It’s been 5 months since I’ve blogged. I’ve also not taken on new clients since last year. You see, I’m practially taking the year off to “enjoy the fruits of my labour” and am only servicing existing clients. I never imagined that I would be compelled to blog again because of Advertlets! Those of you who’ve been on Ping.sg long enough would remember the “blog wars” last year, between Nuffnang and Advertlets. Well, like everyone else, I wrote my opinion after a meeting with Ming and was quickly accused of being biased – some even accused me of “secretly” working for Nuffnang as their PR guy. I tried to explain myself but gave up eventually because it was pointless. What I didn’t write about was that I also met up with Josh later in KL for a chat. More than that, I gave him a job from SPH and recommended Advertlets to a couple of clients – all for free, i.e. no referral fees, commissions, etc. I even tried to hook Josh up with the owner of a marketing magazine in Malaysia because Nuffnang was the only one getting exposure in the magazine and speaking at the local seminars. In other words, I was doing him favours without expecting anything back. What SPH wanted was sponsored blog posts to create awareness and for SEO purposes, and I was to manage Advertlets. So we bought the cheapest package just to try out the service – 80 sponsored posts for S$2,500. Well, 10 months have passed but the campaign has yet to be completed. There have also been serious lapse of service on several occasions on Advertlets’ side. This has left me terribly frustrated and disappointed for having recommended Advertlets to my client. Update: post edited on May 15th. Please refer to my comment below.


To have the guts to tell it as it is, is very professional. No matter whatever bias comments people may say, I’d take complaints literally.
Thanks for the sharing, Larry. And you NEVER looked me up! LOL! :P
Comment by Danny Foo on May 12, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Hmm… seriously?! That means only through my blog? :)
Do give Ramya a call and let me know if you get the job.
Comment by Larry Lim on May 13, 2009 at 12:17 am
This is bad publicity for Advertlets. On the other hand, Advertlets is smiling because of this free publicity.
Comment by Blogtactic on May 13, 2009 at 11:02 am
Smiling or crying? All the popular regional bloggers say they suck..
Comment by Giles Dawe on May 13, 2009 at 4:24 pm
whether they suck or not, pro or not, better blog advertising network or not- time will tell.
what are they now and den, compared to NN & how NN has grown over this short period of time,
LMAO,
Comment by Kenny Tay on May 14, 2009 at 10:01 am
Well, if this is considered publicity then good for them. Personally, I prefer not to have such things written about me. ;)
Do a search for “Advertlets” on google and see what sort of stuff bloggers are writing about them.
Comment by Larry Lim on May 14, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Blogtactic: I’ve edited your name to keep my blog clean. The comments are “nofollow” so there’s no point stuffing keywords into your link.
I’m sure you know a thing or two about SEO having written this about me on your blog…
“What lead me to write this post is because I came a site whose owner boasted to be the top SEO Consultant in Singapore…”
Are my assumptions correct?
Comment by Larry Lim on May 14, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Ahh, an opportunity to look at the company from a different POV, thanks Larry.
Comment by KY on May 14, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Good write-up Larry, very interested to hear from an advertisers perspective.
No wonder they have such few campaigns.
From what I’ve heard on the bloggers side they don’t pay out either so I wonder what happens to the money.
Comment by ShaolinTiger on May 14, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Hi Larry,
Thanks for the sharing! Look at the bright side, If you did not try out Adverlets, you will never know which Ad agency is worth working with!
Btw it’s a publicity for Adverlets but definitely NOT a good one!
Comment by Sue on May 14, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Interesting writeup Larry. Got the link from a coworker - nice perspective (from a client instead of a blogger). Cheers!
Comment by Huai Bin on May 14, 2009 at 3:19 pm
oh? thats stale news Larry.
Nonetheless, at least you didnt spend as much as the others did. :)
email me if you bother to kaypoh about my experience. like you, i dont practice doing my dirty laundry in public.. not really worth the publicity stunt ..
Comment by Shireen K on May 14, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Larry, it’s a good article and it’s good to show to the public what’s happening and yes as a blogger you need to keep on emailing them and ask about your payment and only they will pay you after months or years. Now we able to hear from advertiser point of view too.
Comment by saimatkong on May 14, 2009 at 3:53 pm
One word: WOW!
(and I don’t mean World of Warcraft)
Comment by kennysia on May 14, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Thanks for the comments guys.
Josh had a long chat with me yesterday, apologized and made a fresh commitment to complete SPH’s campaign.
He also made a personal request to remove some of the details in this post. Personally, I don’t think I have done anything wrong because I have written based on what actually transpired and not blindly bashing them.
But considering the unexpected response (1,000 views so far) and type of readers that I have, I’m going to play the nice guy again and do them this one last favour.
So post edited and details omitted.
Comment by Larry Lim on May 15, 2009 at 10:39 am
It may have been edited and some details omitted but the price has been paid. So far it’s not any different from the views I have seen and experienced myself, and really it just serves confirms whatever suspicions that people already have, especially coming from a credible POV.
Good one Larry, we need more transparency in this business :)
Comment by Chris Tock on June 2, 2009 at 10:30 am
nuffnang FTW =)
Comment by kenwooi on June 8, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Hello. I dropped by from ST’s blog.
Comment by Kim Ong on June 10, 2009 at 2:40 am
Looks like I’m going to end up the sucker here for believing in Josh’s promise to finish the campaign.
FYI, he’d already missed his own deadline to update me last week - something he’d suggested as goodwill …or rather desperation.
Well, if he doesn’t come back to me after the 1 month as promised, he’s going to be sorry - that’s my guarantee.
Comment by Larry Lim on June 10, 2009 at 2:46 pm
“Thanks for the comments guys.
Josh had a long chat with me yesterday, apologized and made a fresh commitment to complete SPH’s campaign.
He also made a personal request to remove some of the details in this post. Personally, I don’t think I have done anything wrong because I have written based on what actually transpired and not blindly bashing them.
But considering the unexpected response (1,000 views so far) and type of readers that I have, I’m going to play the nice guy again and do them this one last favour.
So post edited and details omitted.”
Well, you should really have stuck with your integrity of retaining whatever details you’ve posted up.
I was one of their publishers, but fell prey like most bloggers out there, my payment was held for over 6 months, I thought I had lost it, but eventually, they paid after I wrote a blog rant about their non-existing payment. Read http://www.alexallied.com/reviews/advertlets-scam
Like wise, Josh Lim called and asked me to edit the title and remove certain statements, which he claim that it’ll taint the image of Advertlets (I wonder what image does their company hold).
If I were you, I would’ve already given up on the ad campaign after so long. Remember, you’re the one who’re paying them to do the work. And who knows how much money he had pocketed with all those *non-existing* click fraud claims/denied payments. Your clients are just paying the conman in the middle, the one who’re doing all the works for him (bloggers) are crying foul.
Good luck with your trust in the notorious Josh Lim :D
Comment by alexallied on June 11, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Advertlet really sucks.
I have specially dedicated a Blog to Advertlet
for all the wrong reasons.
Publishers and Advertisers alike should boycott Advertlets.
Comment by Advertlets Scam on June 15, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Whenever I hear the word “Adverlets”, the word “scam” will be quickly linked.
Advertlets sucks and it is cheating people.
After reading this article, now I realize Advertlets doesn’t only cheat bloggers, it also cheats advertisers’ money!
Advertlets, Crap and Scam !
Comment by stephen on October 19, 2009 at 11:05 am