Google Apps for Education

The Google for Educators event held last December 6, 2007, at the Bro. Andrew Gonzalez Hall of De La Salle University, was a success! Thank you very much to the Philippine Society of IT Educators and DLSU for hosting us.

Jeff Keltner basically spoke about different tools that educators can use for the classroom and explained what Google Apps for Education is. Here's a video of the whole talk -



*Taken from the Google Youtube Channel



Here are links to services Jeff spoke about in his presentation -

Google for Educators
Tools for Classroom
Teacher Community
Google Apps for Education (you can also sign-up here)
Google Summer of Code

Filipino Google Apps Help Group

If you have any other questions kindly email me. Thanks!

P.S. For those needing certificates, I'll be coordinating that with PSITE. Thanks.

STI Roadshow

November 29, 2007 - Baguio City



Photos by: JayDJ and Mhel/Kim

Related Posts about Baguio:
Lakwatsera Ako
An Apple a Day

December 7, 2007 - Cebu City



January 9, 2008 - Bacolod City
January 11, 2007 - Kalibo, Aklan
January 22, 2007 - General Santos City
January 25, 2007 - Cagayan de Oro
January 29, 2007 - Ormoc
February 7 to 8, 2007 - Manila

For students who wish to join the blog writing contest, please leave a comment with your name, your STI school and the link to your STI convention blog post.

At the Advertising Congress

I expected to experience a grueling long-trip to Subic yesterday, but was surprised to have a pleasant one despite of the fact that the driver was a tad bit reckless and arrogant (he should be taken off the streets!) and we were hailed by the MMDA for swerving (he got off by bribing him with PhP20! - BAD, BAD, BAD!).

Derek Callow, Regional Marketing Manager for SouthEast Asia of Google Inc., delivered a talk about the "Future of Internet" and cited mainly that marketers and advertisers should make sure that their campaigns should take an integrated online and offline approach. To learn more I'm doing a whole day hands-on workshop on December 11 in coordination with the Philippine Trade & Training Center.

Here are some photos from the event -

Derek and iGoogle

Derek's here in Manila and here's a video Erwin Oliva of Inquirer.net took earlier today where Derek speaks about getting more local content from users and developers from the Philippines.



Check out Erwin's full story at Inquirer.net.

New Blogger Feature: Slideshow

I was pleased when I got word about the newest Blogger slideshow feature. I've got loads of photos on my Picasa account and I've always wanted to have random photos to show in my blog. And it's easy to do! All you need to do is log-in your Blogger account and add it through your blog lay-out. You can choose to show random photos with Picasa, Flicker, Photobucket or any photo RSS feed.

Here's how I did it:

1. Add page element through the lay-out section of my blog.


2. Set the photos to come from my Picasa RSS (you can find the RSS link at the bottom of the Picasa album you want to showcase).


3. Here's how it looks in my personal blog.

Google for Educators

We're hosting a workshop for IT educators/school IT administrators!

Here are the details -

What: Internet for Educators

Speakers: Jeff Keltner, Product Manager, Google Apps for Education
Aileen Apolo, Google Country Consultant - Philippines

Topics: Google Apps for Education/Tools for Classroom

When: December 6, 2007, Thursday, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Where: De La Salle University, 20th Floor Brother Andrew Gonzalez Hall, Multi-Purpose Room, 2269 Taft Avenue, Malate, Manila 1004


How to join: Kindly fill-out the form and then check the guest list if you've been registered.

Name:
Email Address:
Company Name/School
Website Address
Mobile Number
Landline
Plate Number and Make of Car
Other Colleagues Who are Coming
Comments
How did you hear about this event?	mailing list my blog a friend/colleague a talk I attended

create form


Sign-up now! Limited slots available.

December 3 Update: Please make sure you have been registered, the guard will not let you in if you're name is not on the list. Thanks.

December 5 Update: Registration closed. Please make sure you're on the list and for those bringing a vehicle, kindly make sure you've included the plate number and make of car. De La Salle security is very strict. Registration starts at 1:30 p.m. and talk proper at 2:00 p.m. Please be prompt.

Google TechTalk

I would like to thank all the developers who attended for taking the time out to attend the event last night. I also want to thank the tireless volunteers who helped out to keep the event organized -

The Registration People - Sweetie, AJ, Cel
The Schwag People - Jehz, Anne, Chel
The Bouncer este Usher - Juned
Cliquebooth People - Markku and Dax (thanks Mimi and Karl!) - download your photos!
GSoC Mentors - Ben, Zak and Rom
Mom's Personal Angel - Miguel (he wasn't there though)
ACCEED - Jigs



We are very much interested to hear your feedback, comments and suggestions. Kindly sign-up for the group. I'll make more announcements in the group. I'll also update this post to include the links that Jay and Franklin showed last night.

I wonder who's going to be the developer who'll make the most popular gadget for our country? Interested to make one? Download and read the SDK. Done with your gadget? Lemme know so I can help you out with getting it to the team. Check out the Developer home page as well for more videos.

For those interested to become Google Summer of Code mentors, check out the GSoC page.

Anyway, RJ David was kind enough to cover the event and upload the talk on Youtube.

I'm Hurt... Ouch

I've been trying to watch TV again lately since I've been trying to stay offline after 10 in the evening since I usually start at around 8 in the morning. Fair enough right? Yeah right, it's 11:30 in the evening, I'm watching TV in my bedroom but I have my laptop on my lap and I'm feeding off from the wifi coming from my study room. Pfffttt...

Anyway, I was delighted to watch quite a number of TV commercials. They're all new to me since I haven't been really watching TV. What caught my attention tonight was PLDT's cutesy TV ad for its wireless landline (they're following Bayantel's lead now). It's where a guy is on the phone courting a girl and then he finally manages to tell her his feelings and then he asks if they were an item already. Then he kinda falls off his seat - because his Dad hits on the brakes - and the girl tells him that she has a boyfriend. Dad then teases him about the moves he was taking. Guy ends the scene by saying "I'm hurt... ouch!"

I have a good feeling that this line will pick up, the same way "Suportahan taka" picked up a couple of years ago. Remember the ad? -



Aside from catchy lines and ad slogans, there are other things that you should mind when doing ads. I learned these things on the job when I launched a brand from scratch by doing a full media campaign and when I did consultancy work for a property developer. I realized that I learned so much when I was looking at some flyers last night at Cafea. Here are some things to remember when producing ads:

1. When making flyers or other print collaterals, be OC (obsessive compulsive) about the images you are using. Looking at several flyers of properties I noticed that the images used were the same for different properties of the same developer. If your developments all look the same, then you should just have one flyer and just state the different locations instead of trying to fool consumers that they all look different.

2. When making radio ads, especially for mobile services make sure that the syntax you are trying to communicate will be easily understood by listeners. When reviewing your ads, do not wear your brand manager's hat, put yourself in the shoes of your target market. If you're the only one in your company who can remember all the syntax/codes, then your service offering has some serious problems.

3. The KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid) is very much applicable when doing TV ads, or any kind of ad for that matter. Sometimes it is so tempting to show off your intellect by making puzzle-like ads, but with the short attention span of consumers (like me), then better keep it simple. Your ad is only as good as the few seconds that a consumer will actually pay attention to it.

And may I just say that I think at this day and age, it is a MUST to have at least some online presence for your company.

And, now I shall plug my upcoming business workshops and activities -
November 19 - De La Salle Lipa/Google TechTalk
November 23 - 20th Advertising Congress
November 27 - Marketing Your Business Online at PTTC
November 29 - Google University for STI in Baguio
December 1 - Google Analytics at PHP Philippines
December 6 - Google Apps for Education and Tools for Education
December 10 & 11 - Marketing Your Business Online at PTTC (hands-on)

Google for Entrepreneurs, Marketers and Advertising Agencies

Learn more about marketing your business online! We have the following workshops for entrepreneurs, marketers and advertising agencies/specialists.

Those with websites will get a FREE Google Adwords coupon worth PhP2,500.

November 16, Friday

Marketing Your Business Online
in cooperation with Yehey.com and PTTC
Philippine Trade Training Center
Buendia, Makati, Metro Manila
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
*For inquiries please call Jeffrey Gumasing of PTTC
**Fee is PhP75 payable to PTTC
***You may also leave a comment below to sign-up, please leave your name, company name and website address and the date you are attending. Check the guest list if you've been signed-up.

November 27, Tuesday

Marketing Your Business Online (postponed to December 11)
in cooperation with Yehey.com and PTTC
Philippine Trade Training Center
Buendia, Makati, Metro Manila
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
*For inquiries please call Jeffrey Gumasing of PTTC
**Fee is PhP75 payable to PTTC
***You may also leave a comment below to sign-up, please leave your name, company name and website address and the date you are attending. Check the guest list if you've been signed-up.

November 28, Wednesday

ICT for Business
Google Advertising Case Studies for SMEs
in cooperation with Digitalfilipino.com
National Computer Center
Quezon City, Metro Manila
*To join this, please get in touch with Janette Toral.

December 10 & 11, Monday & Tuesday

Marketing Your Business Online (hands on workshop)
in cooperation with Yehey.com and PTTC
Philippine Trade Training Center
Buendia, Makati, Metro Manila
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
*For inquiries please call Jeffrey Gumasing of PTTC
**Fee is PhP75 payable to PTTC
***You may also leave a comment below to sign-up, please leave your name, company name and website address and the date you are attending. Check the guest list if you've been signed-up.

A Night for Developers

We're hosting an event for Philippine developers!

Here are the details -

What: TechTalk with Google Engineers (from Mountain View, California)

Topics: Google Gadgets, Google Open Social & other developer products

When: November 19, 2007, Monday, 7:00 p.m.

Where: 3rd Floor, SGV Hall, ACCEED Conference Center (beside AIM, in front of Greenbelt)

How to join: Sign-up your name and your programming language by leaving a comment below. You can check if you've been registered by checking out the guest list.

Sign-up now! Limited slots available.

=================================
11-13 11:45 a.m. Update: We can only accommodate 150 developers for now. For those who signed-up and did not reach the cut-off, kindly wait for further announcements. Your comments are just on hold. Please check the guest list if you've been included. Thanks po!

11-13 9:24 p.m. Update: Please keep posted for further announcements. Thanks po!

11-14 10:20 a.m. Update: Added 50 more slots but it's been filled up already. Kindly check the guest list if you've been included. Registration closed. Thanks for your support!

How to Survive

I remember a speaker say in a convention, "If you're business cannot be found online, then where the hell are you?" Surprisingly, not many local businesses still cannot be found online and that convention I attended was one of the marketing forums that was held about 5 years ago.

I've been in the online advertising industry for more than 5 years and the growth has been tremendously slow. Why? There are many reasons why, but I think the greatest obstacle to its growth is fear. Fear of the unknown and fear of trying things out. Technology after all could sometimes be intimidating.

I always tell those who attend my speaking engagements not to fear anything when it comes to technology. "You can always click on the "undo button" or reboot!" That's what my Kuya told me when he enrolled me in logo programming classes when I was ten years old. And I still follow that principle (why do you think I started blogging? to learn about all these new stuff available online! and it's FREE!).

"It's easy!" I told several marketing bigwigs I had lunch with during the National Marketing Convention when they asked me if I could teach them to blog (I haven't gotten around to organizing that bit for them though). Well, all you basically do is educate yourself (see some tools on the sidebar) and you'll be well on your way to becoming a wholistic marketer (print, radio, TV + web and mobile!).

Find out more by listening to my colleague, Derek Callow, Regional Marketing Manager - Southeast Asia, Google Inc. when he talks about the "Future of Internet" in the 20th Philippine Advertising Congress.

I also have a series of workshops for "Marketing Your Business Online" in partnership with the Philippine Trade Training Center and Yehey.com on the following dates:

November 16, 2007 (Friday)
November 27, 2007 (Tuesday)
December 10 & 11 (Monday & Tuesday)

Those who will attend will get PhP2,500 worth of Google Adwords coupons. For more details please call Jeffrey Gumasing of PTTC.

November Activities

November 12, Monday

Google University
Miriam College
Quezon City, Metro Manila
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

November 16, Friday

Marketing Your Business Online
in cooperation with Yehey.com and PTTC
Philippine Trade Training Center
Buendia, Makati, Metro Manila
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
*For inquiries please call Jeffrey Gumasing of PTTC

November 19, Monday

Google University
De La Salle Lipa University
Lipa, Batangas
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

TechTalk: Google Gadgets, Google Open Social and other Google developer products
ACCEED Conference Center
7:00 p.m.

November 21 to 24, Wednesday to Saturday

20th Philippine Advertising Congress
Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center
Subic Bay Freeport Zone

*November 23, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
The Future of Ads
Speaker: Derek Callow, Regional Marketing Manager Southeast Asia, Google Inc.

November 27, Tuesday

Marketing Your Business Online
in cooperation with Yehey.com and PTTC
Philippine Trade Training Center
Buendia, Makati, Metro Manila
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
*For inquiries please call Jeffrey Gumasing of PTTC

November 28, Wednesday

ICT for Business
Google Advertising Case Studies for SMEs
in cooperation with Digitalfilipino.com
National Computer Center
Quezon City, Metro Manila

November 29, Thursday

Google University
STI
Baguio City

Google Translate

My friend was weirded out about getting emails in Spanish - emails that didn't look like spam, but were subscriptions on something. What it was, we didn't know because the whole email was written in Spanish.

And then I remembered, we could actually translate the text! So I quickly went to Google Translate, copied and pasted some of the text from the email. From the translated text we found out that it was a subscription to an online magazine and there was an unsubscribe link to it. Problem solved!


BTW, with Google Translate you can translate text or a website in a number of languages, do translated search (like search in i.e. English and then get results in Spanish) and then you can also find words in the dictionary. Pretty nifty huh?

At least now whenever some of my friends sent me emails in another language (they like doing that to me) or whenever I want to read blogger friends who write in another language, I can easily translate what they wrote and understand what they're trying to say.

Blogger Play Gadget on iGoogle

A few weeks ago Blogger launched Blogger Play and I thought that it's really cool to see photos as they are uploaded. I get transfixed with the thought of peering into the lives of other people - makes you realize that you are just one of the many, many unique people in the whole wide world. Weird huh.

Anyway, I also like tinkering around my iGoogle page (which is now available in Filipino, which means you can get feeds written in Filipino as well) and I've so far placed some fish to feed, a flying pig, the weather (I monitor Manila, Legaspi and Davao coz I have dear friends and relatives in the area), a to-do list and I've recently added the Blogger Play gadget.


What are you waiting for? Try it! Try it! Just sign-in to your iGoogle using your Google Account (which is also your Gmail account) or if you're already logged-in just type http://www.google.com/ig in another tab (for Mozilla Firefox users) and the page will come out. Then include the gadget in your page by clicking on "add a gadget" (magdagdag ng bagay-bagay) and look for (or search) Blogger Play, then just click on the "add" button. When you go back to your iGoogle homepage the gadget will be there and you can just move it around the page.

Then you can just sit back and be mesmerized. Cheers!

Youtube Custom Channel

Guess who has their own Youtube Custom Channel - MYX!

MYX is ABS-CBN's music video channel that I personally love and I was really happy when they decided to have their own custom channel in Youtube.


A custom channel is like having your own TV channel. You can upload your personally made videos and you can use this to promote your company's products and services or you can use this to keep in touch with your family and friends by sharing videos of your adventures and misadventures (if any).

My custom channel is a mix of a lot of things - mostly music videos I get to take whenever I attend music-related events or videos with my family and friends. I'd want to do some DIY videos though, maybe when I manage to budget some time for it I would.

How to make your own Youtube Custom Channel? It's easy! Just visit Youtube, sign-up for an account and then play around with the settings and then upload your videos. And you don't need a video camera to create videos - I just normally use my digital camera and maybe I'll try using my webcam as well. I don't even edit my videos (and that's one thing I really want to start doing). It's that easy. And it's FREE!

What are you waiting for? Create your Youtube Custom Channel now!

October Activities

SEM Conference

October 9 & 10, 2007
Hotel Intercontinental, Makati

Speakers:

Pay-Per-Click
Derek Callow
Regional Marketing Manager - South East Asia, Google

Google Analytics

Joel Sangria
Online Sales and Operation Manager - South East Asia, Google

More announcements coming...

Marketing through Communities

I remember being the only product manager who didn't have a budget for my marketing activities. I had to be creative and my boss then gave the directive that I should do community development which meant I had to partner with trade associations and other business organizations to promote the product I was handling.

I didn't know exactly what I was going to do with the trade associations I was going to partner with so I had to do some research. I searched through Google if there were organizations that matched the market I was targeting. After identifying the organizations I then looked up the events they were doing and figured out what I could do with them.

Remember, don't be shy. It is not enough to reach out to these organizations, you have to channel your enthusiasm to them as well. Aside from that you have to determine what their needs are and what solutions you can actually provide for them. I'd say it's easier to do community development for B2B associations rather than for B2C because their needs are much easier to determine.

Anyway, one concrete and recent example I have is the Taste Asia Blogger Food Fest (done in 2 parts). My training always reverts me towards doing activities that have more impact and with the least (or no) cost. I also have to make sure that what I do multiplies its effect.

I've been blogging for a year already and I did not really expect that it would be a way for me to reach out to communities. Blogging's just a past time, something to while away my time since I don't have officemates nearby to bug (like to throw a ball with or nudge to have some coffee with during breaktime). But, it's been a big help since these are people who are knowledgeable and have the energy to teach others as well.

The Taste Asia Blogger Food Fest was an unexpected event, but brought across a message for a slew of products I'm supposed to market. It was quite easy to do since I just basically used available free tools online which made it easy for me to organize the event amidst all the other activities I'm doing. Here are some of the tools I used to organize the event:

Gmail (sign-up now!)
Blogger
Google Docs & Spreadsheets

After the event I realized I managed to talk about and use the following products as well:

Google Adwords
Google Adsense
Google Blogsearch
Youtube make your own custom channel!)
Picasa (create your albums online now)
Google Apps for Your Domain (create your own webpage free!)

Communities are important to any marketing strategy. It is also noteworthy to say that it helps in educating the market.

Happy Anniversary to An Apple a Day!

20th Philippine Advertising Congress

I still remember the first AdCon I attended. It was back in 2003 in Baguio. I'll never forget it coz I won PhP100,000 from the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Swerte? Actually it was the very first raffle I ever won. It was a thrilling experience indeed coz I wasn't really paying attention to the draw since I was having a migraine and fact is, I never really win in these things. So when I saw my number come up in the electronic tambiolo, I showed it to the VP-Sales of the company I was working for that time and she verified that it was my number. She started jumping up and down before I did. LOL.

Well, if you're interested, you can sign-up for the 20th Philippine Advertising Congress online.

Learn More About Search Engine Optimization

For all those interested to learn more about search engine optimization/marketing. Attend the 1st SEMCON on October 9 to 10 at the Grand Ballroom, Hotel Intercontinnental.

For more details, click on the ad below:

I Love Gmail

Gmail is part and parcel of my daily routine. I don't even need to log-in separately to other services I used whenever I am logged-in to my Gmail since I can easily access Blogger, Photos, Calendar, Google Reader, Google Adwords and my Google Docs & Spreadsheets and other Google services. It is like my house-key to my online life.

And it looks like a whole lot of other people are using it too. Watch the final cut of the Gmail video below -



Did you know though that you can use the Gmail platform for the email addresses of your own domain? Check it out and sign-up (for FREE!) through Google Apps for Your Domain.

Books! Books! Books!

I love books! I think I must've bought at least 10 books for the month of August alone despite the fact that I still have got quite a number of books to read. I was certainly awed by the number of books at the Manila International Book Fair and I really had a hard time staying away from the bookstores, lest I end up shopping for books again. Pffft. I must tell you though that it isn't going shopping that excites me, it's going to a bookstore. LOL.

Too bad Google Book Search wasn't around yet when I was doing all those research back in college and graduate school. It would have certainly been very useful to me. Well, I survived with Google Search and I could say I managed well with the traditional card catalogues, scrounging around dusty books, old newspapers, microfilmed data and all the other scholarly stuff I used to finish my thesis, case studies and other papers.

I would say kids are sooo lucky to have many, many tools to get the information they need nowadays. Google Book Search certainly helps both book lovers, researchers, browsers and publishers both ways. I'm sure kids in the provinces who don't have libraries in their schools or access to information would love to use Google Book Search.

Here's a video on how Google Book Search works -

Explore the Sky on Google Earth

This is definitely more than what you'll see in a planetarium!



Read more about it here.

Chikka and Google Talk

Inquirer.net reports that Chikka goes a notch higher with version 4.0 of its instant messenger service which is now integrated with other instant messenger services including Google Talk. Chikka.com is one of the large service providers part of the Google Talk Federation. Through this you can simply send messages to your Google Talk or Chikka buddy either way.


It's so easy to do! Just download the Chikka console here and then follow this simple steps (I got it from the Chikka website).

How do I add a Google user from my Chikka Messenger?
a. Click the SEND MESSAGE button in your Chikka Messenger.
b. The SEND MESSAGE window will appear.
c. Input the GMAIL address of your Google Talk buddy and click OK.
d. You will receive a confirmation message: “Your add buddy request has been sent to @gmail.com. You will be informed once your friend accepts your invitation. Thank you.”
e. Once an invitation is pending, there will be a “Waiting for Approval” bar in your Chikka buddy list on top of the ONLINE bar.
f. When an invitation is accepted, a system message widow will pop up informing user that the invitation was accepted.
g. At the same time, the VIEW PROFILE window will pop up where you can assign a screen name to your Google Talk buddy.
h. Once you assign a screen name, the name of your Google Talk buddy will be included under the ONLINE or IDLE bar depending on his/her status.

How do I add a Chikka user from Google Talk?
a. Click ADD FRIEND.
b. The “Invite your friends…” window will pop up where you can input the email address of the person you want to invite.
c. To invite Chikka users, type @chikkatalk.com (Ex. 00123456@chikkatalk.com or 639171234567@chikkatalk.com).
d. The confirmation window will appear. Your Chikka buddy should already appear in your Google Talk buddy list.
e. Simply double-click buddy name to send a message.

Read a Lot? Organize

In the past few months I've found myself reading more and more stuff online and I have basically stopped watching TV because of that. With all the stuff that I read online, I had to find a way to minimize the time to load everything up. Opening so many tabs wasn't a good idea either since it was messing up my system. Life became a whole lot easier with Google Reader and I must say that I started out with only a handful of subscriptions, but my list has now grown to over 70 news and blog feeds.


Of course, methinks Google Reader is best used for vibrant content sites like blogs and news sites. I do a lot of research as well, both for work and personal use like for canvassing stuff or scouting vacation places and the sites I visit for these are normally static websites. I find it quite messy to bookmark stuff and by bookmarking you are basically stuck with just one PC/laptop (you can use iGoogle though for your bookmarks as well). So for static websites I use Google Notebook. What's great about it as well is I can create several notebooks where I can neatly save (clip) websites and even put notes on why I visited that site in the first place.


Organize your reads! Use Google Reader and Google Notebook.

Ratified.org goes Australian

Ratified.org expands to Australia! Andrew dela Serna, founder of Ratified.org announced in his blog his collaboration with Janette Toral for Ratified.org Australia.

Another Pinoy product to be proud of! Congrats Andrew and Janette!

August Activities

August 6, 2007, Monday
Google University
Aklan

August 7 & 8, 2007, Tuesday-Wednesday
Google University
Davao

August 9, 2007, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Mandaue Business Forum, Thursday
Cebu International Convention Center
(my speaking engagement is at around 4:00 p.m.)
If you wish to attend, please get in touch with the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce

August 9, 2007, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Google University
Cebu
Cebu International Convention Center
If you are a school principal or IT administrator and wish to attend, please leave a comment below

August 10,2007, 9:00 a.m., Friday
Internet and Mobile Marketing Summit
Hotel Intercon
If you wish to attend, please book through the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines

August 13-14, 2007, Monday to Tuesday (tentative)
Google University
Bohol

August 17, 2007, Friday
Google University
Antipolo

August 18-20, Saturday to Monday (tentative)
Google University
Negros Occidental/Bacolod

August 23, 2007, Thursday
Google University
Angeles City

August 23, 2007, Friday, 8:00 p.m.
Blog Party at Taste Asia, Mall of Asia
Please await further announcements for this event

*The Google University events are organized by GILAS, if you wish to attend please get in touch with their regional operations managers.

How to Create an Ad in Google

I've been going around in the past few months talking about advertising on Google, but I've only been skimming on why it's important to have web presence. I've received quite a number of inquiries on how to go about it, so here are simple steps on how to create your own advertising campaign on Google. You can also more accurately learn how to go about advertising on Google through the Google Adwords Learning Center which has text and video tutorials. You can also browse through the Google Adwords Help Page.

Before signing up make sure you have defined who your target market is for the website or blog you wish to promote. This will make things a whole lot easier. I was quite messed up when I tried defining the market for my personal blog because I basically write about anything under the sun. And that lead me to create my other blogs (travel and wedding planning). But, I digress, so here are the steps on how to create an online marketing campaign.

Step 1. Sign-up for a Google Adwords account here. Make sure you click on "Start Now". You will then go through a guided tour on how to create a campaign. No worries, you will have to activate it before it starts running so you can just play around with it first before creating the real campaign (and you don't get charged unless your campaign is already active).

Step 2. Now let's assume you've already created your account and you left it off and after a few days or hours you're now ready to create an ad campaign.

Step 3. When you log-in to your Google Adwords account you will see this page. To create a campaign choose between "keyword targeted" or "site targeted". For beginners I recommend doing a "keyword targeted" campaign. Now you can rename "Campaign #1" to whatever you want (if you're going to do multiple websites I suggest naming it to "Website Name Campaign"). I just named mine "Campaign #1".


Step 4. Click on the campaign name and you will be brought to the page where you can create Ad Groups. Click on "Create New Ad Group".


Step 5. Now you will be brought to the "Create New Ad Group" set-up page. All you need to do is name the Ad Group. I named mine "New Media Marketing"


Step 6. Now you will be brought to the "Create an Ad" page. Just fill it up (and make sure you follow the editorial policy).


Step 7. Press continue when you are done with your ad's copy. You will then be asked to choose the keywords for your campaign. The page will have suggestions which you can easily add up to the keyword box and you can search for other keywords as well. Bare in mind that you don't really need loads and loads of keywords.


Step 8. When done, press continue and you will be brought to the page which will make you define how much your default CPC bid is. You can also click on the "Traffic Estimator" to find out the estimated traffic, rank and costs of your chosen keyword(s). You can also add and delete keywords through the "Edit Keyword List".


Step 9. You can then review and change the keywords and your bids when you press continue.


Step 10. Review your selection and then "Save the Ad Group". Your ad is now running (unless you pause it).


Easy isn't it? Come on! Try it now! If all else fails, let me know and I'll hook you up with a local Google Advertising Professional.

Cheerios!

Barangay.ph

When Jay told me about Barangay.ph I became really curious. Why? Because my undergraduate thesis was about the Sangguniang Kabataan of Paranaque and my thesismates and I had to go to each of the 14 barangays to interview and get data from the SK heads. It was a crazy thing to do, but all the hardwork paid off since we got a gold medal for our thesis. Yehey!


Anyway, methinks the founders of Barangay.ph, Jonno and Nanette Alcaro, hit the Pinoys right on target by adhering to the grassroots, basic political unit of the Philippines - the barangay. The portal aims to be of service for Filipinos abroad and will provide information in things that are usually found in one's barangay like - real estate, schools, government services, directory, lifestyle info and you can even do a bit of shopping.

Here are some photos from the launch which was attended also by bigwigs such as Guillermo Luz (Head of the Makati Business Club), former Senator Jun Magsaysay, Charlie Kemplin (President of EZ Maps), internet technopreneurs Janette Toral, Jovel Cipriano, Jay de Jesus and Monching Romano.

View Album

Get your own

Another portal for Filipinos abroad I know of is Globalpinoy.com.

Google Custom Search

One of the most important things one must have in one’s website is to make the content easily searchable. You don’t need any fancy programming to do this, all you need is to install Google Custom Search. If you have a blog, you can easily integrate this as well. Just head over to Google Custom Search.



Some local websites using Google Custom Search -

Inquirer.net

Titikpilipino.com

Internet Tools for SMEs

I was privileged to address almost 200 business owners for the Chinese-Filipino Business Club last week in Binondo. It is always a pleasure to spend time with SMEs and entrepreneurs since they have an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

View Album

Get your own

So much education is still needed to bring all Philippine businesses online (I am hoping and praying for free wi-fi all over the country! Hehehe), but I am sure with staunch warriors such as Yehey.com and Jonas there would be significant growth in this arena in the internet industry. Now that’s a lot of good news.

So, let’s say you have a business and you’d like to put some presence online, what tools should you use:

(1) Gmail – the basic form of online communication

(2) Google Apps for Your Domain – create online presence for free using Google’s different platforms – Gmail, Gtalk, Google Calendar, Google Page Creator, Google Start Page, Google Docs & Spreadsheets

(3) Drive traffic to your website through
a. Google AddURL - Submitting your URL/website address to Google
b. Google Adwords - Advertising on Google

(4) Be more interactive with your customers through blogging
a. Blogger – create your blog/online business journal
b. Picasa – share your photos free
c. Youtube – need to show off your product through demos, upload those videos on Youtube
d. Myspace – put up a Myspace page and use this for podcasts as well

Here's Eric Schmidt (Google's CEO) and Terrence Merrill talking about Google Apps -



Now that’s a lot of FREE stuff! What are you waiting for? Sign-up today.

On Social Networking Websites

A lot of social networking sites abound on the internet. I have accounts in Friendster, Orkut, Multiply, Tagged, Facebook and a new account on Myspace. I remember someone on my LinkedIn account sent over a question on whether I was a member of other social networking sites as well and why.

Well, I told him that each site actually caters to different needs and niches. Friendster is THE place to be when you are Pinoy. Orkut is very popular in Latin America. Multiply is a website that has a lot of online commerce and quite a number use it for photos. Myspace is one of the largest in the whole world and has integrated rather interestingly selling of music online. I have a friend who said he's addicted to Facebook, and there's quite a lot of interesting concepts in that space. LinkedIn, for professional purposes. And then there's Tagged (don't ask me what's in it, I haven't opened my account there for quite a while).

I was forced to get an account in Multiply because a friend of mine was uploading photos in it and I wanted to leave a comment. So I signed-up, well, at least my blog is mirrored there and it allows me to be in touch with some friends. What was quite interesting was the business activity happening inside Multiply. Yes, BUSINESS ACTIVITY. There were quite a number of members selling their wares online. A lot were fashion accessories, some t-shirts and other fashion related stuff. Now, that's one way of practicing e-commerce. What caught my attention on Myspace was the ability of individuals to see their music online (so if you're a struggling artist, you don't really need a record label to sell your songs) and I thought I should go check it out as well.

A friend of mine based in Australia told me that Myspace was being utilized in the elections. I guess with about 3.6 million Australian members, that's a great way to reach voters. How come no one thought of doing that on Friendster last May? LOL.

Oh, well, beam it up! Be my friend on Myspace!

Wika 2007 Blog Writing Contest

The Pinoyblogosphere has recently announced their blog writing contest. Dubbed as "Wika 2007 Blog Writing Contest" the contest aims to showcase Filipino written pieces on this year's Buwan ng Wika (Language Month) theme "Maraming Wika, Matatag na Bansa" (Many Dialects, One Strong Country).

The contest is open to all Filipino bloggers based in the Philippines and abroad.

For more information, please visit the official contest site. I also did a piece about the contest in Filipino in An Apple a Day.

What are you waiting for? Sali na!

Oh, and don't forget about the SM Hypermarket Blog Writing Contest as well. And there's the 2007's Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs by Digitalfilipino.

The Philippines 1st Internet and Mobile Marketing Summit

Times are changing and you don't want to be left in the dark do you?

Then you have to attend this -


The Philippines 1st Internet and Mobile Marketing Summit on August 9 and 10, 2007, to be held at the Grand Ballroom, Hotel Intercontinental Manila, Makati City, Philippines.

For more information and registration, please check out the website.

New Media for Your Business

In the past two weeks I've been through a series of events in Cebu, Davao and Manila and CEOs, businessmen and people from different walks of life have asked me almost the same question -

What is the importance of putting your business online? How do we go about this? What is this blogging thingy?

If you're not online, where are you?

I've been involved in the online advertising business for about 7 years now and things have not been growing by leaps and bounds, but the interest is there. Appreciation for advertising online is now growing a bit. Businesses are recognizing the need to be searched online. Internet penetration in the Philippines is growing quite fast nowadays especially with the aggressive marketing stance the telcos are doing with their internet connectivity services.

How do we go about this?


I remember Dr. Ned Roberto saying in one of the DM Forums I attended years ago, that marketing will no longer be about mass marketing, but one-on-one marketing. With the many new ways to get information and the barrage of ways consumers get entertained, there is no one medium now that would allow you to reach the market fully. Find your niche, reach your target market... how? Be searchable!

How do you become searchable? The fastest and easiest way to do this on your own is to do a pay-per-click ad through Google Adwords. Yup, it is very easy and you can do it on your own. If it's rankings on search results you are after, then you are looking for a search engine optimizer.

Watch this video on Google and Brands -



Put your business online easily by using Google Apps for Your Domain. It's FREE! And all you need is a domain name. Sign-up and you're good to go in just a few minutes. Know more about Google Apps for Your Domain (and schools can definitely use this too!) through this video -



What is this Blogging Thingy?

I know sometimes I get so excited explaining what blogging is all about and my latest "victim" was SM Group of Companies Director Mr. Herbert Sy, the gracious host of the latest blogger event here in Manila. Blogging is basically a medium where individuals or companies can share their ideas/stories. The medium (which works as an online journal) may be used for personal or business use. Lately, quite a number of companies and PR agencies have been working with bloggers to gain attention and get feedback for their products and services.

Wanna set-up your own blog? Watch this -

Philippines Next SEO Outsourcing Capital?

The recent win of Benj Arriola, a Filipino based in San Diego, California, in the SEO World Championships has definitely put the Philippines in the search engine optimization/marketing outsourcing map. Seeing as well that quite a number of companies providing SEO services have sprouted across the nation – MBSTek in Manila, Syntactics and Harvest SEO in Cagayan de Oro, SEO Global Pro in Cebu and BHIPro in Davao, to name a few – goes to show that the industry is growing and that businesses are recognizing the need for SEO and PPC (pay-per-click) services. I have also met some people who have come to Philippines to teach SEO.

SEO Philippines founded by Marc Macalua started out as a mailing list (and has been a forum the past few months) and has done two major SEO contests in the past year and I was lucky enough to attend the launch and awarding ceremony of the “Ituloy Angsulong” contest. Marc has recently launched the much awaited “Bayanihan SEO Contest”. It’s where SEOs scramble to be found on the top ranks of the search engines, BUT with a twist. They have to do it bayanihan style, meaning as a group.

It would be interesting to see the outcome of this contest. I’m sure SEOs across the nation would be interested to join this contest – each region should have a representative group!

So does this mean that this growing segment will result in the Philippines becoming the SEO outsourcing capital in the world? Now this is good news :)

Cebu ICT: Promoting Investment in Asia ICT/ITES

"When it comes to excellence there is no finish line."
- Manuel V. Pangilinan, PLDT Chairman

I was privileged to be part of the panel for the plenary on "Promoting Investment in Asia ICT/ITES" for the Cebut ICT 2007 International Conference & Exhibition held at the Mactan Island Resort & Spa today, June 26, 2007.


Speakers for the plenary include Dipanjan Banerjee (Manager - Strategic Alliances, Center for Science, Development Media Studies) and Eric Alberto (Senior Vice President and Head-PLDT/SMART Corporate Business Group, PLDT). Other panelists included Oscar Sanez (CEO, Business Processing Association Philippines) and Eun Jung Lee (Cheif Executive Director, KIICA Singapore). The session was chaired by Michael Alan Hamlin (Managing Director, TeamAsia).

This is what I learned and shared during the session:

Investment is an intangible product and is best done "country" or through companies synergizing with each other. Mr. Alberto said that the "World is flat" with technology making communications and transactions borderless. Media and communication has evolved tremendously in the past few years. Marketing is no longer about promoting your products and services to the masses. What is key is finding and connecting to your niche, your target market - people who are interested and who will purchase your product/service.

Be found. Be searched.

And then communicate the following to your market:

• competency/services
• successes
• initiatives and incentives (usually by the government)
• available infrastructue

One thing I think would also help is for individual companies to share their successes or highlight winnings, be it in products/technology or talent. And, of course, for those who are successful to give back to your homeland - the same way how the Indian nationals did after taking studies in the US.

"Pinoy, ipakita natin sa mundo!"

What it's Like Working for Google

Fun company, fun video to watch!



Opening specifically for Pinoys:
Localisation Editor (Filipino)

The Social Geek: June 26 to July 3

I'm excited to be in Cebu and Davao again in the next 2 weeks and here's my schedule:

June 27 - 28
Cebu ICT

June 27 (evening) ---> moved to June 28 6 p.m.
Meet-up with bloggers/SEOs
Bo's Cafe, Ayala Mall, Cebu

June 28 (evening)
Marketing your Business Online
Meet-up with SMEs

June 29
Marketing Your Business Online
Department of Trade & Industry - Davao
with Yehey.com
2:00 p.m. to 5:30 pm.

June 30
Google University
Blugre Cafe
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Meet-up with Bloggers/SEO (evening)
venue TBA

July 2
Google University
University of Mindanao, Davao
8:00 to 11:00 a.m.

And then I fly back to Manila for another series of engagements:

July 3
Google and Research
Department of Labor and Employment
Intramuros, Manila

Blogger Food Fest at Tasia Asia
Mall of Asia, Bay City

Youtube Localized in 9 More Countries

Youtube.com launches in 9 other countries including local sites for Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. Watch Youtube.com founders Chad & Steve talk about it and talk about the objectives of Youtube.com.

100 Bloggers in 48 Hours

How do you get a hundred people to attend an event with less than two weeks preparation time? And considering the fact that the week before the event you'd be out of town for other events in other regions. What???

That was the question I asked myself last weekend. I spent Saturday evening thinking about it and chastising myself for getting myself into a huge task. I was in deep thought the whole weekend, but still had no answer. Monday came when I suddenly had a brain fart (my former colleague JV taught me that term). Aha! Eureka!

THE POWER OF NETWORKING!

I realized I met more or less a thousand people in the last 6 months or so and have gained a lot of contacts and friends. So I segmented the Pinoy blogosphere and got coordinators for each segment to invite their blogger friends to attend the event.

Interested bloggers signed-up in my blog or through any of the coordinators and then we encoded, in real time, the guest list through Google Docs & Spreadsheets. I would've encoded the guest list myself, but I realized I had tools I could use to make my life easier! Everything's being coordinated through electronic means (Gmail, Gtalk, Blogger and Google Docs & Spreadsheets).

And less than 48 hours later... a hundred plus bloggers have already signed-up for the event!

I'd like to take this opportunity as well to thank the following bloggers and Yehey.com for helping out in coordinating the Taste Asia Blogger Food Fest - Sasha Rico Janette Jedi Jay Abe Ely Marc Jayvee Shari Noemi Sexymom Jonas Pierre Jomar Markku Jonas of Yehey and AJ

Your help and dedication is greatly, GREATLY APPRECIATED. God bless you!

I Heart Picasa

I love using Picasa. I must admit I'm not really great with Adobe or Corel and the "I'm feeling lucky" button in Picasa really does wonders to my photos and the "Collage" button also saves me time from stitching photos up. The slideshow feature must have been around for quite a while now but I never really did try it, until now.

Check out the photos from the musical play that made me laugh non-stop for two hours last night - Zsa Zsa Zaturna Ze Musicale.



Check-out My Picasa Web Album as well.

How Much is Your Blog Worth?

Ever wondered how much your blog is worth?

I did because a friend of mine broached this subject once because he received an offer for a buy-out. Got an idea on how to measure my blog's worth through Sasha and Sarah's blog posts where they based their blog's worth on Dane Carlson's ingeniuty.

An Apple a Day has a bigger worth, but here's how Stitching fared:

My blog is worth $36,130.56.
How much is your blog worth?

Ghost in iGoogle?

Now you must be thinking I'm nuts. How could there be a ghost in iGoogle?

Well, check out Sarah's blog and find out what this is all about.

Congratulations Sarah for catching the ghost! I wouldn't have :D

Spice-Up Your Google Calendar

I've been keeping track of Philippine holidays through my Google calendar so I'd know when Miguel will be home and so I won't make the mistake of setting an appointment during a holiday. It's easy, just sign-up for it through your Gmail or go to the Google Calendar directory and add the public holidays calendar. Stay on schedule and get alerts on your mobile phone.


Head on over to the Google Calendar directory and add up TV shows , events, sports, entertainment, miscellaneous (i.e. Mozilla Firefox updates), holidays and Google's calendar (like Adsense, Google Developer, Google Doodles and even phases of the moon). I've gone crazy and added up the Disney calendar and all Google calendars. I hope the local broadcast networks would add up their calendars because I'm so bad at remembering TV show schedules (Miguel does that for me).

Want this for your organization or school? Just sign-up for Google Apps for your Domain and you can easily share your calendar of events. You can also check-out my calendar.