Welcome to Filipino Bloggers Worldwide: blogging tips

SEO Tip

1. URL

To make your blog post URL seo-friendly, use dash/hypen ( - ) instead of underscores ( _ ).- Remove or hide page extensions (e.g. .php, .html, etc.)- Make your URL short (must be not too long) and keyword rich.

Reason why we should eliminate the extension name in our URL (e.g. php, .html)

It is actually more of a user friendly approach rather than for SEO view but this has been one of the best practices when it comes to creating URL. Do not change your URLs unless you know how to check 404s and create 301s. But you can do this to your future posts. May I also add that when I say 'keyword rich' it only means to use your keywords on the URL. But do not use same keywords repeatedly as this would look spammy. About 2-4 words is enough. Although you must be able to say what your content is all about in this 4 words. (Florence Belnas Tejadilla)

2. Google Analytics and Webmasters

It's important that all visit stats of your website is visible to you. Set it up as soon as your website is up and running.

- measures your SEO and marketing efforts

- helps discover new keywords- discovers 404s- helps improve web page quality

- determine traffic source, content sources, bounce rate, keywords, etc.

- a lot more.

Check out videos on youtube on how to setup analytics and webmasters for your website/blog cms.

SEO Myth

You can rank a website #1 in Google overnight with SEO

This is wrong. It's even impossible to rank a website #1 in Google in a month or 2. (unless of course you're promoting a website with a keyword that no one else is talking about, which is sort of impossible). SEO takes months to even years to reach the first page of Google. The actual range depends on the keywords you're aiming to rank for, it's competitiveness, and marketability. (Florence Belnas Tejadilla)

The idea that you CAN'T rank a WEBPAGE (Note: In SERPS, webpages are displayed because rankings are designated to specific webpages and NOT to a website) overnight or in a month or two is a MYTH. Just because you have not done it (in several methods that you know), does not necessarily mean that it's impossible. A single fact remains about SEO - SEO is very dynamic. For this very reason, an effective SEO method for a certain website could possibly be a MYTHICAL and ineffective method for your website. SEO "truths" come and go. Sometimes, these truths become myths overtime. Facts are oftentimes judged as false but the truth remains that SEO is still there and so much alive, that many websites are still depending on it. (Clarence Ruelos)

I have lots of pages that ranked on page 1 in less than a month, some of them even reaches top 1. How do I know? I used the real-time feature of Google Analytics. I can study there what my audiences have been reading 'RIGHT NOW' and what keywords they put on the search engine. I adapt and use those keywords in my future blog posts. (Albert Israel)

Well, definitely not overnight but in a month, it's possible. It's a matter of religiously submitting and spreading your anchor text/url in various submission/directories/web 2.0s etc. (Eihdra Gatchalian)
The main idea when it comes to content is to write for your audience and not for search engines, then natural high quality back links comes next.

Source: FBW group

Blogging is essentially an informal form of writing articles online. Usually, when one decides to start a blog, creating content appears to be easy at first because of the overflowing inspiration and hype. Most of the bloggers I know started out their journey in the blogosphere as a plain hobby - something that they can spend their extra time into and share whatever they like. However, once you take your blogging to the next level and turn it into a professional portfolio or a means to earn money online, it becomes such a tedious task with all the researching involved.

If you are working as a web content writer or a blogger accepting paid posts and reviews, you certainly understand where I'm coming from. Have you ever experienced being assigned with a writing task that you completely know nothing about? I have been blogging for quite some time now and recently got a job as a web content writer. Today I would like to share with you five of my favorite tools that helped me get back a little bit of my time. There are a lot of productivity tools out there but these five I use most often. I hope you will find them helpful to you as much as they did for me.

5 Productivity Tools for Bloggers and Content Writers

1. Toggl Online Time Tracker (https://www.toggl.com/)

Toggle labels themselves as an insanely simple way to track time online. In my experience, they really are and will definitely save you time compared to manually tracking your tasks on time sheets or spreadsheets. You just type in your current task and then start the tracker. If you need to pause from work and have a break, you simply click stop. Once you are back, click continue.

Time tracking is very important especially when you are being paid on an hourly basis. For those who don't, tracking your time is still a valuable information to keep as it helps you identify if you have made any improvements productivity wise.

2. Diigo Social Bookmarking Tool (https://www.diigo.com/)

Diigo is a very powerful tool when doing research online. Aside from being an excellent way to organize your bookmarks, Diigo allows you to annotate (or highlight) important paragraph or paragraphs of virtually any online article. Imagine skimming through a very long Wikipedia article and seconds later you found yourself wanting to go back to a specific part but there is no way to quickly identify it? Diigo's highlighter option is fit for the job.

3. Lightshot Screenshot Tool (http://app.prntscr.com/)

Screenshots are one of the most common things a blogger needs to do especially for those "how to" posts but is also one of the most tedious task. Lighshot is a lightweight and easy to use screenshot tool with lots of additional features such as editing and annotation, upload screenshot to Lightshot server to get quick web link, and finding visually similar images. It is available as a web browser extension or as a stand alone software that perfectly integrates with your keyboard's Print Screen button.

What makes Lightshot stand out from competitor tools is that it allows you to select any area on a desktop. Unlike the conventional screenshot method wherein you have to manually crop the screenshot, this tool enables you to capture only a specific area that you want. You can literally capture, copy and then paste images to a word processor without any editing.

4. IFTTT Automation Tool (https://ifttt.com/)

IFTTT or If This Then That is a service that lets you automate countless tasks in a very simple way. As the name implies, you just select a trigger and then set an action. Save a substantial amount of time by having the internet work for you instead of doing them manually.

5. Evernote (https://evernote.com/) or Google Keep (https://drive.google.com/keep/)

Blog post inspiration can come from anywhere so save your thoughts, ideas, things you like, interesting things you saw, read or hear so you can come back to them later. If you are fond of using post its or scribbling on a notebook, these apps makes powerful alternatives at the same time cost effective.

About The Author:
Jane loves to explore what the internet has to offer. It is her personal mission to help people (in her own little way) find solutions by making use of available resources online. You can find her regularly blogging at her personal site, JaneVestil.com.

There are lots of tips out there that aim to increase a blog or website owner's Google Adsense earnings. Some of them might be too technical thus preventing you to try it out.

In this article, I will share with you some Adsense tips and tweaks that might shoot up your Adsense earnings. They are quite basic and pretty easy to understand that even a non-technical blogger or website owner can do and follow.

Adsense Ads Placement

Ads placements are critical in terms of getting the most from your Adsense account. Any ads above the fold are ideal to get more clicks from your visitors, but don’t over do it. Make sure that some of your content is visible above the fold and not only your ads. For more of this, check out this guide:
http://support.google.com/adsense/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1282097&topic=1307438&ctx=topic

Adsense Ads Color

If you will take a good look at some of the most popular sites that serves Adsense ads, you will notice that there is something common at their ad colors: BLUE. Blue is the most common and the highest converting color in terms of ads. Why? A blue colored text always translates into a link right? When a person or visitor sees a blue colored link, more often than not, they will click into it. So make your ad title BLUE and leave the rest (body and url) in any color that complements your website or blog style and theme.

Filter Low Converting Ads

When I say low converting ads, they are the ones that are not suitable or appropriate for your visitors. They are the ones that are not related to your niche, for example, you have a food blog and Adsense shows an ad about web hosting. Try to filter or block them out and see if this can work for you. You can do it by logging into your Adsense account and heading over to this location:
https://www.google.com/adsense/v3/app#allowAndBlockAds. And for more information about filtering and ad blocking, check this link out: http://support.google.com/adsense/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=180609.

If you will follow my above tips and tweaks, make sure to test and record the changes and its effect. Let the changes you made sit for a week or so and see if your Adsense money will grow.

Rhymes...Rhymes...Rhymes..., my title seems poetic isn't it? What I have for you in this article are simple tips and tweaks that you can do with your social media sharing buttons and icons that can surely make an impact to your blog/website's social "shareabality" and reach.

This post is actually inspired by you, my fellow Filipino bloggers. As a member of numerous groups on Facebook that gear towards leveraging social community and engagement, I have seen numerous blogs that are quite awesome with jaw dropping photos that are really worth sharing within the community. But the problem is, your social sharing buttons are not appealing and visible enough for your readers (like me) to share your contents within their circle of friends and community. Meaning to say, I wanted to share your post, article or content, but your own social sharing buttons won't allow me to!.

Image Credit: When People Share On Social Media

The Problems (that makes your reader or user not to share your worth sharing blogpost).

Problem 1). When I click the twitter button, it brings me to the twitter sharing page where the only thing I see is the URL of the blogpost. No title. No text. No info where the post came from or who wrote it the least.

Problem 2). I can't find the social sharing buttons/icons. I am confused!

Problem 3). Too much and too many social sharing buttons. I am confused!

The Tweaks (that will surely shoot up your social shareablity along with bringing fresh traffic and earnings as well).

Solution For Problem 1). Customize your twitter sharing button. Some plugins come with their own customized code that you should edit and tweak to cater your blog. Some of them need to have your personal website url and your very own twitter name at the code. Be sure to check them or look at the plugin/widget's documentation to properly know how to set them up.

Solution For Problem 2). Keep your social sharing buttons/icons prominently placed or located at your blog where it can be seen at first glance. Either place the button under the post title, at the side (scrolling or floating) or at the end of the post. This is much better than placing them within 2 clicks such as using plugins that hide it from the naked eye. For example, if you are using a plugin that uses a button that will display all of your social sharing buttons only if its clicked. Furthermore, it is best to have a call to action close to your buttons that says "Share This Article To Your Friends and Foes" or something like that.

Solution For Problem 3). Keep it simple as much as possible, one to two SETS of social sharing buttons are enough. But having 3 or more are a bit too much. Need no more explanation here.

For sure some of you will say, "that's basic enough and it's a COMMON SENSE sort of thing!" But always remember the saying "Common sense is not common nowadays". Thanks for reading. Hope you find this article worth sharing!

About The Author:

Ron Leyba is a Filipino Blogger And Optimizer. He loves Filipino chicken recipes and his all time favorite is the world famous Chicken adobo.

Home

1. Toggl Online Time Tracker (https://www.toggl.com/)

2. Diigo Social Bookmarking Tool (https://www.diigo.com/)

3. Lightshot Screenshot Tool (http://app.prntscr.com/)

4. IFTTT Automation Tool (https://ifttt.com/)

5. Evernote (https://evernote.com/) or Google Keep (https://drive.google.com/keep/)

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