Politics even in Blogging?! Sheesh!

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I've been blogging since 2004 (Cubeblog days). I kept an actual journal back then so blogging was just an extension of that. My blog served as my personal journal online.

I enjoyed my stay with Cubeblog. I met a lot of other cubebloggers and enjoyed reading their posts everyday. That was something I loved about blogging - meeting new people and reading about other people's thoughts and adventures. I never met any one of them in real life even when I was in Manila but I was actually looking forward to it. I considered them my friends.

When Cubeblog suddenly closed without any warning or even a note to its members, I decided it was time to move to another blog host. I moved to Multiply but decided that they're too slow for me so I ended up with Blogger (http://blankpixels.blogspot.com/) and now I have my own domain name but my blog is still hosted by Blogger.

Before I started this blog, I've discovered a lot of articles and blogs that talked about online marketing and earning money through blogging. I was so interested by these concepts that I read more blogs about it.

The hardest part in my decision to start my "quests" to make money online and "be seen" was the theme of my blog. I have lots of interests and things I want to blog about so I decided to not pick a theme at all. And I'm glad I did that.

I didn't want to pretend to be an expert on anything. I started this blog with these things in mind:

• I wanted to continue my online journal - blogging about my experiences and thoughts.
• I wanted to help out people by sharing tutorials or my discoveries. I'm glad I'm starting to accomplish this, especially with my tutorial on how I downgraded my laptop to XP.
• I wanted to read and talk about other people's blogs, especially those that really interested me. I haven't done this so much yet 'coz of my "busy" life but I'll do it as soon as I've redesigned this blog.
• While doing all that, I wanted to also earn or make money online.

When I was still starting my blog, Abe of Yugatech posted a comment on one of my posts (about what I wanted to do with my blog and my hopes of becoming as popular as him). I was feeling uninspired at that time and discouraged to continue on 'coz I got intimidated by other blogs that I've seen and read. When I saw Abe's comment, I got all excited and it kinda pushed me to continue with this blog. Yes, that simple comment from someone as famous as Abe made me decide that it's worth taking the risk.

And, so, I bought my own domain and I've been blogging about a lot of things for almost 9 months now. Since August 2008, I've only earned about $10+ in Adsense and I've reached 14,000+ visitors. That might not be much for other bloggers but for me, that's already an accomplishment.

I've tried different ways to earn money through my blog and have people visit. I don't have a group of readers yet and I know I'll get there if only I find time to really get to know other bloggers. I'm glad I joined Entrecard 'coz through them, I found a lot of very interesting blogs. I left a comment or 2 on some of them and most are still on my bloggable list. I never was able to drop as often as other people coz I always end up hooked by the blogs I found.

I never really paid attention to some blogs that I've read that bash other newbies or bloggers like me. I didn't really care even though I was one of those small-time bloggers that they were referring to. I told myself that I'm doing this for ME and if other people find my posts interesting or informative, then, that's very good.

And then I read Digital Filipino's Janette Toral's blog about politics in the blogging world. I was aware of discrimination among bloggers but I didn't know how intense it was until I read about the PGB issue that rocked the Pinoy blogosphere. I actually read the post that started it all by Carlo Ople at NewMedia before the whole issue heated up - I didn't find anything offensive in the article. I did think that he could've used a different term since PGB was too harsh but I just brushed it off and found the article informative.

Now, after reading Janette's article about the politics in the blogging community, I remembered and realized that it's REALLY happening and I am shocked about that reality - that there are bloggers who look down on others who decided to earn money through their blog, join blogger events just for the freebies and food, ride other bloggers' coattails to get a higher ranking, etc. The times when people blog just to meet people and write about their lives and ideas are long gone. Gosh.

So What If I Like Freebies?!
Okay, let me ask you this - who doesn't like freebies?! I haven't joined any blogger event yet coz I'm here in Cebu but still, I envied those bloggers who got freebies from the event organizers and sponsors. I also envy them for meeting other bloggers and getting a chance to move up the blogger popularity ladder.

I joined one of the blogger contests by Nuffnang and my post was even chosen as one of the finalists - My First Sony Experience contest entry. I wasn't able to join the event, though, coz I was already here in Cebu. I asked them if someone else can join in my place and they agreed. But all my friends in Manila and even my bro were busy so my VIP ticket was wasted. Too bad. I'm looking forward to any blogger event here in Cebu.

About the blog which started all this discussion about name-calling, I knew he really didn't intend to hurt anyone or to cause such heated discussions here and there. I understood what he wrote 'coz I was reading it not as a newbie blogger but as someone interested in marketing myself online. Anyway, there are really people who'll join events just for the freebies and free food but so what? The sponsors paid for the food and freebies and even with those "freeloaders", they still get something out of it - free advertisement through word of mouth. I guess everyone who didn't pay anything to join the event is a freeloader so why come up with a term to call them anyway?

So What If I Attempt To Make Money Online Through My Blog?
What's so bad about making money online? So what if other people decided to put ads and earn from sponsored posts? It's your choice as the reader anyway if you want to continue reading but don't judge bloggers who earn money through sponsored reviews or multiple ad networks on their blog. They're not stealing from anyone. It's a decent way of earning - you get to blog and make money at the same time. Just because you chose not to put ads or sponsored posts on your blog doesn't mean you're better than those who did. Respeto lang yan.

Some people don't have anyone who they can ride to be popular. Some people like me start from pure blogging and we evolve. Stop judging newbies just because you earn decent $ monthly.

If you've checked here recently, most of my blogs were about American Idol and shows that I watch. I didn't post them because I wanted to improve my SERP ranking or my pageviews. Okay, I didn't do it MERELY for that purpose. I admit that I wanted to improve my ranking in some way but I wrote those posts because they're part of my interests and what I want to blog about.

I'm still new with pro-blogging and with SEO so I'm still experimeting here and there. I love the results that I'm seeing and I'm glad that I was able to help people through this blog. Yes, 1 of the main reasons why I have this blog still remains - to help people through sharing my own discoveries and tutorials.

So What If My Blog is Hosted by Blogger?
With Blogger, I don't really have to worry about setting up everything. I can go right ahead with blogging. And I don't think I need to host my own blog yet 'coz I don't make that enough money from it. I'm just doing it for fun, for myself. Anyway, Blogger has a lot of features that I love and I'm sticking with it.

Yeah, I bought my own domain 'coz I want to be more in control of my blog's URL. So what if others don't have their own domains yet or they don't have plans of buying one of their own? Not everyone feels it's necessary, especially when they're already getting a lot of visits from their target audience.

So What If My Visitor Count is Way Lower Than Yours?
Like what I mentioned earlier, I have around 14k visitors since August 2008. I'm pretty happy with what's happening, especially when people comment on my blog. I guess I really have a people pleaser kind of attitude 'coz I always find time to reply to comments left on my posts.

For some popular bloggers, 14k is their weekly visittor count or even daily for some. Not everyone is interested in the things I write about, and I understand that so I'm pretty happy with my visitor count. But, yes, I still check details about my visitors like where they're from, how they got here, what they were looking for and if they posted any comments.

If you check at the bottom of this blog, I don't have a Google PR and Alexa rank at all. I don't really know why. It started that way when I first put up my GoingUp! widget but I stopped worrying about it. People are still checking out my blog. And some of them were kind enough or found ads on my posts interesting enough to click on which led to my $14+ balance in Google Adsense. I'm pretty psyched about that even though I'm still $$ away from my first check from Google.


Isn't it funny that most of those who actually diss newbies like me are the ones who aren't that popular yet (some only in their dark minds)? And successful and popular bloggers like Abe of Yugatech are the ones that are actually nice and helpful to newbies or their visitors? I guess that's why they're successful and loved by many.

I hope that other bloggers, especially those who have prejudice or those who hate on others, will realize that the blogging community is a group of REAL people who have REAL feelings and brains, who will get hurt if you're not careful with your choice of words, and who will make mistakes and, just like in real world, have different personalities, principles, experiences, and decisions in life.

Respeto lang 'yan.



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Hate by MonchhichisLover