18 years ago

Connie, malalim ang pinang-gagalingan nun ah. ;) It would be nice to discuss these things over coffee. Another blogger dinner? :) Hehehe.
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Connie says:

18 years ago

Jollibee? Ayawan na.
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The Ca t says:

18 years ago

great yuga
as i have discussed in my power of blogger series, big corporations are recognizing the power of bloggers in promoting new products, a good example of which is NOKIA. Instead of bloggers getting into the yellow journalism practised by mainstream media, this is a more legitimate and ethical promotion scheme on the part of the advertisers and a more objective way of promoting adverts from the end of the bloggers.

My first blog about the blogging trends in the Philippines showed the shift from personal journals to more informational types of blogs. This was confirmed by my follow-up research on this trend where personal journals in the top 100 were considerably reduced in favor of other types of blogs.
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noemi says:

18 years ago

“They did mention to me that most of the people who sent them individual rate cards were just patterned from the one I released to the public a couple months back so I guess we wonâ€™t have any problems with agreeing on pricing.”

– hehe that’s me.. i patterned it after your rate card :)
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Abe Olandres says:

18 years ago

I would have done it myself if I have a sales team. I saw the opportunity with K2 and I thought it would be nice to have a dedicated sales team doing the rounds for bloggers. This arrangement is not far from what we bloggers already have in the likes of Blogads & AdBrite. The advantage for everyone now is that we get to be serious players in the local advertising market.

Ad rates will be standardized and will be based on a CPM rate that is comfortable with everyone who signs up. They did mention to me that most of the people who sent them individual rate cards were just patterned from the one I released to the public a couple months back so I guess we won’t have any problems with agreeing on pricing.

Please be aware that setup is just a potential alternative to those who are serious in blogging and wants to diversify their revenue source.

It’s not a lock-up agreement. The campaigns will complement whatever you already serve in your blog.
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markku says:

18 years ago

Isn’t going with the big traditional guys like k2 just making the picture blurry? Yes they have their contacts, but every marketable asset in this business model has nothing to do with them. No disrespect to k2, but such an ad network’s objective is raise product awareness for advertisers through people’s blogs. I hope they don’t make themselves the dispensable middle man because today’s web has low tolerance for such.

To be fair, I could be seeing this the wrong way, or just too pessimistic about the arrangement. A meeting would surely clear things up for everyone. :)
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Mikey says:

18 years ago

Have you worked out compensation for individual bloggers?
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jhay says:

18 years ago

Wow, great opportunity here and the more reason to improve my blog and blogging skills. Hope the k2 guys notice my blog, (wishful thoughts are free ;))
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noemi says:

18 years ago

I think they contacted us more than 2 months ago. They asked for a rate card. So they are developing their own pricing?
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jayvee f. says:

18 years ago

balato na lang ako :)
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bikoy says:

18 years ago

this is something to look forward to
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Abe Olandres says:

18 years ago

Hi Jun,

It will be developed inhouse by K2. We will then use PinoyTopBlogs and Sitemeter as a secondary tools to check traffic consistency.
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jun says:

18 years ago

I have a niche. Am an influencer, credible and transparent. Would like to join, but traffic is still not comparable to PTB or Yugatech. =(

Just curious, what tool will they use to track effectiveness of ads?
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