DAY 30 Lessons - Improving Your Blog and Your Blogging Skills

”I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career, 
I’ve lost almost 300 games.  
26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot 
and missed. 
I’ve failed over…  and over… and over again in my life.  
And that is why I succeed.” ~ Michael Jordan

Day 30 lessons!

After learning the basics of creating a functional blog, SEO, blog promotion, job and business opportunities, etc… what’s next?  Well after a month, you still have a long way to go - BUT it’s much easier from this day forward. ^_^

WHAT’S YOUR NEXT MOVE?


CONTINUE TO IMPROVE…


Continue to improve your online writing skills. Have you noticed any difference between your early posts and your current posts? If you’re blogging regularly then by now you may have develop a blogging style that’s uniquely yours ^_^. 


Continue to improve your SEO skills. I’ve only given you the basics of SEO so you may want to improve more by researching and learning new techniques.  This will be very useful for you and your blog’s development.


Continue to improve the “look” or design of your blog. Experiment, be creative, add useful gadgets, re-arrange your layout… there’s always room for improvement.  


Continue to learn new blog-related things. Communicate with your readers and with other like-minded bloggers. Don’t confine yourself to just your blog, explore similar blogs, this may give you inspirations &/or ideas to develop your own.


And finally…


Continue to write original-quality posts on a regular basis. This is the essence of blogging – to write, to share, to communicate and eventually to develop oneself.


Again, in the blogging world “Content is King”, I don’t know how many times I’ve typed that simple phrase to emphasize its importance.  I just want you to always keep in mind that content is the key ingredient of a successful blog.


That’s it! Congratulations for going this far!  I hope and pray that you’ll continue with your blogging activities, continue to improve yourself, and continue to post more interesting, fun, and useful articles in the future.


God Bless!


Piaps ^_^

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PRAYER :

“Thank you Lord for the time that You’ve been with me all throughout the course duration. May you keep on guiding me while I continue to develop my blog. Give me inspiration to keep me motivated so I can share more valuable posts and create really helpful articles.” 

AMEN 
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DAY 29 Lessons - The Philippine Blogging Scene

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this:
decide what you want." ~ Ben Stein

Hello It’s Day 29! (How time flies… ^_^) and today I will be sharing with you some info about the Philippine Blogging Scene.
 

Top 10 Most Popular Blogs with most unique visitors in the Philippines per *Alexa.com report as of June 2011.   

*Alexa.com –Provides information about websites such as- top sites, internet traffic statistics, ranks and more Alexa.com has been online since 1996.

  1.  BatangasToday.com – 246,192 unique monthly visitors
  2.  Rickey.org – 162,051 unique monthly visitors
  3.  DailyContributor.com – 70,079 unique monthly visitors
  4.  Mykiru.blogspot.com – 55,113 unique monthly visitors
  5.  NursingCrib.com – 48,615 unique monthly visitors
  6.  JunAuza.com – 42,393 unique monthly visitors
  7.  JaypeeOnline.net – 38,886 unique monthly visitors
  8.  ChuvaChienes.com – 37,587 unique monthly visitors
  9.  PanlasangPinoy.com – 30,818 unique monthly visitors
  10.  PhilBoxing.com – 29,503 unique monthly visitors

In the Philippines, there is an annual event that gives recognition to outstanding Filipino blogs.  It is called thePhilippine Blog Awards. The Philippine Blog Awards started its first ever awarding event in 2007.

The following blogs won in the recent 2011 Philippine Blog Awards Nationals:

Best Advocacy Blog
Environment Philippines http://www.environmentphilippines.com

Best Beauty and Fashion Blog

Best Busines Blog

Best Culture and Arts Blog

Best Entertainment Blog

Best Food & Beverage Blog
Ralph Guzman // Foodie http://www.ratedralph.com

Best Gaming Blog
The Otaku Fridge http://www.otakufridge.com

Best Hobbies and Recreation Blog
kuhol.net – cars, culture, competition, community http://kuhol.net/

Best Home and Parenting Blog

Best Humor Blog
The Professional Heckler http://professionalheckler.wordpress.com

Best Lifestyle Blog
Geek Girl Manila http://geekgirlmanila.com/

Best Literature Blog

Best Personal/Diary Blog

Best Photo Blog

Best Society, Politics and History Blog
It’s True! It’s True! http://www.mistervader.blogspot.com/

Best Sports Blog

Best Technology Blog

Best Travel Blog

Best Videocasts and Podcasts Blog
Brink Notes Podcast Network http://www.bncast.com

SPECIAL CATEGORIES

Best Filipiniana Blog
Live in the Philippines http://www.liveinthephilippines.com

Top Video/Podcast


Top PhotoPost

Top Post


Best Blog Design

Readers’ Choice

Bloggers Choice
Libre Lang Mangarap http://otep.wordpress.com/


And lastly, there is the annual iBlog: Philippine Blogging Summit which started in 2006 and being hosted by the UP Law-ISP.  It is an open event for Filipino bloggers where famous Pinoy bloggers give informative talks and more than 300 bloggers attend.

This event tackles all blog-related topics.  In last year’s 2-day summit event they focused on the following topics:

1st Day:
Blogging for Business (entrepreneurs, corporations, non-government organizations, and similar entities). Received proposals on topics that can help businesses better understand how they can tap blogs as a marketing and promotional tool, and how to work effectively with bloggers to achieve that purpose (i.e. through events, contests, advertising, and the like).
2nd Day:
The second day focused on topics of interest for Bloggers in general, such as introduction to blogging, use of photos and videos, blogging policies, and blog promotion.

That’s it for today!

God Bless!

Piaps ^_^

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DAILY PRAYER :

“Dear Lord, Guide me in my daily tasks.  May I learn something new every day and make use of what I’ve learned to improve myself. Keep me inspired and help me to stay focus so I may finish what I have planned to accomplish.

AMEN 
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DAY 28 Lessons - Short History of Blog

“10 Steps to Becoming a Better Writer 

Write. 
Write more. 
Write even more. 
Write even more than that. 
Write when you don’t want to. 
Write when you do. 
Write when you have something to say. 
Write when you don’t. 
Write every day. 
Keep writing.”

Hello It’s Day 28 and today I will be sharing with you a brief history of BLOG

In simple terms, a blog is a personal journal published online.
 

The first generally recognized blog was created in January 1994 by a college student named Justin Hall.  The blog is Links.net and it was not called a blog then since the term “blog” was coined only in early 1999.  Justin Hall referred to it only as his personal homepage.

The term blog (coined by a veteran blogger named Peter Merholz in 1999) came from the word “weblog” a term coined in December 1997 by Jorn Barger, also a veteran blogger.

In the year 1999 blogging began to take off with the introduction of two free blogging tools >> Pitas and Blogger.

In July 1999, Pitas.com launched the first free build-your-own blog tool and in August 1999, Pyra Labs introduced “Blogger”.  Blogger was bought by Google.com in 2003, same year when Wordpress was introduced.


That’s it for today, be with you again tomorrow!

God Bless!

Piaps ^_^


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DAILY PRAYER :

“Dear Lord, Guide me in my daily tasks.  May I learn something new every day and make use of what I’ve learned to improve myself. Keep me inspired and help me to stay focus so I may finish what I have planned to accomplish.

AMEN 
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DAY 27 Lessons - Blogger versus Wordpress

 “You will never “find” time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” ~ Charles Buxton


It’s Day 27, three more days and we’re done with all the lessons! and for today we will be discussing the two blogging platform giants:

BLOGGER VERSUS WORDPRESS


Blogger and Wordpress are considered to be two of the best free blog publishing platforms in the internet today, and most bloggers can’t help but make a comparison between the two. 

There are pro-Bloggers and there are pro-Wordpress, and then there are others like me who doesn’t care which is which, as I think it really depends on the person using it.

In my experience, Blogger is more suitable for beginners as they have a simpler navigation system compared to Wordpress, and for me that’s the only big difference I see between the two.  I’ve tried both and still using both platforms until now and as far as I’m concern – both Blogger and Wordpress were able to supply all my blogging needs.

Blogger and Wordpress have its own strengths and weaknesses and in the end, as I’ve said, it all depends on the person using it.  On the technical side (feature-wise) here’s a short comparison between the two blogging platforms:


A word of advice: If your goal is to be a more “marketable” online worker/virtual assistant, you need to learn (or even master) Wordpress.  Why? Because most employers are currently using or prefer to use Wordpress.

That’s it for today, be with you again tomorrow!

God Bless!

Piaps ^_^

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DAILY PRAYER :

“Dear Lord, Guide me in my daily tasks.  May I learn something new every day and make use of what I’ve learned to improve myself. Keep me inspired and help me to stay focus so I may finish what I have planned to accomplish.

AMEN 
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DAY 26 Lessons - Motivations to Keep on Blogging

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Inspiration usually gives you the “first push”, motivation gives you the will to keep on pushing.  It’s your driving force. For many of us, money is a common motivation, success, popularity, and so on. 


I don't have to emphasize the importance of motivation in blogging or in pursuing your other goals in life. You already knew that by now.  What I can give you are some motivational blogging tips.


Here are some tips to keep you motivated in blogging:

1.  Keep your inspiration/s nearby. Why did you start blogging?  If it’s to earn money for your family, then place a family picture nearby.  OR you can create a “dream board” (a.k.a. vision board), put all your inspirations there and place it near your computer.


2.  Always keep in mind the benefits you will get from blogging and your blogging skills.

 
  • The passive income from your blog.
  • The many job opportunities that will open up to you.
  • The possible businesses you can engage in.
  • The knowledge you gain while blogging (and the mental exercises you get ^_^)
  • The improvement in your writing skills (English, grammar, style, etc.).
  • The readers that you were able to help and will help in the future.
  • You can include your blog and blogging skills in your resume.  This will come in handy especially if you’re going to apply for online work as a content writer, virtual assistant, etc.  
3.  Reward yourself – Give yourself a “treat”, let’s say after every 10 posts, or every after 5 thanks from your readers, or for reaching that 1000 page views, or for every 25 followers you get, etc..

  
lastly…

Think of your blog as an investment and your posts as additional savings you add to your investment.  The more you save, the more your investment grows.  In blogging, as I’ve said before, “CONTENT IS KING” (highlighted, bold, and underlined!). 

The more you post unique content the more popular your blog will become.  And if you post regularly, once every day, every 2 days, every three days and so on, soon you’ll realize you already have a thick blog.

It doesn’t matter if you have an approved Google Adsense account or not. If you have a good established blog, income opportunities will follow whether you like it or not (I repeat…) WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!

That’s it for Day 26,  I’ll be with you again tomorrow!

Have a Productive and Blessed Week Ahead!


Piaps ^_^

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DAILY PRAYER :

“Dear Lord, Guide me in my daily tasks.  May I learn something new every day and make use of what I’ve learned to improve myself. Keep me inspired and help me to stay focus so I may finish what I have planned to accomplish.

AMEN 
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