Introducing my new email

You know when you were young and you want to be cool and you come out with all sort of funky email address right? And it gets a little annoying for youngsters these days when you can't get your own email address cause like there are just too many David Lim or Susan Tan. You probably end up with DavidLim0112122@gmail.com. But again, there are many stupid parents these days who name their kid like Zavid Lim or Zuxan Tan.

I mean people like me get it easier cause my name is Smith Leong and it ain't exactly common. But still, we all make stupid mistakes in life when we were younger. I used to have this email which is like xiaoboi94@hotmail.com. erm.. no lah. kidding. I'm not xiaoboi but I am definitely 94 back then... 94kg i mean, not 1994 lah!

Anyway, after using my email for awhile, I just came out with the best email address ever.

INTRODUCING MY NEW EMAIL ADDRESS! 

I am not kidding you btw. Now for any thing blog related, please feel free to contact me at

gmail@smithankyou.com OR, if you are old and boring, continue to get me at smithleong@gmail.com 

Thank you and have a nice weekend ahead!

Also a new picture of me in case you erm, miss me. 

Read More

New Layout

The last time I changed a new layout was in March and to be honest it haven't been that long but.. I got bored. I missed my side bar so I wanted it back. And also there was some backend issue.

I was looking around for very long and in fact I almost gave up and just get someone to help me do it. BUT I DID NOT!

And I am telling you, this blogpost is really irritating. Lots of limitation etc etc. but I managed to get something decent up eventually.

Yes! I added Ben Ben Diaries to my sidebar! YAY! And also you just got New Layout-ception by an older post of me talking about my change of new layout in March. LOL.

Nice or not?

Read More

4-word saddest story: Chao Blogger Editon

It was one of those night that I was feeling a little bored and I posted this on my Facebook.

117 sad stories. How sad is your life?

That was almost a month ago. And we fast forward until today and the trend got picked up and smart community managers also added a spin to it!

Happy stories with food! 

And of course, our mothership (literally the mothership of local sites these days. This site is growing massive!) came out with an article of 4-word sad story for singapore journalist!  So my friend Flora was like "Smith, you should totally do a blogger edition!" I was like, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

4-WORD SADDEST STORY!

This is a PS1 Memory Card, if you know this, your life is awesome. I am sure this happened to many of us. Took memory card out to extract images but did not put memory card back and only found out the next event. With the help of WiFi function, this problem is happening less but still, always check before you attend an event!

One of those nonstop topics. Fake Followers. Be it on Twitter on Instagram. Some might have purchased them while some might just be unlucky and got infested with bots. We will never know the answer but it is sad to know that your so call fame is fake.

This is a sad story either way. Good Content and No Boobs so nobody reads it or Good Content and Got Boobs but still nobody reads it because they just visit your blog to look at your boobs and no idea what you have written. meh

This is one of those things that I do not understand. PR, Friends or some random people that you meet for the 1st time at some event feel oblige to tell us that they have read our blog. When asked about which article or about what, they have no clue. Truth is nobody reads your blog. Okay, now I am not sure which is sadder.

Just because we are bloggers and we get "freebies" for review and testing, we do pay for our own stuff. We do pay for food, trips, cloths and stuff like everyone else. So this is really sad especially when you keep hearing it over and over and over again!

So after you get a bit of attention from the internet, people start to get in touch with you and offers you advertorial and paid project. It is all good but when they put it in this way - "what is your rate". That just makes me feel like a whore.  But that is still not the worst...  WAIT FOR IT....

Some potential clients are major assholes(Yes I said it). They like to ask for rates, ask what we can do, timeline and everything but come back with they have no money and hoping to get a free post. Not even a sponsored post or a barter trade. Purely asking for a free post. I mean we do write for free for different reasons but it doesn't make sense at all that I write a post that has commercial value to your business but I get nothing in return. AND IF YOU HAVE NO BUDGET, WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION TO ASK IN THE 1ST PLACE? What were they hoping to get out of it seriously.

Okay, nothing much to explain for this one.

Just in case my post is not sad enough, here's a really sad song.

Read More

Singapore Blog Awards 2015 FAQ!

Correct. The same blog awards I won last year and also said that i do not want to be joining anymore. But I did again. I lied about not joining like how Jordan "lied" about retiring.

I think this is the problem about doing things you like. You just want to keep doing it until you cannot do it anymore. As much as I've mentioned that the sphere and business has been changing and irritating me, but the core of sharing and writing will never die for me.

As for getting all competitive, that is also me. It is almost like a report card for me saying "okay, this is how well or poor I've been doing for the last year.". Not just about readership, sponsorship or getting famous but this is something I enjoy as a whole. Also, the truth is that you don't get into finals that easily either. #LinkedinHaolian

And since the launch of the voting phrase, there have been many questions. So here I am attempting to do a FAQ for you guys.

How do I vote? 

Very simple. Fall onto the page. Click VOTE NOW! URL HERE: 

This is just a contest why need so much details. 

woah... 

This is not official reply but you know, no event is going to fund itself just like no fat girls gonna slim down by themselves. Someone need to fund the event and some people have to work in order to make such event happen.

There is this thing call the sponsorship package for example like SBA 2015 the title sponsor is Panasonic and how do a sales person convince Panasonic to whip out thousands of dollars to support an event? Tell them it can reach people but who are we reaching? People from age 25 - 35, how many % male how many % female, how many % locals, Malaysian, Indonesian, how many people, how many clicks and how many eye balls on this event and what other earned media value on the newspapers report etc. All these are facts that potential clients need in order to convince their boss to pay and yes, stats. That's what sales people need these days to justify any company spending.

Don't worry, they ain't gonna kidnap you or your son.

Which Category are you in ah? 

Fashion blogger of course. 

My blog is being nominated under the Best Individual blog BUT this years voting has NOTHING to do with your category. It is a bit like Star Awards where they don't care if you are the best host, best comedian or best lead actor but a fair arena that everyone goes into to be the top 10 most popular blog. Geddit? And those different category all by judges just like how like best actor and all ah, you have no control one.

Wah. Why so complicated one. How come must have two types. So 1 winner can win both voted and judges choice? 

Correct! So last time blog awards gives you X% vote plus X% content so many people complain actually their content very good but nobody vote and also lazy to get vote or do campaigning of votes that's why they lost. But this year's voting and judges points are being separated into two different awards. Can't complain anymore ya? Hard truth is on its way. Never win means bad content and not popular. LOL. Jeng Jeng Jeng. 

Okay, I am in. How come I cannot vote just 1 must vote 10 ah? 

Because 10 is really better than 1

To be honest, I am not the organizer but I managed to get the answer. The backend is created that way that each submission has to be in blocks of 10. So if you do not know who to votes besides your friend. Please also vote for me.

This Blogawards thing still in meh? Like not very cool liao mah why you still wanna join. 

I think we do not have right to say things like this. I think the award itself is a collective prestige of who joined and who is in this year. The award is just as cool as the people being part of it and if you have joined but didn't win or get selected and decide to diss it as something lame. I have nothing for you here.

And also because it still directs a decent among of traffic to my blog. It IS a tangible perks

How come I don't see some of my favorite bloggers in this award anymore? Like where is Amos Yee? 

I am not too sure about most but I have heard some winners that refused to join again because if you never join and not win, you are undefeated. Also because some has stop blogging, some didn't made it pass the finalist stage, DanielFoodDiary got too popular and is one of the judges instead. As for Amos, I am not too sure if he can attend the event.

So this is your 4th year straight being a finalist. No other contestant meh? 

heh. You create a blog and try to join 4 years and be 4 years running finalist lor. Then we talk okay? #YouAskLJQuestionIGiveLJAnswer #SorryNotSorry

So you confident you can win? Since you win before it should be easier.

NBA Nerd jokes. You guys might not get it. 

Actually I am not very confident. The individual category has many great blogs that speaks very loud as themselves. 3 of those drawing blogs including last year's winner 女飞侠. Alsot budgetgirl blog which looks really cool. As for Jeraldine, she don't even need an intro from me and you probably already know her. It is not going to be easier really.

Top 10 most popular blog leh? 

Even harder. 90 people and only 10 winners. I mean unless you help me vote lah!

 If you win, what is in for me? 

Let the money talk

We don't do the whole GST Package thing but we got #ChriSmith Dollar. Can? Ask you vote you want something in return. meh.

So here is my unofficial FAQ and if you want to know anything from the horse mouth. Check out the official FAQ - http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/2015/about/faq.html

So now you already know what is happening, please remember to vote for me! May you live long and prosper!

Read More

New Layout

It has been awhile since I last updated my layout. In fact it is one of those feedback that I've gotten from Singapore Blog Awards judges that my layout ain't exactly the best and I know that. BUT, i am too lazy to do anything to it.

I know having side bars, having all the internal links will attract people to click around and get more clicks and viewership internally but I just thought I want to keep it clean for now. Who knows one day I might just move to wordpress as well.

But for now, RESPONSIVE DESIGN! My blog will change according to your screen size.

HUAT AH!!!

Mr.Smith, very free hor?

Read More

Singapore Blogger That You Should Avoid

How do you say one is fuck up?

Like doing things others ain't?

Or like...

Get email don't reply.

Reply already don't attend

Attend already don't take picture

Take picture also pose like shit

Pose properly already don't edit

Edit already don't blog

Blog also blog like irrelevant much stuff

Irrelevant never mind and still always put sexy pictures of other girls

As if sexy pictures not enough still always talk about Sex

Talks about sex still not the worst, worst is not even funny.

This guy lor

Chao Ah Beng still wanna act one cool. Don't smoke but take picture at smoking point. Poser.

Okay lah... Actually I love myself and I think I am awesome. Just bored and wanted to disturb SEO and Google search words again. LOL.

But I believe there are things we are all guilty of doing once in awhile especially when you start to blog for money and some bloggers are just that unethical.. blah blah blah.. Not fully their fault because nobody ever taught anyone how to be a blogger anyway.  Oh wait, I actually did. And Twice! Actually maybe more..  okay. i just did a search and realized how nagging I am. 

Be happy with what you are doing and if you want to earn money or get something out of it, make sure you are not the only one who is happy because you just traded your happiness to your client for some cash.

Okay bye!

Read More

Bad PR Pitch

The PR Companies

Getting in touch with someone on the internet that you have never ever met before via a phone call or Email is really nothing much easier than picking up a girl from the bar. In fact, if I may I would say with my good looks, picking up a girl can be easier at times. *cough* Let's not debate about that for now. 

My point is that it is never easy to get connected to someone you do not know randomly even if you have that person's phone number or email and less say to get them to do something. That brings me to the importance of having a GOOD Public Relations (PR) Company. 

A little background for those who are not in the industry or have little knowledge of how the system work. Sometimes when you have a story or in some cases product to share to the public, you get in touch with magazines, journalist, news site, bloggers and try to get their help to get the news out. As often as we think that news just goes onto our blog, news or papers it doesn't. There will always be people to bridge this and the PR guys are the hero behind everything. 

Their jobs of course not only includes bridging people, it includes a lot more like selecting, profiling make sure your stories go to the right place, having the right news angle , writing the release and ya da ya da. 

I am no master in the field to tell you which is the best but I can you what is not a bad PR pitch for 

sure. Like those that will never turn my head. 

Smith The Diva

Being a blogger and putting our email addresses online can means opening a door to endless opportunities but also endless bull shit at times. I always try my best to reply all my emails even if I am not interested in the project, I always believe in rejecting people rather than leave them hanging. 

I hate to sound like a diva sometimes but other times I just get really pissed when people send me ridiculous requests or some requests that seems like abusing us. Blogging is a hobby to me, not a business but I don't see how cool it is to abuse us for our time simply because "there are no cost involved" anyway. Hello, time is money please. 

Money and time aside, I always feel the importance of being responsible to my readers. Can you believe if I actually start to write anything really useful and makes your own toilet visit reading hobby way too serious? No way! 

This is you reading my blog. Source.

Bad PR Pitch

There are a lot of things that pisses off different bloggers or journalist, I've seen a lot myself but this is one I have to share. No better way to share than to just share. 

Email from XXX: 

Hi Smith,

My name is XXXX. I am working in the marketing team for XXXX (formerly YYYYY). (Which btw, he got YYYYY wrong, I used to work with that company closely and he got his own company's name WRONG!)

Not sure if you have heard about our ZZZZZ which is an ongoing campaign over at our XXXX

Brief Introduction of ZZZZZZ:

NOT IMPORTANT BODY WHICH I SHALL NOT DISCLOSE

What we need from you:

blah blah blah, nondisclosure material blah blah blah: we hope that you would blog about us on your social media portals; mostly of the attention to be shed on blogs.

It will be great if you can share me on the following statistics:

-          Fan Base

-          Click throughs

-          Content shared

-          Credential level (certifications or awards/testimonials)

-          Interaction level

-          Engaged what kind of audiences

Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you.

------------------------ END OF EMAIL-------------------

Being someone with marketing background as well as digital marketing, I feel very sad for this company/person. I've worked with many different bloggers over the years of my working experience, I've never asked nor got asked before about such stats. 

- Fan base? Not readership, not twitter follower but fan base? 

- Click Throughs? Not my daily unique clicks but click through? Do I look like a banner to him? Does he even know what is click through? 

- Content shared? Type or what? 

- Credential level?  Do I need to show my bank account or get a witness to make sure I'm credible? Blogging certificate? 

- Interaction level? I think he mean engagement rate if on facebook. I don't even know how to answer him. 

- Engaged what kind of audiences? This is the best. Like what? What kind. Demographic lah deh! 

Game Of Troll

I mean of course I did not just let it go or just ignore the email. I mean what he was actually sharing with me was actually pretty cool. It is something that worth up to $2,500. $2,500 vs a chance to troll? I'm sure you know which one I chose. 

Answer by Smith 

Hey XXXX, 

NOT IMPORTANT BODY WHICH I SHALL NOT DISCLOSE

Anyway here are some of the things you are looking for. Not too sure if these are the stats you are looking for because the terms you using here is a little different from how we usually do it, let me know if I got it wrong. Sorry in advance if it's too much trouble. 

-           Fan Base (I wouldn't call them my fans but if you are looking for some numbers,  Twitter - 2,240. Facebook Likes - 1,574. Facebook Friends - 1,631, Instagram Followers - 1,417, G+ - 644)

-          Click throughs ( Im not sure what it my Click through from other links, i guess if you mean page views for my blog it's avg 30,000 per month with peak was 80k for 1 month)

-          Content shared ( you really need to help me with this. Type of content? Number of content? Which platform? I really don't see what you mean here? like 5 blog post a month? 30 tweets a day? We hardly keep track of these numbers cause it doesnt reflects on our KPI)

-          Credential level (certifications or awards/testimonials) Besides the numbers as credential i think calling it credential number is a little interesting, Singapore blog awards finalist for 3 yrs, 2 yrs in best WTH Blog, 1 yr in Best Lifestyle and also 2 yrs in best twitter account. Won 2014 Best LifeStyle Blog. Also part of the committee member who did Twestival for 2 yrs, Social Media Festival 1 yr, Food Revolution under Jamie Oliver 1 yr, featured on UWeekly, ST, Today, MyPaper etc.

-          Interaction level ( mid? low? high? which platform? My readers for my blog hardly leaves comment but my readers on FB and Twitter is pretty active. If you talking about Engagement Rate, I don't have those stats because we hardly measure the number of post over the number of fans and how many reply but I would say they are pretty interactive.) 

-          Engaged what kind of audiences (Humans mainly but if you are asking about demographic I would say mostly people in the Media and Blogging industry. Age btw 25-35, 70% Female and 30% Male) 

I hope these stats helps. And btw, do you guys use any digital/social media agency you are working with? I happen to have some friends in the industry always looking for business, let me know if they can come in and support you guys. 

                                      ------------------------ END OF EMAIL-------------------

For those reading, I am sorry if you feel like I am a cyber bully, troll, diva or simply rude and pain in the ass. The truth is there are somethings that are very important to me and that is work ethnic. No doubt, a job is a just a job but if you are paid to do something, do it right. If you are not going to make an effort to be good and what you are supposed to, you will learn it and in his case learn it the hard way. I did not write this post to name and shame him but instead my point here is simple, put your heart and soul to what you are supposed to do and do it well. We have google and we have agency out there for a reason. #SorryNotSorry

Obviously I did not get a reply from this person at all and I blew my $2,500 worth of sponsorship away and did I regret it? No. I believe my principles in life worth more than that. 

Will I scare other PR companies or potential client away because of this post? Maybe I would but I guess it never harm to show that you care and if anyone is being scared away by this post, I can only say this post works as a very good screen. 

If you are not scared or in fact like my working style, please feel free to contact me Smithleong@gmail.com for any projects. Trust me, I always give value and I've credential from other agencies that kept returning projects after projects. 

Rude

Signing off with my current ear worm. 

Why you gotta be so rude?

Don't you know I'm human too?

Why you gotta be so rude?

I'm gonna blog about it anyway

Read More

Bloggers get FREE things all the time!

Bloggers get FREE things all the time!

That's what my friends always say about me getting sponsored products, trips and services. How much of the sentence above is true?

Wearing my "free" top from Mizuno/ World of Sports, attending a "free" media trial at Forest Adventure

If...

Trading my chicken for your fish is considered as "I-just-got-a-free-fish" then the statement above is very very true as well.

I traded a few free  instagram images for a free basketball and had a good time with the boys. 

What am I saying here? A lot of my friends find that "simply writing a few lines" on my blog in exchange for whatever free is a very easy task and more often than not I hear them follow up with "I also want to be blogger leh".

Please do...

I mean, please go ahead, blogspot is an "open source" platform that everyone can use so really, be my guest and just sign up an account to write. In fact I always encourage people to jump onto this hobby for the love of God writing.

That's really not how it works

It's not wrong to say that we are getting something that we didn't pay for but to be honest, saying that it's FREE it's really a little belittling our job hobby.

This is my wife, and I paid for her myself. Not sponsored. I mean I paid for the hat during St Patrick's Day.

Just to make it clear, we (bloggers in general, I know I can't speak for all of you) do not go around doing "sales" for ourselves (or at least I don't). We DO NOT see a pair of nice Nike shoe on the shelf and instead of paying for it we send an email to Nike and ask for it in return for an article. No, that is not how we work. Truth is we pay for things! And a shopaholic like me, I pay for a lot of things. #TrueStory.

There's really a lot of work behind the scene

It's really more than just "simply a few lines" or "some selfies". I mean beside the fact that we have to think of what to write with the products, edit pictures and what not, many out there have to think about what to write as well when there are no events or no products. It's really not easy to maintain a blog with a specific topic and keep those content filling up a site. People are paid in magazines to come out with content and not everyone is as lucky as me that I can write all the crap I want because my blog is just nothing more than a haphazard toilet roll journal of my crazy ideas and thoughts.

And on top of these, what about time bloggers spent to attend events? thinking of what to wear for events, spending money to buy things to wear for events, having an image, maintaining an image (not for me though), marketing themselves, maintaining relationship with brands/PR or anyone else in the industry.

Truth is, when you ain't keeping yourself "active", readers and our SEO machine aka Google forgets about you. I like to write and I feel happy when people is reading. That is the truth, I'm not going to say things like "I don't care if anyone reads my blog." If I don't care, I would have written this on a notebook and put it under my bed.

An good example of how bloggers shamelessly working hard to get attention onto their blogpost. Tagging people onto random things despite asking him not to. See, it's really hard work! Thinking of strategy and executing. Or we all remember our good old Janiqueel drama.

It's really pretty much like a job for many who takes it seriously and most of us get "paid" are in the form of products or services because client believe in "authentic word of mouth post" instead of paid post which I am totally not against cause for me I believe in paying for what you like and not going around to beg for products.

Of course, things get easier when it's simply a hobby but that being said it's still a lot of time and effort involved.

It's almost like working at Google

It's not like I'm not enjoying such perk's of getting some items or services every now and then because of my hobby but really, it's not as easy and neither is it free. If I have to put it into perspective, it's almost like the free lunch you get for working at Google. It's not exactly free (try walking into the Google office not as a staff and get something out. If you can achieve that, THAT is FREE) but yet you are not paying for it. It's the perks of doing something you like at the right place and of course, because you are doing it well.

Google, you get only the best. And also coconuts. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I am very awesome (maybe just a little) at what I'm doing or it is impossible for you to be doing the same, all I am asking for is a little recognition for our effort. It really ain't as easy as writing a few lines for free lunch. (There's ain't anything as free lunch).

So maybe in the future...

If you bump into another blogger friend and he or she mentioned that the product they are using is sponsored, why not try telling them things like how good they are at what they are doing instead of just belittling it with it's "simply writing".


Mr.Smith, writing is not THAT difficult but blogging these days ain't just about writing.

Read More

Best Complain Letter ever...

I am one of those people who always believe in making others' life a little better especially when it comes to treat the service staff right. They are already trapped in a job that they probably hate but only doing it for the pay thus making their life bad is just mean. We should always show sympathy like what great Dr.Sheldon Cooper taught us.

That being said, if they make life difficult for us it would even be worst considering that fact that we are also probably stuck in a job we hate and earning little money so we can buy things we don't need and on top of that paying money for a bad service we didn't asked for.

Not sure how many of you would actually make the extra miles to complain each and every time you get a bad service, I would. As much as I believe in making things good for people who treats me right - for example giving tips, filling up the feedback form to point out the good service or saying a simple thank you. However on the other hand, I also believe in giving complain positive feedback to companies who needs it. Not too sure about you guys but one thing for sure, I am not the only one.

Stumble upon online is a long and enjoyable complain letter by Australia Blogger - Rich Wisken.  An enjoyable complain letter I say? (Full Email, jump to bottom on this article) Well, I guess not for everyone, not for Jetstar as well as not for another blogger online - Bern Morley Mamamia.com.au.

She went on to explain the complain letter part by part about how she didn't like it and here's one part of the complain letter followed by her comment:

Rich's opening.

Bern's comment.

I mean everyone could make the reference to some of the things Rich is saying so I'm really not too sure what is her deal. Not too sure if she drives a Suzuki or if she is a French prostitute. I guess her take was that Rich is belittling a poor guy for attention. My point is she is just kicking a fuss on Rich just to get attention as well no? I mean unless she drives a Suzuki.

I hope I don't sound like I'm dissing Bern's article just to get attention as well but my point is that I'm with Rich. I think his sense of humour is gold but while laughing at it we have to understand that he probably didn't have to write this letter if the Couldnotgiveashit triplets managed to shift him somewhere or at least drop their last name's legacy for awhile and actually give a shit. Jabba the hutt did nothing wrong, what is wrong here is that

1. Jetstar did not make him buy a second ticket and
2. the service Rich is getting.

I really don't see what is so bad about a humourous complain letter over one of those that goes straight to the point and nobody even take a glance at it. I have no clue if Rich slept with Bern and didn't call her back but this last part of her article was seriously uncalled for from a blogger to another: (Or she expects Rich to be kicking a fuss right on the spot on the plane? Which would she prefer really.)

Screenshot from Bern's reply to Rich.

Whichever the case is, I hope such traveling experience would never happen to me. As in I hope I would never become the answer of the riddle one day.

What's your thought? Would you have done to same as Rich or even Bern? 

Full Email from Rich to Jetstar:

--------------------------------------

Dear Jetstar,

Do you like riddles? I do, that’s why I’m starting this letter with one. What weighs more than a Suzuki Swift, less than a Hummer and smells like the decaying anus of a deceased homeless man? No idea? How about, what measures food portions in kilograms and has the personal hygiene of a French prostitute? Still nothing? Right, one more try. What’s fat as fuck, stinks like shit and should be forced to purchase two seats on a Jetstar flight? That’s right, it’s the man I sat next to under on my flight from Perth to Sydney yesterday.

As I boarded the plane, I mentally high-fived myself for paying the additional $25 for an emergency seat. I was imagining all that extra room, when I was suddenly distracted by what appeared to be an infant hippopotamus located halfway down the aisle. As I got closer, I was relieved to see that it wasn’t a dangerous semi-aquatic African mammal, but a morbidly obese human being. However, this relief was short-lived when I realised that my seat was located somewhere underneath him.
Soon after I managed to burrow into my seat, I caught what was to be the first of numerous fetid whiffs of body odour. His scent possessed hints of blue cheese and Mumbai slum, with nuances of sweaty flesh and human faeces sprayed with cologne - Eau No. Considering I was visibly under duress, I found it strange that none of the cabin crew offered me another seat. To be fair, it’s entirely possible that none of them actually saw me. Perhaps this photo will jog their memories.
Pinned to my seat by a fleshy boulder, I started preparing for a 127 Hours-like escape. Thankfully though, the beast moved slightly to his left, which allowed me to stand up, walk to the back of the plane and politely ask the cabin crew to be seated elsewhere. I didn’t catch the names of the three flight attendants, but for the purpose of this letter, I’ll call them: Chatty 1, Chatty 2 and Giggly (I’ve given them all the same surname - Couldnotgiveashit). After my request, Chatty 1 and Chatty 2 continued their conversation, presumably about how shit they are at their jobs, and Giggly, well, she just giggled. I then asked if I could sit in one of the six vacant seats at the back of the aircraft, to whichGiggly responded, “hehehe, they’re for crew only, hehehe“. I think Giggly may be suffering from some form of mental impairment.

I tried to relocate myself without the assistance of the Couldnotgiveashit triplets, but unfortunately everyone with a row to themselves was now lying down. It was then I realised that my fate was sealed. I made my way back to Jabba the Hutt and spent the remainder of the flight smothered in side-boob and cellulite, taking shallow breaths to avoid noxious gas poisoning. Just before landing, I revisited the back of the plane to use the toilet. You could imagine my surprise when I saw both “crew only” rows occupied by non-crew members. I can only assume Giggly let them sit there after she forgot who she was and why she’s flying on a big, shiny metal thing in the sky.
Imagine going out for dinner and a movie, only to have your night ruined by a fat mess who eats half your meal then blocks 50% of the screen. Isn’t that exactly the same as having someone who can’t control their calorie intake occupying half your seat on a flight? Of course it is, so that’s why I’m demanding a full refund of my ticket, including the $25 for an emergency row seat.
I’m also looking to be compensated for the physical pain and mental suffering caused by being enveloped in human blubber for four hours. My lower back is in agony and I had to type this letter one-handed as I’m yet to regain full use of my left side. If I don’t recover completely, I’ll have to say goodbye to my lifelong dream of becoming Air Guitar World Champion. If that occurs, you will pay.

To discuss my generous compensation package, email me at: richwisken@hotmail.com, or tweet me at: @RichWisken

No regards, Rich Wisken.

Read More

Are you Singapore Best Blogger?

Best in NBA - Michael Jordan. Best in Golf - Tiger Woods. Best in blogging locally?

This post is inspired by Mrstyleking's recent post where he put himself in a comparison with a few other Singapore blog awards finalist and winners to see where he stand.

In his post, he pointed out a few facts about blog ranking and also highlighted one of the most popular tool that I use for my work to ESTIMATE* a blogger's influential power on the net.

Not only did he openly but also bravely compared his own blog stats with three other bloggers, 2 winners and 1 other finalist of the recent Singapore Blog Awards. In his post he also subtly (or maybe not) injected the fact that he has better readership than all 3 of them. And obviously better than mine considering the fact I've never been the best bath room reading material anyway.

So what makes a blog "best"? What are the judges' criteria since the winners did not have a better readership as compare to other finalist or MrStyleKing himself? Is readership everything? So what if you write good articles but you can't market it or no one is reading it cause your blog is being piled under the other 98612935714 blogs in Singapore? Is content still the king or is marketing yourself more important? Nice pictures or good command of English? What makes you a GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) in the industry? What puts you on the top of the world, shoulder by shoulder with Xiaxue or Mr Brown? Another same but different question,what makes you a popular or famous blogger?

Popularity Vs Fame 

I am not an expert when it comes to explaining words especially when it comes to English. (Really, I might fare better in my Cantonese.) To me the simplest way of explaining this is that you can be famous but not popular and at the same time popular but not famous. 

Popular simply means people likes you and famous(Fame) basically means people knows you. Quote one of my friend who has nothing to do with the industry at all and asking this purely out of curiousity -

   "All your so call famous bloggers friend all I never see or hear before leh. They are like HDB bloggers right? Popular and famous in their own neighbourhood but once they go into a big market nobody knows them. So you sure marketing product with them works?"

Sad to hear but that is the hard truth smack right in most of our faces. I can attend media event and meeting new faces who tells me "Oh, Smith! That Smithankyou right? I've heard about you!" No doubt about such words making me feel all happy but the fact is that nobody knows me when I take the train or bus and in fact every where else. I'm just another Joe isn't it? So how much does Alexa ranking or your 100,000 readership tells regular people about you? Nothing.

So would you prefer to have 1,000,000 knowing you and only 10% likes you or 100 friends who really loves your writing? - Choice.

Have you ever asked yourself this question about who reads your blog? I do. I ask myself all the time like who are these people seriously. I am sure you have Newpaper to fill the slot of trashy writing if you really needed to read some. Why read my blog? What do they want from me and what should I do to be the "Best" in their eyes?

As a Reader. (Those that really enjoy following and reading blogs.)

Blog readers like your blog cause you are interesting. Cause they want a life like yours. They want to be like you and eat the food and watch the movie you watch. They are your reader because of who you are. They are basically your fans. They would really love it when you keep updating your blog. In this case, content is king cause you keep them engaged and that's why they keep coming back for your content or way of writing. 

As a Marketing/PR/Brand person. 

He or she probably don't really care about what you write as long as you write for his/her product or event. You will be the best if you join their campaigns and blogs for them religiously or even better with a video. They would love it when you don't blog about their competitors and  would love it when you have a good positive image for their clients' product. They care about your numbers(Readership). The more the better and it will be the best if your blog comes with a clean layout that looks professional. They will only read your blog when they invited you for something. 

As another Blogger/Friend.

I will read your blog cause I like you as a friend. Cause I bump into you at another event and we probably took some pictures together and you featured me and linked me up. Your blog is best to me cause it's funny and you engaged me as a friend and I wish to know what is happening in your life. Your blog will be the best for me if you are pretty. I am shallow like this but this is my own reading habits. I love beautiful things and beautiful woman. Your blog will be the best to me if you are hot and you show me what I want to see. 

As a mass Audience.

They don't know who you are. They don't care who you are. They probably forget about your URL the moment they clicked the cross button. They fall onto your blog all thanks to Google. They probably Google about "Singapore best food", travel or some new gadget. (or in my case, some leaked of nude photos or boyzilian experience.) Basically they want information. Your blog will be "best" if you have all the information. Oh, and don't forget the postal code because it is GPS friendly. They probably leave your blog the moment they get what they were there for.

In conclusion...

I am happy for Mr Style King for his readership and followers count is where it is today considering the fact that his blog is fairly new! I'm actually very jealous impressed with how he get all the invites and concert tickets or what not. Blogging is like showbiz, it doesn't matter how long you are at it or how good you are as luck and "right time right place" plays a very big part. For example like myself, I had my Twitter account for the longest time and only at 1,900 followers and there are some who gets support from thousands of followers over night or in some cases after being in a movie that talks about their non-existent army life.

So what makes your blog the best blog? Is it you? Is it your content? Or is it even how you market yourself and the blog? Is being the best even possible when everyone is "selling" different product? Can we compare apple to banana? In fact the real question here is -

Does it even matter if you are the "best" or not? 

Mr.Smith, not popular, not famous, but never mind, as long as I enjoy it and have fun!
 
*ESTIMATE: I use the word estimate cause I've a few tools I use for work but none of the traffic really says a lot so I choose to use the word estimate.

**This post does not represent any of my clients or organization I work for. This is purely my own opinion. 本故事纯属虚构，如有雷同实属巧合。

Read More

I got Kiwi-fied thanks to Zespri kiwi blogger challenge!

One of the biggest satisfaction I get from blogging is not about the fame(which is almost non-existent even in my imagination) and free gifts but more about the hot chicks incredible people you met along the way. Amongst all the awesome people is the Award winning blogger/Author/Coach and blog teacher(? I'm not sure if that is the term but she gives talks and seminar about blogging! Cool job right?) - Grace Tan!

Picture kope from Gracetan's blog!

Before you guys think that I am talking about her simply because of her pretty face you guys are wrong. Although I do appreciate a pretty face but Grace is more than a pretty face.

Grace is one of those people who I really respect - Dream Chaser. She gave up her job of few hundred thousand a year to be a full time blogger. As much as I wish to say I can be doing the same, but actually I can't. Not even about giving up a job that pays me that well but the part that I haven't even had a job that pays me that well. HAHA. I wonder who I have to kill to get such a pay cheque. (Enough of digress.)

Anyway, I was very honoured to be featured on her blog, in fact again! Grace's blog interviews successful people, celebrities and even millionaires. Not sure what is her secret formula (maybe 1 day I should interview her for a change!), but she managed to get in contact with these people and amongst these people was me! (I must be successful in some way too right?)

Read previous interview here.

So what did I do this time to get featured? Can't probably interview me twice right? This time round I was Kiwified! 

Grace is running for some contest and the creative mind of hers actually came out with this! Making Kiwi to bloggers or should it be the other way? 

And yes! I think these Kiwis really represents me pretty well! My previous "stage image" - Superman and of course Bikini girls (Self explanatory)! 

It was really sweet of her to feature me! Read full article here.

Sorry to the rest of the bloggers but looks like Grace is going to win this again! 

Mr.Smith, KIWIIIII~~~ (not bananananananana this time,

Read More