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MelvinBlog

A blog that chronicles my journey on online marketing, blogging, social media, technology and life.

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Ramblings

Why Productivity is Vital in Blogging Success

Why Productivity is Vital in Blogging Success

by Melvin · Nov 27, 2010

One of the the reasons why most  bloggers can’t get pass the startup/newbie stage is because they lack a lot of things. From things like passion and determination to a more measurable metrics like traffic, lack of focus, incompetence or whatever it is, I can say that it can be all attributed to one thing, being unproductive.

I, myself is a big advocate of being able to produce consistently and riding on that to move up the ladder. I’m sure a lot of people would say they are exerting so much effort in it but still it doesn’t provide them a good outcome. Do take note that hardwork does not have a linear relationship with being productive. I mean I can work hard on reading a lot of materials in all my 24 hours but does that mean I’m productive? Naah!

The truth about being productive is that it still depends on whether you’re doing the right things. But how the heck do I know what is right from what’s not? Simple. If you’re focusing on exerting effort on things that you need to be doing, then you’re achieving to be productive. In other terms, if you’re working hard on some of the things that can have a dramatic effect on your own blogging and you’re working on it with such good focus then you are being productive.

What are the things that can have dramatic effect? Now this is where it gets a bit tricky. I’m sure you’ve heard a lot that doing small things can lead to big things which is true. Now the thing that I want to emphasize here is that if you have a plan and execute that plan in such a way that you’re doing it in a strategic step by step manner, thats going towards the productive way.

You see, there’s so many people wanting to do things all at the same time and want to exert an equal amount of efforts doing all those things successively. We all know that’s impossible and as a result, they get burnt out pretty quickly and they never really do any of those things properly. That being said, it’s really hard to be on a momentum when you don’t know what you need to do first, when you don’t have an idea what needs to be prioritized the most.

Final Words

I’ve read a lot of productivity tips and quite to be frank, some of them are really good and I use them coupled with my own implementations to maximize my productivity. But the main point here is that it all starts with you, yes you the blogger. What do you really want to achieve first and foremost? Most bloggers have this lucrative long term plan but most of them, if not all, lack the missing pieces in between to be able to move forward.

If my long term goal is to make money, how do I achieve that? Get traffic? Yes, but how do I get traffic? And the question and answer goes on. Until we can answer those things, then we can start working things on a more concise way, hence we can maximize our productivity on each of the tasks that we’re going to do. Again always take note that working hard doesn’t mean your being productive and being productive doesn’t even guarantee success!

Now you may probably say now that I’m pushing the thought that blogging is super hard. It depends on the way you’d like to think of it but at least you’re now getting the bigger picture in a clearer manner.

Filed Under: Blogging Tips, Monetization Tactics, Preachings, Ramblings Tagged With: focused blogging, productive blogging, productivity

5 Different Things that I have to Accomplish Everyday

5 Different Things that I have to Accomplish Everyday

by Melvin · Nov 22, 2010

If you’ve been reading the blog, you’ll easily see that I’ve been whining quite a lot about how I’m super busy and how hectic my schedule is. I mean if you go to each of my previous posts for the past few days and weeks you could easily notice that I always open the articles with the “I’m so busy lately” kind of line, lols.

Anyways sometime last year I wrote a post called “I wish there’s more than 24 hours in one day” and I got some interesting feedback about it. Now in this post I’d like to go a bit offtopic again by tackling the 5 different things that I always strive for before each day ends. The list starts now (in no particular order).

  1. My work tasks – Obviously I need to accomplish all my tasks for my day job for the particular day. I usually set out goals in every working day to make sure I’m being efficient and helpful to the company. For instance if my task is to find review sites, I usually set out a goal for myself (i.e. 100 review sites a day).
  2. Read all emails – I have a whole bunch of email accounts for different properties and to be honest I have been receiving a lot per day. In just my recent post I talked about my difficulties with responding to emails. But even with that I make sure that I read each and every emails on all my accounts before the day ends.
  3. Do all blog-related micro tasks – This includes moderating comments, spam comments, seeing if theres a new advertiser, retweet articles, manage my facebook blog fan page and so on. This usually happens at the latter part of the day.
  4. Post blog entries – If you know me, I usually write my posts for one week in one sitting, usually every mondays or saturdays. With that, I usually just set them as drafts and then the task becomes publishing those posts as the days go by. And making sure it’s error-free (although all of my posts have errors!)
  5. Do my responsibilities at home – I pretty much arrive late at night so my task upon arriving is to ensure everything in home/house is fine. Just the simple things like making sure everyone took their dinner, my little brother has made his homework, my mom is well-rested and the doors are locked and secure for the day.

Those are the 5 different things that I aim to accomplish and complete everyday. It’s a bit daunting but it has become a part of my daily routine that it’s normal now for me. How about you?

Filed Under: Blogging Experience, Preachings, Ramblings Tagged With: daily accomplishments, daily tasks, Ramblings, todo tasks

Melvin = Dead?

Melvin = Dead?

by Melvin · Oct 30, 2010

With just 3 posts for this month, with this one being 4th you’re probably wondering on where Melvin has been? Is he dead? Has a serious illness hampered him that he can no longer type using fingers? Is he on the court now battling some lawsuit cases against him? or what?

One of those may be correct but the real reason why Melvin hasn’t been active lately is because he’s busy…

Lols, of course it’s me talking here and I just thought it would be nice to talk in the third person at least for the introduction.  So yep the reason is that I’ve been busy with a lot of things lately. Here are those:

Personal Stuff

There’s been some personal issues that I have been battling lately. Some family issues as well as some illness to a family member that I cannot really disclose for a reason. Also I’ve been quite struggling with keeping my sane as far as being the interim head of the family is concern.

But I’m expecting that go away after October ends. 😉

Work

I don’t want to stress it that much anymore as I’ve mentioned it already myriads of times. Since August my responsibility has increased and I was assigned to become a software tester while keeping my designation as an online marketing guy.

I don’t really consider it tough but if you combine everything, traveling, going home late, partying every fridays or saturdays, then its gotta take a toll on your body I guess.

Consulting & Client Work

Ok, a lot of you probably aren’t aware of this but sometime last year I did some consulting in SEO and online marketing in general. I got a couple of good clients who are willing to work with me to increase their search visibility and stuff like that.

It wasn’t really a core of my online business but I decided to open it up last month (even though I was hyper busy). Eventually I got this client who has nabbed my services for at least more than 2 months I’m estimating, and that has been considered as my other work aside from my job.

What’s next for MelvinBlog?

Am I selling it? Heck no, at least for the moment. Its funny because the traffic has still been consistent even though I haven’t posted here nor have done anything in the blogosphere. The advertising income is still somewhat somehow consistent thanks to the loyal sponsors.

As for the content, I have some really really good stuff that’s currently in draft so stay tuned for that. Also expect me to throw a bunch of guest posts out there. I’m looking on returning on the normal posting frequency here for the next month so stay tuned.

Lastly, if you want to keep in touch with me closer by following me on Twitter and/or on my Facebook Fan page. Till then folks!

Filed Under: Announcements, Offtopic, Ramblings Tagged With: melvin dead, Ramblings

Wordcamp 2010 Recap and Photos

Wordcamp 2010 Recap and Photos

by Melvin · Oct 3, 2010

The last few weeks and days have been pretty crazy for me. As you know I was planning (back then) to attend Wordcamp Philippines and so the way I did it was I slept in office to be able to come early to the event. Eventually I did, through the help of a good officemate named Chigs who offered to accompany me to the event.

Ok now back to the event. I arrived early as in really (6:30 am, event is 8am) early. I stayed in McDonalds for half an hour and went to Benilde at around 7. The organizing team was kind enough to welcome me even though they were surprised I was that early (shame on me!).

Anyhow I just waited patiently. And after quite some time, I met my friends named Paul Gerard and the hyperactive Eymard in the event. These are the same guys whom I met in iBlog event last year.

So this year was kind of like different from the previous year. This year, they had 2 parts. First one is the breakout session and the latter part is the Plenary. Most of the talks in the breakout session (w/c was held in different rooms with limited number of participants) were kind of like fundamental to me but I know its really really valuable especially for the right  person.

The Plenary talks were interesting. Topics that were covered are: Social Media powered by WordPress, Blogging Ethics, Google University talk and some sponsor talks. They were of great value and its nice that a lot of people ask questions with regards to it.

The most interesting part though is the Q and A with Matt Mullenweg, the founding developer of WordPress. A lot of people asked interesting questions and its nice to see Matt answering all of them in a very straightforward matter. Questions related to plugin marktplace, Thesis theme and even the Hello Dolly plugins were all asked.  Lastly, Matt encourage everyone to approach him personally if we ever have questions or we want to take pics with him. Now thats something not all famous persons would say.

I really like Matt a lot, I mean he’s a smart guy and a very nice person. You may have seen him speak in interviews and stuffs but in person he’s really really such an approachable person. So Matt if you’re reading, its nice to meet you! 😀

Some images

So just to make this post longer (lols) and seriously just to give you some of the neat stuff in Wordcamp, here are some images.

Melvin and Matt Mullenweg

To see more photos from this event, kindly just head on to my photos page.

Conclusion

Overall it’s a nice event as I was able to personally meet Matt and some others there as well. Networking-wise, I failed badly since I hardly talk to anyone aside from my friends. I’ve planned a lot for this and even prepared a document with regards to networking and making more friends in the event. Unfortunately, I’m very shy and it didn’t help that Eymard and Paul weren’t as engaging as well.

But all in all, it’s really nice. The breakout sessions is something that I think is unique. I liked most of the talk and the event overall was great. I’d like to thank the organizers avatar media for really working hard on this event, the sponsors, Matt and everyone who attended the event. Now I’m excited for Wordcamp 2011. 🙂

Filed Under: Blogging Experience, Events, Ramblings Tagged With: wordcamp 2010, wordcamp philippines, wordcampph 2010

Blog Engage Crazy Guest Blogging Contest

by Melvin · Sep 24, 2010

Cash contests and guest blogging seem to be the perfect combination these days. Just after one and one and another one have been done, it seems that new guest blogging cash contests keep on springing all over. So for this edition, it’s Blog Engage turn to host its own contest. You can read more about the contest here.

So basically it’s just pretty much the same (as far as rules) as with the other guest blogging contests. In order to win, you have to put in a superb guest article and you have to promote it.

Contest Prizes and Awards

2 year free hosting (3 GB space/15 GB bandwith) + 1 free domain

Houston SEO

Best Travel Websites

Denver Web Design

Denver Web Design

James Brown

Leading Travel Directory for Travel Websites

My Guest Blog Media Sponsor

Golf School

Golf School

Chicago Web Design

Chicago Web Design

Content Marketing

Content Marketing

Virtual Assistant

Newark Airport Parking

Newark Airport Parking

Other prizes: Non-Cash Sponsors

Platinum Package ” $125 value + stationery design “Business Cards, Letterhead and Envelopes” 100$ value

One year membership at Elegant Themes From Nick

Simply Fresh WordPress theme

Free Blog Review at Bloggeries Blog Forum

One Year Free of HostGator’s Business Web Hosting Plan (a $179.40 value)

So that’s it, make sure you don’t miss it out and please do support me in the contest. As always I just don’t join contests, I try to win them too. 🙂  And it doesn’t end there, I actually hand out superb value by writing a really good article so make sure to check out my post entry there and let me know what you think

Filed Under: Contest, Ramblings Tagged With: blog engage contest, blogengage

Bloggers Come and Go, You One of them?

by Melvin · Sep 23, 2010

In my 5 years experience of blogging and 2+ here with this blog, I have met so many people, made friends,  and probably had done some joint ventures with them as well. But one thing that’s clear is that being a blogger is not permanent.

I know I have bragged many times before on how I’m going to last forever as a blogger and how this blog is going to remain stable despite any challenges but I realized that you can’t really control things. There are some events that are just inevitable and would cause us to refrain from doing something and I know this is mostly the case for some of my blogger friends.

At some point its sad because bloggers are friendly in nature and I really had met a lot of bloggers that I really liked a lot. For them to leave the blogosphere is like cutting that only communication channel they have for their readers and specifically me. Of course in some cases I’m happy and it specifically pertains to bloggers who have sold their blogs successfully. I’m sure they’re satisfied with whatever pay they got from it and it only helped them move towards the direction that they like to move into.

As of this writing, I’ve been really really busy as evident with my lack of activity in the blogosphere and with this blog. My day job really demands my full eight hours that its impossible to sneak anything into that work sched. And when that 8 hours is over, all I could ever do is take my rest. In conjunction with that I also need to fulfill my responsibilities as the interim head of the family.

But as I always boast, this blog will still be a blog owned by me, Melvin. I don’t have any plans of selling it or abandoning it. Heck, that’s why I chose to have my name in it!

That last line is honestly what I really feel but I know there would be inevitable circumstances that could force me to do things differently. 🙁 How about you, what do you feel about this subject matter?

Filed Under: Blogging Experience, Preachings, Ramblings Tagged With: bloggers, bloggers go, bloggers leave

The Challenge of Reading and Responding to Emails

by Melvin · Sep 9, 2010

When I was just getting started, I always thought that those big bloggers are simply absurd for not responding to all emails they receive. I mean there’s this guy right here sending a genuine email waiting and hoping for a response, only for him to be ignored because the blogger that he wrote to was simply just too “busy”.

Yes I always thought this is just part of the gimmick of those bloggers, pretending they’re doing a lot but in reality, they’re just never in the mood to answer emails unless it came from and advertiser or a friend of theirs.

That was before until I experienced it myself.

Since late last year, I have been having difficulties maintaining my email inbox to an organized one, much more definitely to replying to each and every genuine email that I receive. Its funny because there are times where I can reply to emails that just arrived within less than a second yet I fail to reply on the ones that have been on my inbox for a long time.

From the sender’s perspective, they would really get pissed off at it. As I stated above, its painful to send an email, patiently wait for a response not knowing whether the receiver will ever respond or not. At times, they even had to resend the email or reconfirm just to make sure they’re really waiting for something and not nothing.

I don’t know but over the past 5-8 months, I think doing these micro tasks like reading emails, responding to tweets, checking stuffs have become a daunting task for me. And this is where I realized that ‘hey, maybe these big guys are really genuinely having difficulties really’. If I myself who is not a big figure at all is getting bombarded, maybe they, themselves get 3 times more than I do.

Because of this I had to put systems in place. I usually set a time where I can read emails (usually at night) and I make sure I respond to them. I had this bad habit of checking my emails, then waiting for an hour or two before responding to it. Why read an email twice or thrice in the first place before responding to it?

Now I can say I’m really getting more and more organized with it but still I find it challenging. I’m sure there would still be many bugs with what I do but I guess I just have to adjust to it and eventually learn from my mistakes. What say you?

Filed Under: Blogging Experience, Offtopic, Ramblings, Top Posts Tagged With: challenge of reading emails, reading emails

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