Advertising revenue program for blogs

Last January 6, 2007, I've decided to put up an earning scheme for bloggers through advertising. This was first offered to DigitalFilipino.com Club Members. Due to increasing number of advertisers, I'm now accepting any blogger in the world to join.

There are three ways to earn:

1. A fee shall be paid by including an ad link in one's blog post or website article. Depending on the blog or website popularity, fees can vary from US$1 to US$10. The said blog post or website article where the link is added to should not have less than 200 words.
2. An ad link can also be posted and seen site-wide. Fees can vary from US$5 to US$85. The ad link should be immediately seen upon loading of the page.
3. Websites can also be reviewed, not necessarily a positive one. Fees vary from US$5 to US$125.

Terms:

1. The link should remain for a period of at least one year in the said blog post or website article.
2. The ad should be the only one linked in a blog post or website article.
3. Your blog or website should be active, having at least 2 post or article a week, and regularly promoted.
4. Payouts are released every 1st Friday of the month through Paypal.
5. The more active your blog or website is, the more assignments you'll receive. Your rate increases as well in due time.
   
6. These ad assignments can be about our websites, our clients, SME club members, and corporate club members.

I initially e-mail blast this to DigitalFilipino.com Club Members for dissemination and now using other means to attract more bloggers.

Prior to roll-out of this project, I tested the concept and happy that it passed the Stickiness Aptitude Test. With a growing advertiser base, I'm happy to see this program get rolled out to as many bloggers as possible.

Your feedback on how this program can be enhanced will be very much appreciated. Parties interested can add me to their YM or GTalk. My id is digitalfilipino.

Thank you.

Gallery 7 Digital Studio: To expand overseas in 2008

Enrico Gaw, owner of Gallery 7 Digital Studio, had a great year in 2007 with the opening of its mall branch in Shangri-la Plaza and the release of its pop-art services where you can turn your photos into extra-ordinary work of art.

In 2008, Enrico plans to expand their offerings to a bigger overseas client base.

DigitalFilipino.com Club 4th Anniversary and Member Testimonials

During the DigitalFilipino.com Club Christmas Party, Buddy Gancenia had interviews conducted with several club members to get their testimonial about the club. This is also in time for our 4th anniversary this December 25.

I'm very glad that we continue to maintain a reasonable number of members to this date. We will strive to evolve and remain as relevant as possible to the changing times.

Here is twelve of our club members who shared their testimonial.


Michelle Pestano of Chikka


Jan Pabellon of IT Group


Ida Bata of Fleishman-Hillard


Reggie Bundang of RegaloService


Enrico Gaw of Gallery 7 Digital Studio


Charlie Gaw of Acclaim Butterflies


Aileen Apolo


Jay Frank De Jesus


Joan Piñon


Rowell Luna


Dennis Rito


Ronnie Joy Ravelo

Club members who are interested in contributing a video testimonial are requested to e-mail the download link to their video at digitalfilipino (at) gmail (dot) com.

A busy November

Many thanks to all our club members who made time to attend our workshop, share their knowledge, and celebrate Christmas early.

Check out the ICT for Women Workshop photos and Christmas Party photos. Will also be uploading presentation materials, new reports, among others next week. Have a great year end!

Related:

• Filipinas and Christmas in November
  
• DigitalFilipino Christmas Party and Culmination of the Filipina Writing Project (photos)
  
• DigitalFilipino Christmas Party
  
• Attended the DigitalFilipino 2007 Christmas Party
• E-Commerce Payment Online Seminar
  
• BNS attends DigitalFilipino Web Workshop
  

November 28: DigitalFilipino.com Club 30th Networking Event / Christmas Party

The DigitalFilipino.com Club will be having its 30th networking event this November 28, Thursday, 6:00 to 9:00 pm. The venue shall be at Ponciana's Kitchen, 67 Timog Ave. corner Sct. Torillo, South Triangle Quezon City.

This gathering will not be possible without the support of our sponsor IPVG - a publicly listed entity in the Philippine Stock Exchange and engaged in the information technology and communications space. IPVG owns three operating subsidiaries engaged in information technology and telecommunications, on-line gaming, and business process outsourcing.

This event is exclusive for DigitalFilipino.com Club members only and are requested to confirm attendance for food count purposes. Those who submitted entries to the Filipina Writing Project were also invited.

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a member prior to November 28.

Agenda shall be as follows:

5:30 - 6:00 Registration
6:00 - 6:30 Introduction and updates by each club member and blogger guests
6:30 - 6:45 Club Updates

7:00 - 7:30 Announcement: Winners of The Filipina Writing Project
(Prizes sponsored by Barangay.ph, Kababayan.ph, MyUSMailbox.com, RegaloService.com, Acclaim Butterflies, and Chikka.com )

7:30 - 8:00 Online Gaming (Enrique Y. Gonzalez, IPVG)

8:00 Exchange Gift / Raffle / Networking

To celebrate the Christmas season, all attendees are encouraged to bring a Christmas exchange gift worth P250.

We are also getting some raffle prizes as well. Should you like to donate prizes for the raffle, please e-mail me at digitalfilipino (at) gmail (dot) com. We will list the raffle items and donors here.

• One (1) medium-sized Photo Collage 20" x 30" (Thanks Gallery 7 Digital Studio!)
• Three (3) Text Link Ad Space in Ratified for one month (Thanks Andrew Dela Serna!)
• One (1) Philippine delicacies gift basket (Thanks PinoyDelikasi!)
• Five (5) Google gift bags and Google AdWords Voucher (Thanks Aileen Apolo!)
• One (1) Customized Banner or Button (Thanks Juan Karlo Licudine!)
• Two (2) Strategic Problogging Audio E-Book (Thanks Manuel Viloria!)
• Five (5) Buy and Sell ad voucher (Thanks Alfox Computer Center!)
• Ten (10) Gift Bags (Thanks MyLittleBaker!)

Club members are requested to confirm their attendance for food count purposes.

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a member prior to November 28 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

There are three types of membership: Individual, SME, Corporate.

I hope you can all join. Thank you.

Web and E-Commerce Hands-On Workshop

All DigitalFilipino.com Club members are invited to attend the forthcoming Web and E-Commerce Workshop series this:

• November 12 and 13 at the Laboratory 1, National Computer Center / Commission on Information and Communications Technology, C.P. Garcia Avenue, U.P. Diliman Quezon City (beside PhilVocs).
• November 17 and 24 at the Alfox Internet Cafe (beside Chowking), Kamuning Road, corner Edsa, Quezon City.

DigitalFilipino.com Club SME members can send 1 representative while Corporate members can send 2 representatives.

Individual club members can attend a one-day (or two half-day) session. Please confirm for food count purposes.

The training program shall be as follows:

November 12: Improving Website Performance and Navigation

• 9:00 - 12:00 Improving Web Site Performance
  
• Factors that cause slow-loading Web Sites
• 14 rules for fast website performance
• Hands-on exercises
• Guest resource:
• Web Site Growing Pains (Jay Frank De Jesus)
  
• 1:00 - 5:00 Improving Web Navigation
  
• Web navigation problems
• Mechanisms and type of web navigation
• Improving web navigation design
• Hands-on exercises
  

November 13: Web 2.0 Applications

• 9:00 - 12:00 Overview of Web 2.0 Applications
  
• Introduction to Machine Learning
  
• Applications
• product / content recommendations
• group clustering
• search engine
• needs matching
• decision predictions
  
• price models
• independent content matching
• Hands-on exercises
• Guest resource:
• Internet Enabled Collaboration and Coopetition in a Flat World (Jan Pabellon, IT Group)
  
• 1:00 - 5:00 Building Web 2.0 applications
  
• Using Open Web Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
• Facebook Application Platform
• Google OpenSocial
  
• Hands-on exercises

November 17: Internet Marketing Workshop

• 9:00 - 12:00 E-Mail / Newsletter Marketing
  
• Introduction to E-Mail Marketing
• Components of an E-Mail Marketing Campaign
• Hands-on exercise
• Introduction to Newsletter Creation
• Creating a newsletter
• Hands-on exercise
  
• 1:00 - 5:00 Search Engine Marketing
  
• Search engine optimization
• Keyword research
• Keyword placement in web site or blog
• Content is key
• Writing good titles, description, and articles
• Re-directing pages
• Sitemap creation
• RSS creation
• Submission to Web Directories
• Internet Advertising (paid placements)
  
• Monitoring Web Site Traffic

November 24: Accepting Payments Online

• 2:00 - 6:00
• Ways to accept payments online
• Demo of online payment systems (email billing, web-based payment, mobile payments)
• Evaluating online payment providers (comparative analysis)
• Fraud detection
  

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as an Individual, SME, or Corporate member prior to November 12 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

Sharing RSS feeds in your Orkut profile

In my column today, I talked about Web 2.0, collective intelligence, and the recent Google OpenSocial. Unplanned, that was a quick follow-up to a piece I wrote last month as well about Facebook. The nice thing about competition is that these providers are exerting the best effort as possible to make things easier for users.

I am researching about Web 2.0 these days but more on the hands-on side with the book Programming Collective Intelligence written by Toby Segaran as a guide. In preparation for the Web 2.0 workshop session on November 13, I tried Google OpenSocial earlier today and created a modified version of its Feed in Tabs. Installing in any website will look like this.

I also installed the application in my Orkut page, after getting approval for Orkut sandbox access, and the same feed now appears in my site. Those who try to install the same will be able to edit the rss feed address to show their blogs or of others if they like. Just state this url (copy the url link) as the application source in your applications page. I can't wait until all sites who are part of the Google OpenSocial alliance or partners will start allowing users to install applications.


There is much you can do on the Internet today and web developers do not necessarily have to be confine in just building the website using codes of their own, they can also tap in "social" codes to engage more users - if done well. Other references that can be tapped includes:

• Facebook Developers program
• Programmable Web

Improving Website Navigation

On the afternoon of November 12, I'll be having a session on Web Navigation. This topic was heavily inspired by the book Designing Web Navigation by James Kalbach. The main premise for the workshop is whether you are planning a new website or revising an existing one, it is important that we keep ourselves focused on what we want to achieve that includes why are we doing it, how can we meet the needs of our target users, among others.

We need to do an information search process that tends to reflect the action, thoughts, and feelings of the site visitor and what can we do to meet them. An example can be like in the case of DigitalFilipino users.

1. Initiation: Recognize need to look for e-commerce information.
2. Selection: Choose appropriate resources.
3. Searching: Locate relevant articles.
4. Differentiation: Prioritize search results.
5. Deciding: Determine which article is most relevant.
6. Monitor: Check site over time for additional articles.
7. Action: Join the mailing list or subscribe to the RSS feed or join the club.

Each item above requires understanding on the actions, thoughts, and feelings of the user (and their persona) which will also compel site owners like me to provide features and that will arrive on the kind of business return that I want to get from it such as awareness, referrals, gaining trust or relationship, potential book buyers or club members later on.

In addition, this also forces me to review my site navigation, labels, menu, among others whether I'm leading users to the things that they need and what I want to achieve.

If the e-business operates in a cut throat market such as those selling various gift products, evaluating the competitor's web navigation and labeling methods versus yours will be helpful as well.

Improving this will also require doing interviews and task analysis. One method that can help in this process is card sorting. This is where you write one item or content in your website per card. This gets shuffled and given to users. They then sort the card and create piles or groups. Afterwards, they give a meaningful name that represent each pile or group of cards. This process gives you a perspective on how prospective users classify the information that gets presented to them and may help you in developing your site's content structure. There are several online version of this that you can use such as as CardSword, CardSort, CardZort, among others.

There are several tools that can be used to have an initial check up on your website navigation. This includes:

• Watchfire WebXACT
• Web Accessibility Versatile Evaluator
• Web Accessibility Toolbar
• Color Contrast Analyzer for Web Pages
• Fangs
• aDesigner
  

Improving Website Performance

This November 12, I will be holding a technical session on Improving Website Performance that was heavily inspired by Steve Souders' book, High Performance Web Sites. His book is known for sharing 14 rules that can contribute to the improvement of websites and make it faster. Here's a video that runs us through it. You can also start learning this ahead today.



I'm currently tinkering with the performance analysis tool, YSlow, an extension to the Firebug web development tool and encourage club members attending the session to download it as well. Other tools you can check includes:

• IBM Page Detailer
• Pingdom
  

What makes me excited about this session is that I'm in the process of finetuning my site (and of clients) and look forward in sharing what I learned during this session.

YSlow analyzes web pages and tells you why they're slow. Listen to Steve Souders to know more about it.

Forthcoming changes in the club

As the DigitalFilipino.com Club turns 4 years old this Christmas, I must say that its time has come to be properly upgraded that shall include the following changes and will be seen in the last quarter:

• Creation of specialized content section
  As our content has grown in time, I will be creating sections on various interest topics where materials shall be filled in on a regular basis that ranges from marketing, project management, outsourcing, product management, research, writing, traffic analytics, among others.
• Post live projects in the innovation forum
  I've converted our forums to an innovation section to discuss possible project opportunities. This time, I'll be citing projects that can be explored for collaboration and revenue sharing.

We will also be having our One Internet Day event this November. I will have the venue finalized soon and shall post the details when ready. I think the improvement of approach to the club is necessary as we get more members outside of the Philippines.

On another note, I'm helping one of our club members promote this HDB. I'm sure there'll be a lot of opportunities here.

Invitation to Attend SME Event - “ICT Issues for SMEs”

As small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) prepare to do business in the New Economy, they face the challenge of effectively and efficiently adopting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to advance their businesses.

To help SMEs overcome this challenge, the APEC Digital Opportunity Center (ADOC) program in collaboration with DigitalFilipino.com and the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT) will conduct a short program - ICT Issues for SMEs - on September 20, 2007 from 9 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. at the Mandarin Hotel, Makati, Manila.

Three guest speakers have been invited from Taiwan to give short presentations on how they are working with SMEs and assisting them with the various issues that relate to ICT for business. The short program aims to share some practical lessons and experiences that relate to the adoption and use of ICT by SMEs for business development.

We feel that it would be of benefit for your organization to attend and share in this learning experience. We therefore extend to you an invitation to send representatives from your organization to attend. Please let us know without delay (on or before Tuesday September 11, 2007) the name of your representatives wishing to attend.

Participants must inform us if they wish attend to secure a seat for the event.

Refreshments will served at the Mandarin Hotel, the event is open to all and free of charge.

To confirm your attendance, please contact ADOC Office:

Mercie Nicolas & Arvin Eugenio
(Office) 920-0101 ext. 205
(Mobile) 0917-451-6437
Email: mnicolas@ncc.gov.ph

Online tutorials are now up

Hello club members. I just like you to know that our online tutorial section is now up and have uploaded our first video, audio, and handout with exercise.

Our first topic is all about Integrating Feedburner in Blogger.com. We are also learning in the process of doing this and your suggestions on future topics will be very much appreciated.



More to come!

Switching to online video / audio tutorials

One of the things happening right now in the DigitalFilipino.com Club is that our growing membership base has expanded outside of the Philippines. This poses the challenge for our hands-on training workshops be made available to as many club members as possible.

I've been getting requests to post videos of our training to benefit those who are too busy to attend. After participating in the Thirty Day Challenge, I finally got the much needed inspiration on how to execute it. In that regard, please expect podcast and video content to be posted in our membership site and blogs shortly.

We've had so much content to put online that covers our training in the past such as:

• E-mail marketing
• Website marketing
• Website evaluation
  
• E-commerce website development
• Setting-up and analyzing website traffic
• Online payment acceptance
• E-Newsletter creation
• Website enhancement
• Google Adsense
• Google AdWords
• Blogging
• E-commerce workshop
• E-commerce basics

All video/podcast presentations shall be supplemented by handouts that can downloaded from the members-only area. It will also be accompanied by exercises that you can work on and submit to me for further one-on-one interaction.

Your suggestions on the content will be very much appreciated.

Lessons Learned in Launching and Operating a Membership Only Site

I just found a great post from Yaro Starak sharing his experience in launching a members-only site. I will cite some of the key points in his post and share my experience as well in starting and maintaining the DigitalFilipino.com Club from December 2003 to the present.

• Build your preeminence
  Becoming known as an expert in your field requires a lot of hard work and investment. In my case, writing numerous articles, joining or forming an association catering to that niche, creating free e-learning programs (using an autoresponder), doing speaking engagement and advocacy on e-commerce helped in establishing myself in this area.
  
  This is a continuous effort and getting your contacts to spread the word for you will be helpful, in addition to your resources.
  
  
• Communication channels
  My mailing list/newsletter is one of the most important moves I've taken when putting up DigitalFilipino.com. By the time the membership club was launched, I have sufficient number of contacts to offer the membership and pitch it whenever appropriate.
  
  
• How to launch a membership site
  The right combination of tools must be available to launch a membership site. For me, I used WebsiteWizard to start my online membership program. That web service allowed me to:
• accept payments online
• have a members-only area where members can download research reports, join forums
• have a mailing list system that can be used for broadcasting services.
  
  
• Content and pricing
  A membership site will have higher chances of success if individuals that join or sign-up will find high quality content. In our case, these are composed of research reports, e-commerce related e-books, tutorials, advice, presentation papers by fellow members, among others. Always give more than what they pay for.
  
  Depending on which country you are based and the package you're offering, pricing may differ from one membership program to another. To find the right price is to get an estimate on the value you are offering. Adjust this based on freshness of offerings and changes in the target market.
  

August 3: E-Mail Marketing Hands-On Workshop

To all SME and Corporate members of the DigitalFilipino.com Club, we shall be having an E-Mail Marketing hands-on tutorial session this August 3, Friday, from 9 am to 3 pm. This will be held at Alfox Internet Cafe (beside Chowking), Kamuning Road, corner Edsa, Quezon City.

Topics include:

• Introduction to E-Mail Marketing
• Examples of E-Mail Marketing Campaigns
• Using AutoResponder and Forums for E-Mail Marketing Campaigns
• Designing an E-Mail Marketing Campaign
  

SME members can send 1 representative while Corporate members can send 2 representatives. Please confirm for food count purposes.

Interested non-members and individual members are requested to sign up as an SME or Corporate member prior to August 3 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

August 1: DigitalFilipino.com Club 29th Networking Event with Bloggers

The DigitalFilipino.com Club will be having its 29th networking event this August 1 Wednesday, 6:00 to 9:00 pm. The venue shall be at Max Restaurant, Park Square 1, Makati City.

Our sincerest thanks to Yehey.com for hosting our small get together.

This gathering is exclusive for DigitalFilipino.com Club members only and are requested to confirm attendance for food count purposes. Those who submitted entries to the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2007 writing project were also invited.

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a member prior to August 1.

Agenda shall be as follows:

5:30 - 6:00 Registration
6:00 - 6:30 Introduction and updates by each club member and blogger guests

6:30 - 7:00 Updates from Yehey.com

7:00 - 7:30 Club Updates (Janette Toral)
- 2007 Young Filipino Internet User Top Websites
- Final Result: The Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2007

7:30 - 8:00 Raffle of Ten Entry Winners in the The Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2007 (Prizes sponsored by YesPayments.com, YesPinoy.com, GiveMeUnlimited.com, RegaloService.com, and GalingPinoy.com)

8:00 - 9:00 Networking among members and bloggers

Club members are requested to confirm their attendance for food count purposes.

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a member prior to June 29 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

There are three types of membership: Individual, SME, Corporate.

We hope you can join. Thank you.

July 25: Barangay.ph - Global Filipino Village Online Launch

I just sent an invite to all DigitalFilipino.com Club members inviting them to the launch of Barangay.ph this July 25. The preparations and partnerships made for this launch was enormous. I certainly look forward to it.

Filipinos abroad will find a home away from home in Barangay.ph. It is packaged as a "Global Filipino Village Online" that will provide easy access to patronize and support the Philippines.

Barangay means “village” in Filipino. As the name implies, Barangay.ph is a web portal designed around buildings typically found in a village. The 13 buildings include associations, bank, church, city hall, hospital, library, market, real estate, restaurant, school, social hall, theatre, and travel. These buildings, each with their own unique functions, will provide online venues where Filipinos can effectively exchange ideas and causes as well as make use of one other’s trades and professions.

The market building, will sell goods and services to buyers worldwide for delivery to family and friends in the Philippines. The library building will provide resources such as Filipino newspapers from around the world, dictionaries and articles about culture and heritage. The social hall building will have social events, message boards, humor and philanthropic communities. The content of the 13 buildings will develop as the demand for it grows.

Individuals, companies and associations are invited to come on-board and partner up with the site. Barangay.ph will work hand in hand with enterprises to get their name, product and message delivered to a global audience. It is a collaborative effort with commercial and non-profit organizations, both private and public.

CEO of Barangay.ph Jonno Alcaro and wife Nanette are the brains behind it. Jonno is the former co-owner, Director and EVP of Yellowpages.com. Nanete is the former Director of Sales and Marketing of deluxe hotels both in Manila and the U.S., such as The Peninsula NY, Plaza Athenee NY and Hotel Bel-Air LA. They have over 45 combined years of marketing expertise in the U.S., worldwide and online. Together, they have created the business and marketing model behind Barangay.ph.

The mission of Barangay.ph is to bring the Philippines homeland closer to overseas Filipinos of every generation and in so doing, contribute to the growth of its economy. It aims to be the one stop Global Filipino Village online for all.

June 29: DigitalFilipino.com Club 28th Networking Event

The DigitalFilipino.com Club will be having its 28th networking event this June 29, 2007 Friday, 2:00 to 5:00 pm. The venue shall be at EGG Glorietta 4, Ayala Center, Makati City.

Our sincerest thanks to Asia Pacific E-Serv Corporation for hosting our small get together. This gathering is exclusive for DigitalFilipino.com Club members only and are requested to confirm attendance for food count purposes.

Agenda shall be as follows:

1:30 - 2:00 Registration
2:00 - 2:15 Introduction and updates by each club member
2:15 - 3:00 Internet Payment Solution Service (Ronald Magleo, Asia Pacific E-Serv Corporation)
3:00 - 4:00 Club Updates (Janette Toral)

• Changes in the Filipino Internet User Profile in the past 13 years of the Philippine Internet (release of the Filipino Internet User Report 2007: Youth-Focused)
• Blogging 101 Workshop E-Book release
  

4:00 - 5:00 Networking among members

Club members are requested to confirm their attendance for food count purposes.

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a member prior to June 29 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

There are three types of membership: Individual, SME, Corporate.

We hope you can join. Thank you.

June 7: Website Marketing Hands-On Tutorial

To all SME and Corporate members of the DigitalFilipino.com Club, we shall be having a Website Marketing hands-on tutorial session this June 7, Thursday, from 9 am to 5 pm. This will be held at Alfox Internet Cafe (beside Chowking), Kamuning Road, corner Edsa, Quezon City.

Topics include:

1. Writing good page titles
2. Meta tags
3. Proper text formatting
4. Creating a sitemap
5. Search engine registration
6. Blog marketing
7. Internet Advertising
8. Website traffic monitoring
   

SME members can send 1 representative while Corporate members can send 2 representatives. Please confirm for food count purposes.

Interested non-members and individual members are requested to sign up as an SME or Corporate member prior to June 7 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

We hope you can join. Thank you.

InnofoneLab launches JackpotSpy

One of our club members, InnofoneLab, just sent me a message about their new JackpotSpy service. They are now giving a 30-days free beta trial that lottery enthusiasts can subscribe to.

JackpotSpy monitors the game for subscribers and sends alert through the mobile phone when the amount desired is reached. This is useful for those who are interested in buying tickets when higher prizes are at stake.

According to InnofoneLab, anyone can subscribe to JackpotSpy, during its beta or free trial period, which is not limited to a particular country. Lotto alerts for US lotteries are the ones that get sent out at this time.

Once the official version with paid subscription is launched, JackpotSpy will offer alerts from international lotteries as well.

Organizing an online writing project

Last week had been fairly exciting as I joined a group writing project for the first time. Although I did not received any monetary prize, the value of getting to discover new blogs, the link love, ideas inspiration, and website traffic (even for a short period of time), made it all worth it.

There were a lot of posts I read citing that majority of blogs today are bound to fail. I believe that the reasons behind it can include:

• Unable to build a readership base.
• Had a hard time in earning some link love. It seems that link love is easiest gained by participating in some online or offline social activities.
• The blogger starts getting lost and ponder as to why they are blogging in the first place.
• and there are many more (please feel free to add your thoughts)

Last Saturday, I acted on this lingering idea of initiating a writing project, The Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2007, but with emphasis on recognizing new blogs that are out there today. What inspired me to do it includes:

• I noticed that majority of connections and community members in MyBlogLog have blogs that are less than a year old. This is a good opportunity to put the spotlight on them.
• Getting bloggers to recognize the new ones may perhaps contribute in lessening the percentage of blogs that lose inspiration, fail, and die within a year.
• New faces! Sometimes it gets tiring to see the old ones being mentioned again and again and again.
  
• Take this project as a means to promote some of our corporate club members and other sponsors during the activity.

I'm conservative on the number of entries this effort will generate. However, in the years to come, I hope it will gain momentum.

Monitoring Filipino Top 100 Blogs

Davao-based club member Andrew dela Serna monitors the Philippines Top 100 blogs through his new project, Ratified.org. Perhaps Pinoy would be more accurate as the bloggers that get ranked are not necessarily Philippine-based. (as long as they are a Filipino)

• Aileen Apolo believes that this is a great tool for measuring one's blog performance.
• J. Angelo Racoma has reservation as Technorati.com may not be the most efficient tool around to rank one's blog as its system can be abused by those who own multiple blogs.

The additional metrics that Andrew included, and be adding, will be helpful in coming up with a more realistic rank. It will be interesting to see how Filipino blogs fair in the months to come.

My challenges in measuring my blogs and site performance includes:

• Majority of my blog readers are not bloggers nor feed reader users. They are my DigitalFilipino Yahoo Group members where I disseminate blog updates.
  
• My reflection and Ituloy AngSulong blog got a high Technorati rank due to participation in events like Blog Parteeh and iBlog3. However, the number of visit it gets is nowhere near my Philippine Internet Review blog that has a lower Technorati rank. I wonder which one will matter more?
• My DigitalFilipino.com site is indexed in Technorati but is not exactly a blog, more of a hybrid. I wonder if that can be included in Ratified.
  
• I believe template creators or web host owners have an advantage in Technorati as they can include a link, in a mandatory manner, to their blog site at the footer. Of course, that doesn't necessarily result to readers.
• As I'm running a promo in my blogging book blog, it will be interesting to learn how its metric will shape up in a month or two. The same goes to my web awards blog as we will be ramping up the feature of winners in the weeks to come.

More power to you Andrew and may you inspire more developers in building creative applications.

April 27: DigitalFilipino Web Awards Ceremony and Networking

The DigitalFilipino.com Web Awards will be having its awards ceremony this Friday, 9 am to 3 pm, April 27, 2007. This will be held at the Penthouse of Board of Investments, Gil Puyat Avenue (corner Paseo De Roxas), Makati City.
We encourage club members to take advantage of this event and mingle with the owners or representatives of the thirty-one websites we will be honoring during this event. We also welcome any help in this regard from handling the registration, issuing of name tags, be assigned to take care of several winners, food distribution, trophy handling, hosting the programme, talking to the press, among others. Raffle contribution and additional prizes will be more than welcome as well.

The agenda of the awards are as follows:

8:00 - 9:00 Registration
9:00 - 9:15 Welcome remarks - What makes a great website?

9:15 - 10:30 Winners announcement (Apparel/Fashion, Art, Association / Organization, Auction / Shopping Portal, Automotive, Beauty, Blog - Personal, Blog - Professional, Books,Community, Computer/Consumer Electronics, Consumer Banking/Bills Payment, Corporate / Professional, Education, Food, Games)

10:30 - 10:45 Promoting your business online (Aileen Apolo, Google)

10:45 - 12:15 Winners announcement (Gifts, Government, Home Furnishings, Insurance, Music/Movie/Film, Newspaper, Pharmaceuticals, Podcast, Politics, Real Estate, Services, Social Networking, Telecom / Value Added Services, Tourism, Travel)

12:15 - 1:30 Lunch

1:30 - 2:00 The APEC Digital Opportunity Center (ADOC) Award (Guest Speaker from TECO)

• ADOC ICT Award 3rd Place (Special prize)
• ADOC ICT Award 2nd Place (Special prize)
• ADOC ICT Award 1st Place (ADOC Week participation on July 24 to 27, 2007 in Taiwan and special prize)

2:00 - 2:30 Closing and Group Picture

Club members are requested to confirm their attendance for food count purposes.

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a member prior to April 27 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

There are three types of membership: Individual, SME, Corporate.

We hope you can join. Thank you.

April 20: Website Evaluation Workshop

We are now reaching the climax of the DigitalFilipino.com Web Awards as we move into the final judging stage this Friday, 9 am, April 20, 2007. This will be held at Alfox Internet Cafe (beside Chowking), Kamuning Road, corner Edsa, Quezon City.

Agenda as follows:

• Intro on what makes a great website
• Judging criteria
• Assignment of categories

Club members are requested to confirm their attendance for food count purposes.

Cebu: March 16: 7th Eyeball / Web Marketing Workshop

The DigitalFilipino.com Club will be having its 7th networking event in Cebu City this March 16, Friday, 2:00 to 5:00 pm. The venue shall be at CEDFIT, Asia Town IT Park Apas, Cebu City.

My sincerest thanks to CEDFIT (http://www.cedfit.org) for hosting this club eyeball.

This gathering is exclusive for DigitalFilipino.com Club members.

Agenda shall be as follows:

1:30 - 2:00 Registration

2:00 - 2:10 Introduction by each club member and guests

2:10 - onwards DigitalFilipino Club Updates and Web Marketing Workshop (Janette Toral)

Participants shall be given Google AdWords coupon to perform the Internet advertising exercise. The use and creation of blogs, web traffic analytics using Google Analytics and MyBlogLog, and Google AdSense for passive revenue generation shall also be discussed.

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a member prior to March 16 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

There are three types of membership: Individual, SME, Corporate. We hope you can join. Thank you.

Davao: March 17: 2nd Eyeball / Web Marketing Workshop

The DigitalFilipino.com Club will be having its 2nd networking event in Davao City this March 17, Saturday, 2:00 to 5:00 pm. The venue shall be at Netfront Coffee Shop & Internet Café, CM Recto St, in front of Aldevinco, Davao City.

I'll be collaborating with club member Aileen Apolo of Google (http://www.google.com.ph) in conducting this afternoon event.

This gathering is exclusive for DigitalFilipino.com Club members and guests of Google's Aileen Apolo.

Agenda shall be as follows:

1:30 - 2:00 Registration
2:00 - 2:10 Introduction by each club member and guests
2:10 - 2:40 Putting Your Business Online (Aileen Apolo, Google)
2:40 - 3:00 Creating and Managing a Blog Network (Abraham Olandres)
3:00 - 3:20 Blogging as a Media Tool (Jayvee Fernandez)
3:20 - onwards Club introduction/updates and Web Marketing Workshop proper (Janette Toral)

Participants shall be given Google AdWords coupon to perform the Internet advertising exercise. The use and creation of blogs, web traffic analytics using Google Analytics and MyBlogLog, and Google AdSense for passive revenue generation shall also be discussed.

If possible, please bring your laptop as there's free wi-fi in the venue.

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a member prior to March 17 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

There are three types of membership: Individual, SME, Corporate.

We hope you can join. Thank you.

March 3: Digital Photography and Printing Tips/Tricks

The DigitalFilipino.com Club will be having its 27th networking event this March 3, 2007 Saturday, 2:00 to 6:00 pm. The venue shall be at Gallery 7 Digital Studio 169 G/F of Oasis Manila (map) Aurora Boulevard corner Madison Street, San Juan, Metro Manila. Venue is also diagonally across Broadway Centrum.

Our sincerest thanks to Gallery 7 Digital Studio for hosting our small get together. This gathering is exclusive for DigitalFilipino.com Club members only and are requested to confirm attendance for food count purposes.

DigitalFilipino.com Club members are encouraged to bring their digital cameras to benefit from this afternoon session. In addition, Gallery 7 Digital Studio will offer special rates for club members who would like to have their digital photos printed.

Agenda shall be as follows:
1:30 - 2:00 Registration
2:00 - 2:15 Introduction and updates by each club member
2:15 - 3:00 Digital Photography Tips/Tricks and Exercise (Dennis Rito)
3:00 - 3:30 Trends in Archival Quality Printing (Enrico Gaw, Gallery 7 Digital Studio)
3:30 - 4:00 Updates on Affordable Advertising and Ad Revenue Program for Club Members.
4:00 - 7:00 Networking among members

For club members who wish to avail of a free ride to the venue, let us meet up at McDonalds MRT Quezon Avenue, Quezon City at 12:30 pm.

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a member prior to March 3 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

There are three types of membership: Individual, SME, and Corporate. Thank you.

February 24: FREE E-Commerce Website Development Briefing

Hello everyone. I got invited by the Korea-Philippines Information Technology Training Center (KORPHIL) and Posh Marketing Services to give a FREE briefing on E-Commerce Website Development this February 24, 2007 from 2 pm to 5 pm at KORPHIL located inside the Quezon City Polytechnic University Compound (near Mindanao Avenue), No. 673 Quirino Highway, San Bartolome, Novaliches, Quezon City

I shall be inviting club members to help me out in this event to discuss the following:

• E-Commerce Project Planning
• E-Commerce Website or Blog Set-Up
• Accepting Online Payment
• Web Marketing

Note that this briefing is FREE. Should you like to avail of snacks, just bring P50 pesos to cover the cost.

To sign-up, just send me an e-mail at digitalfilipino(at)yahoo.com with your name, company, address, and contact number. Thank you.

New opportunities, lucky charms, and political campaign season

I am now in the process of scheduling a regular club member eyeball soon. Will post the announcement soon. Last day for casting your nomination in the DigitalFilipino.com Web Awards is today.

I'm still looking for 30 more club members to join our advertising revenue program. Some updates from some of our members.

Manuel Viloria shared a new ranking model by the Yahoo Search Marketing group that allows advertisers to rank highly as a result of both their bid prices, and the quality of their ads.

Gwen Nava gave an overview on the basics of business process outsourcing.

Dennis Rito posted interesting tips and tidbits on photography as a business.

Noemi Lardizabal Dado shared what does Chinese Zodiac Sign Lucky Pig Charm means. My daughter should check this out.

Gallery 7 Digital Studio announced the winner of their Share your Valentine Story contest.

Marc Javellana talked about his excitement on the upcoming Davao Bloggers party. Being one of the culprits of this upcoming event, I'm all out support for it. (si Blogie pa!)

Aileen Apolo announced the Gmail open sign-up and points us to videos as well on the advantages of Gmail.

Abby Ongyangco Lim is now into technical analysis on financial markets.

J Angelo Racoma gave up on being referred to as a problogger and ask peers in the blogosphere to help out a fellow Pinoy blogger.

Jay Frank De Jesus dicussed top 10 meals for those on a budget.

Oliver Robillo shared a meet up with former club member Roel Hernandez.

Peachy Herrin blogs about Vic Magsaysay for Senator.

Stephanie Caragos posted some thoughts about on-the-job trainees applying at Syntactics.

Wilson believes that Vista is worth the wait.

Many thanks also to club members who gave a link to our Ituloy AngSulong competition entry. Your support is very much appreciated. I hope we'll make it.

February 28: Setting Up and Analyzing Website Traffic Statistics Report Hands-on Workshop

Due to request from SME and Corporate members of the DigitalFilipino.com Club, we shall be having a "Setting Up and Analyzing Website Traffic Statistics Report Hands-on Workshop" this February 28, Wednesday, from 1:30 to 5 pm. This will be held at Alfox Internet Cafe (beside Chowking), Kamuning Road, corner Edsa, Quezon City.

Topics include:

• Introduction to Website Traffic Statistics
• Using Website Traffic Statistics as an improvement guide
• Exploring various Website Traffic Statistics package
• Setting up Website Traffic Statistics
• Analyzing Website Traffic Statistics report

SME members can send 2 representatives while Corporate members can send 3 representatives. Please confirm for food count purposes.

Interested non-members and individual members are requested to sign up as a SME or Corporate member prior to February 28 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

We hope you can join. Thank you.

Thank you for attending the Online Payment Acceptance Workshop

Thank you so much to SME and Corporate members of the DigitalFilipino.com Club who took time to attend our Online Payment Acceptance Hands-On Tutorial last Saturday.

They got exposed to various forms of e-payment and set up an account in YOSSN as a case study. Special thanks to the following who took time to attend:

• Gallery 7 Online
• IT Group
• Acclaim Butterflies
• IPVG
• Yehey
• SLTCFI
• WorldPartner
• Laurus Enterprises

Thank you for the support!

Valentine preparation, networking tips, and Davao bloggers eyeball

Reggie just came up with an interesting list of Valentine gift suggestions. I'm sure her online store will be a hit again this Valentine's Day as much as her Christmas sales was a blockbuster.

Enrico launched a "Share Your Valentine Story" contest - open to all lovers worldwide. I hope there'll be a lot of entries as the prize is really nice.

Rik just created his first blog post. Let's give him a warm welcome to the blogosphere members!

Gwen cited some techniques on networking and a forthcoming event about it.

It is interesting to see that Angelo likes two stuff that I like too. That is Kim Possible and Prison Break!

Leah flaunts the gadgets that she owns (that can make any girl drool). Check out the growing number of wi-fi hotspots in Bohol.

Jaeyoun posted ICANN's strategic plan from 2007 to 2010. That is indeed a long range plan.

Peachy informed us that YouTube can now be used for online video recording.

Jay met celebrities Christian Bautista and Rachelle Ann Go.

Sacha is all set to return to Canada.

Manuel gave a tool advise for serious listbuilding campaigns.

Marc shared his recent discovery on how breastfeeding can help mothers lose weight.

Wilson just became the first poster in the SEO Philippines Forum.

Aileen and Noemi got the chance to meet Bo Sanchez in the last Blog Parteeh (blogparteeh07). They were interviewed and featured in the preacher's program. Noemi posted the video snippet in her blog.

Dennis R. showcased photos of the recent World Pyro Olympics. I will be contacting him to possibly give a talk to club members on photography.

Abby talked about her Dad's way with proverbs in expressing concerns.

Oliver is organizing a bloggers eyeball this Saturday in Davao. Should they proceed in eventually having a major blogging event, I hope we can convince JJ to make it an iBlog mini type of event. Promoting blogging there and teaching creative techniques about it can also be considered technopreneurial in some aspect. With so many Davaoeño bloggers, I'm sure such an event can be successful. I also miss winding down with the guys there, having great durian coffee, and enjoy the wifi.

Stephanie just gave her blog a facelift and it looks great! I hope she'll start considering making Blogger templates and give it away. (hint! hint! I want one!!) That will certainly make her blog skyrocket in ranking. :)

Dennis A. just had a Davao Scuba Diving trip with friends lately.

February 3: Online Payment Acceptance Hands-On Tutorial

To all SME and Corporate members of the DigitalFilipino.com Club, we shall be having an Online Payment Acceptance hands-on tutorial session this February 3, Saturday, from 1:30 pm to 5 pm. This will be held at Alfox Internet Cafe (beside Chowking), Kamuning Road, corner Edsa, Quezon City.

Topics include:

1. Ways to accept payments online
2. Demo of online payment system (email billing, web-based payment, mobile payments)
3. Evaluating online payment providers (comparative analysis)
4. Fraud management

SME members can send 2 reps while Corporate members can send 3 reps. Please confirm for food count purposes.

Interested non-members and individual members are requested to sign up as a SME or Corporate member prior to February 3 and confirm attendance for food count purposes. We hope you can join. Thank you.

Thank you for attending the e-Newsletter Creation Workshop

Thank you so much to SME and Corporate members of the DigitalFilipino.com Club who took time to attend our Create an E-Newsletter Hands-on Workshop last Thursday. They all learned on some of the technologies that can be used to created an internal and public e-newsletter.

Part of the requirement of the day is to create one newsletter issue to kick it off. Special thanks to the following who took time to attend:

• Gallery 7 Online
• RegaloService
• Synergia Cybercare
• IT Group
• New Kanlaon Construction
• ePLDT
• YesPinoy
• Acclaim Butterflies

Our next workshop will be about Online Payment Acceptance and shall announce it shortly.

Thank you for attending the Blogging / Social Computing Forum

Thank you so much to DigitalFilipino.com Club Members who took the time to attend the Blogging / Social Computing Forum that we had yesterday.

Our sincerest thanks to club members Sacha Chua, Noemi Lardizabal-Dado, J. Angelo Racoma, and Jasper Jugan of Microsoft Philippines for sharing their knowledge.

Here are some blog coverage about it:

• Blogging and Social Computing Forum (Aileen Apolo)
• Ten ways I use LinkedIn (Janette Toral)
• Blogging and Social Computing (Janette Toral)
• Populating Upcoming.Org for Metro Manila (J Angelo Racoma)
• How to Promote your blog: Personal Blogging Experience Part 1 (Noemi Lardizabal Dado)

Check out the handouts and event photos too.