By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net
PARAÑAQUE City, Philippines — Blogs are also business tools, according to some Filipino bloggers.
Apart from being personal diaries, blogs are increasingly becoming sources of income for some bloggers.
Janette Toral, blogger and author of DigitalFilipino.com E-Commerce Workshop E-Book, says some Filipino bloggers have turned their blogs to effective tools for advertising.
Combining e-commerce and blogging, for instance, allows people to earn some income while doing what they are passionate about: blogging.
But before turning a blog into something income-generating, she says it is important to maintain a consistent following. Content remains king in blogs.
“There was a time I did not update my blog for a month but still traffic is consistent, I think it really boils down to good content and good keywords for each entry,” blogger Jehzeel Laurente of Jehzlau Concepts adds.
The 22-year old blogger from Davao says he earns enough income from blogging to support his stay in Manila.
Laurente said he is able to maintain traffic growth in his blog through good content and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, a means to increase a blogs or a websites so-called page ranking in search engines like Google or Yahoo!
SEO involves combining good blog design and content using keywords to increase the chances of blogs of landing on top of, say, a Google search.
“Based on the top 100 list, bloggers need to create good content, use of SEO tools like keywords to help define the blog,” Toral concurs.
During a blogger awarding cum eyeball at the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. in Parañaque City, Filipino bloggers who were attracting a large traffic of viewers were a colorful mix of personalities, age, niche topics, location and gender.
One of them is Filipino overseas worker and blogger Rheynz who is behind ReynaElena.com. This blogger thinks her blog appeals to a niche market of OFWs. Based in Philadelphia, she says 80 percent of the blog’s readers are Filipinos based abroad and in the country.
Also based on the traffic Filipino travel, food, parenting, photography and gender blogs, such as baklaako.com, are getting, Filipino readers have varying tastes.
Which only means that during this period of economic crunch, bloggers need not look far to find ways to earn some income and feed people’s thirst for information and good content.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:43 am
[...] passed the DOST-SEI scholarship program! Yay! 6. Was mentioned on Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Filipino blogs Suit Up for Business article by Anna Valmero 7. Ranked 1st in the Philippines’ Top 100 Blogs for 2008 based on [...]
November 7th, 2008 at 9:26 am
I started with one blog…it wasn’t enough due to my continuous testing. I now have more than a dozen and they have helped me to earn some while at home.
November 6th, 2008 at 4:50 am
[...] at sabihin nyong maganda talaga ako and visit the Inquirer’s entry and here’s the link: Filipino blogs suit up for business by Anna [...]
November 5th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Congrats to all Filipino bloggers who are earning effectively using their blogs. Congrats to Jehz as well.
November 5th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
PS: at saka c janett toral, queen of philippine e-commerce, wish ko nga maging apprentice nya.. hehehe.. cheers lots to learn from her and from the bloggers community
November 5th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
magaling yan c jehzeel laurente, seo expert yan.. cool din… hehehe… cheers
November 5th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
At first, blogging is just a hobby but as the world evolves, it becomes a profession. Blogging is very easy especially for writers. I never imagined to earn as much as a regular employee with blogging. A lot of individuals and companies worldwide are using blogs to promote their business. Some hire bloggers to work for them. Like me, I was hired to manage someone else’s blog. I work less but earn more. If you have the time, feel free to drop by at my blog. I thought blogging isn’t so popular here in the Philippines. I hope more people will discover this opportunity. Unemployment is a big problem in our country and I think blogging is the solution.
November 5th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Congrats to Jez… Hehe
Idol ka talaga!
November 5th, 2008 at 11:39 am
wow congrats Jehzeel weeeiii!!! he also taught me how to blog (^_^) and eto nahawa din naging blog addict (^_^)
November 4th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I was among who attended that event and it was my first time, although I have been blogging for a year.
I was not surprised to find my “kababayan” to be friendly and sociable because it’s our nature.
Ms. Janette was generous enough to pursue that project, and it’s a good time to see fellow bloggers that you only met online. It adds more confidence and trust.
Yes, blogging can be a good business and a window for other online opportunity.
I believe that one day in the near future that blogging in our country will just be like the cell phone today - very common.
Thanks.
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Iba ka talaga Jehz
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I have to agree on this. I actually got my first Adsense payment just today!! hehehe.
WTG, Filipino bloggers!
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:17 pm
[...] this month’s Nuffnang Philippines’ featured blogger, and I’m also featured in Inquirer.net’s Blog Addicts. I’m not really featured, I’m just mentioned together with the two of the most [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:27 am
Wow, its nice to know that a weblog can be used as a tool to make money, while i only used it to get rid of boredom while staying at home in doing nothing, while blogging sometimes add your time and enhance your facts and knowledge of what is happenning around the world.
November 1st, 2008 at 3:03 am
You’re the man Jehzlau!
October 31st, 2008 at 4:50 am
Real estate professionals and other business use our blog to promote their business.
They are having fun while connecting with new customers worldwide. Check it out at:
http://www.FilipinoAlumni.com
October 30th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I have to agree that blogging is a powerful tool in business. Filipino bloggers in particular are very influential in giving information in blogosphere nowadays.
October 30th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
even if I never check out any of the blogs online, it was still a great experience meeting the people there
October 30th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
After almost 11 months of blogging now, I never thought I could use my blog to promote my Consulting Business (ERPBiz.net). Glad to say, I got most of my leads through my blog and exposure is not just limited to the Philippines - but virtually, you have the world as your potential customers/market.
It was nice ’seeing’ you at the event Ms Anna.
October 30th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
good thing about Pinoys bloggers is that they are passionate in writing. they dont see blog as a mere tool of advertising or a crap blah blah!!their blog echo their broad views of anything and everything. God Bless!
October 30th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I definitely agree with Fitz.
October 30th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
give us some tips so we can also support our stay here in Dubai
October 30th, 2008 at 10:47 am
hi anna! so that was you! hahaha!
indeed! 80% of my readers are from our dear lupang hinirang and the 20% are overseas. 90% of that are still pinoys working abroad and the the meager 10% are foreigners, MBA and college students reading my politics and economy articles.
i honestly don’t know what clicked with my readers other than my wicked sense of humor which i believe na baka nga meron hahaha!
Jehzeel did a pretty good job in explaining the keywords and he truly deserve to be number 1.
I do write current events, in particular those which I believe will affect us overseas pinoys. One of which was when I wrote an article about subprime, essentially dissecting what transpired with the financial meltdown in Wall Street.
That blog entry would be captured by so many financial forums around the world and be picked up by Salve and Ellen Tordesillas as well. Like what Jehzeel had said, that keyword “subprime” will surely land you on reyna elena and i’m glad i was able to share something of value to a lot of non-financial people including the MBA people who frequents my blog.
Many many thanks for the mention and my congratulations to all of those in the Top 100 by Janetter. It’s a bit of an honor to be included amongst the best in the country. Don’t worry, titino na ako and i’ll try my best to be kinda best also hehehe!
October 30th, 2008 at 1:22 am
In my opinion, Pinoys are one of the best bloggers in the world. Not only because we are good in English, but more importantly because the Philippine Blogosphere has managed to become a close-knit society - freely exchanging ideas and techniques on how to improve each other’s online presence.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Wow congratulations to Jehzeel! Galing talaga nyok!
October 29th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
wow thanks for the mention and the link