Monday, January 29, 2007

Are you LinkedIn?




I’m not very friendly by nature, but all this interconnectivity in the online world just makes me verrry sociable. This morning, I signed up for an account at LinkedIn and instantly connected with past and present colleagues who “linked-in” long before I did. I’m not a huge fan of social networking sites. I would only join one if it would serve a greater purpose like promoting my high-school batch’s mailing list (I’m doing this at Friendster) or stalking celebrities I admire (They’re at Multiply). What drew me to LinkedIn is the fact that it’s a networking site for professionals. Through my account, I am able to connect with colleagues in the publishing industry, promote my online projects, and tap future project partners. Neat, huh? No, I don’t have to write cheesy testimonials, but I can vouch for a certain colleague and make recommendations (I'd be happy to do this!).

And while we’re on the subject of networking, did you know that girls are the heaviest users of social networking sites? A survey by Pew Internet and American Life project showed that of 935 youths aged 12 to 17, older teens, particularly girls are more likely to use social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Would the case be the same with adult surfers, I wonder? In any case, let’s just hope that these teenage girls would become professionals someday and join LinkedIn. ;o)

How about you? What's your favorite networking site?

Related post:

Friday, January 26, 2007

Owning a piece of the Web

I have finally taken the plunge! Accepted my commitment and finally bought my own domain, www.mylittlebaker.com.

As I receive the confirmation and the access details for my site I felt relief, excitement and uncertainty of what I did, after all it is my own money that I used in buying the domain and a one-year web hosting package. If I fail in this venture there is no one to blame but myself.

At long last I own something, a piece of "property" that is in my own name and is a part of something BIG. I now OWN a piece of the WEB, and as an owner I have a commitment to use it to share information and to enrich the content/information found in the World Wide Web.

I've been planning to put my hobby/home-based business online for a few years now, and last November 2006 I finally did it. I started planning all the details for my online business summer of 2006, looking for a name, deciding on what do I want to place on the website and looking for my options in payment and delivery of goods. There were several reasons why I decided in putting up an online business:
  • To make it easy for my current customers and friends to view my products since most of them are online
  • To reach out to new customers
  • To make easy to market my products, I usually print brochures and give copies to prospective customers.

At first I planned to just get a free website or even use a blog to market my products online but when attended DigitalFilipino. com Club’s 23rd Networking Event last Oct 20, 2006 about Lessons Learned in Selling Products and Services Online: Featuring club members: YesPayments.com, Jovel Cipriano of PinoyDelikasi. com, Jay Frank De Jesus of TitikPilipino. com, Abby Ongyanco-Lim of Virramall.com, and Roy Platon wherein they shared their experiences in managing their online business. I realized that their “name” or “brand” is one of the key to their success. Like in any kind of business, you must create or have your own brand because it will be your representation to your market, and since having a website levels the field for businesses your name must stand out to get noticed.

It took me half the year to look for a name that best describes my products and to ensure that it is unique I checked the Department of Trade and Industry's Online Business Name Registration System and look if the domain name I want is still available. I panicked around October when I checked if littlebaker.com was available and to my surprised someone already owned it, I got sleepless nights after that because since August I've been planing to purchase the domain but I was still saving for it at that time. So finally by the last week of October I had enough money to buy my domain and webhosting, luckily mylittlebaker.com was still available and the name was much more appropriate because I named it after my son who is always present while I am baking.

Once I had decided on the name my next step was to look where I can register my domain and get web hosting. I used search engines, ask friends and acquaintances if they know a good web hosting provider and click domain registration ads. I finally found what I was looking for when a former student of mine working in a web service provider company(their hosting prices are expensive) gave suggestions on where to look for cheap web hosting solutions for beginners like me. There were so many packages available for web hosting, I based my package on the disk space allocation and the monthly data transfer allocation, this is crucial for me because my site is mostly made up of pictures of my products.

And after that the real work began in occupying my own piece of the web.

Joan Piñon joins W3O

I'm very glad to announce that DigitalFilipino.com Club Member and site owner of MyLittleBaker.com is now a contributor for W3O. She is Joan Piñon.

She'll be sharing her entrepreneurial, Internet, and e-commerce experience in W3O. We hope that you will be inspired by her story.

Welcome Joan!

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Connie Luayon joins W3O!

At the start of this blog sometime ago, I made a call for contributors to help out. However, as time went by, it became hard to update and sustain due to lack of revenue generators available at that time.

However, with opportunities coming our way, it makes sense to revive W3O once again. Invite contributors to join us and having resource for our writers as well to earn here. In addition to old contributors female club members were also invited.

To kick off, allow me to welcome Connie Luayon. She write news and feature for print and online media, with concentration on health & medical issues, web journalism, and the craft of writing. She regularly blogs for Online Media Beat and Today's Writer too.

We will be introducing more contributors in the weeks to come. Cheers!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Transition to Blogger, Feedburner, and MyBlogLog

For those of you who have been monitoring several of my blogs, the integration of MyBlogLog is almost complete with only 3 more blogs to go. With the service you'll get a glimpse of the new posts and most recent visitors of our blogs. I believe Yahoo really scored with their MyBlogLog acquisition.

I never thought that I'll be able to adjust that fast without Performancing. I guess MyBlogLog and Feedburner filled the void that Performancing has left as it ended its service. A day before Performancing stopped the Metrics service, I'm lucky to be able to get a screenshot of my Ituloy AngSulong visits performance that day as it hit 100 for the first time. Similar to Performancing, I noticed that MyBlogLog is able to capture clicks on Google AdSense which is great. This is what I really love about Performancing Metrics then.

For old blogs, I realized that it takes a lot of time to transition to the new blogger. This is especially true for W3O and Reflective Thinking blogs. Updating old entries with corresponding labels eats a lot of time. For those of us who joined the Ituloy AngSulong contest, it has also seriously affected our search engine ranking stability. Most of us our crossing our fingers and that our rankings will be stable enough soon.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Valentine Shopping at DigitalFilipino@YOSSN Gift Store

My sister requested this plug to be sound off for Valentines Day. For those of you who are planning for a special Valentine gift, this may be a good time to look around. Items available as gifts are:

I encourage you to start booking your orders today!

You can also try:

Monetizing hobbies

My journey in learning fortune reading stuff began last December because of a bead jewelry hobby that I got introduced to. This is where I learned how to create bead jewelry that is designed according to one zodiac and chinese astrology sign. To promote our members' work , I'm learning how to make a bead jewelry showcase using Windows MovieMaker.

It is nice to have an idea as to what the year or month probably has in store. Of course, for as long as you don't allow your life to be ruled by it. For instance, after reading that there's no lap chun in 2007-2008, I took steps to start or revitalize my projects as early as now. Even without that info, I believe those are things that I should be doing anyway.

The moment I get into a hobby, I notice myself spending more than usual to it. This includes going to Quiapo, Greenhills, and Taguig just to look for stones. I now check out the art & crafts/new age section of bookstores, in addition to the business/self-help section.

When I start to spend more resources than usual on a particular topic or type of hobby, this prompts me to start making it self-sustainable. Last December 30, Fortune Reader was born.

It is indeed true that the more you know, the more you don't know. As soon as Fortune Reader started, I realized how hard it is to post a forecast for the masses disregarding personalization. I ended up looking for more resources to guide in doing it, without being careless. So today, there's only tarot reading posted in it done by a teen tarot reader hobbyist, Archeia.

Perhaps after a few months, we'll be adventurous in offering our content to existing websites and social networks that offers astrology and related information as info to its members.

I also do some reading but only to friends who asked for it.

For those of you who are adventurous enough to learn more on this topic, the following books can be of help:

  • Lilian Too's Fortune & Feng Shui 2007
    Alerts you on good / bad months and your lucky gemstones. This got me started in customized bead jewelry.
  • Heal yourself with crystals (Hazel Raven)
    I always look at crystals as reminders, appreciating these gems as gift from the earth. Though they may not really heal by itself, but it serves as great reminders.
  • The Crystal Zodiac (Judy Hall)
    I really love this book as it allows me to design bead jewelry tailored to one's sun, moon, and ascendant sign. This sparked my interest in astrology.
  • Professional Tarot (Christine Jette)
    This book gave me an idea as to how tarot reading sites generate revenue online and offline through training.
  • The 2-hour Tarot Tutor (Wilma Carroll)
    I used to think that learning Tarot is creepy. After reading this book, I laugh at myself as to how foolish I've been.
  • The Astrology Kit (Liz Greene/Grant Lewi)
    This kit made astrology easy to grasp.
  • Be Your Own Astrologer (Paul Wade)
    I find this book complicated. I only got comfortable with it after reading other astrology charting books.
  • The Secret Language of Luck (Gary Goldschneider)
    Good in alerting you on good and bad luck.
  • The Hidden World of Birthdays (Judith Turner)
    A little bit confusing especially when you've read other books already and there are some conflicts in it. However, it is good to read a different perspective.
  • Cards of Destiny (Sharon Jeffers)
    Interesting to know that Tarot originated with your traditional playing cards. Gives an interesting twist on one's profile, partners, and forecast.
  • Eight Characters Chinese Personal Forecasting
    Still learning on this one but this gives a different point of view on fortune reading.
  • Numerology and your future (Dusty Bunker)
    Very interesting when tied to Tarot.
  • 365 Feng Shui Tips (Lilian Too)
    Nice for learning Feng Shui for the home.
  • Tarot Journaling (Corrine Kenner)
    I'm into a lot of journaling of various forms. I'm interested to see how this one works.
  • The Tarot Life Planner: Change Your Destiny and Enrich Your Life (Lady Lorelei)
    One of the best tarot books I've read and very insightful as well. Gives better understanding on reversed cards and numerous spread methods. It is also useful tool for understanding yourself more.

Blogging for consumer vigilance

After reading Mary Anne's blog post about her Discovery Suites experience (who also discovered similar reviews), it is indeed important for bloggers, as consumers, to be vigilant in sharing their experience. This is one pressure that we can give to establishments so they'll improve their quality of services.

Related complaints:

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Summer Program for Kids at Prima Day Care and Play School

Prima Day Care and Play School will have its SUMMER PROGRAM beginning April 16, 2007. The Summer Program includes: Math Intensive, Reading Comprehension, Arts & Crafts and Writing Skills.

There are 12 Sessions per program, two to three times a week. Enrollment is open to children aged 2 to 5.5 years old. Please confirm your participation on or before February 28, 2007. The play school is located at the 6/F Oakwood Premiere, Glorietta 4, Ayala Center, Makati City 1224. You can call them at 7558118 to 19.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Weight loss competition by Fitness First

Noemi posted an interesting entry in her about a Weight Loss Competition by Fitness First sponsored by Del Monte. This is interesting indeed and hope that she wins. Go girl!

I hope the Biggest Loser TV program will also hit the Philippines soon. I think that this will have a great following and provide regular inspiration too. (I also included getting regular exercise in my 2007 plans.)

Thursday, January 18, 2007

FREE Internet Cafe Management System Software

I just got a note from Z-Zone Online Philippines about a free service to all Internet Cafe operators - the ICAFE Boss. This is more commonly known as the "Computer Rental System" or the "Internet Cafe Management System" software used by Internet Cafes to record the usage of their computers, like the time-in and time-out of customers, change of PC unit, and other commands.

It also has added features that will help the Internet Cafe operator monitor all transactions in their Internet Cafe, such as printing, internet card sales, gaming card sales, and others. It enables the Internet Cafe operator to know what goes on in his Internet Cafe without having to be there around the clock.

The ICAFE Boss is now available for download.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Death of page view

I read an interesting piece in the Buzz Machine about the Death of the Page View. I have always believed in this since the creation of DigitalFilipino.com. It doesn't matter whether I belong to an elite list or not, What is important are the things that I can visibly measure. This includes my mailing list (digitalfilipino and ph-outsource), club membership base, and tangible research output or business success by site visitors where our events, articles, and reports have contributed to their success. Quality over quantity should indeed matter the most.

Abby passed Real Estate Broker Exam!

Cheers to club member Abby Ongyanco Lim for passing the Real Estate Broker Exam recently. During the club events in the past few months, I recall how Abby anxiously prepared for this and glad that her efforts worked.

With the growth of online real estate selling in the Philippines, we can expect to see more and more Internet users who are real estate professionals sharing their experience about it.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Zhang Yin- China's richest person is a woman!

Zhang Yin in 1990 started collecting wastepaper in Los Angeles and shipping it to China to make the cardboard needed by growing export industries.

Today, Zhang Yin is the world's richest self-made woman ahead of U.S. chat show host Oprah Winfrey and EBay Inc. Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman. (Bloomberg)

Monday, January 15, 2007

Super Mom in Boma Corporation

Ted Fong of Boma Corp. shared some updates about their company lately. One item that caught my interest is that the company's managing director, Marielle Valdez, just gave birth to her #5 child. Raising 5 children and at the same maintain a very active IT business is truly amazing. Congratulations Marielle!

This February, Boma Corp. will be completing the conversion of its newly-leased warehouse into office space that will accommodate up to 90 workers. Located at Karrivin Plaza in Makati, the new office will be the creative Mecca that its employees have been longing for. It includes a Starbucks-type lounge that overlooks the main production area. Boma Corp. produces marketing collateral for U.S. companies like Nokia, Verizon Wireless, and Adobe Systems.

Boma Corp. also has job openings you can check out.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Lunch at Myron's

As a freelancer IT professional, I operate a virtual office and always have the opportunity to try out different restaurants, fast food places, canteens, among others. I guess for Filipinos, having a lunch out either for business or catching up is very effective and can be productive too. Since I've been like this for more than a decade now, it has become a natural thing and saw no big deal about it.

However, after listening to Noemi Lardizabal Dado (DigitalFilipino.com Club eyeball last January 5), I decided to give it a shot and share my lunch out experiences.
I guess the best way for me to kick this off is by having lunch at Myron's. I was in the Rockwell area after passing by the Philippine Biotech Venture Summit. The organizer of the event is Maoi Arroyo of Hybridigm Consulting.
When the time came for lunch, I saw Myron's and that signaled that this is the sign I'm waiting for. Coincidentally, Maoi spoke during One Internet Day last September on Buzz Marketing through Blogs and talked about the Myron's blogging buzz. I heard this first from former club member Anton Diaz. As it turns out, the food bloggers play an important role in generating buzz about the places they visit and food they've tried out. Myron's blogging buzz, according to Maoi, helped the restaurant generate a million in revenue on its first month (or two?).



To start, Caesar Salad for two was ordered. Dressing has a strong after taste but filling.
If it is my first time to try a steak restaurant, my default order would be the baby back ribs. If this one passes, then I would be more adventurous to try out the other menu items. I have no complaint about their Grilled Baby Back Ribs with Smokey Mosquite Barbercue Sauce. I think though once you've tried those being served by TGI Fridays, Tony Roma's, Chilis, Bigby's, Tia Maria, Outback, among others, you tend to expect more from it especially on the side dishes that compliments it. (although one can argue that they are not in same category)

The Earl Grey Chocolate Mousse with Candied Orange Peel was very nice. The slightly sweet orange peel added the necessary flavor to make this desert unique.

The whole meal including a glass of fresh mango juice reached nearly P1300. Just another lunch.

NAIA OFW Pre-check-in


I just discovered that the Ninoy Aquino International Airport has an Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) pre-check in counter where document validation is made. This is where relatives of departing OFWs can join their loved ones before they check-in.

While inside, your OFW relative can open a BPI international ATM account that can be used for remittance transfers. Globe Telecom has a counter there too and even giving away free fruit drinks. There were two workstations inside but turned off when I saw it.
It is noticeable the number of women in this area as either the ones working abroad (may they always be spared from sufferings) or giving their loved ones moral support before they leave.

Free trial at Pond's Age Miracle Lab


I was at the Gateway Mall Cubao yesterday and saw a Pond's Age Miracle Lab where they are giving free skin analysis and a 7-day trial of their new product, Pond's Age Miracle.

I think girls should pass by and give it a shot as their UV skin analysis shows a snapshot on age spots that requires proper attention. It actually made me realize how much have I been neglecting my skin for sometime now. (and have to update my 2007 goals to include it)
I just tried the sample and it immediately reminded me of Body Shop's Vanilla Vanille body lotion. It has a similar fragrant smell.

Kudos to Maoi Arroyo


First, belated Happy Birthday to Hybridigm Consulting's CEO, Miss Maoi Arroyo.
Second, congratulations to the successful 3rd Philippine Biotech Venture Summit that took place last January 10 to 12, 2007.

More power to you Maoi!

Sisters as friends and partners


I am blessed that I reached a point in my life where my sisters are matured enough to be great friends and project partners. I also have three women close friends too whom I communicate with regularly and catch up on developments.

However, whenever important stuff or problem arises, I rely first on family and try to solve it. In this picture, I'm with Jherlie (who works for Innofone - where they have a marketing/copywriter job opening) and Jhermie (who works for Avaya). I have two more sisters (one works for Fortune Tobacco while the other co-owns Prima Day Care and Play School.

New theme for W3O

Hello everyone! I decided to make a theme change in this blog and let it focus on girl stuff sharing, whether about tech stuff or practical ones. Those interested to help out in this blog are more than welcome.