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.

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?

Detour
noun

1. a roundabout way; deviation from a direct way
2. a route used when the direct or regular route is closed to traffic
3. departure from an established ideology or party line

Yes, my dear readers, BlogDeManila is deviating from it’s mission.

BlogDeManila was established on September 2008. After 3 long years of” blogging for bloggers,” I decided to deviate from it’s original mission of “helping other people blog smartly”. It has been a journey of ups and downs, full of adventure quests.

I personally  believe (unless you will disagree with me), that I’ve been successful in the mission that I’d planned to accomplish 3 year ago. I shared my knowledge to my loyal readers and in return I’ve learned a lot from them as well.

I’ve told my wife that I want to put a personal blog. A different one from the way I’m presenting my posts here at BlogDeManila. Unfortunately, she did not agree  on my plan. She told me that I’m already managing different niches of blogs and I don’t have the time anymore to put up a personal blog. Instead, she told me to turn BlogDeManila into a personal blog. I don’t want to argue with her so I agreed on her plan. I think she’s right. All I have to do is to write more personal post here instead of putting another blog.

And so, I decided (no, my wife decided for me) to inject  more post with personal touch  here. Note that BlogDeManil is only on a detour and not a complete turn around. I’m still going to write post blog for bloggers like SEO, make money online, web hosting, affiliate marketing, adsense, wordpress and more. I also decided to put additional monetizing methods here, perhaps pay per post or Adsense. I hope you don’t mind me earning from my post,do you?

Please continue to support me in this adventure. Give me a big clap if you agree on my new route or frown if you don’t agree.

Is it possible to get a backlinks for a 1 day old blog or website without…

- Submitting your site to directory?

- Exchanging links?

- Commenting on other blogs?

- Press release?

You might be wondering, how can it get backlinks if it’s not even indexed by the search engines such as Yahoo, Bing and Google?

Yes, it’s very possible and I did it with the latest niche blog that I’ve just setup containing one post only!

And now I want to turn this into case study. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you the secrets as time goes by. Promise, I won’t bore you with technical details. If you  are curios on how I did it, keep reading.

To start with, I bought a new domain a month ago which I’m planning to sell later on,  but I decided instead to a make a mini-niche site out of it instead. Since I was able to make one of my niche site to be listed on page 1 of Google and got a PR in less than 3 months, I decided to try it on a new domain and applying all the SEO and other tricks I’ve learned over the years. Mind you, these are white hat SEO tricks, no gray nor black hat or any other magic voodo here.

BUT, that’s a big BUT here,  I’m using cheat sheets which I’ve documented and planning to share in this case study that I’m doing. Let me know if you are interested and I’ll tell you everything all the tricks I’ve under my sleeve. If you are, I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed so you’ll get the latest update from me.

Of course, just like any blog that I’ve set up for my own personal consumptions, my main goal is to monetize it. Come on, doesn’t most bloggers wants to earn? However, for this journey, I want all BlogDeManila readers to learn from these tips ((Warning: if you already know them – just don’t read any further), and I’ll write in a procedural way so you can follow step by step.

Again, the lessons you will learn here might be too basics for some but I hope you will still learn one trick or two. You can always unsubscribe from my RSS, if you think that you are not learning anything and if you feel I’m wasting your time. I’m sorry there’s no money back guarantee here, because I’m not selling you anything.

And again, the succeeding posts on this case study, although I’ve tried to be as accurate and complete as possible, I don’t guarantee that the contents are accurate due to very fast changing of SEO landscape. The tricks that I’ve applied today might not be permissible tomorrow. Like anything else, there are no guarantees whatsoever, including increase in traffic and SERP, and of course the most important thing – in monetary value. Results may vary according to your background, willingness to learn and passion on what you are doing.

I encourage you to leave your comments here if you are really interested,  so I’ll be encourage as well in writing my succeeding post. If you have any questions, you can already start to ask them now. And, don’t forget to subscribe to RSS.

My whole family, including me, is having a vacation since Sunday. A vacation which all of us doesn’t want to experience again.

My eldest son was infected with Amoebiasis and has been in the hospital for the past 5 days already. Since nobody will look after our youngest son, my wife and I decided that all of us should just stay in the hospital.

To keep my 2 kids (including my wife) in good spirit, my wife bought books and origami papers,  and they decorated the hospital room where my son is confined.  They hanged the origami  around the room on the dextrose stand. The nurses attending to my son loves the decoration as well.

This morning, we were visited by some hospital staff. They took pictures of my son because they are planning to feature him in their magazine. They wanted my son to wear a scrub just like those that can be found at http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/.  Unfortunately, my son, who was circumcised only last Friday, had a hard time in wearing the scrub so they just let him to stay in bed and just covered his waist down with a blanket.

I’m very thankful to my company because they’re letting me and my wife to work remotely. And as for me, as long as there is an internet connection, you can’t make me bore, but don’t get me wrong, even if I’m working from the hospital, my sick kid is still  my priority. This is the reason why I seldom goes online for the past few days. I hope and pray that my son will be healed completely soon.

A lot of buzz have been made lately because of the “unofficial” Google Page Rank update last month. Incidentally, a lot of blogger got confused on what is Google Page Rank exactly. 

I personally know a number of bloggers and webmasters who are trying to get a high Google Page Rank but they’re not really sure what is it for. Most answered me that they need it to get more moolah and writing opportunities for their pay per post.  This is understandable because most, if not all, Pay  Per Post providers are using the Google Page Rank as one of their criteria in order to approve a blog.

Do you really know the meaning? Read and find out...

Other bloggers (and there’s too many of them) think Page Rank is simply where their blog or website ranks in the search engines. They thought Google Page Rank would mean where they rank in Google search engine.

For examble, blogdemanila.com has a Page Rank of 3, that would mean that it will rank top 3 in Google.

On a side note, my wife’s blog (Pinaymom.org) had a PR 0 (zero) some few months ago, but it occupies the no. 1 spot on all major search engines including Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask if you will search for the keywords “pinay mom“.

Unfortunately, I’ve had those same misconceptions as well. I thought having a higher PR would mean a higher placement too in the Search Engine Result Page (SERP). This is all wrong.

So What is Google Page Rank Exactly?

Do you watch American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance or Americas’ Got Talent? All of these talents search reality shows have one thing in common. They are all using voting system in choosing the talent that will go to the Finals and this is exactly the same with Google Page Rank.

Google Page Rank = based on the number of “votes” other websites cast for your website. The term website is interchangeably with “blog”. To put it simply, a “vote” is when another website places a link on their website going to or pointing to your website. The more links you have pointing TO your website , the higher your Page Rank will be.

Let me repeat that, the more websites that link TO your website the higher your Page Rank will be. Please take note that Page Rank is just one of the many factors that Google takes into consideration when ranking the popularity of your websites.

I hope now you have a clear idea what is Google Page Rank.

But wait…

In order to have a Page Rank, you website must first get into Google index. Just like the talent shows that I’ve mentioned above, your website has to go through auditions. So how do you get your website to Google index? Wait for my next post and I’ll tell you.

A lot of people love spam, specially for their breakfast. Personally, I don’t like spam. I think it’s full of unhealthy cholesterol. But, that’s me. It’s my personal choice.

And, I don’t like spam in the virtual world as well. I even hate deleting them from WordPress dashboard. The only one good thing that Spam that I can think of is that, the more popular your blog is, the more Spam it can get.

When I logged-on to my blogs after my long vacation, my blogs were bombarded with spams. Not only hundreds but in thousands.

wordpress-pending-comments

Sure, Akismet is on it’s feet filtering and faithfully guarding all my blogs. Unfortunately, there were still unscrupulous spammers out there that posed as a legitimate comments and so they end up on the “Pending” stage. Akismet cannot automatically tag them as spam yet unless we already  informed the Akismet servers about these new and really hard to distinguish spam.

Here’s the fastest and quickest way to delete WordPress pending comments in just 5 easy steps.

1. Log on into your CPanel (or Plesk, HSphere or any custom proprietary control panels). No matter what control panels that you are using, make sure it has a link to phpMyAdmin.

cpanel-login

2. Look for the phpMyAdmin and click it. This is the front-end of your database  where you can manage the database of your blog. This tool is very powerful, so take extra careful in using your phpyMyAdmin. Perhaps I can discuss more on this in the future.

3. Choose the right database. This is located in the top left of the screen. If you have multiple blogs in your CPanel, select the database that  you are using for the blog where the comments  that you want to delete are located. Make sure it is a WordPress database.

4. Select the SQL Tab. This will open up a query box.

Type the following command below.

DELETE FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_approved = 0

where:

0= Pending comments
1= Approved already

We’re going to delete pending comments only, so just write the “0″ at the end; that’s Zero and not the letter “o”.

5. And click the Go button. This will delete all pending comments.

If you refresh the WordPress dashboard of your blog you’ll notice all the comments have disappeared in one Go.

Tip

• To prevent spam entering into your WordPress, implement CAPTCHA in your comment form.
• To stop spam from accumulating install the Akismet plugin.

It’s vacation time again.

Well, almost.

My youngest son has still his classes until the 17th of December while our work in the office is officially until the 22nd. Although, I can work from home on the 20 and 21st.

My wife and I had a planned to spend our family Christmas vacation this year in Camsur Watersports Complex and in Gota Village Resort both in Camarines Sur.  She actually booked a room already on those resorts. Unfortunately, my sister’s family is also going there. There’s really no problem with that, but my wife and I decided that we should spend the vacation exclusively for our own family (me, my wife and our 2 kids).

Last week, I’ve told my wife that instead of CamSur, we will go to Aurora province instead since my kids want to spend the vacation in a beach resort. I didn’t know that she  also booked a house in Baguio  where we will spend the New Year, this time with our in-laws.

So I decided, just today, to go to Banaue and Sagada for our Christmas vacation and  from there,  we can go directly to Baguio afterwards.

I’ve tried to get in touch with one of the famous and popular  INN in Sagada- the St. Joseph Resthouse and booked a small cottage. I hope I’ll get the confirmation tomorrow.

St. Joseph in Sagada - Small Cottage

This place boasts of its strategic location within the heart of Sagada. Almost everything is walking distance from this location. The Sagada Weaving – just a few minute walk – pioneers the weaving products in this town. It produces quality woven materials such as blankets, cheap rugs, wallets, table runners,door rugs, bags, slippers and more. All of these are made through manual weaving.

While writing this post, I’m also chatting with a tour guide in Sagada. She told me to try to call George Guest House Annex. This hotel annex is also within walking distance from the Church of St. Mary the Virgin and the Echo Valley. Aside from that, it has its own WIFI!. This is a must for me when looking for a place to stay at.

George Resthouse in Sagada - 2nd Floor

Above  is the picture of George Resthouse where you can entertain your guests. It has a big area rugs, solid wooden furniture and a videoke to sing to your heart’s desire. Below is the view from one of the rooms.

George Resthouse in Sagada - view from the room

Isn’t it majestic? According to the tour guide that I’m chatting with right now, she recommended  that we should spend more of our time outside  than to waste the day inside these lodging houses.  She even told me, the mystical and mysteries of Sagada will surely mesmerize us once we step out and visits the tourist spots this town can offer.

I hope everything will be settled by tomorrow specially the place where we can stay. I can’t wait for our vacation already.

Perhaps you noticed that I haven’t posted anything about blogging in all my previous posts.  The last topic that I’ve written about blogging was my article on Google PageRank Update which is almost a 2-month old post already.

To tell you frankly, I’m was busy with 3 things.

1. I just accomplished my first ever century bike ride last Sunday. It was a grueling 190 kilometers ride around Laguna De Bay.  It took us 14 hours to cover the whole distance. If you divide 190 kilometers by 14 hours, you will get 13.57. It means we were only traveling at a speed of 13.57 kilometers per hour.

Why so slow? Because we used mountain bikes and not a road bike. The endless uphills and incline roads somewhere in Quezon province and some parts of Laguna tested our strength and endurance.

With My Bike Buddies

To give you some statistics about this ride of mine, if you may:

1. This is my first century ride. A century is any ride that goes beyond 100 kilometers.
2. I drank 1 cup of coffee during our breakfast.
3. I gulped a total of 2 liters of Gatorade.
4. I drank a total of 4 liters of water.
5. I also tried drinking an energy drink and half-liter of soda  for my sugar needs.
6. I have traveled a total of more than 3,000 kilometers on my 1 year of bike riding – mostly trail biking.

Am I going to repeat this craziness? You bet I will! My next goal is to go somewhere either in Batangas or Aurora and perhaps Baguio by early next year.

2. I’m busy with my work. Really toxic.

This is the reason why I’m into biking. To release the stress I’m experiencing right now in my work.

Last week we started to migrate our project into a new system. And, I have one of the biggest responsibility for the migration.

Our company is into processing Short Messaging System or SMS and emails as well. Not only here in the Philippines but all around the world. I’ve developed the module for receiving and sending all of the messages that are passing through our servers. My program is parsing hundred of thousands of messages and if something goes wrong even for just one message, the fault is on me.

I’m actually monitoring our system for almost 24 hours. I’m even peeking in our servers while writing this post. So much for this, I’m actually under a contract  in our company not to disclose any information on what I’m doing. AHA!

3. I’m busy developing a new website with blog.

Mind you this is not a paid project but a free one.  I’m actually will be having a dinner meeting tomorrow with my client.

Building a website can be a daunting task at times specially when your clients doesn’t know what kind of website they really want to setup. Good thing I started this project using WordPress as the foundation. Not only I’m at ease with WP but I’m also using a tool that can magically turn a website or blog into a new look by just clicking and dragging the objects or elements of the site.

If you are curios about this magical tool that I’m talking about, check it HERE. With this new revolutionary tool, you will be able to produce the most amazing sites you can. I promise you can design a new site down to a few steps, POINT, CLICK, DRAG, DROP & SAVE.  And it is truly that simple.

I’m back from  my 12-day vacation!!!

Recharged, with full vigor to energize BlogDeManila.

By the way, there were only few who joined the contest. I know it’s not a contest but a secret one. You will only notice it if you are truly reading my posts. Too bad for Entrecard and Adgitize users who are just doing a  click-and-run, they missed something big. Alright not really big but something than can help them to attract more traffic for their blog.

Without further ado …the winner of 1 month ad worth $14 on Adgitize is ….tadannn!!!

None other than Jen of Jennyholic, Confession Of An Addict.

Congratulations, Jen! Incidentally, you were also the first who left a comment on my blog during my vacation. I guess the phrase “the early bird gets the worm” is true after all.

By the way, I’m giving 1,000 Entrecard credits to the following bloggers for leaving comments while I’m gone:

1. Mys
2. Noel
3. Vernz
4. Mona
5. Kayce

The EC credit giveaways is another surprise gift from me. I didn’t announce anything about it so considered it as a bonus.

Oh yes, I love surprises.

So to all readers, clickers, droppers or any strangers who happens to visit BlogDeManila, just stay a little longer on my site  because you might miss something special.