Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Which blog clicks - AdSense wise

I was staring at a Performancing.com report with amazement in my end. For the first time, I could actually see when and from which post are Google AdSense clicks are coming from. It is a great relief and inspiring as well.

One of my challenges in maintaining several blogs is finding out which blog clicks and generate Google AdSense revenue. To my surprise, a blog of mine that hardly gets any feedback or comment is the one getting visited the most and has received Google AdSense clicks as well. This I discovered after I started using Performancing.com (nearly a month ago).

Perhaps what made the blog clicked is I hardly talk about myself or thoughts in the said blog.

As I worked on this blog's content, I began getting the traffic but did not notice any improvement in the AdSense clicks. Except for one day where all the clicks are coming from an old post.

With this experience, I arrive with the following conclusion:

1. If your blog is only attracting fellow bloggers to read, don't expect any ad clicks from them. They hardly click unless you are displaying opportunities where their site could also generate revenue.

2. Non-bloggers are most keen to click on ads especially if they arrive at your site through a search engine result. Their desire to get more information primarily drives the reason why they are clicking on these ads.

I also learned that the most clicked article can effectively guide me in finding out what articles are users interested in, that brings them to my site.

Hmm...more insights...

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Internet Celebrity

My column today at Sun.Star is all about becoming an Internet celebrity. I believe that as blogging became more popular, there are now more people becoming recognizable online. It is like those mailing list and discussion group days. Times are really changing. On the other hand, I think I rather see people post their thoughts in blogs rather than forums so that they'll be able to feel a sense of accountability to whatever they will say.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Thank you for supporting iBlog2

It is done. Last March, I could still remember myself in a meeting with UP-ISP figuring whether iBlog2 should be held on a week day or weekend. However, as we want to take advantage of Rebecca MacKinnon's visit to the Philippines, iBlog2 became a week day event.

Without the superb UP-ISP team, I don't think iBlog2 would turn out as good as it is. Although I must admit that NISMED was far more better than the Sta. Ana room, we were at first conservative with our estimates as to the number of event attendees. Around April 6, I could still recall that there's a little over a hundred then that were registered to iBlog2. It was amazing how that figure doubled in a little more than a week.

Sincerest thanks goes to Monette De Guzman. Her super coordinator skills ensured that everyone meets their deliverables and manage all our external correspondence and communications. Grace Mapala for taking care of the media. Grace and Bo also did a great job for the newsletter. Not to forget, Sharon took care of our souvenier tokens and food concerns. Rissa Ofilada ensured that we will have a nice poster for the event. UP-ISP head JJ Disini covered everything that needs to be signed and pushed - gets done. Without his leadership, iBlog2 would not have been possible. Emer of course for getting our Internet access, LCDs, computers, event recording, website registration and updates get all settled. William Varias for working on sponsorship arrangements and for covering my keynote hosting duties during the event itself.

I was supposed to be there since morning. However, I have a requirements management workshop that needs attention but managed to catch up and do the speaker recognition for the media and podcasting panel. Unexpectedly, given the opportunity to do the closing remarks as well. The tension for being the conference chair this year was more or less manageable than I first expected despite short preparation time.

Of course, the heart and soul of iBlog2 are the volunteer speakers and moderators who provided the reason for this event to be a bloggers event worth going to. Within one week, I find myself fortunate in completing the speaker and moderator roster. I realized that there have been concerns on having two tracks in parallel. However, the idea there is to accommodate as many volunteer speakers who have something relevant to share. On another hand, another possibility is to have the conference for more than a day. (Hmm... that maybe something worth considering next year)

First thanks goes to Rebecca MacKinnon. Her presence in this event really made iBlog2 something special this year.

Sincerest thanks goes to Friedrich Naumann Foundation (The Liberal Times Manila Podcast) for being one of the sponsors for iBlog2. Dr. Ronald Meinardus delivered a great talk on Blogs and Podcasts as Tools for Education. Also to Innove, DotPH, PlogHost, and CreatiVoices.

The political blogging panel is one of the most interesting topic for this event for two reasons: Manuel L. Quezon III and Davao City Councilor Peter Lavina. MLQ3 became a favorite for most of us especially during the GloriaGate scandal as his insights remains very engaging to date on these issues.

Councilor Lavina first declined to join iBlog2 as he is maintaining a perfect attendance record. However, I remember having to explain in my email that he is the only elected government official that we know of to date who blogs and can serve as an inspiration to other elected government officials. That duty call made him say yes! Cheers to Atty. Fred Pamaos for moderating this panel very well.

In the legal blogging panel, Atty. Bong Dizon's presentation is now posted online - Look Before You Link. Kudos to Atty. Punzi and Atty. Marvin Aceron as well for making this panel engaging.

In the personal blogging panel, cheers to Noemi Lardizabal Dado, Joel Yuvienco, Mike Abundo, and Anton De Leon for inspiring new bloggers.

For the art and literary blogging panel, Dean Alfar once again swept everyone away with his fun talk. I'm very thankful to Zarah Gagatiga for accepting my offer to consider speaking in this event. It helped solved my dilemma in balancing male and female speakers for this event. Of course to Jonas Diego too whose presentation has surely inspired a lot of participants to use blogs to promote their comics art creation capabilities. Thanks Lionel for moderating this panel.

In the professional blogging panel, J Angelo Racoma, Charo Nuguid, Abe Olandres, Marc Hil Macalua provided interesting insights on how one can earn a living through blogs. I'm certain our moderator Atty. Cardinez had a challenging task of managing this jampacked panel.

For the media and podcasting panel, Erwin Oliva, Manuel Viloria (notes), Ellen Tordesillas, and Brian Ligsay made their respective presentations as well. Thanks to Juned for moderating this session.

Cheers as well to Pocholo for helping me out in the raffle too.

Great coverage were made by bloggers during and after the event like Jester-in-exile (lessons learned), Jove Francisco (Rebecca MacKinnon, Manuel L. Quezon III, Solidarity, PM sessions), Rizalist, Vonjobi (Liveblogging iBlog2, Liveblogging iBlog2 Part 2, Good-bye iBlog2), Annalyn, Dominique Cimafranca (fork fight deliberating on their post analysis on what happened in iBlog2 and coverage), Peachy, Kel, Toots Ople, Sean, Edcell Gavin, Clair, Gari, Mike Lopez, JJ Disini, Michellita, Skyjade, Fatfingur, MDM, Rocky Sison, Mistervader, Reggie, Rox, Nadine, Aaron, Ienni, JM, Dr. Meinardus, Jan, ZYMM, Alced, Lampara, Thoughts Owner, Rice, Rich, Jayvee, Ellen, Azrael, Ron, Markku Seguerra, Angelo, Mike, Fritz, Charo Nuguid, Mal'akh, Architelago, among others.

Here are some interesting news coverage for the event:
Here are some video coverage as well: (thanks to Manuel Viloria)
iBlog2 Photo gallery
Podcast (thanks to CreatiVoices and Liberal Times Manila)
I will update this page as I get more coverage updates. Check out iBlogPH also for updates. Maraming salamat muli and see you all in iBlog3!

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Estehanon Podcast

I was searching at Podomatic looking for Podcasts made by Filipinos, for Filipinos. True enough, there's one that really caught my attention and that is the Estehanon podcast. It delivers local news and perspectives from Samar. I hope that Podomatic will provide a feature where listeners can contribute a fee (to cover hosting cost) and help guys like Byron maximize the space, and not having to delete previous podcast episodes. May podcasts like Estehanon inspire others to create highly relevant podcasting content attune to the needs of listeners to be informed - on current developments throughout the country.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

April 20: E-Payment and Internet Marketing workshop

This April 20, Thursday, 10 am to 5 pm, we will be having an E-Payment and Internet Marketing Hands-on Workshop for the winners of the Philippine Schools Cyberfair 2006 and DigitalFilipino.com Club members. This will be at Netopia Park Square 2 Ayala Center, Makati City.

The agenda shall be as follows:

AM
Introduction to E-Payment
Hands-on E-Payment Workshop
- E-Mail billing
- Web-based Internet Payment
- Mobile phone payment
- Avoiding and Handling Fraud

PM
E-Mail Marketing
Web Advertising

Philippine School Cyberfair 2006 Winners can send three teachers to this training. Runner-ups can send two teachers. Honorable mention can send one teacher. Additional training requirements are stated in our announcement at the Cyberfair mailing list.

DigitalFilipino.com Club SME/Corporate members can send 2-3 participants. Individual members are also welcome.

Non-club members are requested to process their membership fee payment online prior to confirming.

Thank you.

April 17: Blogging 101 Seminar-Workshop

This April 17, Monday, 9 am to 5 pm, we will be having a Blogging 101 Workshop for the winners of the Philippine Schools Cyberfair 2006 and DigitalFilipino.com Club members. This will be at Microsoft Philippines, 16th Floor 6750, Ayala Ave., Makati City.

Our sincerest thanks to Microsoft Philippines for providing us a venue for the said training.

The agenda shall be as follows:

AM
Introduction to Blogging
Setting up a Blog
Content development ideas
Copyright guidelines

PM
Promoting your blog
Sustaining a blog site

Philippine School Cyberfair 2006 Winners can send three teachers and three students to this training. Runner-ups can send two teachers and two students. Honorable mention can send one teacher and one student. Additional training requirements are stated in our announcement at the Cyberfair mailing list.

DigitalFilipino.com Club SME members can send 3 participants while corporate club members can send 4 participants. Individual club members are welcome to attend as well.

To further strengthen the knowledge on blogging, all participants are encouraged to make time to attend iBlog2: The 2nd Philippine Blogging Summit on April 18.

Monday, April 10, 2006

P180 only: Philippine Internet Review: 10 Years of Internet History

Hello everyone. This April 17 to 20, we are making the Philippine Internet Review: 10 years of Internet History (1994-2004) on sale for only P180. Note that the original price of the said documentary is P340.

More info about this collector's item can be found at:
http://www.digitalfilipino.com/press_article.cfm?id=67

If you are interested to avail of a copy, please drop by at:

1. Prima Play School - 6/F Oakwood Premiere Ayala Center Makati City
2. iBlog2: The 2nd Philippine Blogging Summit on April 18. We will have a table space at the said event. However, please email me ahead at digitalfilipino@gmail.com to reserve a copy.

Should you like it to be couriered to you, just add P100 for shipping.

This is a very limited offer, until supply last.

We are currently preparing the continuation of this documentary and will release it this year. Interested advertisers/sponsors who would like to request for a quotation can email me at digitalfilipino@gmail.com

Friday, April 07, 2006

DigitalFilipino.com Podcast Episode 1

We just uploaded the first episode of the DigitalFilipino.com Podcast. Check it out!

Listen as I tackle information productivity tools and payment gateway technologies that I'm using today.

The twice-a-month DigitalFilipino Podcast has the following segments:
- DigitalFilipino.com Updates
- Events
- Ask Janette

For future episodes, we will also have special guest to be featured.

I also realized that I had a little date glitch in this 1st episode and hope will do better next time.

Thank you for the support!

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Pinoy Web 2.0

Lately, I got the chance to meet Peachy Herrin of PinoyWeb 2.0 who is also organizing an event promoting awareness on Web 2.0 this April 17 to 19.

How ‘blogging’ has changed the way we express ourselves

This interesting article by Beatrix Guilas hit my inbox this morning. Check it out. It also mentioned the forthcoming iBlog2: The 2nd Philippine Blogging Summit. Note that the final program, speakers, and moderators are in for this event. I'm so excited about it. I will also have a table space where I'll be displaying our books and sell them to those who are interested.

See you folks at iBlog2: The 2nd Philippine Blogging Summit!

Monday, April 03, 2006

Free2Play MMO Games by e-Games.com.ph

Here's a coverage made by Jason Cheng on this event.

MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) games usually requires credits from the players or gamers to have more game time to play longer, gain more in-game items and be stronger, especially for the case of MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games). Steve Tsao, Chief Operations Officer of IPVG Corporation had the idea of a youth-friendly and a flexible pay-to-look-cool solution for the gamers, which is the Free2Play model.

“I don’t expect the youth nowadays to spend too much on gaming, that’s why we thought of this solution for this kind of market,” Steve cited. The Free2Play model allows the gamers to have a choice to play the game all the way for free, or buy some in-game items if they want to have a flashy avatar or useful items which makes the player’s character much stronger. The breakdown of the game cards ranges from 20 e-Points card, 50 e-Points card and 100 e-Points card. e-Games currently have 2 games and an online community portal. The games are RAN Online and O2Jam, while Dreamville is the community portal.

RAN Online features a full 3D Oriental campus style setting where the students will have to defend their school against dangerous and evil monsters. Aside from selecting their school (Phoenix, Mystic Peak, and Sacred Gate Campus), players can also choose to assume any of the four fighting classes: hand-to-hand combat (Brawlers), Sword (Swordsman), Archery (Archers), and Qigong (Shamans), each class using different martial art styles, attributes, weapons and armors. “RAN Online is similar to the real world for the students, wherein they also have their assignments, projects, and the only thing that is different is, they are fighting for their respective schools.” Steve added. RAN Online has a total of 20,000+ active players daily, and a total of 250,000 registered users.

Their 2nd game, O2Jam is the 1st and only online music based game in the Philippines. Earn credits, gain experience, free your mind, and jam with your friends, purchase items to customize your avatar to your style and liking. O2Jam is similar to the music arcade games like Guitar Freakz, Drummzle Mania, Dance Dance Revolution, and the only difference is, it is keyboard based, and is MMO. “The game has plenty of gaming modes, like the single player mode, wherein you can choose a song and practice solo, then the multiplayer mode, wherein you compete with up to 8 players, and the couple mode, wherein two players share in one keyboard.” O2Jam Product Manager, Paolo Obles added. O2Jam will soon have OPM songs to be sold in game for only 40 e-Points.

Finally, for those who love joining in community portals: Dreamville, the only avatar based online community portal allows users to create their own Hompy (The shortcut for Home Page in Dreamville), have customizable avatar which represents the users themselves, and also allows users to use those avatars to talk with other users in the mini-world of Dreamville. You can even have a virtual space or lot in Dreamville! What’s more interesting here is, if you are a fan of Cueshe or Solice, you can see them active here walking around the world of Dreamville. Not just reaching out to music fans, but all of the people who are into the modern habits: texting, chatting, blogging, and playing online games. Dreamville is an integration of existing internet technologies such as blogging, instant messaging, and website generation. It is also the ‘melting pot’ for gamers of all kinds, both hardcore and casual, as well as the everyday internet user.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Reuters Trading for Fixed Income to Go Live in Asia

Reuters (LSE: RTR; Nasdaq: RTRSY) announced the launch of Reuters Trading for Fixed Income in Asia. Today's unveiling of the well-received fixed income trading service in Hong Kong is first of several launches to take place in the Asia Pacific region, which will include Singapore, Japan, Australia, Korea, Philippines and Taiwan this year.

With the Asia Pacific regional rollout, Reuters Trading for Fixed Income (RTFI) will allow banks and financial institutions in Asia the ability to trade fixed income securities over their Reuters desktop. RTFI currently features tradable prices from 12 leading fixed income banks with another eight banks expected to go live this year. Over the coming months, leading fixed income price makers are expected to add Asia-specific bonds and instruments to RTFI, bringing price takers a comprehensive service encompassing both international and national instruments.

Reuters Trading for Fixed Income allows price takers easy access to consolidated liquidity, currently offering them access to executable prices in over 15,000 instruments, including European Governments, US Treasuries, Corporates and Emerging Market debt, in 31 currencies across 30 countries.

RTFI is available over Reuters 3000 Xtra, the company's flagship desktop which provides real-time news, data, analysis tools and high quality executable prices from leading global liquidity providers.

With its single sign-on, Reuters Trading for Fixed Income supports flexible trading models for both single dealer and multi dealer trading and allows portfolios and workspaces to be customised to facilitate quick decision making. In addition, it also provides access to clearly defined price classification - firm, indicative, closed, suspended -- to indicate the trading quality of a price.