Women in Tech Philippines: 2007

Friday, December 21, 2007

Joan Piñon: Turning full time entrepreneur in 2008

Joan Piñon, an I.T. professor, entrepreneur, and blogger, shared her story sometime ago in this blog on how she started her hobby sweets baking site, My Little Baker. It was not an easy task and there way many factors to consider like the website design, among others.

Her hard work paid off. 2006 and 2007 was a great for Joan. As she mentioned in the enclosed video, she made a lot of contacts and friends in the industry. For 2008, she also plans to do her baking business full-time.

Joan is a testimony that a passionate and determined person can indeed take their share of the Web and make something great out of it.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Post-Eyeball: The Filipina Writing Project

Congratulations once again to all the winners of the Filipina Writing Project. It was great to see bloggers who took time out to attend last night to catch up and meet our club members as well. Here are some photos taken from the event and will be uploading more.

Here are some eyeball participant write-ups for your reading pleasure: (will update this as we get to read more post about it)

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.

Thank you also to the following who contributed prizes at the event:

Winners: Filipina Writing Project

Sincerest thanks to everyone who made time to attend the eyeball event for the participants of The Filipina Writing project.

This writing project will not be possible without the support of sponsors such as Barangay.ph, Kababayan.ph, MyUSMailbox, RegaloService, Acclaim Butterflies, and Chikka.com.

As chosen by judges, the following are the most liked entries and won US$100 each.

The following won US$100 in the raffle:

For the SEO competition part, the following won US$100:

Google - Filipina
Yahoo - Filipina
MSN - Hindi lang Filipina Dating, Dating Filipina, Wow Filipina talaga!

For those who made it in the shortlist, the following got:

One (1) Customized Banner or Button (Thanks Juan Karlo Licudine!)

Filipina Pride

Three (3) Wordpress t-shirts for entries with link to our partner FilipinaImages.com (Thanks Noemi Lardizabal Dado!)

Two (2) Strategic Problogging Audio E-Book (Thanks Manuel Viloria!)

The following got a one-year individual membership in the DigitalFilipino.com Club.

To get your prizes, please email me at digitalfilipino (at) gmail (dot) com. Thank you again to all those who inspired us, joined, and supported this advocacy.

I will make a separate post in relation to the event and link all blog articles that were written.

Admittedly, as this is our first time to do this writing project, there are many things that we need to improve should we decide to do it again next year. Kindly e-mail me your suggestions and feedback at digitalfilipino (at) gmail (dot) com. I appreciate your patience and understanding.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

November 28: Filipina Writing Project Winners Announcement

First, many thanks to those who submitted entries to the Filipina Writing Project. Let us meet up on November 28 and celebrate Christmas early!

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.

The November 28 gathering will be at Ponciana's Kitchen, 67 Timog Ave. corner Sct. Torillo, South Triangle Quezon City from 6 pm to 9 pm. Please confirm your attendance by posting a comment here. (Non-participants to this writing project who wishes to attend, can join upon sign up as a DigitalFilipino.com Club member.)

We will be naming the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still entitled to win. In addition, we are also having the DigitalFilipino.com Club Christmas Party on this evening.

The following have confirmed their attendance for November 28:

Gwen Nava (thanks Gwen for helping us arrange the venue too!)
Aileen Apolo
Arbet Bernardo
Dine Racoma
Jehzeel Laurente
Elay
Ada
Sustines Laplana
Eilanna
Aiza Bautista
Ivan Harry
Micaela
Marhgil
Sheng
Chel
Lady in Red
Phaelun
Sheena
Khym
Iya
Jovals
Lucette
Inanglaya
Gladys Barrer
Ederic Eder
Kaye

will update this post as we receive confirmation.

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!)
Three (3) Wordpress t-shirts for entries with link to our partner FilipinaImages.com (Thanks Noemi Lardizabal Dado!)

P.S. This is a DigitalFilipino.com Club 30th Networking Event too and get to meet the club members who supported this writing project.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Week 14: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 14th week and last summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. Sincerest thanks to everyone who supported this initiative.

This writing project will not be possible without the support of sponsors such as Barangay.ph, Kababayan.ph, MyUSMailbox.com, RegaloService.com, Acclaim Butterflies, and Chikka.com.

We received 21 entries this week. I encourage all our readers to link to:

Overall
Combined with week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, we have reached a total of 73 entries and writing project participants. Many thanks to everyone who submitted an entry to this writing project!

November 28 eyeball - I invite those who submitted an entry to the Filipina Writing Project to come and attend. We will be announcing the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still part of the draw and can win.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Week 13: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 13th week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join. Note that the submission of entries will be up to November 24 only.

This effort will not be possible without the support of the DigitalFilipino.com Club. This is a community of e-commerce enthusiasts and professionals. Benefits include access to research reports, e-books, networking events, tutorials, content development, advertisement placement, among others.

We received 7 entries this week. I encourage all our readers to link to:

Overall
Combined with week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, we now have a total of 53 entries and writing project participants. We will be accepting entries up to November 24 only. One (1) weekly update to go!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Week 12: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 12th week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

This writing project will not be possible without the support of sponsors like Chikka. The company created the world’s first mobile instant messenger to be fully integrated with SMS. Over 38 million have registered to use the service since its launch in 2001 making it the single most pervasive branded Internet-based communications medium for Filipinos worldwide. Chikka also now connects to the networks of over 50 mobile carriers in the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, India, Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Hong Kong. Experience unbeatable mobile and PC connectivity now. Download the free Chikka Messenger today.

We received 4 entries this week. I encourage all our readers to link to:

Overall
Combined with week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, we now have a total of 46 entries and writing project participants. We will be accepting entries only up to November 24. Three (3) weekly updates to go!

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Week 11: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 11th week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

This effort will not be possible without the support of the DigitalFilipino.com Club. This is a community of e-commerce enthusiasts and professionals. Benefits include access to research reports, e-books, networking events, tutorials, content development, advertisement placement, among others.

We received 2 entries this week. I encourage all our readers to link to:

Overall
Combined with week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, we now have a total of 42 entries and writing project participants. We will be accepting entries only up to November 24. Three (3) weekly updates to go!

November 28 eyeball - I invite those who submitted an entry to the Filipina Writing Project to come and attend. We will be announcing the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still part of the draw and can win.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Week 10: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 10th week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

This effort will not be possible without the support of the DigitalFilipino.com Club. This is a community of e-commerce enthusiasts and professionals. Benefits include access to research reports, e-books, networking events, tutorials, content development, advertisement placement, among others.

We received 2 entries this week. I encourage all our readers to link to:

Overall
Combined with week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, we now have a total of 40 entries and writing project participants.

November 28 eyeball - I invite those who submitted an entry to the Filipina Writing Project to come and attend. We will be announcing the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still part of the draw and can win.

Filipina Writing Project Podcast

I just came out with a Filipina Writing Project podcast and encourage those who submitted Filipina entries to send me an audio file for it to be included. This podcast will also be out every Saturday. So far, I have the audio file of:

You can email me the link to your audio file at digitalfilipino (at) gmail (dot) com.

If you haven't done so, I encourage you to submit your Filipina entry today!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Week 9: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 9th week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

This effort will not be possible without the support of the

DigitalFilipino.com Club. This is a community of e-commerce enthusiasts and professionals. Benefits include access to research reports, e-books, networking events, tutorials, content development, advertisement placement, among others.

We received 1 entry this week. I encourage all our readers to link to:

Long live Bb Filipinas

Overall
Combined with week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, we now have a total of 38 entries and writing project participants.

November 28 eyeball - I invite those who submitted an entry to the Filipina Writing Project to come and attend. We will be announcing the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still part of the draw and can win.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Training women entrepreneurs on e-commerce

Since 2003, I've been involved in training women entrepreneurs where I usually spend 3 to 5 days of training time per year to share my knowledge on e-commerce. This November, I shall be doing that again on November 22, 23, 26 to 29 working with the APEC Digital Opportunity Center (ADOC), University of the Philippines Institute of Small Scale Industries, and National Computer Center / Commission on Information and Communications Technology. Here is my training agenda this year:

November 22: ICT for Business

Introduction to E-Commerce
Republic Act 8792: E-Commerce Law
Internet Safety
Electronic Evidence Handling
Introduction to online shopping, mobile commerce, e-banking, and e-government
Introduction to the E-Commerce Project Plan
Guest resource:

E-Commerce Planning and Lessons Learned (Jovel Cipriano, PinoyDelikasi)

November 23 ICT for Advocacy

Introduction to ICT Advocacy
Internet and E-Learning for Advocacy (including tools)

November 26: ICT for Communication & Research

Introduction to Search Engines
Introduction to Keywords
Tips for finding the Information you need online

November 27: ICT for Communication & Research

Introduction to Information Research Tracking
Tools for Information Research Tracking

RSS
Alerts

Information Research Result Communication

online collaboration tools
wiki
blogs
podcast/vlogs
Guest resource:

Blogs as your network to the world (Dine Racoma)

Using online collaboration tools and blogs

setting up
posting content
citation guidelines

November 28: ICT For Business

How to promote your Business through the Internet

E-mail marketing

Blog marketing

Search engine marketing

Directory submissions

Writing press releases
Guest resource:

Internet Marketing: Yehey! Experience (Jonas Delos Reyes, Yehey!)
Mobile Marketing (Erick Kalugdan, GiveMeUnlimited)
Google Advertising Case Studies for SMEs (Aileen Apolo, Google)

How to accept online payments for your business

Forms of payment
Examples of online payment
Comparative research
Checking for fraud

November 29: ICT for Business

E-Commerce Project Planning (continuation)

Developing a Content Plan

Platform evaluation

Risk Management

Budgeting

Memories:

APEC E-Biz Training for Women SMEs (2004)

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Week 8: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 8th week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

This effort will not be possible without the support of the

DigitalFilipino.com Club. This is a community of e-commerce enthusiasts and professionals. Benefits include access to research reports, e-books, networking events, tutorials, content development, advertisement placement, among others.

We received 2 entries this week. I encourage all our readers to link to:

Overall
Combined with week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, we now have a total of 37 entries and writing project participants.

November 28 eyeball - I invite those who submitted an entry to the Filipina Writing Project to come and attend. We will be announcing the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still part of the draw and can win.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Week 7: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 7th week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

This effort will not be possible without the support of our sponsors. One of them is the

Pinay Na, Nars Pa!

Overall
Combined with week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, we now have a total of 35 entries and writing project participants.

November 28 eyeball - I invite those who submitted an entry to the Filipina Writing Project to come and attend. We will be announcing the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still part of the draw and can win.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Week 6: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 6th week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

This effort will not be possible without the support of our sponsors. One of them is the

DigitalFilipino.com Club. This is a community of e-commerce enthusiasts and professionals. Benefits include access to research reports, e-books, networking events, tutorials, content development, advertisement placement, among others.

We received 3 entries this week. I encourage all our readers to link to the following:

Overall
Combined with week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, we now have a total of 34 entries and writing project participants.

November 28 eyeball - I invite those who submitted an entry to the Filipina Writing Project to come and attend. We will be announcing the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still part of the draw and can win.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Week 5: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 5th week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

This effort will not be possible without the support of our sponsors. One of them is Acclaim Butterflies. The company is a popular provider of live butterfly releases, butterfly theme set-up, butterfly confetti, and butterfly inspired souvenirs. Make your forthcoming event special with Acclaim Butterflies!

We received 3 entries this week. I encourage all our readers to link to the following:

Overall
Combined with week 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, we now have a total of 31 entries and writing project participants.

November 28 eyeball - I invite those who submitted an entry to the Filipina Writing Project to come and attend. We will be announcing the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still part of the draw and can win.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Week 4: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 4th week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

This effort will not be possible without the support of our sponsors. One of them is RegaloService.com. It is never too early to make that Christmas List! Start browsing and shopping for that memorable Christmas gift to your loved ones and friends at www.RegaloService.com. Make it memorable at RegaloService.com!"

We received 9 entries this week. I encourage all our readers to link to the following:

Overall
Combined with week 1, 2, 3, and 4, we now have a total of 28 entries and writing project participants.

November 28 eyeball - I invite those who submitted an entry to the Filipina Writing Project to come and attend. We will be announcing the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still part of the draw and can win.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Week 3: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 3rd week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

This effort will not be possible without the support of our sponsors. One of them is MyUSmailbox.com. Receive your packages, mails and documents in your own Personal USA Address which automatically forwards to your office or home in the Philippines - Enjoy the "Virtual" USA resident's conveniences!

We received 6 entries this week. I encourage all our readers to link to the following:

Overall
Combined with week 1, 2, and 3, we now have a total of 19 entries and writing project participants.

November 28 eyeball - I invite those who submitted an entry to the Filipina Writing Project to come and attend. We will be announcing the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still part of the draw and can win.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Week 2: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 2nd week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

This effort will not be possible without the support of our sponsors. One of them is Kababayan.ph. This is a global Filipino e-mail directory that can be used to find your "kababayan" or Filipinos anywhere in the world, reconnect with family and friends. Should you refer friends to sign-up in Kababayan.ph, you can also win in its weekly draw.

We received 4 entries this week. I encourage all our readers to link to the following:

Overall
Combined with week 1 and 2, we now have a total of 13 entries and writing project participants.

November 28 eyeball - I invite those who submitted an entry to the Filipina Writing Project to come and attend. We will be announcing the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still part of the draw and can win.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Week 1: Filipina Writing Project

Here's the 1st week summary of entries for the Filipina Writing Project. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

This effort will not be possible without the support of our sponsors. One of them is Barangay.ph. The site intends to bring our homeland closer to Filipinos overseas of every generation and make their lives easier by providing relevant information, products and services at the click of a mouse, 24/7/365.

We received 9 entries this week. I encourage all our readers to link to the following:

If you haven't submitted an entry yet, head on to our writing project page on how to join.

November 28 eyeball - I invite those who submitted an entry to the Filipina Writing Project to come and attend. We will be announcing the 10 winners on this day who will get US$100 each. Of course, those who can't make it are still part of the draw and can win.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Join the "Filipina" Writing Project

Thank you for joining the Filipina Writing Project. Winners will be announced on November 28. We are no longer accepting entries from this point on.

After the success of the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs Project, I felt it is time to undertake another one and make it both a writing and SEO campaign at the same time.

The theme for this writing project is the Filipina. Through this, we hope we can share in the ongoing efforts to bring relevant results to search engine and topple those that exploits the Filipina.

This writing project will not be possible without the support of sponsors such as Barangay.ph, Kababayan.ph, MyUSMailbox.com, RegaloService.com, Acclaim Butterflies, and Chikka.com.

Who can join?

Any blog or website in the world.
Any blogger in the world. (men and women)
Blog or website owner profile and e-mail is accessible or visible online.

To join this effort, please do the following:

Write a new blog post with "Filipina" as the theme. Take it any direction or style that you like. For example, you can write about common Filipina names, Filipina in various industries, gadgets for the Filipina, your perspective on the Filipina online, favorite Filipina bloggers, among others. (You can update the same post entry up to November 28.)
Include a link to this post to help spread the word.
Post a comment and let us know about your entry. Only one entry per blogger.
Cut-off date and time for submission of entries is on November 24, Saturday, 10:00 pm (GMT+8). Afterwards, submission of comments in this page shall be closed.

Every week, beginning August 15, I will:

List and link to the entries submitted within the week.
Feature one sponsor per week. (Interested sponsors can email me through digitalfilipino at gmail dot com)
All entries will also be put in a masterlist on the 2nd week onwards.

On November 25 to 27, I will:

Make a final review of posts and acknowledge it.
DigitalFilipino.com Club members who are non-participant to the writing project will be invited to help in reviewing all entries.

On November 28, 2007, I will do the following:

There will be an eyeball to celebrate the end of this writing project and Christmas party at the same time. Those who can't attend are still entitled to win. Don't forget to confirm your attendance.
I will pick three entries in random (raffle) who will get one hundred dollars (US$100) each.
DigitalFilipino.com Club members most-liked three entries will get one hundred dollars (US$100) each.
Sponsors' most-liked entry will get one hundred dollars (US$100). Entries who have cited the sponsors are entitled to compete for this prize.
Entries that will appear the highest in Google, Yahoo, and MSN search engine results will get one hundred dollars (US$100) each. (Here's a guide that you can use to achieve this.) During the awarding, we will look at up to page 5 of the search engine results.

Note that your Filipina writing project entry must be the one ranking and not the home page or any other page of your blog.

Joining a writing project has its own benefits that includes getting link love, meeting new bloggers, receive traffic (especially to those who join early on) from current and prospective participants. More than anything else, you will also be supporting a worthy cause. If we do this right, we will also be able to influence and change the impression about the Filipina by having relevant content appear in the first page of major search engines.

Mabuhay ang Filipina!

(The Filipina Writing Project Badge was made by PinoyBlogero)

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Looking for Filipina in Yahoo oneSearch

Last week, I shared my Yahoo oneSearch experience in Sun.Star. I'm republishing it here with additional information and pictures to explain it.

I find it convenient being able to search for information through it. As the application was customized for the mobile phone, results appear quickly using Globe’s mobile Internet.

Search engine results that appear shows local Globe content, websites, mobile sites and pictures. I think it would be great if the results can be customized to show blogs too.

I was able to try the customized Yahoo Go service. Once set-up, you’ll be able to do oneSearch, Yahoo Mail, view Flickr photos and various news.

My only concern with its Yahoo Mail service is that I don’t have the option of deleting an email without reading it.

The Flickr service is especially useful for storing product or design pictures. I have some bead jewelry hobby designs stored there and it was nice to view them from the mobile phone and show it to a friend. Product design sales people will certainly appreciate that convenience especially if they work with other design peers too.

You can access Yahoo oneSearch through myGlobe wapsite or Gamezone wapsite. They charge P0.075/kb for data traffic during the promo period that will end on September 20, 2007. For external sites, regular browsing rates shall apply at P0.15/kb.

During the launch, I was able to talk to Jason Coates of Yahoo. It seems that the thrust of the company is to make its portal, Yahoo.com, a one-stop site for Internet users with varying needs, especially the new ones and non-technical Internet user.

It will also come up with improved services such as Yahoo Answers to make information gathering interactive.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Barangay.ph launches global Filipino site

Yesterday, I witnessed the successful launch of Barangay.ph and wrote an article about the website. Nearly 100 guests attended this event at Grappa's Restaurant in Greenbelt 3 Makati City. Several DigitalFilipino.com Club members also attended as well.

I was able to get some congratulatory messages from three guests. They are Andre Kahn of J. Romero, Dr. Patricia Sison of Development Consultants, and Ella Reyes Choi of Clowning Around.

Congratulations to Jonno Alcaro and Nanette Alcaro for this successful event.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Shrek 3: I want more

Early this week, we watched Shrek 3 with utmost excitement. Knowing the Fairy GodMother was expunged in Shrek 2, it will be interesting to see the twists for Shrek 3.

The movie had its share of fun but I couldn't help but clamor for more content. The whole film time felt too short. I wish more time was given to seeking and bringing Arthur back home. Another way perhaps is to give a glimpse on how he would rule and whether he'll get back to his classmates at Worchestershire.

It would be fun also to see how Charming will be penalized for his actions.

Oh well...

Friday, May 25, 2007

Ten ways I use MyBlogLog

I've been using MyBlogLog for quite sometime now and there are so many reasons why I like it. For those who would like to find out how MyBlogLog can be of use to your website or blog, read on!

Monitor your blog traffic. Its basic free package allows you to find out who visits your site, what pages they viewed, and where they end up going. If you are running advertisements in your website, this is one way of monitoring clicks!
Find out who visits your website and vice versa. By clicking on their faces or names, you'll get to know them better such as their blog, friends, and community membership.
Let your readers know what are the top links in your website. However, this is not working as often as it should.
Create a community for every blog. Once you reach 10 members, your stats report will also indicate what sites have your members been clicking.
It has a hot topic list that gives you a preview on what people have been interested in.
You can also leave a message greeting a fellow member either in public or private. Although I have seen some who abusively left messages in all my blog community group trying to promote a blog. Good thing I can delete them. This is where I wish that the report spam feature will be enhanced.
Shows the latest blog posts per blog. It is a good way to check your RSS if it is working.
You can now also add tags in your home profile and at the blog level. This will allow you to see other blogs having the same tags too.
Add co-authors to help you manage your community and keeping in touch with them.
You can also add Twitter alerts and keep your readers posted on what you are reading.

Don't forget to add me as a friend at MyBlogLog!

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

How I Make Money from Blogs and Websites

I started with my online adventure as a freelance professional with my personal site - DigitalFilipino.com. The site will turn 8 years old this September 2007 and interesting to look back on its evolution. I often get asked how do I earn and sustain myself online. I freely share that information during talks but decided to make a post about it to inspire more bloggers, especially women, who are just beginning to blog or doing their online business.

Here's a ranking of my income sources. Note that this does not include my software process improvement related trainings, speaking engagements, consulting, website content management services, books, online workshops, reports, and research projects.

Club membership. My website, club blog, job blog, and podcast focuses on getting readers/listeners to join the DigitalFilipino.com Club. It is an online community where members can download research reports, e-books, presentation materials, and participate in offline networking and training activities. For SME and corporate members, it also includes hands-on workshops, news dissemination, job postings, and free advertisement in DigitalFilipino.com. We currently have 108 members (as of end of April) where 31% are corporate and SME members. I'm gradually building a family of blogs as well for CMMI Philippines and Bead Club Philippines.
Direct advertisement. We rolled this out on the last week of January. We started with 5 campaigns and gradually increasing. This gets place to some of our blogs and members of the ad network.
Google AdSense. This gets place to blogs where there is no direct advertisement placed and was able to provide a regular income stream.
Affiliate programs. No one has stand out so far but I am happy with ReviewMe and Implix (especially during Christmas season). Still experimenting with several others and will post them in the future.

For expenses, major ones include:

Research reports and upcoming blogging book for members.
Offline networking and training activities for the club membership.
Advocacies such as the Philippine Schools Cyberfair, One Internet Day, E-Commerce Training for Educators, and DigitalFilipino.com Web Awards
Payout to members of the ad network.

To get more inspiration, check out this compilation of blogger earnings.

I believe that the key to online sustainability is our willingness to challenge our ways of doing business and evolve in pursuit of market acceptance. This is especially true to those of us who develop new products and services that is not common in the market today in terms of packaging and approach.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Time for Better Gmail

Thanks to the O'Reilly Radar, I was able to download the Better Gmail. It is a Firefox extension that takes my favorite e-mail service to another level. It is a simple tool but what I like about it is that it shows you the file type of attachments as soon as you view your inbox.

You can also view e-mails only that has attachments. I find this very useful as I've been struggling with my very full inbox. (yes, Gmail gave up on me) What I hope is for someone to come up with a tool that allows a user to open two Gmail accounts at the same time and perhaps view it in the same inbox. I wonder if Tim will find that useful.