Tomorrow is the 1st day of February already. And if you are all aware, here at BlogDeManila, the 1st of the month is Blog Backup Day. I have written numerous articles already the importance of having a monthly backup, not only on your local hard disk but also using online backup as well.

Cloud computing is the latest buzz that resurfaced recently in the IT industry. It’s not new anymore. In reality, you’ve been using cloud computing for the past decades already.  For example, when you are reading your emails such as Yahoo or GMail using a browser, that is called cloud computing. Same when you upload your pictures on Facebook.

With the introduction of virtual servers, not to mention the low cost of hardware acquisition, online backup using “cloud” has sprouted all over. Every now and then, new companies offering online backup keeps on popping up with better options and features. As a user, this is where the dilemma  comes in. Which company truly offers the best solution?

Well, the right solution can be found on some some review sites that check regularly which among the key players in the market that can be considered as the top online backup provider. It’s is better to check them first before making your decision.

One particular feature that I’m looking for a review site is the real and genuine consumer reviews.  I even personally check the website of the reviewer (if it’s available), just to make sure their comments and suggestions are not system generated but a honest to goodness review. After checking the credentials of the recommended company, I then ask feedback on some reputable webmaster’s forums about their experiences.  My decisions is solely based on the facts that I gathered.

Putting our trust in a reputable company when it comes to backing up our data is must. You need to do your assignment in choosing the best provide. Don’t rely on Google search only.  You have to sift through them by checking various review sites, and ask those who are using those services already.

And please, don’t ever forget to backup your blog!

We all know that  there are three things that we can’t get back…

…a spoken word

… a missed opportunity

… a spent time

I’ve been meditating for the past weeks already and contemplating on what to do on my “online job” for this year 2012.  I’ve been thinking too much about it to the point I’m on the verge of missing what is my plan for my “offline life”. Another year had passed and all of us will add another number in our age.  Time is something we will never get back, ever.

If there is one thing you are careful about in your life, I hope it is your time. Spending time with my family is one of the topmost on my priority list. And, I’d promised my family that I’ll be spending more time with them not only for this year but all the time. A promise which I’m praying that I can keep for the rest of my life.

So I also encourage you dear readers, don’t get so caught up in the online world that you forget about the people you love the most. Spend time with them and show those that matter to you that you care.

With my family during our recent 2nd trip to Banaue Rice Terraces-Philippines

Plan a great bonding time with your loved ones.  Play, watch, dine and laugh together!

It’s so easy today to be on top of the world one minute, and right back at the bottom the next. Never take one second of success for granted. Say “I love you” to each other. This will surely mark a big milestones in your relationships. Don’t let any obstacles cut-off your communication with your family or even your close friends.

If you love someone today, tell them. If there is something you need to change in your life today, start doing it now.

If you have noticed that I seldom post, it’s because I’m spending a lot of my “offline time” with my love ones.

Time is something you will never, ever get back.

For the past 5 Sundays, I was busy attending a photography workshop here in our province.  I’d actually kept it secret even to my close friends but the words spread out like fire when my wife posted a status congratulating me for winning 5th place in our workshop contest for the Human Activity category. I’m actually proud of my achievement, if you can call it an achievement already,  since I’m just an amateur photographer.

Here’s my winning photo.

The boy in the picture is my eldest son.

The Basic Photography workshop by Federation of of Philippine Photographers Foundation (FPPF) teaches the basic photography skills from how to operate a digital SLR camera . They also teaches their students with knowledge in composition and elements of design.

Next month, I’m planning to take the Advance Photography workshop which is designed for serious hobbyist and for those who want to go professional. I belong to the first category, that is I want to be a serious hobbyist. I don’t want to waste the money that my wife used in buying the expensive camera she gave to me 2 years ago. After the next workshop, I’m planning to take some specific extensive workshops  like food photography, wedding photograph and my favorite – the travel photography.

I couldn’t believe my luck today when I was able to register a domain name for US$1 only. You’ve read it right.

A client of mine wants to register a domain for their bike tour project. Good thing the domain is still available and I  was able to snagged the promo.

Actually, I renewed my 4 other domains first,  which were all  registered on GoDaddy, and was searching for the right coupons. I’ve tried a couple, and the coupon that gives me the highest discount is the wallet412_. I was able to get a total savings of $9.02 from S42.22. I paid $33.20 only using my Paypal account. So if you’re domains are up for renewal you may use the coupon code wallet412_ which will give you a substantial discount. By the way, I included the ICANN fee on the computation.

To get the US$1 domain name, you may use the coupon code GETFIT.  I’ve tried this coupon today and it worked like a charm. You may use it for registering any available  .COM, .US, .MOBI, .BIZ, .NET, .ORG, .CA, .CO.UK and .IN domain. I don’t have any idea on the expiration of this code but If I were you, I grabbed this opportunity to register your dream domain now.

See my transaction below.

By the way, this  won’t work on Paypal. Either you have to pay via credit card or check.

PS : I just want to remind everybody that today is the first day of the month, and it’s Blog Backup Day! So please, don’t forget to backup your blog. You won’t appreciate having a monthly backup unless something drastic happens to your blog.

I’m just here to remind and it’s up to you to act on it.

PSS : If you are looking for a good hosting company, I would highly suggest Hostgator.

Whats’ with Black Friday?  A lot of company are into “giving” mood. Is it because of the Thanksgiving day? Well, let’s hope everyday is Thanksgiving day.

I have received tons of emails about big sales on different products including services, software, WordPress themes, cheap airline tickets, domain name, vitamins and web hosting from ever reliable HostGator. This is where Blog De Manila is currently hosted for the past two years already.

The 50% OFF includes shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, Dedicated servers and Windows hosting!

If you are paying $4.95 this will translate to $2.48/month (pre-paid) if you will get a new account. That’s it, if you are an existing client of HostGator you are still qualified for the 50% OFF as long as you  keep your original, existing account open and in good standing.

For this promotion, you can get a  hosting packages for as low as:

• Shared hosting: As low as $4.95 Now only: $2.48/month (pre-paid)
• Reseller Hosting: As low as $24.95 Now Only: $12.48/month (pre-paid)
• VPS Hosting: As low as $19.95 Now Only: $9.98/month (First Month)
• Dedicated Servers: As low as $174 Now Only $87/month (First Month)

This is very cheap hosting packages already and here’s the catch – it will only run for 1 DAY!

How can you avail of the 50% OFF?

Just SIGN UP for a new account, and you do NOT need to insert a coupon code to receive the promo. The correct coupon code will automatically be inserted on all orders placed on Black Friday.

The promotion will begin just after midnight, Friday, November 25^th, 2011 Central Standard Time (-6 GMT). The special offer will run until 11:59PM CST Friday, November 25^th, 2011.

Hurry grab your domain name  GoDaddy’s “$5 .COM Black Friday Sale!” and host in on “HostGator’s 50% OFF” promo.

I received an email yesterday regarding this 25% off everything at StudioPress. If you are looking for some great WordPress themes out there, here’s your chance to grab them from StudioPress for a lesser price.

When you buy from StudioPress, you’re not only getting amazing designs of WordPress themes but you get unlimited access to their support forum, as well as unlimited updates.

And, you may use your themes on any blog or website, and as many as you wish.

Using the code THANKS  at checkout (don’t forget that), you can save 25% off of anything you’d like at WordPress design shop, StudioPress.

1. Get the Genesis Framework for only $45.

2. Snag most Genesis / design combos for a song and save close to $20.

3. Wipe the entire shop clean and get the StudioPress Pro Plus All-Theme Package. Get Genesis plus every design they’ve made, plus every design they make in the future, and save more than $74 off the regular price and over $875 off the retail price — and that’s just the existing 43 designs!

All you need to do is use the code THANKS when you check out and you’ll save 25% on anything and everything at StudioPress.com.

This deal ends promptly at 7:00 pm Pacific time on Monday, November 28, 2011.

Hurry up download and claim your new WordPress theme before the code expires!

I admit it. I sucked, and I failed big.

It’s hard to accept the fact that someone like me who is a preacher of backing up data lost  collectively more than a hundred posts. It’s one of the niche site where I am the administrator. The owner of the site just shook his head in an unbelief. I explained to him what happened and I’m not blaming anybody but me. We cannot sue the web host provider because it’s on their terms and conditions that they are not obligated to backup the data. We cannot request even just a partial backup from them because they too lost everything.

Let’s me state the hard fact, it is our responsibility as an admin or blogger to backup our own blog! Don’t rely on our web host provider.

But, just like what the title of my post today, I was able to recover everything (fyi: I’m still recovering more) even though I don’t have an online backup nor a full backup. I have a WordPress XML backup but it’s more than 1-year old already. It’s stale backup, not updated. I even looked on my other hard disks, but my search resulted to nothing.

I’ve tried using Google’s “cache:url” but it did not yield to a good result. It only cached the previous month. By the way, this Google tool of “cache:ur” is a one way to make sure that Google is really crawling and indexing your site. Try it, and see how Google takes a snapshot of your blog and pages. Here’s an example on how to use: simply type “cache:www.yourdomainname.com“ on Google search page (without the quote and replace the yourdomainname.com with your own domain name).

Since it didn’t quite work well with Google, the magic tool that showed up the missing post is Wayback Machine or www.archive.org. It’s a virtual time machine where you can browse your site –your missing site that is. Unlike Google, Wayback Machine includes most images in their archive!  This internet archiving machine started in 1996 and was opened to the public in 2001. Currently, it includes more than a 100 terabytes of date and has an archived of more than 150 billion pages.  You can check any web pages from 1996 up to yesterday. Try it, and see how does your site or blog looks like yesterday or a year ago. If you are lucky, you can even see your old theme.  Just type in the web site that you are looking for and make sure that you know the exact URL to be able to see the archive.

I’m forever grateful to this unsung modern hero – Wayback Machine – for  recovering not only the  missing blog  but rescuing  myself as well from humiliation. The owner of the niche site is already smiling when he saw his site has been recovered. He was mesmerized and have no idea how I did it.

Have you lost your posts in the past, not knowing where to get your backup? Now you know where to find it, even if you don’t have a physical backup in your hard drive.

I just came back from a long weekend holiday, again. I did not check my emails during the vacation because I wanted to  dedicate my whole time to my family.

When we arrived home last night, I’d checked my emails and one subject line,  “Are Meta Keywords Dead”?, caught my attention. I thought it was a spam since it was Halloween the previous day.  However, the email that I received came from a fellow blogger, who is starting to tweak her blog  for search engine optimization purposes. Additionally, she asked me  how important meta keywords are and if they are still relevant since most of the websites and blogs are still using it.

In September 2009, Google announced that they don’t use meta keywords tag anymore in their web search. Barely, less than a month Yahoo announced that meta keywords tag receives the lowest ranking signal in their algorithm. Words that appear in the body, title, description are more valuable in ranking a specific page.

Bing, the Microsoft search engine, on the other hand is still using the meta keywords tag but not for ranking purposes. According to Duane Forrester, a Senior Product Manager for Bing, they are using meta keywords tag to as a signal for finding spammers.

If Google is not using meta keywords tag anymore, while Yahoo sometimes is using it if other signals are not present, and Bing is using it as part of their signal in looking for spammers, then the question remains — is it safe to use meta keywords tag? And if it is safe, what is the most appropriate format? What if you have already in your blog or website,  will you panic and get rid of it?

We cannot deny the fact that Google, Yahoo and Bing are the top 3 major search engines out there. We must listen to what they say. And since, no one from these three mentioned the use of meta keywords tag will get your site banned, then it is safe to conclude that yes you can still use meta keywords tag. What they really don’t like is “stuffing” your blog with keywords, specially those not related to the content of your page.

One of the search engine optimization techniques that I’ve learned when it comes to meta keywords tag is to use the tag itself within the content or body of the page. If you plan to keep using keywords, use it only once on the meta keywords tag and use the same keyword on the first paragraph of your  content, in the middle of the body and at the last paragraph.  One more thing, limit the keywords to not more than 10.

So are you still going to use meta keywords tag? Let me know your thoughts on this subject.

After arriving from our 10-day vacation, I saw myself running to and fro from all sorts of activities.

We arrived slightly right after midnight  of  Saturday and just less than 2 hours of sleep later on, I ran with my wife and son for the 5KM race of Adidas King of the Road. It was supposed to be a race but it turned out to be a fun run for all of us because we ran following our son’s phase.

Last Tuesday, my wife and I watched the concert of Black Eyed Peas. I almost lost my voice in singing and shouting with the crowds. From a quiet blogger, I was converted into a party animal in just few hours. It’s was also my wife’s birthday so the concert was sort of a treat for her. We both enjoyed the concerts together with some of our friends.

And last night, Wednesday, my whole family rushed to Alaminos, Pangasinan (250KM from Manila) to attend to our friend’s wake. He died of stroke at a young age of 43. We left Manila by 6PM, and reached Alaminos by 12:30AM after traveling for more than 6 hours. Alaminos is the home of the famous Hundred Islands. We only stayed on the wake for 2 hours and left by 3:30AM to be on time in my work at 9AM.

I’ve spent the whole day trying to finish a project and at the same time getting in touch with different resorts near Hundred Island where we will spend the long weekend next week. Actually our long weekend will start on early morning of Sunday until Tuesday because we also have a scheduled Mask-A-Ride – a bike fun ride where bikers are don with different colorful costumes and their bikes decorated with different lights and other bling-bling.

I think you can already imagine how busy I am including my family as well. And so tonight, my wife called for a message therapist so we can have a home message which both of us badly needed.

Please bear with me if I can’t post regularly. I hope I can go back to my regular programming by next week, but I’ll do my best to write one post by tomorrow about SEO. Some of our sites and blogs were slapped by Google Panda recently and I’ll tell you on how to avoid being a victim or how to recover from it.

Until then.

Starting tonight until the 22nd of this month, I’ll be offline to attend to a church activity. My family will be with me including my kids.

I’ve been trimming my emails already for the past days  or so, because I don’t have plans to check my emails during vacation, including monitoring my blogs. Although, I always have with me my laptop and a USB broadband connection, but this is for emergency purposes only.

We’ll be arriving on midnight of October 22 and in the morning of October 23, my family except my youngest son will participate in the Adidas King of the Road, Philippines. This is my first run with my wife and my son, and I’m looking forward to it. I guess we need to do some practice running during our vacation.

So, I think I won’t be able to replies to any emails until the night of 23rd.

Just  curious,  how do you handle your blog during vacations? Do you schedule posts in advance?