5 Tips on Making an Event for Bloggers

As more and more businesses make use of buzz marketing to promote their products and services and try to get good word-of-mouth, we get to see all kinds of gimmicks and come-ons.

Some fail dismally in this task- as more educated consumers see right through the more obvious efforts to put pearls on swine. Others cross the ethical borderline, striving to gain positive exposure no matter the cost. And then there are some companies you just can't help but support, solely for the reason that their corporate values naturally align with your own.

Having been a media person for 14 years, and now as a denizen of the local blogosphere, I can say that I've seen all kinds of companies employ all kinds of marketing tactics to get a good review or two out there. Some good, some completely forgettable, and some just downright wrong.

Of course, if your company chooses to make use of new media- blogs, podcasts, social networks, viral videos, etc- as a means to promote your latest line of products and services, you want to be remembered the right way.

I was in a bloggers' event last week, and it made me think about writing the post you're now reading. Let me share with you a few insights I had with that experience.

The Kawayan Cove Experience

Just a few days ago, several bloggers (myself included), headed off for Kawayan Cove in Nasugbu, Batangas. Kawayan Cove is a 68-hectare exclusive seaside residential community, located in Nasugbu, Batangas, a town 2 hours south of Metro Manila famous for its white-sand beaches and resorts. Edge Properties invited some bloggers to come check it out, and you can read the details of our visit on this other post of mine on another blog, The Life & Times of The Renzie Man.

Whether I like it or not, the side of me that's all media-and-marketing can't help but pay attention to how promotional activities- like this particular event for bloggers- unfold and run its course. I've managed a number of similar events in the not-too-distant past, so I have a few observations myself.

Here are some things we learned from our Kawayan Cove visit:

1. Set the expectations straight. Naturally, when we were given the invitation to event, I already had some preconceived notions in my head: is it going to be a sales pitch? Those real estate open house events are usually boring! Wait- blogging about real estate IS boring!

But the invitation explained it all: it's a workshop for bloggers into digital photography. Just so happens it's set in Kawayan Cove. Bring your camera- you'll want to take lots of pictures. Bring extra clothes- you might want to hang by the beach.

The organizers did a pretty good job in setting the expectations straight, and sticking to it. It was pretty much everything they said it was going to be, then they surpassed themselves by executing their plans very well.

2. Preparation is key. In any given event, even your best-laid plans can go awry. In this case, who would've known it would be raining half the day? Nevertheless, there was a Plan B in place- the venue for the talk was moved to a more suitable location (from the ampitheater to the pavillion by Bamboo Beach), there were vehicles on hand to shuttle us from place to place, even sandals for those who didn't bring any.

You have to admire the kind of preparation any company makes to ensure the success of any event. It's all about covering all your bases. And allowing yourself to be flexible when the situation calls for it.

3. Play the part of the gracious host. It's all about creating new connections and encouraging long-term relationships. Make your guests comfortable, encourage mingling with other guests, make yourself available for Q&A's.

In the case of Kawayan Cove, the Puyat family were all there to show us around, share stories and tell us what we needed to know about the property. I'm sure they've done this dozens, maybe hundreds of times, yet there they were, taking time to have a chat with each and every one of us.

The staff of Kawayan Cove was on hand to make sure we were well-attended to. From the welcome drinks, to the hearty lunch prepared for the group, even those nice little moist towels we got after the tour.

All that thoughtfulness and hospitality can only create a positive image of you and your company. For me, it shows how genuinely warm and welcoming the Puyat family is, and also how well Edge Properties trained their personnel. That's always a good thing in my book.

4. Provide lots of venues for interactivity. There were specially prepared food and drink arrangements, just for pictorial purposes, with Anton Diaz (of Our Awesome Planet) going around giving tips and pointers to all the bloggers, and the Puyat family sharing anecdotes about Kawayan Cove's history.

There was more than enough time to take pictures, work on a blog, do a podcast, or even shoot a viral video. Also lots of opportunities to walk around with fellow bloggers to compare notes and get to know them some more.

You want the interactivity because you want to give your bloggers a chance to soak up and appreciate the experience- in every way possible. It's good that they have a good experience about your products and services, and even better that you allow them to process all that information, and consider all aspects of whatever it is your promoting.

5. Content is still king. What makes your event so compellingly different from everybody else's? A promotional event like this gives your company an opportunity to create content relevant to your market. It doesn't have to be forced, nor does it have to be overly elaborate. It only has to be relevant and timely.

With all of Anton's experience as a photographer- he only stuck to what we wanted to hear: Travel and Food Photography for Bloggers. In fact, he only had ten or so slides, yet we already learned so much.

More importantly, we had the chance to put all his tips to practice for the rest of the afternoon as we toured the property. Two birds with one stone: not only do we get to appreciate the majesty of the natural beauty of Kawayan Cove, we also had a newfound appreciation for digital photography.

Bottom line: Make your event a memorable experience. For businesses who wish to tap blogs and bloggers as a means to promote their products, events, ideas or services, what they're really trying to accomplish is to get good online buzz- the kind of word-of-mouth that inspires the bloggers to tell their readers about their experiences, and share something unique about the activity.

As a blogger, The Kawayan Cove event was probably one of the best I've ever been to. I've learned a lot from it, made some new connections, and it gave me a fresh perspective on things (particularly on the topic of real estate, for me!).

As a media-and-marketing person, the activity was well-planned and equally well-executed. Businesses who plan on making use of blogs and bloggers would do well to learn from this exercise.

Cheers, everyone.

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Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Blog?

I picked up a story from a couple of posts in the local blogosphere. A local TV show ran a feature on blogs, and called it "Beware of the Blog". No, I haven't seen it (sorry, no time to watch local TV these past several months), and everything I know is pretty much from what I've read from the blogs of some friends of ours- Noemi and Juned, in particular.

"Beware of the Blog" supposedly had some guests, and from what I gathered, the show's host tosses an issue, and the guests give their two cents' worth.

Here are some issues I'd like to comment on.

1. It seems that the guests believe that (according to Noemi's blog), "blogs are not reliable sources of information unless they come from respectable bloggers".

Who's to say a blogger is respectable or not? Who's to say a blogger is legit or otherwise. Apparently, one of the guests defined an illegitimate blogger as one who has a fake identity.

Here's how I see it: a blogger is a blogger. You have a blog? Then you're a blogger, regardless of whether you choose to use your real name or not.

I suppose some blogs can be treated more seriously than others- therefore, respectability may vary from one blog to another. Ultimately, however, it is the individual reader that chooses to see the blogger as an authority figure, or as just another waste of time.

Blogging gives anyone and everyone a voice. It's the great equalizer. I don't need my own TV network, radio station or printing press to get my message across anymore.

But a blog is only as powerful and as effective as its number of readers. The internet allows you to read or access virtually anything you want. If your blog has the numbers, then it means for some reason, people choose to read what you have to offer, rather than read something else.

I'd like to think that your readers and subscribers are fairly intelligent people- not easily cowed, swayed or even impressed. The fact that they keep reading your blog, and tell other people about it, does give you quite a degree of authority, and therefore, a fegree of respectability.

2. One of the guests said that blogs are like social rods and are used for social control.

Well, that's one way of looking at it- though it's not entirely true. Blogs can serve a number of purposes- and it doesn't necessarily have to be for social control. Some can be whimsical, others can be fun, many can be deeply serious, or informative and educational, but the vast majority are really just personal diaries and scrapbooks that just happen to be online.

But just like any form of media, blogs are all about keeping things honest. If someone feels that there's a story worth blogging about, and sharing about to the world, then it probably does have some value to it.

If a lot of people seem to be flocking into gossip blogs, then yes, it probably means something. Could it be that people take delight in the downfall of others? Or perhaps they're just in search of good story? Sheer curiosity perhaps? The reasons are many, and not necessarily definite or easily apparent. So just like a social rod, it can be an indicator of sorts.

But blogs aren't all about social control all the time.

3. Beware of the Blog?

Just a tad bit sensational for a title, isn't it? But seriously, why do you have to be afraid of blogs?

Blogs are wonderful tools for communication and interaction. But just like any other form of media, it can be subject to abuse and misuse. In fact, put a blog in the wrong hands, and you can have trouble easily brewing.

Again, blogs only have power if readers choose to give it power. Juned put it rather well, I think. If you don't like what you read, you may choose to:

a> ignore the blog altogether, and dismiss it as a total waste of time,
b> write back and leave a comment, and voice out your disagreement,
c> flag the blog as offensive, particularly if your blog is hosted on free blogging services like Blogspot or Wordpress.
d> sue their sorry asses, in particularly extreme cases, and I hope it never has to come to that.

Again, Juned put it nicely: Caveat Lector. Latin for "Let the Reader Beware".

Have any of you guys actually seen that TV feature? What do you think?

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Blogging Full-time Now

Yep. I suppose you can call me a professional blogger now. And I couldn't be happier.

I've started blogging a little bit over a year ago. Though I may have already learned quite a bit about blogs and blogging since then, I still feel like I have much more to soak up on.

This one particular blog of mine- "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!"- started it all for me. At first, it was a catch-all kind of blog that had a little bit of everything. Then it wasn't too long until I've decided to position them towards a certain niche. So now I got at least eight different blogs right now, each about a specific topic.

I was really just having fun sharing whatever I knew- at first it was just among friends, then friends of friends. Then I was being sent CDs and DVDs to check out, just so I could write about them.

I never considered it seriously at first, but then the money started trickling in. Not even through Adsense just yet, since I haven't even made a serious effort promoting any of my blogs. It was usually more of companies asking me to help them set up their blogs, or to write for them.
And it wasn't much- first a couple bucks here, a few more there. Then just within a few weeks, I've noticed that the rates were going up, and I was actually getting more writing jobs through my blogs.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd let go of my day job to take on a couple of contracts which were, needless to say, very much worth my while. How often does it happen that you do get a job offer that pays a lot more than your current job, for you to do exactly what you want to do for the rest of your life?

It doesn't happen that often to me.

So here I am, happily blogging from the comfort of my own home. Plus I have all the time to do whatever the hell I want- go to the gym, do more business, read a book, travel, blog some more or just laze around at home.

It's all very exciting, really.

Again, I know I'm not the best blogger there is out there, or one with the bb-ranking blog, or even someone with the best content, but I think I'm in a better position now to help other people do more with their blogs. Heck, it's the wave of the future.

To all my fellow bloggers and friends who have been blogging, and to everyone who's read any of my blogs- thanks for inspiring me to blog better. This bold new step forward could never be possible without you.

We keep blogging, and we'll help others keep blogging as well.

Cheers, everyone!

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What's A Good dSLR for A Newbie?

Blogs and digital photography go hand-in-hand, just like Hall & Oates, Tango & Cash and Dungeons & Dragons.

I was at this one local bloggers' event not too long ago, armed with my trusty Asus EEE PC and 5.1 megapixel Sony Cybershot- my standard loadout pretty much wherever I go. Now when they start coming out with mobile phones that pretty much out-pixel your own compact digital camera, then I say it's time to get a new camera.

Incidentally, it was Fritz's Nokia N82 (yes, that's his phone pictured to the right) that made me realize it's really time to get me some new hardware. Juned had a hand in that too (a few months back), but the urgency was just driven home with the realization that my three-year old Cyber-shot can easily be obsolete in a couple of weeks. What? Oh, it's obsolete already? Well, so much for that.

So, back to our topic on great dSLR's for beginners:

In an article published on CNet.com.au a little more than a year ago, we get ourselves a helpful little look into getting our first dSLR. Sure, there may be better ones out in the market now, but when you know absolutely nothing about these babies, I'd say this article is a good place to start. In fact, I'm del.icio.us'ing/Digg'ing/StumbleUpon'ing it right now.


Why You Would Want To Get A dSLR

Maybe you don't have to. In fact, a compact digital camera (like my CyberShot) works just fine. But if for some reason, you'd want to take your photography to a higher level, then maybe it's time you start investing in a digital single-lens reflex (dSLR) camera.

I'm only geek enough to want to get into geekier things, so if you want to read up more on what a dSLR is all about, you may want to start Googling it up, or reading all about it here on Wikipedia.

According to CNet's Mary Lojkine:

An SLR is more responsive than a compact, allowing you to take photos more quickly; it gives you more control, so you can be more creative; and it's more flexible, allowing you to change the lens or use accessories such as flashguns and remote controls.

There you have it. Thanks, Mary.


Recommended dSLRs For Beginners

That same CNet article generally recommends these four entry-level SLR's, each has its own pros and cons, just like a Detour on The Amazing Race. But why these four? According to Mary,

...these entry-level SLRs are designed for people who are used to pocket-friendly compacts, the manufacturers have kept them small and light. Experienced photographers may scoff, telling you that larger and heavier cameras are easier to handle and hold, but if you're used to a compact, you won't want anything too big.

That being said, let's check out our four recommendations:

1. the Canon EOS 400D. The Canon EOS 400D ships with 18-55mm zoom lens. It has a 10-megapixel sensor, and it gives you great customization options with a wide range of lenses and accessories you can attach to it, depending on what you need. Has a good balance of auto, semi-auto and manual controls for you to explore as your skills improve.
2. the Olympus E-410. The Olympus E-410 is the smallest and the lightest of the four- great if you want to carry around less camera. It also comes with a 10-megapixel sensor. Compared to the Canon and Nikon, it comes with a better zoom range out of the box- with a twin-lens kit with 14-42mm and 40-150mm lenses, or 28-84mm and 80-300mm in 35mm terms.
3. the Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 . The Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 also has a 10-megapixel sensor, and is a relative newcomer in the dSLR market, using the tech it got from Konica-Minolta. It has a built-in image stabilization option (whereas you have to get special lenses for the Canon and Nikon). It also has auto focus, anti-static coating and 21 compatible lenses.
4. the Nikon D40. Just like the Canon, the Nikon D40 also ships with a zoom lens, but only comes with a 6-megapixel sensor. Still not bad, and will still produce better pics than a regular compact, but you might feel you're lagging behind with this one. On the plus side, the Nikon also has a lot of accessories and lenses you can get later on, so in that regard, it's just as customizable as the Canon. That said, it's still a great transition camera as your first dSLR.


The Final Word

As far as CNet has presented, you have a good variety of transition dSLRs too choose from, depending on how you see yourself using your camera in the more immediate future. But here's what they have to say:

...it's a close-run thing, but for our money, the Canon EOS 400D has a slight edge. It costs a little more than the Nikon D40, but the extra megapixels will keep you happy for longer.

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. I hope this helps you out as much as did for me. Still, don't stop looking around and checking out other cams. There might be other, newer models out there that could be better than the ones presented here. I'd sure love to hear about it if you do find any.

Cheers, everyone!

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Blogs Give You More Bang For Your Buck!

Here's an interesting read on Abe Olandres' Yugatech: a blog entry on how advertisers might actually be getting a better return-of-investment on their media buy with blog advertising.

In a recent presentation he made, Abe compared the performance of ads on his blog (YugaTech) to four other sites that carries the same advertising: two news sites (which he designates as sites A & B), a forum (site C), and a portal (site D).

With this mix of websites, he stacked them up against each other and compared the following five attributes:

• Total Traffic Contribution. Percentage traffic share (leading into the advertiser's landing page?) from each site, considering the total combined online traffic of all five.
  
• New Visitors. The percentage of unique visitors on a blog clicking an advertiser's ad.
  
• Page Views Per Visit.
  
• Average Time on Site.
• Bounce Rate. The percentage of people leaving the referred site right away.
  

Here's what Abe had to say about the Total Traffic Contribution:

Of the top 5 referring sites, my blog (YugaTech) was the 3rd highest referrer with 19.33% of the total traffic contributed by all five. The first two were the news sites that sent in 39.05% and 23.88%, the forum site sent only 11.56% and the portal 6.19%.
To think that one of the news sites had (at least) 192 times more number of monthly pageviews than this blog, placing 3rd in terms of referrals ain’t bad at all. Too bad, I couldn’t get any click-thru-rates.

According to the blog entry, what surprised Abe more were the results of the other metrics: New Visitors, Page Views per Visit, and Average Time on Site.

New Visitors

Site A - 80.5% new visitors
Site B - 69.5% new visitors
Site C - 64.5% new visitors
Site D - 78.0% new visitors
YugaTech - 45% new visitors

Depending on how you look at it, either this blog doesn’t refer more unique visitors or visitors keep clicking on the ads more than once (which is good right?).

Page Views per Visit

Site A - 2.17 pageviews
Site B - 2.06 pageviews
Site C - 1.78 pageviews
Site D - 2.64 pageviews
YugaTech - 6.12 pageviews

Average Time on Site

Site A - 2.24 minutes
Site B - 2:38 minutes
Site C - 1:35 minutes
Site D - 3:07 minutes
YugaTech - 10:17 minutes

It only means one thing — the blog drives more quality traffic because they actually use the referred site more. The figures above shows us 3 to 5 times more site usage by visitors coming from the blog.

Lastly, Abe shares a little more about Bounce Rates:

Site A - 60%
Site B - 60%
Site C - 75%
Site D - 56%
YugaTech - 34%

Bounce rates indicate the percentage of people leaving the referred site right away. So the lower the bounce rates, the better since it means visitors are sticking to the site. Here’s two words to describe that — targeted traffic.

Now that's interesting- more compelling reasons for just about any company to invest more in blogs- for quality content that hits your targeted market segment! Abe's final word on the subject matter (for now):

I do not know how much advertising money was spent on all the 5 sites (including this blog) but from the limited data I gathered, this blog only got around 2% of the total ad spendings (I’m pretty sure it’s lower).

If we just go by the raw number of visitors, spending 2% of your ad budget to get 19% of the traffic (and high quality traffic at that) is a great ROI.

The hard numbers above will show you that blog advertising has a much higher Return of Investment (ROI). So next time you’re thinking of doing online advertising, do consider blogs in your budget. =)

Thanks for that highly informative post, Abe. You can check out more on him on YugaTech.com, for more of Technology news and reviews in the Philippines.

Hope you all found that useful as much as I did. Cheers, everyone!

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Podcasting: Fun with Digital Audio and Video.

Technology today has come to a point that user-generated content is now a very easy and cost-effective effort. Anyone with a PC, an internet connection can have a blog these days. Got a digital camera? Put up a photo-blog! If you have basic audio-video equipment, you can have your own series of viral videos and podcasts, if you feel like it.

As a dude who's been in radio for the past 14 years, it's supposed to be a natural transition of sorts, going from a show on an actual FM radio station to doing something along the lines of New Media- specifically, a podcast.

According to Wikipedia:

A podcast is a collection of digital media files which is distributed over the Internet, often using syndication feeds, for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term "podcast", like "broadcast", can refer either to the series of content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The term podcast should not be used to describe individual files. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.

These days, anyone can have his own radio show on the internet- you can say whatever you want, put whatever content you like, without the restrictions of having to deal with the management of a radio station. Heck, you don't even have to be connected with a radio station!

Whether you're just a regular dude with a desire to speak out and share your knowledge on particular subject matters, or a small business looking for a great new way to promote yourself, then you might want to consider podcasting- which is what I'm considering now.

I've been looking into having my own series of podcasts- and man, there are just so many things you can talk about! Just in the same way you can put up a blog on just about anything, really. Only that a podcast is media in spoken word format, usually on mp3, while a blog is written for all to read.

Here's what I have so far: my current favorite site is this really useful Podcasting News. I say it's a good place to start, for anyone who wants to at least listen to a few podcasts, just to have an idea. Since last Friday, I've been listening to a number of em- some good, some bad. Look to the sidebar on the left side of the Podcasting News website, and you can find some recommendations.

Also, on top of news in the world of podcasting, they also have features and resources to help you on your way. Definitely a great place to start, if you ask me.

Other great reads on podcasting:

• The Creative Commons' Legal Guide To Podcasting. Might as well make it legitimate, right?
• Podcast.net has a whole LOT of podcasts for you to go through. Pick a subject matter and give it a go! Alternately, you can check out Podcast Alley, or Pageflakes' Mother of all Podcasts.
• Another great site for beginning podcasters here, on K12 Handhelds. Also, check out O'Reilly while you're at it.
• If you have time, you may also want to check out Podcasting Tools for some more detailed info on gear, directories and even trade shows on podcasting.

So there you have it- hope this helps you as much as it does for me. Let me know how that podcasting project of yours comes along. I'll post the links to my own podcasts once I have enough content.

Cheers everyone!

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Blogs and Blogging: New Media for SME's

One of the biggest challenges I've noticed, is getting a traditionally set-up Small- or Medium-sized Enterprise to get into New Media. A lot of SME's (particularly here in the Philippines, for example) are family-owned, and therefore is run by the family, with the patriarch/matriarch right on top of things.

For a variety of reasons, these SME's haven't quite picked up on the idea of using New Media to market their business- they might feel that whatever little resources on hand might be better allocated on more lucrative activities. Or maybe there's just a pervading atmosphere of technophobia, or maybe management just doesn't care at all.

Unless of course, you have a say on using New Media for your company's marketing communications efforts- then hey, good for you.

At a time when businesses are struggling with the rising costs of traditional media (TV, radio, print), and the proliferation of other avenues for promotion (events, outdoor media, etc.), at a time when there is just so much ad clutter, and at a time your audience is more averse to being advertised to, what's a Small Business to do?

This is where New Media comes in. It is way, way cheaper than traditional media, and if you use it right, it can be the most effective online tool for you and your growing business.

YouTube is such a massive online hit- so why not make a series of viral videos instead of an expensive TV commercial? Podcasts are the new radio- and you can talk about whatever you like, and even have your own show. Blogs take the place of magazines and newspapers- with loads of informative, entertaining or even scandalous posts that can launch full-blown discussion threads when written well.

Blogging for Small- to Medium-sized Enterprises.

I've picked up quite a bit of information on the subject matter- through my own experiences as a marketing exec, through my interaction with other blogs and bloggers, and attending these highly informative workshops on blogging.

Jayvee Fernandez, general manager of The Blog Bank and channel editor for b5Media, has given a particularly thought-provoking talk in one such workshop not too long ago.

He's pointed out a number of reasons why growing businesses should get into blogging:

1. Blogging is way more cost-effective than traditional media.
2. A well-executed blogging campaign can easily quantify word-of-mouth marketing.
3. Blogs give us access to honest consumer feedback.
4. Here's a good one- bloggers are more passionate than your entire marketing team.
5. Bloggers are self-aware and are concerned with their own development.
6. A new wave of SME's are already doing it- so isn't it about time your company should too?

Definitely worth a closer look, don't you think? I'll use the rest of the weekend to dig deeper into the subject matter.

So what do you think? Don't you think it's time to hop on the blogging bandwagon?

Cheers, everyone!

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Blogs Make For Great Business!

More than ever, companies are looking for more cost-effective ways to promote themselves. Traditional means of advertising are alright- but modern-day marketing practices say that there are so much more non-traditional ways to get that brand message across, and cut through all the ad clutter.

As somebody who does IMC for a living- what Jay Conrad Levinson preaches in his book, "Guerilla Marketing", is pretty much spot on: no single advertising medium works on its own, but marketing combinations work.

And here's something that can synergize very well with just about any promotional campaign you have on hand: blogs.

Blogs are the new magazines, newspapers and books; thanks to more easily accessible (read: free!) user-friendly publishing tools such as Blogspot (which hosts this particular blog), Wordpress, LiveJournal, and so many others, anyone with a PC, and internet connection, and a desire to share anything can now be author, publisher and editor.

Just like FM radio, it easily synergizes with just about anything- of course, one huge advantage is that New Media (blogs included) costs so much less than traditional media. Plus, blogs are paperless. And I'm for anything that uses less paper. Much less paper! Save the environment, everyone!

Which is why blog networks are all the rage these days- we've seen a number of them come up over the past couple years: b5Media, Weblogs, Inc., The DailyPixel Network, Know More Media, Creative Weblogging, Content Quake, and locally, here in the Philippines, The Bayanihan Blog Network.

In fact, now's a great time to start blogging- just check out all the job listings here on Problogger jobs, or you can go ahead and just Google it. You'll find lots of jobs out there if you're considering a career as a pro-blogger. Go ahead and pick some, why dont'cha?

The BlogBank is the Philippines' first blog advertising network- it's so new, they've just launched this week. If you check out their webpage, they have this to say:

The largest circulating newspaper in the Philippines produces 250,000 copies a day. Assuming a pass–on rate of 3 per copy, a newspaper ad gives you 750,000 impressions.

BlogBank gives you one million ad impressions.

This is great news for Advertisers- particularly those targeting the internet-friendly Philippine market. Also great news for publishers- those who blog- because it means that there's actually a market out there for quality content and quality blogs.

So keep on blogging! If you're someone who just started getting into the blogging lifestyle- it pays off (at least it can, eventually), as long as you're passionate about sharing your thoughts and your experiences, even more so if you write well, and write regularly.

If you're running a business, you now have something new to consider when developing your promotional campaigns for the next several months- now is also the time to maybe get into blogging yourself; start putting up your own corporate blog and attach it to your website, and see how much it can do for your business.

See you around in the blogosphere! Cheers, everyone!

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Get It Together with PageFlakes!

Man, I love Pageflakes! I've been at it since I discovered it last Friday when Andrian Lee of AsiaPay mentioned it at the Corporate Communications 2.0 Workshop at the Asian Institute of Management. Thanks, Andrian. I've only started to appreciate RSS feeds recently, and Pageflakes only makes it a lot more appealing.

Here's the deal: Pageflakes allows you to get all your favorite blogs and websites all together on one page, by the power of RSS feeds. In my case, I've used it to make my own homepage where all my favorite blogs are up there, headlines and updates ready to be read as soon as I fire up my Firefox browser.

Each blog or website comes in a little module that you can move around, depending on how you want your page laid out. Pageflakes also has a variety of all kinds of additional widgets- from task-lists to news services to add-ons of your favorite social media applications. The page is customizable, so you can go ahead and choose whatever look you want.

If you're a little bit more obsessive-compulsive, you may want to organize your interests a bit- by creating separate pages of whatever fancies you. Currently I have pages for:

• My personal stuff- where I keep tabs of my own blogs, Facebook, Multiply, Twitter, Technorati, etc. I call it Renzie's Flaix!
• The Blogosphere- where I check out other friends' and other people's blogs.
• Work-Life Balance- for effective and worry-free everyday living, so among other sites I have here Lifehacker and LOLCats- LOLZ!
• Fun with New Media- everything on blog-building, search engine marketing, podcasting, vlogging, RSS feeds is right here.
• All About Business- is just about that: marketing and management, e-commerce, outsourcing. Serious stuff which I find fun.
• Make Money Online- my quest for financial independence begins here! Favorite sites include ShoeMoney and Dosh Dosh.
• Personal Geekness- is rather self-explanatory. Here's where I have Engadget and Kotaku. I plan to fill this up with all things gaming, tech and geeky. Good fun.
• Entertainment- still have to fill this up with my favorite updates on the TV, film and music front.
• Philippines + Tourism- a future project in the works. This is where I'll keep an eye out on great stuff already written about the Philippines- where to go, what to check out, what to eat, etc.

Of course, I can make any other page I feel like later on- and share it with the world! Pageflakes gives you the option to "pagecast", or share your page to everyone else. So whenever you feel like it, you can go right ahead and check out other people's pages as well.

Which I haven't done just yet. Yesterday morning and last night were spent toying around with the options, filling up a profile and yeah, plugging in all those RSS feeds in whatever page I've created. And there's still so much to discover. Probably wouldn't be the new Facebook, but I like it for its functionality and convenience.

Lemme know if you're on Pageflakes too. Let's add each other up and check out our pagecasts.

Cheers, everyone!

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Corporate Communications 2.0 at AIM Gives To GILAS

Gotta give props to one of our friends Regnard Raquedan of webstandards.raquedan.com for organizing an informative talk on Corporate Blogging- this happened yesterday at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), for pretty much the better part of the day, and was attended by Regnard's classmates and a lot of people he's been able to round up using Facebook.

Featured speakers yesterday were our friends Jayvee Fernandez, Channel Editor for Technology over at b5Media, and Andrian Lee, Marketing Director of AsiaPay Philippines. Also there were Hans Koch of SyndeoMedia and John Anthony Ray, both of whom may have had a talk, but I probably missed out on them- since I had to attend to some work issues at lunchtime.

In any case, it was a very informative workshop- learned quite a bit, actually. I just read Regnard's blog and he's happy to announce that the event raised almost Php20k in funds- which goes to the GILAS Project of the Ayala Foundation, a project that aims to provide internet access to public schools all over the country, as well as providing basic training to the teachers to bring them up to speed.

For me, as in any event, I always love the networking part- where you get to meet new people and hopefully, look for opportunities to work together or be friends or both. At that event, I've met:

• Blogger Enrico Dee of Byahilo.com, whom I've met a couple of times- the latest being that Spiked After 5 event of Delifrance- but never got the chance to have a chat with.
• Bjorn Martinoff, of Integrative Learning, who was seated right next to me,
• From New Media Worldwide Co., Philippines, Inc., we've met Kristine Barrios and Chinkey Llave.
• Hans A. Koch, of Syndeo Media- whom I've met at last year's SEMCon and bumped into a couple of times at AsiaPay's E-commerista Nights.
• Yoj Vestudio of myGlobe,
• and Samantha Barros-Allen of the Entertainment Gateway Group.

There were a lot of others there whom and I wish I had the time to chat with them a bit. But like I said earlier on- major props to Regnard for a worthwhile event. Hope we have more comin' up in the future.

To everyone who was at the Corporate Communications 2.0 workshop that afternoon who just happened to stumble upon this blog entry somehow- hey, I'd sure love to hear from you. I'd love to toss around an idea or two, maybe even do a collaborative effort- whatever. Always here to help out, you know?

Shout-out also to Jayvee and Andrian for the interesting talk. I mean, it's one thing to interact with these guys, and it's quite another thing to hear 'em bust out the presentations and do their thing. Now that I think about it, both of 'em had talks at that last SEMCon as well. Looking forward to your next talk, or maybe even work with you on a future endeavor.

Personally, I hope to be at more of these events, so you'll hear all about it right here when I blog about them. 'Til next time.

Cheers, everyone!

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Who Are The Bloggers In Your Neighborhood? (2008)

Ever since I started blogging seriously (which was last October or November), I always made it a point to learn as much as I can about blogging and blog-building. Of course I can always pick up a book, or soak up on as much as I could from online sources, but I thought it would be a good idea to learn from some of the more established bloggers.

After all, they were newbies too at some point, right?

Besides, this makes for a great opportunity to meet the people behind the blogs, as well as a chance to do some serious networking.

So since then, I've taken an active effort to attend as many blogger events as I possibly could: like the one at Kape Isla with the good people of b5media, the Bloggers' Food Tour at TriNoma, the HappySlip event of Yehey.com, and this more recent Bloggers' Night with Delifrance at their cafe near Citibank Pasong Tamo.

What's interesting when meeting with bloggers is that oftentimes, they blog about stuff so totally off their current occupation- a doctor can be totally into photography, a lawyer into cooking, a country consultant into organizing weddings, even a mom into the latest in technology.

It is through blogs that bloggers live out their frustrations and fantasies. And it's all good on the blogging front- you can establish your authority easily with a well-positioned, well-conceived, well-put-together blog.

Which brings us to the point of this segment. "Who Are The Bloggers In Your Neighborhood?" aims to showcase all our new blogger friends- get to know them better, and hopefully learn a thing or two from them.

If you have someone in mind you'd like to feature, or if you want your blog to be featured, do let me know. And drop on in from time to time to see who we have featured here.

Cheers, everyone!

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Delifrance Bloggers' Night: My First Vlogging Effort

Okay, here's my first attempt at vlogging.

Several bloggers were invited to check out Delifrance's new line of Spiked Coffees. I'll be blogging more about that later on. In the meantime, check out this vid I put together. And, yep, I suppose this makes for my first official vlogging effort.

Naturally, I'll have to look into the whole vlogging scene in the Philippines. I have to admit, there are a lot of people who have inspired me to do the same, and it's always fun to tinker around with a cam and PC and see what happens, you know?

BTW, watch the vid to find out how you can score on some free coffee- and be one of the first to check out Delifrance's naughty new line of coffee treats!

Cheers everyone!

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Here's What I Figured Out...

For the past few weeks, I've been helping out several friends set up their own blogs. More than anything, I've realized that the needs of every blog and blogger indeed differ from case to case.

Just among my friends, I've noticed that some 70-80% are still personal blogs- no particular niche in mind, really- just an online compilation of pics and notes and links and other things they find interesting.

20-30% would have business in mind setting up a blog: some would want to showcase their authority on a given topic, or promote a particular brand, product, service, event or idea. These require a lot more work- as you now bring SEO into play, as well as traffic generation, RSS, social networking and link-building.

I'd say a third of those I've talked to have decided to make their blogs a money-making effort. Something I'd discourage at least until your blog reaches critical mass, or at least a solid amount of content. The problem is that, there are way too many people who put money-making in the forefront more than creating a positive user experience. Then again, it's just me.

If anything, the experience for the past couple weeks has inspired me to put together a curriculum of sorts- a way to organize the content in this particular blog to help out any blogger given his/her needs.

So for the next several weeks, I'll be working on just that. As always, I'll be more than happy to accommodate requests to help along the lines of blog-building. At least, as much as I know- I'm still learning a lot of this stuff as I go along.

Cheers, everyone!

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Just a Quick Update, Really...

Hello everyone.

Just to keep you posted on what's going on: I've been working on a few other blog projects, some for work and some for my own personal interests.

More notably, I've been putting more work on five other personal blogs:

1. The Life & Times of The Renzie Man. This particular blog toys around with the Wordpress publishing system. Not as user-friendly as Blogspot/Blogger, but it does have its charms. It's actually the closest thing I have to an actual online diary- the way blogs were supposed to be to begin with.

2. Renzie's Rants and Raves. Mostly about my recommendations on having fun, taking it easy, and other random things. It's all about reviews- more like a consumer-point-of-view take on dining out, spas, music, books, internet stuff, etc.

3. My Thoughts In Stereo! I figured I had to capitalize on my knowledge and expertise on all things music and radio- the site aims to have everything from music videos + lyrics, artist trivia, and even some insider info on the radio, recording and advertising industries.

4. Too Much TV! A lot of people tend to ask me if I know about when the latest Heroes episode is coming out, or what song was used on which episode of Gossip Girl, or who's that new chick playing Sarah Connor- so I decided to put this blog together and do a public service of sorts.

5. Renzie On Gaming. I gotta admit, a lot of my spare time is still spent playing PC games. Or probably more like, I make an effort to make more spare time to get my gaming fix. I feel that people need to get a Nintendo DS Lite rather than a PSP Slim. I still have to get my hands on an Xbox 360. In the meantime, I keep playing my World of Warcraft.

There are other blogs in the works. But these five are probably what's eating most of my time at the moment. They're all in varying stages of completion- I still have to lay in the codes to bookmark individual entries for del.icio.us/technorati/digg, etc. plug in the adsense, add a few more widgets, etc.

Which means there's still a lot of work to do. But you'll still be seeing me around here. More about that on my next post. Until then, keep on blogging!

Cheers, everyone!

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iBlog4: The 4th Philippine Blogging Summit!

Janette Toral of DigitalFilipino.com shared this with us on Facebook.

iBlog4: the 4th Philippine Blogging Summit will be held at Malcolm Theater, College of Law, in UP Diliman, Quezon City this April 26, 2008. This event is organized by the University of the Philippines - Internet Society Program.

We would like to thank Alfox Computer Center for being our name badge sponsor. Parties interested to support this event can e-mail me at digitalfilipino@gmail.com

Registration, which will reserve your seats, stuff and schwag, and get you into our announcements mailing list, is now open.

Of course iBlog 4 is still FREE in the beer sense, as long as we can help it, free in the speech sense.

The program as follows:

9:00 - 9:20 Flag Ceremony, Welcome Remarks, Keynote
9:20 - 9:45 How to Blog (from a non-problogger point-of-view) - Charo Nuguid

You want to start a blog. You ask your problogger friend for help. The problem is he starts talking about keywords, SEO, and a few other things that you have totally no clue about. Google Ad-what? "I just want to start a blog!" If you're just looking for a way to post your thoughts on the web for posterity (and give your readers a few kicks every now and then) without the business talk, click here! (Or just walk through the door, sit down and listen!)

9:45 - 10:00 Sponsor Talk
10:00 - 10:30 Break
10:30 - 11:00 Student Blogging - Juan Karlo Licudine (http://www.pinoyblogero.com) A perspective and experience sharing from a student / blogger.

11:00 - 11: 30 Photoblogging - Juned Sonido (http://www.baratillo.net)

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. And there have been instances that it really has. A couple kissing. Soldiers hoisting a flag in a battlefield. A child fleeing a village bombed with Napalm. Or even a man skipping a puddle.
All are powerful images. As humans we have this drive to show pictures whether it be a holiday, a dinner, friends and family. And as such it comes to no surprise that a lot of people have been posting things on line from Facebook to Flickr. And then there are the photoblogs.
What are photoblogs? Are they the same photo galleries? Do you really need a digital camera to set up a photoblog? How does one set-up a photoblog? Will it cost much? What are the basics? Well this discussion will try to answer that and more.

11:30 - 12:00 Blog to Print - Jonas Diego (http://www.jonasdiego.com)
Bringing your blog content to the printed page. Updates on what happened so far with Jonas initiative on blog comics.

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch

1:00 - 1:40 Vlog and Podcasting Prospects in the Philippines (Aileen Apolo - http://www.yougottech.com and Coy Caballes - http://www.thisiscoy.net)

1:45 - 2;45 Blogging and 2010 Elections Panel
(Janette Toral - http://philippineselection.blogspot.com)
- also invited Manuel L. Quezon III and Luz Rimban - to be confirmed

2:40 - 3:00 Sponsor Talk
3:00 - 3:30 Break
3:30 - 3:50 Blogging for Advocacy - Noemi Lardizabal Dado - http://www.filipinaimages.com

3:50 - 4:30 Blogging from the Countryside
Blogging case studies outside of Metro Manila

4:30 - 5:00 Closing Remarks / Group Picture / Raffle

At the very least, it gives me a chance to meet up with fellow bloggers, swap stories with old acquaintances, and meet new blogger buds. It's all about sharin' some linkage love!

Also, it's a great time to hang out in UP again- I think it's been at least 5 or 6 years since I last visited UP Diliman. They got great food places to check out- and that's another bunch of things to blog about.

Anyway, I just signed up for the event- I hope to see you guys there too!

Cheers!

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Join the WikiPilipinas Filipina Writing Contest!

Noemi Dado, a good friend of ours, gave us a heads-up on the special event via Facebook:

In line with the principle of honoring the diverse, beautiful, and powerful image of a Filipina, WikiPilipinas will launch a special portal, Encyclopedia of Philippine Women, inside the site which will compile and detail the achievements and triumphs of Filipinas everywhere.

Its sister site, Filipiniana.net, will also have a Philippine Women Microsite containing documents discussing Filipino women, as well as selected texts from the oeuvres of Filipina writers. Through a combined effort for advocacy, WikiPilipinas partnered with Filipina Images to help promote a more empowering image of the Filipina. By having an online platform to showcase Filipina intelligence and talent, the goal of developing more empowered Filipinas becomes achievable.

Many participants, through this project, will discover that they can help bridge the digital divide and promote gender mainstreaming and gender equality.

To promulgate the advocacy, WikiPilipinas.org and FilipinaImages.Com websites will launch “Filipina Stories", a writing contest with the mission of uplifting the image of the Filipina.

Here's your chance to put together an essay and share your thoughts, and win some prizes and props for doing so! Noemi adds:

I hope you join this contest. This contest also aims to raise awareness of the WikiPilipinas.org so that bloggers can eventually add content to the Wiki. For the contest, the WikiPilipinas staff will take charge of uploading your entry to the Wiki. After this contest, there will be a Phase 2 Workshop which is meant to teach us how to use the Wiki.

Be part in uplifting the image of the Filipina, the Knowledge base of the WikiPilipinas and meeting up with other bloggers on March 12, 2008. Remember you are not only writing about Filipino women. You will help uplift the reputation…remove the prejudice, not just against Filipino women achievers but against your mothers, sisters, daughters. Against You.

It's a worthy and noble cause- something definitely deserving of your attention, time and effort. Not only do you have a chance to win prizes, recognition and bragging rights, you also have (more importantly) an opportunity to interact with fellow bloggers and people who share a similar passion for writing, blogging and advocacy. So it should be a lot of fun- check it out now, funk soul brother!

You can find the contest mechanics, critera and prizes at stake, as well as more information and contact details there.

Cheers all!

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You Gotta Multiply!

Every blogger has to have a social networking service that allows storage of media files. The more notable of these sites are Photobucket, Picturetrail, Shutterfly and Flickr. But personally, I go for Multiply.

Just like many other social networking sites, Multiply allows you to post videos, photos and blog entries and share them with your friends (assuming they're in your network of course). It allows you to form groups and communities with other people who share your interests. And if you know a thing or two about CSS, you can go ahead and customize your Multiply page however you like. If not, there are a lot of templates you could use for your site, anyway.

But one of the coolest things about Multiply is that it provides cross-posting of blog entries. Which means your posts from Blogger/Blogspot, TypePad or LiveJournal can automatically get posted to Multiply (after a while), or the other way around.

Me, the most useful function of Multiply for me is that it acts as a repository of all images I might need for my blogs. There is virtually no limit to uploading photos- not that I need to upload so much. I just find it convenient to store all my pics in one site- organize em, share em, put notes and tags and all that.

There are a lot of other useful built-in modules as well, but I really haven't had the chance to make good use of them. Still, while I think I'm more of a no-frills kind of guy, it's nice to have the option of having the modules around in the event that I might feel like exploring that space sometime.

So go ahead and get Multiply. It's not only great for storing your media online- pics, vids and blog entries- it's also great for sharing and fulfilling all your community needs. Feel free to add me up when you've checked it out.

Cheers!

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A Chat with Elaine of Yehey.com

Interaction outside the usual blog channels should always be a part of your development as a blogger. It is through interaction that you learn not only how your blog fares along with other bloggers', but also far more importantly, gives you a chance to develop friendly, working relationships with other bloggers like yourself.

I see it as this blog's mission to somehow paint a picture of the blogosphere- both local and global. And as a naturally chummy person, I like tossing ideas around with fellow bloggers, clients and industry partners.

The guys of Yehey.com have been rather active in the New Media scene lately- and they have to! After all, the bulk of their business is pretty much online.

They've just wrapped up a very successful Bloggers' Food Tour (the one at TriNoma, some three weeks ago), and now they're inviting another one hundred bloggers to come hang with the brains and talent behind the HappySlip vlog series on YouTube- Christine Gambito herself.

(Which, incidentally is Thursday next week, 07 Feb 2008, at the Mag:net Cafe in Bonifacio High Street. The fun starts at 11 AM, so make sure you register with Yehey here so you don't miss out on all the HappySlip Gambito goodness!)

Anyway, I was able to catch up with Elaine Uy, Marketing Manager of Yehey (who was nice enough to invite me to the HappySlip event! Yay!), and I asked her how the Bloggers' Food Tour worked out for Yehey.com.

First off, I asked her whose idea it was to make use of blogs and bloggers to promote the TriNoma restaurants. Here's what Elaine said:

Yehey! has been in contact with TriNoma even before they opened their mall, trying to cook up a partnership on how to create a buzz online. Then the Taste Asia in MOA (The SM Mall of Asia) happened. Since Yehey! has been supporting the blogger community and because of the obvious success of the Taste Asia event, we thought of organizing our own for TriNoma.

I also wondered if Yehey! would be tapping blogs and bloggers for their upcoming promotional activities. Elaine gives us a rather interesting tip:

We will try to incorporate the blogging medium in most of our campaigns. Just like in our second event of the year, the Happy Slip Meet-and-Greet (done) in coordination with the Department of Tourism.
We’ve been also receiving inquiries from other companies such as Chowing, P&G, among others in organizing a blogger event for them. I guess most major companies now see the benefits of blogs and how it could greatly influence other people in patronizing their products or service.

Sounds interesting, doesn't it? But who's to say an event is an actual success? Take for example the last Bloggers' Found Tour at TriNoma, what would be Yehey's tangible measures to say, "Yeah, that event was a success"? Elaine says Yehey! keeps tabs on the results in the search engines and other community-based sites and the whole viral marketing effect.

So just how successful was it?

The result of the food tour is phenomenal that in just one week, there are 19 results for “Trinoma food tour” at Technorati, and a thousand plus results for Trinoma at Technorati. In Google, first page alone (of keyword "Trinoma food tour") is all about the event – first result is the Trinoma co-branded site. There are over 10,000 search results. And in Multiply, there are more than 400 blog results for "Trinoma Food Tour" and 750+ photo album results for the same keyword.

And so was TriNoma and Ayala Malls happy with the outcome of the event?

Yup, very much and better expect more events hosted by Trinoma. Given the results, TriNoma is planning on making succeeding events for their mall and possibly extend it to the rest of the Ayala malls.

What about the various participating food merchants of TriNoma? What sort of feedback has Yehey! received from them? Elaine shares this:

The best example would be the La Maison (hope you were able to meet the most accommodating manger, Mr. Robi Caguiat) that hosted an appreciation dinner for teamyehey the following week, thanking us for the exposure and raves they got from the tour. Even the band – Sound got in touch with us to see what bloggers got to say about their music.

Of course, who can forget Cabalen? I heard they offered AJ (of Bakla ako blog) for a free dinner for 5 or something like that. As you can see, these establishments- whether aware or unaware of what blogs are and what the internet is all about- have identified the promotional effect it could do to their brands.

Now there are a lot of other bloggers that have heard about the last Food Tour, and want to join the next event for bloggers. If Yehey! plans to mount more promotional activities with blogs and bloggers thrown in the media mix, and if there are other bloggers out there who would want to get in on the action, I asked Elaine what her advice would be for those who missed out on the last Bloggers' Food Tour.

Be more proactive and join the fast growing blogging community. More and more companies are sponsoring events for the bloggers. And who wouldn’t want free food, entertainment or what-have-you in exchange of your opinion and influence which you freely give out anyway?

Who wouldn't indeed? As for me, well, as long as there's free food, I'm there. I even have pictures to prove it :)

Cheers, everyone!

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Blog About Stuff You Care About!

I just read this article on the New York Times about "Blogging Your Way Into a Business". I find it interesting that regular folks like you and me can find their way into a lucrative enterprise by way of their blogs.

But here's the thing: I feel that this article, along with other features on other newspapers, magazines, even radio and TV shows, seem to perpetuate the idea that blogging for money is an easy thing. Maybe it is, maybe it's not- it totally depends on a number of things, in my opinion:

1> your ability to actually communicate effectively through writing,
2> your natural passion to share thoughts and ideas through writing,
3> your discipline and commitment to keep on sharing these thoughts and ideas,
4> and your aptitude towards picking up necessary skills and using them well, like internet marketing, networking, etc.

Read the rest of this article on my other blog, "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest: Renzie on Blogging".

Cheers, everyone!

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Yehey, TriNoma and the Hundred Hungry Bloggers: an Epilogue

It's been a full two weeks since the TriNoma Bloggers' Food Tour organized by Yehey.com, and I thought I should do my fellow bloggers a service by posting a compilation of blog entries pertaining to the event (at least the known ones, to this point).

Sidenote: I received an email from the guys of Yehey! that the photos from the Bloggers' Food Tour have all been turned in for your scrutiny and approval, and voting is now open- so go check out the photos and root for your favorites.

A Compilation of Blog Entries on the TriNoma Bloggers' Food Tour.

As you know, the whole group of one-hundred thirty bloggers that attended the event was divvied up to five teams. We were all lumped together in the 'pink' team. As far as our team is concerned, we have these great reads...

• Jomar Carlos' entry on "Java Joe's Coffee Corner"
• Chef Myra's blog entry on "Myra's Site".
• Christine Arteta's photos on her blog "Every Little Thing I Do Is Magic"
• Pics on my Multiply site, "Get Your Geek On!"
• JP on "Livin' La Venti Loca".
• Paolo in "Your Mind Will Go Pi".
• Omar has stuff in "Ohmski is the Law".
• Betsy has two blog entries, here and here on "Psychcafe".

Here are our other fellow food bloggers' stuff...

• Alvin Chua has a blog entry as well as a whole bunch of photos here on his Multiply.
• Noreen Ponce-Lazaro and Arpee Lazaro on "Pinoy Life At Large". Lovely pics, guys.
• AJ Matela's much-discussed, much-read experience at the Trinoma Bloggers' Food Tour! Oh, you'll want to read this one too.
• Ed Arevalo has his posts here, plus a photo album on Flickr here.
  
• Dementia of "Bury Me In This Dress" has her blog entries here, and her pics here.
• Jan Renes' blog entry can be found on "JanMania".
• You can find JM Tuazon's pictures here, and his blog entries here.
• Jonas Diego on "The Blurb!"
• Karen of "Kengkeedee" has her stuff here.
• KingDaddyRich on "Row: Morning Boleros' Journey To The Seas".
• Lalon dela Rosa has pics on "Underrated".
• Laszlo of "...Does Anybody Remember Laughter..." has his stuff here.
• Lord Artworks has his blog entry here.
• Isay Almo has her blog entry here on "The World According to Nherz".
• You can find some of Noemi Dado's TriNoma pics here, and Lauren has a post over here as well.
• Here's Caint's stuff on "Coming Out...Almost".
• Ade Magnaye has this to say on "Noisy! Noisy! Man!" Sorry about your work, dude.
• Kring wrote this post about her experiences on the food tour.
• And you have to check out this Video of Doom by Coy.
• Poyt has her blog entry here on "Tanggera: Drunken Antics and Misadventures of a Vlogger".
• Raffy of "Raffy's Sanctuary" has this entry goin' on.
• Rens of "Pansit-eating Maderpaking Blog!" has this to share.
• Here's Jonas' take on the whole affair on "Techieevangelism".
• Brian of "Following Your Footsteps... Every Step of the Way"- pictures on Multiply.
• Joriben of "My Divine Refuge" with his blog entry here.
• Celeni of "Life Is Colourful with Souped Vegetables" has this rather extensive coverage on her blog.
• Fritz of "Fritzified.com" covers the TriNoma Bloggers' Food Tour here.
• Darwin wrote this one on his "JuiceLog".
• Here's Jehzeel Laurente of "Jehzlau Concepts" and his posts on the Yehey! event. What's cool is that he's also got blurbs from other bloggers from the Food Tour. Including mine- cheers, mate!
• Tess Termulo of "Prudence and Madness" has the first of her blog entries here.
• Enrico Dee of "Byahilo: Ito ang Trip Ko" has some kick-ass pics here.
• The guys behind "Barat Mode" have this to say about the Food Tour.
• Here's something from Iggy Javellana of "Ka-Boom"

You can check out my other write-ups of the Bloggers' Food Tour here:

• The floor-by-floor coverage. Part 1 of 5, Part 2 of 5, Part 3 of 5, Part 4 of 5, Part 5 of 5.
• You can find pics on my Multiply site, "Get Your Geek On!"
• Other sides to the story can be found here on my other blog, "Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!"

You could check out my individual resto reviews on:

• La Maison
• Cyma Greek Taverna
  
• Abe
• Heaven N' Eggs
• Others To Follow (Sizzlin' Pepper Steak, Jack's Loft and The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company)

Thanks to all the restaurants that participated! Special thanks to La Maison, Cabalen, Abe, Hossein's, Haiku, Cyma, The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Holy Cow!, Jack's Loft, TGIFridays, Italianni's, Fish & Co., Conti's, Mann Hann, Pho Hoa, Marina, Sizzlin' Pepper Steak, Mangan, Bangus and Heaven N' Eggs for allowing us to check out your wares.

To Bread Talk, Bacolod Chicken Inasal, Madison Grill, Superbowl of China, Good Earth Tea Room, Oki Oki and Teriyaki Boy- I totally missed out on you guys. I've read so much about your restos from other blogs. Too bad I haven't had time to check you guys out during the Food Tour, but I will soon when I drop by TriNoma in the coming weeks.

To my fellow bloggers- spread some linkage love whydont'cha? I hope to see you guys again soon at future blogging events. Also add me up on your Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Multiply or whatever networking service you guys have as well.

Thanks to TriNoma- you guys have a pretty kickass mall. We'll be visiting more often. Definitely much more often. Thanks to the guys of Yehey.com- we hope you guys have more events for bloggers coming up- and we hope you can let us know how we can make your efforts more successful- that's just the marketing/events dude in me wanting you to keep your clients happy so we can do this again :)

Cheers everyone!

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