Time For Me To Get A New DSLR!

I got this renewed interest in dSLRs, seeing how my trusty little 5.1-megapixel Sony Cybershot can now be easily out-pixeled by a Nokia N82.

See, when a mobile phone can out-shoot your own digital cam, it’s probably time to get new hardware. Which is why I’m really out to find myself a nice little dSLR. On another blog of mine, I actually featured some of the cameras I looked up, and since then, I’ve been scouring the internet for the best possible deals as far as a dSLR goes.

It was then that I found this cool online site for people looking for cams (just like me!)- Camera World Auction. Turns out, it’s an online venue that aims to hook up anyone who wants a camera with people who have em. So it seems to me a great place to look for that Canon EOS 400D I want for myself- great camera for people stepping up from a compact digital to a dSLR, btw.

The site has other great stuff worth checking out- not just cams. And another cool thing is an ongoing promo where you can sign up and register to win a new iPod shuffle at Camera World Auction.

So go check it out, and don’t mind me scoping out a good deal for that Canon EOS 400D I want (pictured just above), with all kinds of lenses and accessories. Time to get my Cybershot a bigger brother.

Cheers, everyone!

What’s Wrong With The Way Bloggers Write?

I was with some bloggers last weekend over at Kape Isla in Serendra- and we were all hanging out with Butch Dalisay and the good people of the Blog and Soul Movement.  I’ll be blogging more about that later on, and probably in another blog of mine.

In a nutshell though, we were all hanging out that afternoon to learn more about Creative Writing and how that all fits into blogging and the blogging lifestyle.

Besides that, there were a lot of interesting stories and anecdotes and discussions that came about.  For me, there was this very thought-provoking tidbit:  thanks to blogging, almost everyone has become an author and publisher- but what you don’t have is a whole lot of editors.

I couldn’t agree with Butch more.  A recent post I’ve read (gotta find it so I could link it here) says that, in the Philippines alone, you already have an estimated 200,000 bloggers, up from just 40,000 from a couple years back.

It should be a great thing, right?  After all, I’m one for encouraging self-expression- and what better way than blogs?

So why is it that when I randomly visit blogs through Multiply, or on Blogspot or WordPress, and even worse, on Friendster, I can’t help but feel dismayed at how some of these bloggers write?  The list of atrocities can go on and on- but right there at the top- abyssmal grammar, diction and sentence construction, writing as if texting on a mobile phone, and straight-out plagiarizing.

So out of the 200,000 bloggers in the Philippines- how many are actually coming up with quality blogs?  20%?  5%? Ask yourself this question- out of the last 10 or 20 blogs you visited, how many of those to you plan to visit again?

I have to admit, I’m not perfect as far as English usage is concerned- and many more would admit to the same.  But what we all really need is an active effort to improve the way we communicate with others, especially our blogging audience.

Here comes the importance of really thinking about giving something back to your audience- a lesson learned, some valuable tips and information, at least some entertainment.  So yes, you can blog about “I woke up at 7am today and went to the gym…”, but in the end, it’s really about having a good story to tell, which your audience would also want to share with their other friends.

If anything, that afternoon with Butch Dalisay and the Blog and Soul Movement has inspired me to do something more with my blogs- I’d like to be able to help out other bloggers.  Not just with building blogs, but also with writing.

Definitely a project worth exploring in the very near future.  And I welcome anybody else who’s willing to work with me on this.

Cheers, everyone.

Make Use of Online Directories!

Just like any business entity- your continued success depends on your ability to get more people to know about you and your products, services, activities and ideas. It’s no different for your online assets- a steady stream of new traffic can only be good for you.

This is where internet marketing comes in- there are a lot of things you can do to drive traffic into your sites. You can do advertising- which makes for good results, but can be rather cost-prohibitive (whether you go print, radio or online), particularly if you’re still starting up, or if your promotional budget isn’t enough to support it at the moment.

Still, there are more cost-effective ways to get clients to find you and your website. Personally, I’m trying to find all these online directories to list my blogs in- and one site that looks promising is the Asian Business Directory. There are a whole lot of categories- covering pretty much a wide spectrum of possible businesses, and probably a lot more later on as more people sign up for its service.

Nevertheless, it makes good sense to sign up as early as now- get first-mover advantage, and all that. Take a look, for example, under ‘Blogging’- there are only a few entries under that category- about 15 blogs- when there are thousands of bloggers in the Philippines alone that could make use of a little more online publicity.

Remember that directory listings greatly help not only in generating traffic for your website (or blog), but it also helps boost your Google PageRank and your discoverability. And that can only be a good thing- particularly if you’re more into optimizing your site and monetizing it.

Cheers, everyone!

Why Shouldn’t Your Blog Be Your Home Page?

Google has always been my default home page for as long as I can remember.  Lately though, I’ve noticed that when I fire up my Firefox browser, I check out three things right away: mail (on my gmail account), Facebook (alright, so I’m probably marginally addicted…), and Multiply (…marginally addicted to social networking!).

From there, I’d go to check on my usual websites- check out some entertainment news, or the latest music chart movements, or the latest news in gaming- or do some online business like pay some bills or something.

The rest of my day will be spent blogging, and linking references into my blog, or checking out any other variety of social networking and social bookmarking sites from YouTube to Technorati.  I’ve gone to the point of actually spending more than 8 hours a day online- including the time I spend in front of the PC after work- which is to say I’m either playing World of Warcraft or doing even more blogging.

I suppose this is all really about putting some much-needed order into my life.  There’s just so much going on already, and there’s probably much more going on later on, so I suppose I’ll have to make way for new stuff coming through.

So the first order of business is to set this blog “The Life and Times of The Renzie Man” as my home page.  Let’s see how that works out.  Gonna work on getting this blog just a little bit more functional: at least as far as we can fine-tune it- the free version of WordPress doesn’t seem to support some of the things I’d like to have just now.

Gonna put more link lists, and RSS feeds and widgets on the side.  Just to make this an easier springboard to get into other sites. It also means more updates from time to time, probably on a more daily basis.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

A Chat with Elaine of Yehey.com

The following post originally came out in one of my other blogs, “Blog. Blogger. Bloggest!”. Check out the rest of that blog for more insights on the world of blogs and blogging. Particularly useful for you who are just starting to blog, and those wanting to build better blogs. Enjoy!

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 apprec