1. iBlog 6 on April 16 and 17, 2010. – This is a two-day event wherein the first day is targeted for entrepreneurs and businesses wanting to tap blogs to promote their products and services. The second day is meant for everyone else interested in blogging. If you are interested in SEO, Gary Viray will speak about it on the first day while on the second day, Marhgil Macuha will tackle the topic. And if you want to see your blogging idol/crush or whatever, this is the time you’d be able to see them in the flesh. Registration is FREE!

2. Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogger of 2010 – Janette is getting ready once again for the 2010 edition of her writing project which aims to recognize new and emerging blogs that made an impact to its readers in 2010. The writing project will commence in May, so it’s time for us once again to scout on new blogs out there. A lot of my friends won the 2009 edition.

3. Bloggista.com is for sale – What? When you have a top level domain that could be a household name in Spanish-speaking nations, it’s on the make-money-online niche, and it currently has a PR4 rank and an Alexa rank of 134k, how much would you sell it for? Or will you be selling it? Inside information I gathered was that, a bidder from Europe placed a 6-digit bid. Wow!

4. Unfriending Darren Rowse in Facebook – You don’t want to pull the plug on someone big and popular, do you? But in his post, Filipino blogger, Jan Geronimo, explained why he did it. Darren, from his territory in the land down under, crossed the Pacific Ocean and offered his explanations too. If you know Darren, you better not skip this one.  He left nine comments to top the month’s top conversationalists list.

5. Jehzlau is Back to Blogging – 47 days after announcing that his blogging days are over, Jehz is back and is giving away prizes to celebrate his return. Wanna win a gadget of your choice? Go, join his contest. But wait, the contest ended the other day. Better luck next time!

The above aren’t the only things happening in the Philippine blogosphere. Supporters of presidential candidates also have their online wars. Yellow vs Orange vs Green. (Noynoy vs Villar v Gibo). As for me, the war I know now is Ninja Warz in Facebook. I can no longer fight my friends Bloggista and Thirdworldgeek because they’re 20 levels below me. Ah, might as well enjoy Razon’s halo-halo to keep away the scorching heat from my system.

Related posts:

1. Web Traffic: Good News and Bad News
2. Emerging Influential Blogs of 2008
3. Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2009

Quit Blogging

But then you pause for a minute and ponder. “What will make you quit blogging at this point in time?”

Or perhaps you just write for yourself anonymously, carrying an alias that would raise the hair of anyone hearing the name uttered. You dislike popularity, blog metrics and social media. You simply write your thoughts like your blog is your diary with or without readers. Blogging is your passion. Writing is your forte. Your blog, as you proclaim, is your outlet for living. Then suddenly you announce your retirement.

In July 2008, a famous Internet entrepreneur and blogger, Jason Calacanis, announced that he quit blogging. Jason is the CEO of Mahalo.com, a human-powered search engine, and was the co-founder of Weblogs, Inc.

In the Philippine setting, Jehzeel Laurente, the very influential blogger behind www.jehzlau-concepts.com, announced the other day that he quit blogging. No further reasons were given, except this intro statement he posted. “Every beginning has an end. Everything once cherished fades and dies. Everything we fought so hard for, in the end just withers away. This is my farewell blog post to all my avid readers. I don’t want to quit blogging but I need to. My blogging journey will just end anyway, so I’ll end it right now.”

Though I don’t want to delve deeper into the issues behind the decision of those two famous bloggers, below are some of the reasons why people quit and leave their blogs behind:

1. Death – That’s too obvious if we consider the death of the blogger. But what if that is the death of someone the blogger loves and adores so much? I know of a blogger who quit after the death of her firstborn. It was like her soul was totally consumed after the loss and that she could not continue maintaining the site anymore because of too much pain.
2. Prolonged sickness/Health reasons – There are sicknesses which will make it difficult for someone to blog again. Blindness for instance.
3. Work and Offline business – Responsibilities pile up just as you are on your blogging peak. A promotion, a new challenge, or a new project. Or maybe your business is enjoying exponential growth that you no longer have time for blogging.
4. Growing Internet business – Some netreprenuers started with blogging. But as their business grows, they need to put more time on where the money is. It is not really in blogging where bloggers make large sums of money. It is still in the entrepreneurial side like affiliate marketing, search engine marketing, internet marketing, search engine optimization, business process outsourcing, etc…
5. Family – Your spouse doesn’t understand what blogging is. Your kids are growing and they long for your presence. To blog or to spend time more with family? Of course, you know where you stand.
6. Trolls and online attacks – You made enemies because of a single post. Trolls hound your blog and destroy your reputation. You want to stand your ground. Friends listen, but the ill-informed cometh and leaveth, pinching a little of your flesh and stabbing your soul. It hurts. Should you click the delete button and just fade away from the blogosphere? Some did.
7. Boredom – You blogged because you’re bored. You quit blogging because you’re bored. It’s that simple.
8. Tired of chasing money online – Because you failed in your quest for making money online, you now think it’s more profitable to sell balut instead. Or perhaps you suddenly found yourself banned from a PPC program you worked hard to earn more money.
9. No more time – There is still time for everything, but you rather spend it sleeping and resting.
10. Shift of hobby – You considered blogging a hobby. Then came Farmville, Farmtown, Mafia Wars and other Facebook apps, which consumed all your waking hours. A hobby is simply replaced by a new hobby.
11. Lack of internet access – The management at the workplace suddenly changed its internet usage policy. It’s your sole access as you don’t want to spend and only want the freebies. Your home doesn’t have a signal for either smartbro, sun or globe. You no longer have any access to the internet. Your passion died too.

What do you think my friend? Is quitting from blogging at the back of your mind right now?

Related posts:

1. Serious Blogging
2. Blogging For Money
3. Is Blogging Just A Waste Of Time?

Anyway, since goals and plans are becoming a yearly thing, I will write here my blogging goals for 2010. No copying please.

1. Post more often – It is a fact the Google loves sites that are updated more often. Their search engines’ spiders are like saying, “oh, there’s something new there. Come let us see”.

Also, blogging friends would like to see a fresh post every time they visit. No, not that new post every 8 hours about a product I endorse because I just have to make an entry to meet a certain quota. Two to three posts a week would do just fine. And it’s not necessary that friends read the whole thing. They could read a few lines and then comment like they read the whole long entry. It won’t matter to me too if the comment is on topic or off topic as long as it is not flammable nor spammy.

2. More pillar posts – My friend Roel (aka Bloggista) talked about this more often. These posts can stand on its own in season or off season. It can drive visitors from search engines, and it can even be promoted by others because of the quality and usefulness of the content.

And it won’t just be about board exams results or some of the latest Cebu Pacific promo fares. Though these posts are very useful, pillar posts are more than just copied information.

3. Make more money online – From cents to dollars a day. Who wouldn’t want to make more money online? At least to pay for my 5 domain names, two hosting plans and the internet usage. To break even, I need at least $31 a month. See, it’s a dollar a day!

Another thing, I have some serious collaboration with two other bloggers. We’re gonna change the world. Hurray for us!

4. Promote online the offline businesses – I started that a year ago in one of my blogspots. I optimized some keywords and got 60 plus inquiries in a year’s time. But it’s kind of a half-serious endeavor because of some other plans that didn’t actually push through. To make things worse, another person, who is in the same business as ours, snapped up some of our potential clients by taking notes of their email ads and sending them unsolicited offers. The shameless girl even presented herself as our partner. Had we converted those inquiries into revenues 100%, it could have been worth at least half a million pesos.

Now, I am taking another step higher. I set up a website for my Father-in-law’s furniture business, which my wife helped manage. If you are in need of a kitchen cabinet and closet installers in Cebu, then you can count on us. Here’s a picture of one of their finished works.

Let’s say, we are really serious this time around.

Now to you my friend, what are your blogging goals for the year 2010?

Related posts:

1. There Are Plans, And There Are More Plans
2. Looking Back At Past Posts – Part 1
3. Blogging For Money

We can make all the excuses we want, but when we fail to post regularly, there are consequences. First, you’ll lose the interest of your readers. Even our most loyal ones will look for an alternative somewhere, as there are many better blogs out there… But when everyone’s gone, it’s hard to lure them back.

Second, you will miss out on some money-making opportunities. If you are into sponsored posts, you’d miss out on opps. If you are chasing keywords, you’d be lagging behind in your optimization.

Third, which I think is very important, you’d lose your own interest and motivation. It’s really difficult to come back after a long hiatus. Of course there will always be reasons for not posting. But for the serious bloggers, there is a need to balance our time so that there will always be time to write and publish a post.

The main reason why I failed to update is: W O R K. We’re in our budget season and I have to spend long nights at work. Even though I started a draft for this post (of a different title) a week after my last post, I could not keep going. The secondary reason (after our budget season) is NOT FARMVILLE, like Jan of Writing to Exhale, but it is NINJA WARZ. I have to blame my influenza partners TWG and Bloggista for that. They had me hooked on it the last four days.

There’s no SEOsumthingsumthing in this post. Wait till I write about NINJA WARZ tricks and cheats! lol!

Related posts:

1. What Keeps You From Posting Regularly?
2. What To Write In A Blog
3. Looking Back At Past Posts – Part 1

I know that a lot will search for the round by round analysis right after the fight. If you chance upon here, take note though that this post is a work of fiction. So what if the fight will only last two rounds like the Hatton thing? Nah, my prediction is for the two fighters to last the distance.

Pacquiao vs Cotto Results: Round-by-Round

Pre-fight: Cotto enters the ring as the crowd cheers. He tries to let out a smile, waves at the crowd, and makes a sign of the cross. He bounces around hoping to get back all the confidence that had left him since the fight with Margarito. But he fails to hide in his eyes the fears of losing this one match.

Pacquiao then enters the ring. Instead of cheers, a deafening silence meets him. In one section, obviously Filipinos, a man shouts, “Go, Manny!” As if that was the sign they are waiting for, the crowd is now on its feet, and cheers the loudest of them all. Manny waves and looks very confident. But it is quite obvious that he keeps scratching his head. A person at back also notices it and shouts, “May kuto yata si Manny” (Manny might have lice). A group of people at the front, whom they say are congressmen from the Philippines, burst into laughter. Cotto’s cornermen shake their heads, not knowing what the statement means.

Round 1: Cotto’s reach advantage is evident as he lands a few good body shots. Pacquaio answers with his own head shots. The two mostly dances around sizing each other. Two and three-punches combination of Cotto hits the air. But the annoying head scratching of the Filipino fighters becomes more obvious. Then a left hook lands clean on Pacquiao’s body. Cotto 10-9.

Round 2: Pacquiao and Cotto engage each other with heavy blows. But none appears hit, or badly hurt. Is this fight for real? The referee scratches his hair. In the last ten seconds, a straight punch coming from the right hits Cotto’s head. Pacquiao 10-9.

Round 3: Roach start giving instructions to Pacquiao. “Hit his face” he shouts. Action is brewing again as the two exchange blows. The crowd cheers loudly. A left jab lands clean on Cotto’s face, but an uppercut staggers the Filipino. Cotto 10-9.

Round 4: There’s that head scratching again. Cotto tries some assault to the face, but Manny’s too quick and avoids those punches. A seven-punch combination staggers the Puerto Rican. Manny attempts the finishing kill hook but the bell rings and saves Cotto. Pacquiao 10-8.

Round 5: Cotto recovers and hits Pacquiao’ head. Right hand by Cotto. Pacquiao counters with his right. Cotto 10-9.

Round 6: This is already beyond Roach’s prediction of a round 2 knock-out. So far, no one is down. The two are back on close range encounters. Heads clash and put a gash on Cotto’s right brow. Doctor examines, but gives his go immediately. Pacquiao 10-9.

At halftime, this blogger’s imaginary scorecard reveals a 57-56 score in favor for the Filipino.

Round 7: Roach pours something on Pacquiao’s hair. With a towel, he wipes away the bubbles. Pacquiao returns to the ring dancing his way, fakes and lands a strong punch on Cotto’s body. Cotto counters but his fist slips when it hit Pacquiao’s hair. Pacquiao changes his stance from the usual southpaw. A strong right hook sends Cotto crawling in the canvass. The crowd cheers, and chants Pacquiao’s name. Cotto beats the count. The bell saves him too. Pacquiao 10-8.

Round 8: The cheers become louder. Pacquiao’s confidence is oozing as he throws punches left and right. Cotto is on the defensive but survives the round. In fact, he wins the round with his counters, even leaving a cut just below Pacquiao’s eyes. Cotto 10-9.

Round 9: Cotto picks up his pace and lands some clean shots. He misses a hook but parries a lot of punches from his opponent. Cotto 10-9.

Round 10: Both fighters have cuts. Cotto slips but it does not count. The screen replays the slip. A large number of people in front are seen scratching their heads. Pacquiao ends the round with a three punch combination on Cotto’s face, which the latter fails to parry. Pacquiao 10-9.

Round 11: Pacquiao opens with a body shot. His stamina is amazing up to this point. Cotto’s fitness is excellent too despite the brawl that would leave other weaker fighters panting for air. Pacquiao remains the aggressor but an uppercut from Cotto plus a straight to the chin downed Pacquiao. The crowd stands in unison. The Filipino is now sitting on his pants and looks at Roach. He scratches his head again and curses, “Pest*ng kuto”. He stands up, but the referee is counting. Cotto is definitely back on this fight. Cotto 10-8.

Round 12: Pacquiao recovers and throws an incredible number of punches. They bump heads again but no cuts this time. Cotto is on the defensive, patiently waiting for an opening. But there was no more time. The crowd cheers as the boxers shake hands and hug after the bell sound. Pacquiao still scratches his head. Pacquiao 10-9

My unofficial score is 113-112 in favor of Pacquiao. But I listened intently as the referee announces the official scores: Judge 1 – 115-113 Pacquiao. Judge 2 – 115-113 Cotto. Judge 3 – 114-114. It’s a draw. Unbelievable fight!

Post-fight: Roach scratches his head while giving his thoughts on the decision. He believes his fighter should have won the fight. Pacquiao, on the other hand, was all smiles. He waves on camera and manages to slip a political statement, “Sa aking mga kababayan, wag nyo po akong kalimutan sa eleksyon ngayong Mayo. Manny Pacquiao po, para sa kongreso!” (To my countrymen, please do not forget me this coming May elections. Manny Pacquiao for Congress!)

Cotto’s corner also believes they had the fight on their hands. But they are not upset either. One thing is very noticeable in Cotto after the announcement; he is now scratching his head more often.

p.s. I have written in my sports’ blog Pacquiao vs Cotto fight results prediction. But I have this feeling that Roach may be right.

ACTUAL RESULT:

Pacquiao punished Cotto and knocked him out in the 12th round. 7th world title in seven weight categories, the first in history, is now in Manny’s hands. Congrats to Manny Pacquiao!

Pacquiao vs Cotto Results

Related posts:

1. Pacquiao VS De La Hoya: Blog Round-Up
2. Afterthoughts on Pacquiao vs Clottey Fight
3. Oscar De La Hoya vs Manny Pacquiao: Fight Results Predictions

Well, I don’t know who actually won our SEO race! If it’s based on money earned, it could be Bloggista again. He’s the real money maverick. I was just too happy to learn from him and in the process, earn a few hundred cents from adsense.

Hours before the results were announced, I was actually nervous as pageviews came in by the thousands. I was worried my site would crash. You know, like the flood brought by typhoon Ondoy almost a month ago. 25GB bandwidth may not be enough. Thirdworldgeek had his site down for an hour, he told me. But after the rush, I was glad I survived. I will not optimize for the results of both the teachers and the nursing board exams. This site is not intended for them.

But anyway, I had my fun chasing traffic. I topped some of the keywords and it means that any blogger can top the SERP and be at par with the SEO masters. And that traffic can be converted to $$. (Two digits in a day only)

Of Creative Writing

Jena Isle has finally released the book “Inspirational Thoughts and Stories of Bloggers from All Over the World”. My friends Jan, Doc Z, Roy, Elmot, Rey Jr, and Angel contributed stories. I contributed something too and it is entitled, “Missing the Bus”.
I really thank my friend Jena Isle for this opportunity. I can’t believe I’m in a book now

If you want a copy of the book, just follow this link here: Inspiration Anthology of Bloggers All Over the World.

Elmot, one of the contributing writers in the above work, sent me an SMS message the other day. Yes bro, I have blog for my poems and short stories. And Jumbled Writings is even older than this blog. I am not really promoting it, yet I am thankful for less than half a dozen weekly visitors.

It’s been a while since I wrote either a poem or a short story, but maybe, maybe, I’ll write again soon. Doc Z’s flash fiction and Roy’s Short Stories Blog, inspire me to follow suit. Of course, there’s Jena Isle’s Gewgaw Writings and that of the Fencesitter who, by the way, had just released a link to his best works due to the prodding of Jan.

Ah, blogging! It’s not always about traffic, social networks, money and site metrics. It is still for the love of writing.

Related posts:

1. Web Traffic For Those Who Just Started Out
2. Crazy About Web Traffic
3. The Love Guru, American Idol Season 7 Winner and Web Traffic

So, we need to meet at least once, when opportunity arise. It is always different if you move from being online friends to real friends. (Online friends can be real friends too. But the bond is as fragile as our internet connection) Hmmm… But are we sure we are what we are as what we’ve written in our blogs? You did not tell me your name, did you?

But because we’ve met outside the virtual realms and become friends, we learn to read with our hearts and not just by what our eyes have seen. Ok, so enough with the drama.

Three Saturdays ago was the EB of Ms. Janette Toral’s writing project, “The Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2009”. In a blogging event, you don’t really have that much time to mingle. You have to listen to speakers and their presentations, and there are just too many people.

So, I suggested to Doc Z, Jan and Elmot that we meet hours before the event. There were nine of us who showed up at MOA: Jhongmed, Lyle(Filipino Web Programmer), Jan, Elmot, Roel (Money Maverick), Boni (Third World Geek), Doc Z, and Yatot. It was really exciting, meeting people for the first time, sharing stories, swapping cards, and listening to blogging experiences, both serious and funny. I had fun, really. It was also an honor to have with us, Jan, the venerable winner of the 2009 Emerging Influential Blogs, and Doc Z too at no. 4. It was the first meet-up of the jedibloggers minus Jena, Kelvin, Luke, Roy and 50+ others. And someone mentioned influenza bloggers. It was the influenza bloggers’ first meeting too.

Then after a few drinks (coke, coffee and san mig light for Lyle) we proceeded to main EB and had our pictures taken with the PAGCOR sign at the background. (hey guys, email me a pic of that, will you?) Ah, this post comes very very late. But anyway, it’s better late than never. My congratulations to the following winners:

1. Jan Geronimo’s Writing to Exhale
2. Patay Gutom Blog
3. Roy The Struggling Blogger
4. Zorlone the Filipino Poet
5. Father Blogger
6. Kelvinonian Ideas 2.0
7. Tales from the Mom Side
8. Adaphobic
9. Lakwatsero
10. Let’s Go Sago!

They were feted like rockstars you know. Anonymous no more, perhaps except for Trendydee (Tales from the Mom Side). Photographers wanted to take videos and pics of this year’s winners. See the pic below.

And surprises of surprises, there at the EB we met a blogger whom Boni and I knew for a long time. He used to be everywhere in the badminton forum we frequent. And we played badminton a lot of times already. He didn’t know we’re bloggers. We didn’t know he runs the popular blog, Blog de Manila and many others. And that night alone, he won $100 in the raffle draw plus two or three other raffle prizes. Lucky guy! I stole a shot of him with winners at the background.

Ok, so I blurred him a bit, as he wants to remain a mystery to his thousands of followers.

And there’s another guy I met for the first time, SEM expert Mr. Gary Viray. We’ve had a little gmail chat before. What’s SEM again? Hehe. SEM noob here. This guy almost won the Busby SEO Test challenge, and it’s an honor to have finally met him.

I also met the following awesome bloggers: Kelvin, Ada, Jehz, Snow, Tyrone, Annalyn, Earthlingorgeous, Rey Jr., Angel, Jeff (second time). From a short distance I saw Allen, Crisiboy and Sonnie.

Still, the EB wasn’t enough for Doc Z, Roel, Boni, Angel, Yatot, Lyle. We went to some place in Makati and sang our hearts out. What was that song again, Father Blogger? I could have sung my favorite Cliff Richards song if not for the billiards table. Next time, Yatot. Hehe!

Again, there was another meet-up at Lyle’s place days later with Boni, Roel and Elmot. Doc Z’s voice was with us. Thanks to Sun Cellular! We talked about SEO, blogging and world peace.

Just this Saturday night, we had had another of our mini-blogging meets, this time at Timog Ave wherein we were at a shouting distance of ABS-CBN. We discussed various topics that covered blogging, travel, poetry, medical stuff and pretty lasses (blame those cigarette promo girls). Next weekend, there will be another EB. And on September 19, the WordCamp.

With all these EB’s and blogging events, we can’t really remain anonymous and hide in our blogs forever. Joining meet-ups every now and then is a good thing.

Related posts:

1. Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2009
2. Emerging Influential Blogs of 2008
3. Blogging Meets: Drawing Inspiration from Fellow Bloggers

Embarrassed of my being a WordPress noob, (and to think I planned to attend the Wordcamp this September 19), I tried working my way to upgrade the thing myself. But good thing my best blogging buddy, Third World Geek offered his services. So, with a coffee on hand, at The Coffee Bean in the jungle of Makati Business District, we made a move to bring me out from the mire of WordPress version obsolescence.

First, we tried Fantastico in my Cpanel. There used to be a one-click upgrade in there. My other blog had one. But poor me, the Fantastico says that I had no WordPress installed in my Blog From Cebu to the World. What? They’ve already abolished 2.3.3?

So the next step was to search for the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plug-in. Here is what it says:

WordPress Automatic Upgrade allows a user to automatically upgrade the WordPress installation to the latest one provided by WordPress.org using the 5 steps provided in the WordPress upgrade instructions.

WordPress automatic upgrade upgrades your WordPress installation by doing the following steps.

Backs up the files and makes available a link to download it.
Backs up the database and makes available a link to download it.
Downloads the latest files from http://WordPress.org/latest.zip and unzips it.
Puts the site in maintenance mode.
De-activates all active plugins and remembers it.
Upgrades WordPress files.
Gives you a link that will open in a new window to upgrade installation.
Re-activates the plugins.
The plugin can also can be run in an automated mode where in you do not have to click on any links to go to the next step.

After nervously following the instructions, I finally made it. From WordPress 2.3.3 to WordPress 2.8.4. What a giant leap for this blogger! It took me a year really. And to think it was this easy to upgrade WordPress to the latest version. My thanks to Third World Geek and to the creators of this plug-in!

Related posts:

1. Scam, Spam, Sham

Actually, I’m pressing for time as of this moment. In 30 minutes, a very important meeting will have to start. So while waiting for my boss and colleagues to arrive, I write this post. Here are my 5 suggestions in how to come up with a good blog post in just 30 minutes.

1. Write from your drafts – I’m sure you as a blogger have some drafts hidden somewhere. Some even had their drafts written in piece of tissue paper. I have plenty of unfinished blog entries in my hard drive, this one not included. To include the time you spent on your initial draft, it is no longer 30 minutes. But that is beside the point.
2. Write on topics that always cross your mind – There is always that lingering and nagging idea that you want to write about. If it keeps haunting you, then all you need to do and stop and write about it. The words will freely flow and find its way to your keyboard. And you’ll be amazed you’re done in 30 minutes or less.
3. Write from experience – As the cliché goes, experience is the greatest teacher. And if you had learned well, it is easier for you to share your experience. Sometimes, there are topics we want to tackle that we have little knowledge about. Research takes time. But if you had a personal experience, then you can just expound on it at less time.
4. Write within your expertise – Need I say more? If you are expert on the topic you write about, it is really easier.
5. Go direct to the point – Sometimes, we bloggers tend to adorn our entries with flowery words. Well, this is just the frustrated writer in us (me included). A very simple post, stretched, filled in with similes, metaphors, images and other figures of speech, might get the readers nod. But there will be some wise guy out there, who’d ask, “What’s the point?”

So, there is my post done in less than 30 minutes. The meeting is about to start.

Related posts:

1. What To Write In A Blog
2. For Whom Do You Blog?
3. Do You Have A Blog Plan?

What was it that I was passionate about? Am I blogging about my passion? Plenty of us probably don’t know about niche blogging when we started out, so our early blogs were of the general type. Or shall we say, a little of everything.

The Passion for Writing

The passion for writing made me survive four years of blogging. It made us write about our breakfast, our rants, our feelings towards anything under the sun. Blogging has become an outlet to keep one sane, at least temporarily. It also sparked our imagination and made it easy for us to compose poems, write short fiction, essays, reviews and even paid posts. Even if some grammar police took a jab at our esteem, we push on. Practice makes perfect, isn’t it?

The passion for writing oftentimes influence our itching fingers even when we drink coffee or face the computer screen at work. You open a document file even if you only need spreadsheets at work. You even scribble a possible blog post on a piece of table napkin. Blogging is God’s gift to aspiring writers wanting to have their works published, or be seen by a larger audience. Gone are the secret journal days. Hurray for the new media!  By the way, I have a short story featured at Jena Isle’s site.  Check out:  Missing the Bus

But when the passion for writing wanes, what will happen to the blog? Like a book left to the dust, it will return to the dust.

The Passion for Travel

I have friends who opened travel blogs because of their passion for travel. It is nice to share traveling tips, and maybe earn freebies in exchange for travel writeups. I have a travel category in this site. You might want to check Bantayan and Camotes Islands. I tell you that they are paradise waiting for you.

The Passion for Making Money

They might say that your writings are sub par, but you have the passion to make money online. So whether by hook or by crook, legit or scrap, as long as it makes money, it is alright for you. It is alright for me too as long as you don’t copy my post verbatim.

As I learned from the probloggers, what they do offline, they just bring online. There is money in blogging alright, but there is money outside of blogging too. They don’t stop at making blog posts and chasing PPC money. They sell ebooks, handle internet marketing seminars, join money-making endeavours here and there.

What will happen to the blog when there is no more money in blogging? Like when google ban your site that relies heavily on adsense and search engine traffic? Or when the recession will take its toll on the advertisers? Yikes, I wish that will never happen.

The Passion for Links, Stats, Ranks and Traffic

You may not be into money-making but you love to see your site rise from the ranks. Crazy about web traffic, links, stats and ranks! You want to reach the stats of this or that blogger and you want the no.1 ranking at SERP for the keyword which is just your own name. You read trends and the latest buzz on the net. You check your alexa rank every day or two.

You want your comments to reach a 100 per post, half of that are yours. It doesn’t matter anyway. The numbers are way greater than the rest of the bloggers out there. You ask, smile, seduce, beg, or even harass other bloggers for ex-links. Of the 100, 50% responded. It isn’t a bad percentage.

The Passion to Socialize

The site you own is like a bulletin board or shall we say, a coffee shop. People meet and greet each other even if you only serve the same menu for two weeks. You bloghop, leave comments, and invite people to visit your cute site. You have hundreds of online friends, and ten thousand twitter followers. But sadly, you don’t mention any of your offline friends.

So what if someone starts flaming your site, or attack you personally? Wow! I hate to think about it.

The Passion to Rant

Is there such a passion to rant? Honestly, I don’t want to read rants, even if the reasons are valid. For me it is just a matter of perspectives. But some are really passionate about blogging their rants. It could be intellectually juicy dealing with politics and the economy. Or it could be as silly as ranting about how bad your maid cooked your scrambled eggs.

The Passion for Sports

My passion for sports led me to open a sports blog. I blog about football even if my friends (online and offline) don’t know anything about it. I will not care if they visit my site or not. I am a frustrated sports analyst so just let me be so in my blog. (But I secretly wish you visit me there too).

Just Keep on Blogging

“Just keep on blogging” and “Blog on the things you are passionate about” are the most common advice I read from bloggers. The one thing that will keep you blogging is passion. And you can easily keep up with your blogging schedule if you write about something you are passionate of. But is passion enough? Like fire, it needs fuel to keep the flame burning. And if that passion wanes, you will need money, recognition, time and of course, the support and encouragement of fellow bloggers.

Related posts:

1. For Whom Do You Blog?
2. 6 Things Bloggers Want From A Blog They Read and Follow
3. What To Write In A Blog