Accused of fraud and denied payment.

After almost a year and 20c per click, my blog accumulated about $170 of earnings from ads put up by Nuffnang.

After waiting for two months for payment, they now tell me my blog is confirmed to be involved in click fraud. See letter:

If they suspected that my blog was guilty of click fraud, why did they bother to even tell me that a client was interested in running an ad campaign in my blog recently? I was even asked to send details of my blog's traffic to them.

$170. I don't believe how much money I tried to obtain through click fraud. I am dumbfounded.

Anyway, rather than running the risk of being accused of click fraud again, I have removed all of Nuffnang's ad spaces from my blog.

Related post:
Ad hoc annual report for ASSI.

Tea with AK71: Removing AdSense from ASSI for now.

You might or might not notice that I have removed all the ad space for AdSense or Ads by Google from this blog.  This is because I have noticed multiple clicks on these ads from possibly the same source for several days now.

I understand from other bloggers that Google is quite strict in policing and weeding out fraud. Having multiple clicks within 1 minute from possibly a single IP address could quite possibly be classified as fraud. This could result in my AdSense account being terminated by Google.

Although I appreciate the support, I would like to appeal to readers who have been super supportive in clicking on the Ads by Google to refrain from the behaviour described.

Why am I taking action only now? I was wondering if it was an aberration but it seems to be an established pattern now. If it is apparent to an IT dinosaur like me, it would not escape an IT giant like Google.  So, I am suspending all ad space for AdSense or Ads by Google on this blog for the time being.

If you guys are worried about a loss of income for ASSI, just visit my other sponsors, Ads by Nuffnang. Also, give my ZUJI banners a chance if you are planning to travel and I would get a small commission if you find a good deal.


You might also want to visit my other blogs:

http://investgoldsilver.blogspot.com/

http://travelphotosvideos.blogspot.com/

Of course, you could also choose to contribute some money if you really like what ASSI is doing. A $15 donation is equivalent to 50c a day for a month or you could think of it as 10c a day for 5 months! Haha. ;-p

The donate button is on the left sidebar and looks like this:



Thank you and have a great weekend. :-)

Tea with AK71: Advertlets, owe money, pay money!

One way we bloggers get some income from blogging is through the selling of ad space in our blogs. Advertlets is an online advertising agency based in Malaysia which I signed up with in the early days of my blog. All their ads were metered which means that the higher my blog's traffic, the more they pay.  No clicking on ads required. 

I lost my Glitterati status (aka exclusive status) with Nuffnang, another online advertising agency, by signing up with Advertlets, thinking that it made more sense. The earnings from Advertlets grew quickly and even though I could cash out at every RM100, I chose to wait.  In March this year, I decided to cash out after reading some negative comments regarding Advertlets and how they did not pay.  I waited the requisite 45 to 60 days and did not get any payment.  So, I sent them a ticket (an online enquiry) but did not get any reply, confirming my fears. 

Date          Username Amount   Status

Mar-16-10 AK71        159.42     Unpaid

Removing all ad space for Advertlets, I recovered my Glitterati status with Nuffnang shortly.  Since then, Nuffnang has given me a few metered ads which usually run for 4 days to a week on top of the usual pay per click ads.  Nuffnang also got me to do an advertorial for a financial seminar by an Australian bank a few months ago. I have yet to cash out because every time I cash out, I have to pay a small fee.  Hearing very good things about Nuffnang from fellow bloggers makes me confident that Nuffnang would pay when I choose to cash out. Not worried.

Why did I wait so long before blogging about my negative experience with Advertlets? Honestly, I didn't think of blogging about it. Just another bad experience in life was how I thought of it. However, while chatting in LP's cbox a couple of days ago, I learned that other finance bloggers also didn't get paid by Advertlets! So, I am taking up LP's suggestion to blog about it and tell the world! We should not let Advertlets off so easily! Grrr! 

I found this very creative artwork on WayangTimes.com, another victim of Advertlets

Really apt! Owe money! Pay money! O$P$! Ok, ok, I shall stop here.

Tea with AK71: Income from blogging.

I have blogged about this before but it is timely that I revisit this topic as JW (aka momoeagle), the blog master of Wealthbuch, took it really hard when Adsense decided to stop working with him recently.  I believe that he would look past this unpleasant episode in his life as a blogger and soldier on in good time. :)

I started blogging out of curiosity and boredom last Christmas Eve and I have been hooked since.  I suppose I really enjoy writing and I enjoy sharing my ideas with people. On 10 March 10, I blogged that "I didn't know I could make money from blogging. However, I did discover quite quickly that there are many ways of making money through a blog."  Adsense, it seems, is the predominant way for most bloggers to derive some income from their blogs.

LP, the blog master of Bully the Bear was one of the first people I made contact with in blogosphere.  He told me how he was unceremoniously banned by Adsense.  Later on, I was told the same thing by my friend and blog master of Time to Huat.  So, you don't see any Adsense ads in their blogs.  So, fearing that I would suffer the same fate, I decided to remove Adsense from my blog.

I enjoy blogging and if I do make money out of it, I consider it a bonus. However, since I do not make much from blogging, it would have a lower priority when compared to other activities which I derive most of my income from.  We live in a world which runs on money.  So, we have to be realistic sometimes, if not most of the time.  The day I could derive an income of mid $X,XXX from blogging every month like some famous blogging personalities in Singapore, blogging might be the only thing I'd do. In fact, I was told that Xiaxue could make $XX,XXX per month from blogging!

The fact is I am a financial blogger and we have a very small niche.  Financial bloggers in Singapore have even a smaller niche. 20,000 pageviews or more a month like Xiaxue's blog?  Not in my lifetime, realistically.  Well, I suppose if I colored my hair like Xiaxue and wrote catchy songs about floods in Orchard Road like Mr. Brown, I could improve my blog's readership numbers. Hmmm, I wonder... Nah.

I can only hope that my readers would visit my sponsors (Nuffnang's ads), give my ZUJI banners a chance when planning to go on an overseas trip and feel generous enough to make a donation (Donate to AK71 pocketmoney fund on the left sidebar) towards my blogging efforts.  So far, I have received small sums of money from all three avenues.  Thank you for the bonus. ;-)

Related post:
Planning to travel? Check out ZUJI.