Response from AK71 (to accusations) regarding "the" seminar.

I really didn't want to talk about this anymore. Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that I am being accused of withholding information regarding my fee for helping to promote "the" seminar due to some ulterior motive.

I don't see why this should be material at all as what should be material was already revealed in this paragraph in an earlier blog post here:

"To be fair to myself and other advertisers in my blog, I told him that I can help him spread the word but there would be a one time advertising fee. He said that he was only helping the organiser of the event and had to check with the organiser. He came back to say that the organiser offered to pay me for every ticket I sold in my blog and to make it more attractive, my readers will get a discount off the official price of $64 per ticket. A "discount code" or "promotion code" was created for this purpose."

Now, did I hide the fact that I was going to be compensated for my efforts? Anyway, since how much I was going to be paid for helping to promote the event seems to be important although the reason escapes me why it should be, I will reveal it as there is no reason to hide (as much as there was no reason to reveal).

Here are the emails, starting from the first email I received from SC, after I replied to his comment in a blog post that I cannot allow free advertisement in my blog. This was when a seminar ticket was advised to be at $57.00 a piece:

Dear AK,

 

I've checked with the organizer and they are definitely paying you a fee for helping them to advertise.

 

Ticket is at $57 per pax.

For every referral from you that sign up for the seminar, you get $6 (more than 10%) if they pay via internet banking.

If the referral pay via EventBrite, then it is $4, as admin cost like eventbrite and paypal takes up a significant portion.

 

So basically, all the cost of paying eventbrite and paypal, goes directly to you as well.

 

Is this ok with you?

 

Event is held at:

 

Nexus Auditorium
5 Koek Road #05-07 S(228796)
Cuppage Plaza (near Somerset MRT Exit B)
Singapore 228796

 

Monday, 19Aug 2013

Time: 7-10pm

 

Let me know.

 

Thanks,

Swee Chye

As I preferred the simplicity of having a one time fee, I replied:

Hi Swee Chye,

Thanks for this. :)

I would like to propose a more straightforward method.

For Value Investing Summit, the organisers told me my blog referred almost 70 participants in January 2013. Of course, since then, I think my blog's readership has grown if you saw my most recent blog stats which I blogged about.

So, I would like to offer a big rectangle banner space (300x250) on the top of my right sidebar for S$400.00. This will run to 18 August.

If the organisers accept this, please deposit the money into my POSB savings account 093-44286-5. They will have to provide me with the HTML code for the banner ad which links to their website too, of course.

As a bonus, I will also compose a short advertorial on the event. This will usually enhance the effectiveness of the campaign.

I hope to hear from you again soon. :)

Best wishes,
AK

A counter proposal was made by the organiser where the commission offered was raised from S$4.00 - $6.00 to $27.00 a ticket! Mind boggling:

Dear AK,

 

Thanks for the quick response.

 

I've checked with the organizer, and they are counter proposing to create a special link for the payment just for you, if you can promote for them, with the number of tickets shown online for that link.

 

The link will have the number of tickets at the start, and it will decrease as tickets are bought in order for you to know how many tickets are sold from your referral.

 

For every tickets sold, you will get $27, so selling only $15 (sic) tickets will net you $405.

So the more tickets that are sold via your referral link, the more you get paid.

 

Is this a fair deal for you?

 

Let me know, so that the organizer can do the necessary link for you.

 

Cheers,

Swee Chye

 

PS: On a personal note, do continue writing your interesting articles in your blog, as from time to time, I do visit it when I am able to have some time. :D

I thought this over for quite a while because it was quite an attractive offer and I was also somewhat surprised at their generosity but I still preferred the simplicity of a one time fee. So, I wrote:

Hi Swee Chye,

Advertising income is nice to have as pocket money but being the fastidious person I am, I know I will be checking on the ticket sales daily. Yikes. I want to avoid that. This is why I proposed a straightforward upfront one time payment. My blog could end up selling 100 tickets and it wouldn't matter to me. :)

I got to know someone who blogs for a living in the USA and he told me that with the traffic I have now, I should charge US$150 a month for a 125x125 button. Example: "TheFinance" in my left sidebar. So, I believe that S$400 for the proposed 300x250 banner is inexpensive.

Please tell the organiser that I appreciate their offer which is very generous. It is more than fair because I am sure I will end up making more money with their method but this would be important to me if my primary motivation for blogging is for money. ;p

Well, if they don't need me to write an advertorial in support of the banner ad, I could lower the price, I guess. However, I can say from experience that an advertorial helps. :)

Best wishes,
AK

Then, I received a reply from SC which I guess shows that he is more knowledgeable about internet marketing than I am:

Dear AK,

 

I've spoken to the organizer, and they are more interested in actual ticket sales, and that is why they made that proposal to you.

 

Of course, any advertorial in support of the banner ad is most welcome, but they cannot track nor have any means to know the actual conversion rate simply from putting up a banner and a blog post.

 

Getting lots of traffic is definitely good and no doubt about it, but it is the actual conversion and sales that is what any advertisers are most interested in.

 

I believe Bloggers and Internet Marketers wants lots of traffic, but their source of income comes from actual sales, ppc, ppv etc 

 

Let me know if you are willing to help the organizer on the actual sales.

 

Cheers,

Swee Chye 

OK, at that point, I really should have just ended it and I would have avoided this entire nightmare. Unfortunately, much to my regret, I gave in:

Hi Swee Chye,

Yes, I quite understand their concerns. Must make sure that their advertising dollar is well spent.

I have given this more thought and have decided to accept the organiser's proposed special arrangement just for me. I could end up making more money. ;p

I will wait for the HTML code and instructions. Thanks. :)

Best wishes,
AK

This was followed by an email from SC in which the official price of a ticket, for the first time, was stated as $64.00:

Hi AK,

 

Here are the details for you to promote the event.

 

The event link:

ttp://www.eventbrite.sg/event/7661797643/

 

You are free to write as creatively as you can, and can use the link information for your write up.

You will notice there are 200 tickets for sale for this special link, and it is displayed visibly.

So every sale for this link will decrease the count by one, so the tracking of each ticket is visible to all.

 

You have a promotional code for all your referrals and subscribers to pay for the event if they are interested.

 

The promotional code is AK71-MSOI

This gives those interested to sign up at least 10% discount from the official price of $64.

 

Some pictures and banner you can use:

 --- (AK71 deleted the link)

 --- (AK71 deleted the link)
 

A picture for your banner in your website as attached.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions or need any other information for your promotion of the event.

 

I thank you on behalf of the organizer and hopefully it will be a successful campaign.

 

Cheers,

Swee Chye 

I took a screen capture to show that I did not make this up:

Click to enlarge.

Then, there were a few more emails on how to set up the ads which I am pretty sure there is no need to reveal, well, just like the above emails really.

Is the fee negotiation process an important part of the revelations? I don't think so. What was material was how certain details were left out in the negotiation process which led me to making a badly informed decision. These details which were left out were pointed out to me by readers of my blog! (You know who you are. Thank you.)

I would have insisted on early bird prices of $30.00 a ticket and $57.00 for three tickets if I was told they existed when they first approached me. Of course, with the publication of my blog posts on the matter, the organisers have stopped the early bird prices. The price is now $57.00 a ticket.

I would have insisted that the official price be stated as $57.00 if I had known that it was being marketed as such in another local finance blog. Instead, I was made to think that the official price was $64.00 and that to buy at $57.00, my readers must use a "discount code". The regular price of $57.00 over at kiasuparents.com's forum now supports my point that $64.00 is not and was never the "official" price.

Have I knowingly left out any details which might skew readers' perception of the organisers of the event? No and I have no need to lie.

One only has to think logically as to what AK71 has to gain from lying about anything. Why would I put in work to promote an event just to tear it down? I gain nothing from it. As another blogger, SMOL, said, I could have simply shrugged it off and put it down to "willing buyer, willing seller". I could have been absolutely nonchalant.

Everything I know, my readers know. Anything else that people say I should know and that I chose not to share with my readers now, well, they are entitled to their beliefs. I don't need to fabricate anything. I don't go around making baseless accusations as a pastime. Regular readers will know that is definitely not in my character. I say it as it is.

If people have been totally honest and fair from the onset, laying down all their cards on the table for me to see, would this have happened? Would there be any need for damage control? No, there wouldn't be any damage in the first instance!

For people who still think that I am blogging because of the money I get out of it, well, I can say with confidence that I won't miss the income but I WILL miss blogging.

In a reply to SC above, I said:

"Please tell the organiser that I appreciate their offer which is very generous. It is more than fair because I am sure I will end up making more money with their method but this would be important to me if my primary motivation for blogging is for money. ;p"

In another reply to SC which I shared in an earlier blog post, I said as much:

"You might know this but the organiser might not: I am not a blogger who is blogging for money. I care about my blog's reputation more than anything else."

I will stop here or else some people might accuse me of having ulterior motives (again).

Related posts:
1. I will not attend Multiple Streams of Income Seminar.
2. Multiple Streams of Income closed early bird prices.