My Nuffnang Story

This is a story of me and Nuffnang, of how our friendship came to be.

I have written about our story a few times in my blog before, but I believe the blog post is too old for anyone to discover (unless you stalk me and you read all of my blog post). 😛

It all started when I wrote my first blog post back in May 2008.  I was frustrated that no one visited my site.  I cloaked my identity under an alias “FlairCandy” because I didn’t want to be known.  I wanted to have the freedom to write without revealing my identity.

After a month, it was just me and my blog – alone.  I was so obsessed with stats and I kept on checking Google Analytics to check if there are visitors coming to my blog.  I was surprised that slowly, I get page views already!  I discovered that every time I blog hop and comment on other blogs’ page, they appreciate my effort to comment and in turn, click the link to my site!

I wanted more.  I wanted to monitor the visitors in my blog.  I wanted to interact with every visitor that comes to my blog and I want to get their feedback, ask how they happened to drop by my blog etc.  I noticed some of the blogs I follow have this thing called Cbox or Shoutmix and I wanted one for myself

I was working for an international bank that time and they are strict with security.  I tried to install Cbox and Shoutmix on my blog’s sidebar, but it won’t show on our office because those sites (chat sites) are banned.  I didn’t have internet at home then so I couldn’t check my blog out of work.  Sometimes, I come to work early just to post a draft.

Then, I found this Chat Box that wasn’t banned in our office and I installed it successfully on my sidebar!  It is called ShoutOutLounge!  At that time, Facebook hasn’t made its name in the Philippines yet.  We were all getting tired of Friendster at that time and we were uploading our photos on Multiply.  Twitter wasn’t popular yet.

Shoutout Lounge was amazing.  First, it gave my blog more traffic.  I was able to chat real time with any bloggers who had this widget installed in their page as well as their readers.  I was able to make solid friends from outside the Philippines particularly in Malaysia where this widget was born.

This is how the website looks like.  but you can istall that widget in the middle in your sidebar too!  I got to get featured in the website too 🙂  By the way, this website was already taken down.  I think it was the era of Facebook, Twitter and Plurk that attributed to this.

Anyway, it was a fun adventure for me.  The people in the chatboard were amazing, funny (I caught myself laughing alone like an idiot a few times) and I get to discover cool stuff with them.

I was surprised that not a lot of them know about Manila and the Philippines, so I self-declared myself as the “Blog Ambassadress” to the Philippines because I felt like it was my duty and honor to talk about my country and share it with my friends abroad.

Until now, we are still friends.  We get updated on Facebook and I’ve had a few trips with them here in Manila and there in Penang, KL and Melaka.  Check these posts:

10 Malaysian Bloggers Invade Norther Luzon Philippines

Road Trippin’ Malaysia

Bah Kut Teh

Destination: Melaka with Malaysian Bloggers

Penang Food Trip

 Until now we keep in touch.  But I would always visit their blogs especially if they have new posts.  I often wondered what those animated banners on their site are… sometimes they glow with ads and sometimes they conduct a poll.  It looks like this:

*screenshot of Angeline’s blog had a Nuffnang banner on the sidebar

I asked them how I could get that widget that would able me to earn money and they were like – sorry lah, it’s only available here for Malaysian bloggers. 🙁

Then I was very sad leh, how come I can’t have one…

After only a few months, I heard a buzz about Nuffnang coming in the Philippines.  I’m not sure how I knew about this but I got so excited and I blogged about it!  It caught the attention of the Nuffnang manager at that time Jing (we are now good friends).

*me with Jing former country manager of Nuffnang Philippines

She emailed me and thanked me for the post.  When we met, she told me that at the time I posted that, they were just finalizing and everything wasn’t written in stone yet.  Oh, but lucky that they pushed through!

Not a lot of bloggers new what Nuffnang is at that time and since I have been a fan of their fun community in Malaysia, I gladly helped spread the word!

Nuffnang finally launched in Manila.

And I made a blog post about why bloggers should become a member of Nuffnang. <– and some testimonials from bloggers

*Jehz and Winston

That’s when I also met new friends because of Nuffnang.  I met Jehz and Winston, who helped me with most of the technical stuff in blogging.

I attended my first WordCamp, got introduced to local bloggers in the Philippines and was surprised that there are lots of Filipino bloggers already!

That’s my Nuffnang story and the rest is history!

Blogging changed my life!  Nuffnang was a part of it 🙂 How? Check this out:

Jane’s blog: http://janedchua.com

 Pantene TVC here

Boracay Hygienix party here

 10 Malaysian Bloggers Invade Norther Luzon Philippines

Her blog: http://thejessicat.com/

Nuffnang Blog Awards 2009

It’s a fun world with Nuffnang.  It’s the people that makes the journey fun and the community that’s filled with dynamic energy and fun!  This year, they are holding another Regional Blog Awards!

Check out how to be a part of this year’s Nuffnang Blog Awards 2011!  Nominate your favorite blogs and find out how you can score an invite to the event in Malaysia!

All details can be found here http://www.nuffnang.com.ph/blog/2011/10/24/nuffnang-asia-pacific-blog-awards-2011/

Until the next adventure,

FlairCandy

xoxo

Come 16 December 2011, 500 bloggers from around the Asia-Pacific region will flock to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards 2011 in Putrajaya Marriott. The Awards aims to not only honour the region’s best bloggers, but also to bring together blogger communities from across Asia-Pacific. The Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards is brought to you by Volkswagen Malaysia and Putrajaya Marriott.