I’d long wanted to get logos for my various blogs, but other stuff got in the way (like, how to eke out a living and such). Then the other day I chanced upon an old CorelDraw file of the Davao Blogspace logo, which was created by Eric Su. Although it’s nothing new in the blogosphere anymore, personally, I still find the callout bubble design rather catchy.
It was Entrecard that’s to be blamed. After signing up months ago, it was only very recently that I got around to setting it up. And I found that people actually spruce up their 125×125s… That’s what got me hankering for logos again. So I tried to muster as much creativity as I could and came up with a concept. It didn’t pan out as I’d imagined, but a friend commented that the composition was OK. Whew! ••• Read on»
Tagged: blog promotions, logo design
Today I’m going to conduct another blogging seminar at the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) - Region 11. The first one was last 1st March, and it was for SMEs in the Davao Region. This series of seminars on blogging as a tool for communication is a project of the DTI with the collaboration of Davao’s most active bloggers.
As the DTI’s private-sector consultant on the I.T. industry, I will make sure that this type of know-how exchange will be sustained. ••• Read on»
Tagged: DTI-Region 11, IT industry
This has got to be my ultimate favorite piece from BlogComics!
Truth is, this blog has been PR 0 for sometime now, from a 3 only last month. Who knows what’s churning in the minds of people in the Googleplex…
Tagged: comics
Found this cool show for keeping myself up-to-date with what’s going on in the Web. It’s called “WebbAlert - Your Daily Tech Roundup” and it’s hosted by Morgan Webb (she was an FHM model once, I hear). For now, the show comes out Mondays to Thursdays. Check it out:
from WebbAlert.com
The content of the vlog might be too USA-centric, but there are stuff there that is relevant to anyone who’s on the Internet a lot.
Tagged: tech news
I’ve just deployed a fresh install of WordPress 2.5 (the 1st release candidate). After reading Matt’s intro, I was sold! Normally, you see, I don’t upgrade to new versions of software right away. I’m what you’d call a late adopter — partly because I don’t want to deal with the hassles brought on by bugs or security weaknesses, etc.
But this time, I felt an obligation to give back to the community, especially to Automattic, for giving the world the wonderful, awe-inspiring WordPress. So, I’m now part of an online set of testers for v2.5, hopefully I’ll be able to contribute gainfully.
My WP2.5 installation is for a test site, not really a live blog. But you can take a look at some screenshots of the admin panel. ••• Read on»
Tagged: software testing
A couple of days ago, I bought a one-year license for Kaspersky Internet Security 7. I used PayPal for the transaction. From the catalog to the checkout screen to the PayPal authorization page, the amount declared was $59.95. That’s $59.95. 
I have an account on that site and was signed in, so that arvato systems GmbH (the vendor of Kaspersky) knew that I was in the Philippines — VAT was removed from the shopping cart, presumably because I wasn’t anywhere near Europe.
The confirmation page showing my completed order also reflected $59.95. Take a look at the screenshot. I also got an email from arvato systems that, as soon as they receive the amount of $59.95, I would be able to download the product. ••• Read on»
Tagged: Kaspersky, online purchasing, PayPal
I apologize for the many days when my blogs were down. This and most of my other blogs were taken offline due to a hardware foul-up at my previous host’s supposedly ‘industry strength’ data center. What a dismaying, depressing week it was for me.
The main reason why I chose Hostican.com for my VPS account was their “excellent” customer-service support. Boy, was I sorely mistaken. Only after 2 days did they inform me that the hard drive my VPS was residing in had failed, and only after much frantic emailing by yours truly. Funny how, in their mass-mailed message, they kept emphasizing that the disk drive they were using was of an expensive variety. Now wouldn’t you take better care of an expensive piece of equipment?
And there were no backups at all! After another volley of emails from me, Hostican finally replied that they couldn’t recover any usable data whatsoever from the errant hard disk. But… aren’t backups supposed to be kept in separate drives? Nada. Zilch. Nai. Wala. ••• Read on»
Tagged: hosting services, VPS
I’d like to share with you a recent discovery I’ve made: Website Grader. It’s one of those finds that brings a smile to the lips of bloggers and webmasters. This online tool will help you analyze your site’s SEO health. While Website Grader works for all websites, it includes reports that are blog-specific.
When using Website Grader, you will input your site’s URL and keywords. Optionally, you may submit your competitor sites’ URLs as well, for comparison. After submission, WG will output an SEO score for your site. (This blog got a 92 out of 100.) Below that will be an exhaustive report on your site’s SEO preparedness. ••• Read on»
Tagged: Google, SEO, Website Grader
Announcements and other stuff about the ongoing Davao Food Trip will now be published in its own blog: www.davaofoodtrip.org. Bloggers who want to join us can sign up at that new site.
And the gastronomic adventures continue…
Tagged: Davao Food Trip
Here’s what you need to know when you decide to advertise your business via the Internet. There are in fact a number of methods, and just as many platforms upon which to advertise online, but let’s stick to the World Wide Web for now. And to further simplify it, we’ll focus on search engine marketing.
Probably the most important target of online marketing is the search engine. And the ultimate goal is to have your website (therefore, your products / services) appear on the first page of search engine results. When people do a Google search for, say, “houses for rent in Davao”, the search engine returns links to websites, ordered by relevance. In other words, the links you see on the first search engine results page (SERP) are those of websites that are likeliest to be the most relevant to your search. ••• Read on»
Tagged: Internet marketing, online advertising, SEO
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