I’ve noticed that in every country, there are different ways of how businesses market to bloggers. I’m both a Blogger and a Businessman, which puts me in a good position to understand how both can reach a middle ground when it comes to marketing to the Bloggers. Disclaimer: My views may not necessarily reflect all the bloggers’ or businesses’ views, but this is what businesses should know on how businesses should market to bloggers in the Philippines.

What you need to know about Bloggers in the Philippines:

Bloggers have Reputation and Credibility

Most of the bloggers blog with their name on the line, some maybe hiding under a nickname or blog-name but once you go to their about page or look at their pictures, you’ll know who they are. Bloggers put their reputation on the line, so they make their own rules and guidelines on how and what to blog about. Bloggers write on their experiences, whether good or bad.

Blogger’s Time is Scarce

Bloggers have full-time Jobs, Businesses, Friends and Families, so our time can really become scarce, not to mention the number of events of businesses that invite bloggers to go everyday. So businesses should understand that bloggers need to be invited at least 1 month early and reminders as the event closes in. Bloggers might decline invitations but it doesn’t mean they disrespect or belittle your business but more about prior commitments or just needing to rest.

Blogging is a Hobby that can be a Job or can only stay as a Hobby

To most bloggers, blogging is simply a hobby or interest that they have and something they’d like to share with the world. Some bloggers make money with their blogs, but the majority don’t, bloggers don’t blog for just the money, bloggers do it because they love it. So do think of bloggers as your influential consumers, we blog for the love of sharing, anything extra is a plus.

Press releases are not enough

Sending out press releases for the interested bloggers would definitely be great but it is not enough. Whatever your press releases are, it might be interesting news but most bloggers are not newscasters, bloggers blog about their own experiences so how do you expect a blogger to write something they’re not familiar with or something they’re not sure of.

Experience is the key

Allow bloggers to try, whether you give or lend them your product or service. Bloggers need to experience for themselves how it really is, and that will make the post more effective to their readers (it is usually supported with pictures). Bloggers have their own opinions, and experiencing it could really make the difference for readers to believe about what the blogger just blogged. If you really believe in your products/services, then allow bloggers to review it honestly.

Feedback

Bloggers give good and bad feedback just like normal consumers, difference is that their opinions are voiced out publicly and is seen by the public. When you do want to deal with bloggers, do accept the good feedback, as well as, the bad feedback. The best solutions to address the feedback is by leaving comments under the post. If the feedback was bad, then do address their concern on the bottom and do say how you’re looking to improve it. This way, whoever’s reading it would be aware on the businesses’ end and would take the judgement more lightly.

We Organize Blogger Events!

We organize Blogger events at our partner’s website, WhenInManila. We also have organized the first ever B2B (Businesses to Bloggers) event called Blogapalooza, where businesses pitched and networked their business to bloggers at minimal costs (from FREE to sponsorship packages). Check out our Blogapalooza’s Facebook Page.

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So many people have been raving about their lootbags, it probably is the first time I’ve seen a Lootbag given to all bloggers worth 12,000 pesos! From GC’s to products, the Lootbag have been really filled up with tons of stuff for us to really blog about.

Apologies for the Photos, I’m still learning. Here’s what I have in my Lootbag:

Food Products

Wild Willys and Farmer Johns from Leslie has been one of the biggest packs in the Lootbag. Farmer Johns somehow reminded me of Lays and Raffles, the packaging looks pretty high end but I believe it will be priced lower than imported chips. Lipton Yellow tea is really nice, tried it with honey (great when blogging, hehehe). I’ve also tried Papa Johns (not with the GC) and the Pizza was great (my brother and I finished a whole family sized pizza lol!). Not the biggest fan of wheat grass, but I’m sure it’s really healthy. I’ve yet to try Japok and I’m looking forward to it, although I’m not the biggest fan of karaoke.

Clothing and Accessories

Freestyle Ballers were really cool, I loved the watch and how it reminded me of high school when slap stuff were popular. Phiten necklace is quite expensive but is given out for free! I’m trying it on and see how well it would make me feel. The tshirts didn’t fit me (one was for ladies and the other was small), but Regatta’s shirts seems quite fashionable and Aquabest’s shift happens for their new structured water (not Shi*t happens LOL!). Chana (Car brand) has given out a cool keychain.

Beauty Products

I haven’t tried any of the products that was given in the lootbag. I don’t really know if I can use any of it (LOL) but the alcogel from Laybare and Powder from Oryspa, fragrance from forme (for the room maybe?), and Lip balm and sanitizer from Human Nature and the GC from Sparkle spa may be of use for me.

Gift Certificates

Gift Certificates were also packed in the bag, I don’t think I’ll be able use Polecats GC (I won’t be going pole dancing anytime soon lol!). Avira should be cool, but I’m using Mac so I don’t think I’ll be needing it. Galileo is very cool as well, but I’m not a kid nor do I have kids so maybe I’ll give it out. LazerXtreme is the coolest! I can imagine playing it really soon hehehe. Tripologie luggages are also very stylish and durable, I think I’ll be needing one soon when I go travel. 360 fitness is cool but no time to go gym these days, maybe after my wedding? Big K Imaging has also given out a photobook software and by using it we get a code from the cd that gives us 10% off.

Stationary / Miscellaneous items

The brown pens and pencil is from treehugger, what makes it really cool is that it comes from recycled products. It’s great for the environment! The bag was given by Fart, it’s cool and handy, I’m thinking about how I’m going to use it…hmmm?. The pen and the stress ball came from easy phamax’s wheat grass promotion and the mousepad from Shopinas.com, additional stuff at my workdesk =).

I’m very thankful with the sponsors for the first event, but for the next few events, I’m really eyeing for better and some gadget items as well for the techy people like me. Let’s hope and see how the 2nd Blogapalooza will go, I’m so looking forward to organizing the next one. See you soon guys =)

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1. Blogapalooza Blogger Event B2B (Businesses to Blogger) was a huge success!
2. Blogapalooza by WhenInManila – Manila Blogger Event Connecting Businesses to Bloggers
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by Azrael'sMerryLand.com

Last Saturday (September 17, 2011), the first ever Blogapalooza was a huge success! Me and Vince Golangco (Business Partner in WhenInManila) is very very proud to have huge success with our event. We would like to thank all the businesses and bloggers who have participated in the whole Blogapalooza event =)

We were at Fully Booked really early, 7:30am was our call time we were there bringing the lootbags up (Man, were they heavy!) and made arranged all the chairs and tables for the event. We all worked very hard and would like to thank all those guys who helped out.

I never had too much chances on getting to know many bloggers as I had to help organize and entertained a lot of businesses, but I was able to see some new and old faces in the crowd, John Lacson (TechGospelAccordingtoJohn.com), Stonibert Lim (Manila-life.blogspot.com), Vittorio Salac (TheLostBoyLLoyd.com), MicaMyx (Micamyx.com) and Ryan Vargas (TheBlackFedoraBlog.com) and many more that I’ve previously met with other blogger events =).

The event was hosted by my partner, DJ Vince, and he got the crowd excited as we started our program! (Unfortunately as I was part of the organizer I wasn’t able to take pictures so I had to borrow off other partners) Here was the list of businesses that presented during the day:

• HTC
• BlueWater Day Spa
• Focus Ventures (Chana Car Brand)
• Shopinas
• Sofitel
• Wheat Grass
• Avira Antivirus
• LayBare
• 360 Degree Fitness
• Human Nature
• KameraWorld
• JapOK
• Aesthetic Science
• Papa Johns
• Matabungkay Resort
• Galileo Enrichment
• F*art
• LazerXtreme
• Freestyle Baller
• Boudoir Dolls Photography
• Tripologie
• Aquabest
• Healthy First
• Unilever (Sunsilk, Lipton, Closeup)
• Creativoices
• Sparkle Spa
• Size Matters
• Golden ABC (Regatta, Memo, For me)
• Oryspa
• Leslies (Farmer Johns and Wild Willy)
• PoleCats

When the presentations kicked off, I was just really really happy to see businesses having a great time pitching their business to bloggers. The bloggers were really interactive and have really enjoyed each of the presentation (it’s one of the most interactive crowd I’ve ever seen!). As the businesses pitched, I couldn’t help but smile and see all that hard work we all put in go to something really good and helpful to both communities. The presenters have really brought entertainment to the bloggers while being able to educate and reenforce the brand to the influential bloggers. Some were really really funny, some were creative and some got the bloggers wanting more! In my life, I’ve never seen such level of event where businesses and bloggers mingled and really got to know each other.

As for the lootbag, each blogger was able to take home P12,000 worth of products / GCs during our event! (check out our partner’s post on WhenInManila). The bloggers would surely need around a month or so to review each of the product so we’ll keep watch =).

On behalf of the WhenInManila team, we’d like to thank all our Sponsors and Presenters and Influential Bloggers who have made Blogapalooza a huge success! We truly are overwhelmed with the success with our first event, we’re currently in discussion for the 2nd Blogapalooza event and we’re planning to improve and make the second one more effective for both Businesses and Bloggers. Stay Tuned guys!

Other Articles you might also like:

1. Blogapalooza by WhenInManila – Manila Blogger Event Connecting Businesses to Bloggers
2. Big bad blogger was bound to emerge, My Advice to businesses about bloggers
3. What you need to know on How Businesses should market to Bloggers in the Philippines

Blogapalooza Blogger Event Manila

There have been some progress on my end and on my project on WhenInManila. We have been working hard and are really looking for ways to really make a difference in the blogging and the business community. We came up with an Event called Blogapalooza, it aims to bridge the gap between Businesses and Bloggers.

One thing I noticed as an Entrepreneur and as a Blogger is the disconnect between the two, one not always understanding the other and so much time and money can be wasted in one event. We realized that we could help both businesses and bloggers to come together and finally let them know who are the characters behind the blogs and who are the faces of behind businesses.

So we came up with the concept of Blogapalooza, it is a fast paced 5 minutes presentation of businesses to 100 bloggers (to make it more interesting for bloggers) where businesses get to pitch something interesting about their specific product or service to the bloggers. In return, as bloggers find it interesting, they blog about it more hence promotion and exposure for the business (especially with so many people turning to the internet to find reviews of products and services, SEO benefits etc.). Bloggers also get samples or GCs from each presenter so that they can use it themselves, hence making the review as real as a user would be and a more balanced opinion to the products or services. And you would also be able to network after the presentations, get to know each other better and remove the gap between the two.

It is an exclusive invite only event for bloggers and businesses, Invitations are screened . To get more information or invites please head to Blogapalooza.WhenInManila.com.

Thank you so much for the support we’re getting from the Blogging Community. It’s been a great pleasure having so many of you on board =)

Other Articles you might also like:

1. Blogapalooza Blogger Event B2B (Businesses to Blogger) was a huge success!
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OS X Lion for me is one great update that Mac has done, the good things include more use on our trackpad (which really makes my life so much easier) and using the new expose and mission control. The trackpad saves me so much time than tapping the keys for those. The bad side is that my machine seems to be slower (to startup and to run programs).

I never liked Outlook before (especially when I started using Mac), I had it but never really bothered opening it. But recently, thanks to my fiance, I’ve been accustomed in using it. The best thing about it is that it organizes not only your emails but also your calendar and tasks. Appointments being sent and being answered, I just thought that’s really so cool. The problem I ran into is that it never synced with my iPhone and iPad which kind of renders it useless right? But thanks to Microsoft’s update, I’m now able to sync everything with my iOS devices. It’s really proven to be a very useful app that I should’ve used a long time ago (but it’s never too late). One thing I also wanted to add is that, Microsoft Office 2011 is by far the coolest Microsoft product for Mac, the style has changed and looks more “Mac” like than it was stiff and “windows-y” before. I like that they’ve improved a lot.

I’m getting my laptop ready for some offline business action. It’s a bit easier to adjust to it, less programs to run but more work in each program.

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I’ve been blogging a lot lately and as I searched for the new WordPress Internal Linking feature, I couldn’t find anything at all. I thought that it could be some other plugins until I remembered TinyMCE Advanced that directly impacts the editor. So if you really want to have the new WordPress 3.1 Internal Linking Feature, here’s what you have to do:

1. Go to your Admin Dashboard
2. Under Settings > Click TinyMCE Advanced
3. Under TinyMCE Advanced Settings page (under advanced options), check the “Advanced Link”
4. Click Save
5. Again, underTinyMCE Advanced Settings page (under advanced options), uncheck the “Advanced Link”
6. Click Save
7. Go to any post and see if WordPress 3.1 Internal Linking works for you

If ever you want to return to TinyMCE Advanced Linking feature, just check the advanced link again and save. Enjoy!

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It’s one of the most controversial question that a lot of people are asking, Can we Earn Money Online? Most of what we see online will tell you how easy it is to do so, some would even promise to deliver earnings fast and earn 6 figures a month! But is it true? Can we actually earn money online? Here’s my experience…

I always believed that money can be earned online, but it’s not like what everyone said it would be. It’s not overnight! Some systems that promote that the author has made thousands or millions is probably true, but with them telling everyone about it, people earn less or nothing at all.

My journey in earning money online started with a fascination with the internet and websites, then progressing into domaining and minisites and then soon developing more advanced WordPress websites that have used WordPress as a CMS (e.g. Classifieds, Submission sites, etc.). I have briefly touched on affiliate marketing and found that it really wasn’t for me so I really focused on building websites. Today, my way of earning money online is by making a website popular whether it is a blog or a 2.0 site and earn by traffic.

I ended up relying much on Google Adsense on delivering earnings, I’ve learned that certain keywords commanded a high value per click while some wasn’t worth having. Today, I don’t earn as much as gurus would claim online, I make enough to profit a little by my operation costs (staff, utilities etc.).

So do I believe that we can earn money online?

Yes, I do, it’s about looking for a new topic or type of website that can get lots of traffic. I realized that one of the biggest mistake I did was I lacked focus, I was so eager to develop and keep developing new ones which I could’ve just focused on a few and built them up (my target was 100 minisites which was nuts). Money can always be made online, we just have to open our eyes and ears for opportunities just like in other jobs. No money can be made overnight online (no matter how fast it would look), just like any other business it’ll take time to make a good amount.

Maybe in my quest, I still haven’t found the right mix but I still have earned a good amount. However, the earnings is not enough for me, so I would have to put all my interest on the internet to more of a part time thing. I believe that I can earn more doing different things than to keep going with my exploration. I hope that one day I could find that big break but, until then, everything else would have to move aside and adjust to my main work schedule. This is not the end of me and earning money online, this is still my hobby and what I truly enjoy, I would continue doing it for fun and interest and earn a little on the side.  But as Steve Jobs have said stay hungry and stay foolish, and that’s what I’ll keep doing =)

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Making money online has been a rough ride for me. I went from web developer to blogger, to domainer, to affiliate marketer, I wasn’t able to find the right mix until today. I started with minisites and then started to expand it into blogsites to bring more value to readers. And now I found that I made the right move. My earnings quadrupled this 2011 and I feel like I’ve finally reached a break through.

Here’s what I did to with my blogsites to money make online:

• Ask Others for advice – When in doubt, ask! Bloggers are really friendly, they help anyone (I really mean anyone). Contact them and ask them for advice, I’ve learned so much by talking to them. They were able to point me to the right direction, give motivation and pinpoint tasks that I haven’t been doing right.
• Great site – I started dropping a lot of domains and websites, I felt like I wasted my time and doesn’t really give me anything at all. So cut down the portfolio, focused on the ones that worked and concentrate to those selected with potential blog sites.
• Forget about money make online – One thing I started focusing on was CTRs, but one thing I forgot was that it was the CTR of a few thousand (which can mean that my ads might not be wrong but it probably was because there’s not enough traffic to get a good statistic). Focus on getting traffic to your blogsites, focusing on SEO (internal and external), targeting keywords and link building.

Occasionally, I do small projects that inspire me but one thing is for sure now, my focus is blog sites. Focusing most of my time and money in it is what I’m going to do, hopefully I’ll reach the $100 / day mark soon.

So how do you make your money online?

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Being a tech blog in the Philippines, I just realized that I haven’t really been blogging about tech but I’ve been going at it on internet stuff but I’ve been ignoring some topics that I’m passionate about. I’m thinking I have to balance up some of my blogging and spread some to other things I’m also passionate about. After all, life isn’t just about the money right?

Focusing mostly on the internet has really gotten much of my time in blogging, one thing I am passionate about is also gadgets. Being a Tech blogger, not having gadgets somehow feels off don’t you think? (LOL) I’ve been updated myself in gadgets but haven’t really been writing much about it here so I’m thinking to balance up my articles.

I’d also be focusing on targeting search engine keywords to bring more traffic to this blog, it’s about time I give this blog a little more justice than just me writing. I shall be writing more on certain gadgets that I can review and others that I personally own as well. I miss writing on things I like (being a tech blogger philippines) and focus less on money, hope you all will appreciate the effort.

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Starting to learn more on different techniques on earning money online, I found it really distracting, getting me to do different websites that has totally zero value to me and the visitor. But what I missed out was 2 things, developing better sites that can either entertain, help or contribute to the public. I mean I could do thousands of minisites but I found that it was just not me and I felt low as a web developer who’s supposed to be building websites that can change the world (Yes, somehow I do believe in this).

I started with building minisites with one purpose of earning money online and earned a few dollars a day while spending so much time and effort on different ways to monetize. But I soon stopped, started building on just a few websites, developing great content and learning on different traffic generation, I found more success in it. I was able to quadruple my earnings, and was able to make better and entertaining contents. I received comments from my websites saying how much I was able to help and I was glad that I was able to do so.

So now I have cut down a lot of domains, put down a lot of minisites and really just focused on a few select websites that I think could at least help others. I have new projects, such as, IronMuffin and ConfessionsPH which I feel entertain and help people online. It’s not that we should totally ignore money making but my focus is more on building the website than adding affiliate programs or other types of monetization scheme. I think Earning should be a result of a great website, not the other way around.

What do you all think?

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