The 10th Philippine Blogging Summit
"A Decade of Blogging and Moving Forward"
A tagline used in the 10th Philippine Blogging Summit that happened in Malcolm Theatre, College of Law, University of the Philippines, Diliman Quezon City. A free two-day event which focused on the past ten years of blogging and its impact in the future. I was only able to attend the second day of the summit with my friend. We arrived just in time to hear speakers Genesis Reonico, Sonnie Santos and Vanj Padilla. But I would say I learned and was very fortunate to have heard them talk.
Bloggers as Entrepreneurs (Genesis Reonico, Sonnie Santos, and Vanj Padilla)
What I learned from Genesis Reonico
Genesis Reonico is the owner of http://onlinejobslifestyle.com/. He was in the call center industry before he started his online career. His talk was very short and simple but I trulylearned a lot from it. I find him also very amusing and highly relatable as a blogger. His talk was divided into three (1) The Past, (2) The journey, and (3) The Present.
A view from where I sit.
1. The 3 important M's in blogging: Mentor, Mindset, and Market.These are three things that all bloggers should first learn or find in order to be a successful blogger/blogger entrepreneur.
2. Find your passion and go for it. Genesis knew his passion was into teaching but didn't know what to teach. He then realized that he was in an industry that needed teachers, which is in Virtual assistant. So it was a perfect combination for him. Now he's not only blogging about his experiences in Virtual assistant industry but also helps other people have the online job they want and be successful in it.
3. Get up and move forward. Of course, as any successful story there are hurdles and failures, but Genesis overcame all these and moved forward. So as bloggers, we have to keep in mind that there will always be challenges and we should always have the courage to face it.
4. Be fun.Have fun. I found his talk very light and funny. It was full of insights and information but I did not get bored. Time flew very quickly because everything he said meant something. I think one of the things that bloggers have in common is that everyone enjoys whatever they do. As a matter of fact, I blog because it makes me happy.
What I learned from Sonnie Santos
Owner and author of www.AskSonnie.me. ASK stands for Advocacy - Social Business - Knack for HR/OD. He came from the corporate world and started blogging about office and corporate concerns.
1. Create your own blog value. He said that blogging has its return of investment like any business, but there are times that we lose track of what blogging really is. Blogging is to share our opinions, express our beliefs, make a stand, and right with content. Not just blog because you want to get free stuff, free events or to just earn from it. I learned from his talk that content is still key and when you have created great content, your blog has its own value. Eventually, people or brands will come to you not because you ask them too but because you are credible.
2. Your Blog is YOU. I once had an activity for my freshmen students entitled "Sell yourself". The objective of the activity is to imagine themselves as products and to compare their characteristics to the products they are selling. It was difficult for some of my students, but they had great answers and products as well. This was reminded to me by Sonnie Santos, when he said that a blog is a version of yourself. A person's personality is reflected through the blog itself. So there should always be consistency. Sell your blog as you would yourself and make sure that when people meet you offline you still remain to be that blogger.
3. The PULL Marketing. It was the first time I heard this concept and it only means that the blog's content should be for others. Writing about how to go to places, which products are effective, what food or restaurants to try is the first step of pull marketing. You would want people to read your posts and reread it. By providing answers, a blog capture leads. It means that its necessary that you have audiences and readers. BUT! That's just the first step, the second important thing is to nurture those relationships. Make sure that you value your readers, you recognize them and you answer any possible other questions they have. They, your readers or audience, is essential in your blog. BUT (Yes, there's a second but) It is also important that you improve and reinvent yourself, make sure that your readers has a reason to come back to your site and read your posts. Make them realize your credibility for you to be their go-to person.
1. Create your own blog value. He said that blogging has its return of investment like any business, but there are times that we lose track of what blogging really is. Blogging is to share our opinions, express our beliefs, make a stand, and right with content. Not just blog because you want to get free stuff, free events or to just earn from it. I learned from his talk that content is still key and when you have created great content, your blog has its own value. Eventually, people or brands will come to you not because you ask them too but because you are credible.
2. Your Blog is YOU. I once had an activity for my freshmen students entitled "Sell yourself". The objective of the activity is to imagine themselves as products and to compare their characteristics to the products they are selling. It was difficult for some of my students, but they had great answers and products as well. This was reminded to me by Sonnie Santos, when he said that a blog is a version of yourself. A person's personality is reflected through the blog itself. So there should always be consistency. Sell your blog as you would yourself and make sure that when people meet you offline you still remain to be that blogger.
3. The PULL Marketing. It was the first time I heard this concept and it only means that the blog's content should be for others. Writing about how to go to places, which products are effective, what food or restaurants to try is the first step of pull marketing. You would want people to read your posts and reread it. By providing answers, a blog capture leads. It means that its necessary that you have audiences and readers. BUT! That's just the first step, the second important thing is to nurture those relationships. Make sure that you value your readers, you recognize them and you answer any possible other questions they have. They, your readers or audience, is essential in your blog. BUT (Yes, there's a second but) It is also important that you improve and reinvent yourself, make sure that your readers has a reason to come back to your site and read your posts. Make them realize your credibility for you to be their go-to person.
What I learned from Vangie Padilla
Vanj Padilla is the woman behind www.panggalatalk.com She is a Social Media Consultant and IT Service Provider. She is a blogger and an online entrepreneur as well.
1. Envision your dreams and make it happen. I am full of admiration to Ms. Vanj Padilla. I would say she has a ton of determination and she knows what she wants and gets it. She recounted how she gave away an Iphone in her blog just so people could visit her site and create traffic. In less than a year she got what she wanted and more. This got her rolling and she never stopped till then.
2. Run Forrest Run. As I mentioned above, Vanj Padilla did not stop and instead run farther with her dreams. She then started to have a blog service provider and started offering online consultancy in Pangasinan. I learned that having a dream is not enough when you don't get up in bed and run with it. Hard work pays off and anything we dream can be achieved only if we work for it. That is what she does, she gets up and run with her dreams bringing along people with her. Creating a community of runners/bloggers/dreamers.
3. Grab as many hands as possible. This is not only a blogging lesson I got from Vanj but a life lesson as well. In anything we do, it's important that we include people with the same passion as ours, to not only accompany us but to also teach and make their own dreams happen. This is what she has done with her other staff in Panggalatalk. They did not stop creating functions for their group, making them indispensable in Pangasinan. They served Palarong Pambansa and created 1Digitech Philippines, Inc. in 2012. Launched TALKTVGLOBAL.com, assisted in the National and Local Elections in 2013, and at present has www.focusweekly.net that gives opportunity for writers and bloggers in Pangasinan to be featured online and in print. Isn't this amazing? All theses achievements in 5 years.
The Three speakers after the question and answer
I hope you learned something also from these sharing, as I am a newbie (serious) blogger so some of these might seem too basic. Nevertheless, enjoy blogging and hope we can meet on the next iBlog Summit next year!:)
BTW, I won an 8gb USB from GMA Network.
They have a booth there along with VIBAL Publishing, Sky Cable and PLDT.
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