On my post last week, I promised that I’d be doing some link love post as a sign of my appreciation to my blogging “mentors”. So here we go:
Before I was quietly living my normal life as a normal office person (read what I do full time here) who’s into LAN/online gaming and have some good share of gimmick time too. Some of my “perceived” handicap on blogging:
- I’m not into web designing
- I don’t like to code/ to program
- I’m not a good writer. Most of the time I love my “barok” English
- I have little interest in blogging (aside from my personal fun diary in blogspot.com that I update once in a blue moon)
Then came the Guerilla Blogging concept. I’m referring to the ebook of Marhgil of Macuha.com and Zigfred of Zdiaz.com. So what did I do? I am hesitant at first, but what the heck, let me give it a try:
- I owned/pwned menardconnect.com (OK the correct term should be register my domain)
- Signed up for some web hosting
- Decided to use WordPress and tried out several free themes
- Applied the concepts that they wrote in the ebook
- Experimented with some stuffs and keep on writing
- Added a little bit of me and more of me along the way (Yup I personalized, I think thats the art of blogging)
And the rest is … history… written on menardconnect.com 🙂
Some notable highlights are PR update, PR Part 2 and first google adsense check and more to come (Yes. This is a declaration that there will be more to come).
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not claiming that I’m a blogging expert now. I admit that I’m still a newbie/noob in blogging and this blog-thing will be a continuous learning process for me. I’m also not bragging about my milestones. What I’m posting here is the story of My Blog and Me. I’m sharing the experience and in doing so may I hope that this post serve as a testament that I did this and maybe it can be an encouragement/inspiration that you can do it too.
So who are these 2 guys: this Marghil Macuha and this Zigfred Diaz? For me they are two normal Pinoy dudes. They have a full-time job (Marhgil is an IT-guy, Zigfred is a lawyer). As the ebook put it
The authors themselves hold other jobs and wear several hats while at the same time excelling on how to make cash online
I initially thought they were either snobs or elitists or will try to sell me something if I approach them. It turned out I was wrong. They are very friendly people and they entertained my questions on blogging. They shared their tricks and tips in blogging freely. They even inspired me when I was contemplating of giving up on my blog.
Not to spoil the ebook, but I’m sharing some key learning’s that I had (maybe make it free six in the tradition of my free six video, six MyBrute Cheats, six Farm Town Cheats and more free six to come)
#1. Get a blog and start blogging.
Whether this be a free blog or a hosted one, the important thing is start one and get it moving.
#2. Join Communities and interact with them
“No Man is an Island” and “No Blog is an island”. Very true. I’m guilty that I have very little interaction with the community and my fellow bloggers but I promise that I will do my best to reach out more.
#3. SEO + Optimization
I admit that given my background and my line of work, I am very much wary of SEO in the beginning. But later on I realized that “SEO is not bad” (hey this is worth some post in the future) but like any other useful tool out there, it can be used in a bad way (read: cyber criminals and Blackhat SEO).
#4. Ads + Monetization
There are a lot of options on how to earn from your blog. The ebook have some examples and you will discover more along the way. Try out some and see if it will work for you. I know not all options will work, but the key here is to pick what will fit for you and your blog.
#5. Content is still KING
Write good content that people will find interesting to read (and not just please big G and other crawlers). I am striving to be better on this area since I believe this will be beneficial in the long run
#6. Blog about your passion/s
Yes, there will be times that you will have no idea on what to blog and you will be discouraged to blog and get back to the “old life”. But if you blog about things you like, things you love, things you are passionate about then it will be easier to write a post and keep on blogging.
Wow! Post is too long na (800+ words already) I got carried away 🙂
If you want to get the complete ebook you can get it from Zigfred’s or Marhgil’s sites
I heard that they are cooking up the next version of the ebook: maybe a Guerilla Blogging Ebook 2.0 (two-dot-oh). So watch out for it soon, I’ll keep you posted!
Let me end this by saying “Marhgil and Zigfred, Thank you very much!!!”
P.S.
Other Pinoy bloggers who helped me in one way or another deserve some link love posts too, but alas, that’s worth another post or two in the future.