Content development program opportunities

With the experience gained in the DigitalFilipino Web Awards, I recognized that there's not much content available online today that caters to a wide array of topics that Filipinos and Internet users all over the world may find of great use.

In this regard, this content development project, first offered to club members (last March 17, 2007), is now open to anyone interested.

To join, one has to do the following:

• Propose a topic of interest (based on categories in the DigitalFilipino Web Awards) and submit an outline broken into 20 article proposal.
• Once approved and agreed upon, the articles have to be written and submitted in 20 days. Each article should be no less than 500 words.
• We will pay US$100 for the 20 article series.

Terms:

• Content developers must comply to editorial changes as requested.
• Copyright of articles belongs to DigitalFilipino.com / Janette Toral.

E-mail your proposal to digitalfilipino (at) gmail (dot) com.

E-Commerce, SEO, Blogging, Social Networks, Web Operations Hands-on Workshop

All DigitalFilipino.com Club members are invited to attend the forthcoming E-Commerce Hands-on Workshop series this July 23, 25, 29, 31, and August 5 at the Alfox Internet Cafe (beside Chowking), Kamuning Road, corner Edsa, Quezon City.

Whether you are preparing a holiday season campaign or simply improving your website, I'm certain that this can be useful to your needs.

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:

July 23: E-Commerce Project Planning

• E-Commerce Purchasing Trends
  
• Developing a requirements document
  
• Identifying needs
• Setting goals
• Features list (prioritization)
• User identification and needs
• Competition identification
• Direct
• Indirect
• Keyword performers
  
• Source of revenue
• Content plan
• Project Plan creation
  

July 25: Internet, SEO, and Social Media 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 - 3:00 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
• 3:00 - 5:00 Social Media, Lifestreaming, Paid Campaigns for promotion
  
• Social Network
• Creating a campaign page in a social network site (Facebook, Multiply, Friendster, MySpace).
  
• Social Media
• Lifestreaming
  
• Internet Advertising (paid placements)
  

July 29: Blogging Workshop

• 9:00 - 12:00 Blogging 101 and Set-Up
  
• Introduction to Blogging
• Type of blogs highlighting the popular ones
• Platform
• Blog creation
  
• Blog ethics
  
• Copyright
  
• Advertising
  
• Re-publishing
• Blog content
• Purpose
• Topic tracking
• Writing
• Monitoring performance
  
• 1:00 - 5:00 Blog Promotion and Marketing
• Ping
• Advertising
• Social bookmarks, networks, and media
  
• Contests
• Google Reader
• Comments

July 31: Accepting Payments Online

• 9:00 - 12:00 Introduction to Online Payments
  
• Ways to accept payments online
• Demo of online payment systems (email billing, web-based payment, mobile payments)
• 1:00 - 5:00
  
• Evaluating online and mobile payment providers (comparative analysis)
• Fraud detection

August 5: 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 exercise
• 1:00 - 5:00 Improving Web Navigation
  
• Web navigation problems
• Mechanisms and type of web navigation
• Improving web navigation design
• Hands-on exercise
  

All training materials shall be posted at the club member site and also at our social network for online interactive learning purposes.

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

Self-Publishing Guide: A practical guide for aspiring writers

I just created a draft version of "Self-Publishing Guide: A practical guide for aspiring writers" and uploaded it in our club members site.

Publishing a book is a rigorous process and not one stage in the life-cycle should be taken for granted. Else, realizing a book project's full potential shall be jeopardized.

Here's the guide outline:

• Introduction
  
• Why publish?
• Publishing Process
  
• Development of manuscript
• Research
• To publish or not?
• Write the manuscript
• Edit the manuscript
• Prepare the book for printing
• Cover Design
• Layout
• Registration
• Permission
• Printing
• Sales and Marketing
• Retail and Distribution
• Promotion
• Conclusion
  

The guide can now be downloaded by club members and discuss further.