Why you should apply for work at Google:
Google's looking for the following:
Localisation Editor (Temporary) - Singapore
Check out other openings in Google Singapore here or check out Google jobs around the world.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Being Sincere in a Mad, Mad World
It's been ten years since I graduated from college and six years since I completed my masters and I'm onto my 11th organization. Eleven?!? Yes, 11 coz I've been working since I was in college and I got moved around a lot due to product ownership. I must say I've found THE ONE and I'm sticking around for as long as I can.
Getting moved around a lot also means you get to experience different kinds of organizational culture, norms, morals; bosses of all shapes, sizes, moods, hair color and whatever. You get seasoned by that and I believe all the products I've handled were great. I was passionate about all of them and I gave my best for each one of them.
But I believe it takes more than a great product for it to be successful. Being sincere in your objectives is key.
On the ground level, I remember handling several bookstores for prepaid card distribution. You'd know from the staff if the store manager is accommodating and has customers foremost in her mind because it reflects on how they treat their customers (both buyers and suppliers). The staff mimic their boss. On the executive level, I remember having a very progressive boss. He's a Wharton Business School graduate and I learned a lot from him because he's a forward (futuristic) thinker. He would be in a business today that would be the next best thing tomorrow. But sadly, the people under him do not see his vision. His sincerity is lost because his minions are all only after their own objectives.
I've seen products and services go down the drain, not because of lack of support, strategy or programs, but because of the lack of sincerity of people running the organization.
Provide what people need and the rewards will follow. Be sincere. It shows ya know.
Getting moved around a lot also means you get to experience different kinds of organizational culture, norms, morals; bosses of all shapes, sizes, moods, hair color and whatever. You get seasoned by that and I believe all the products I've handled were great. I was passionate about all of them and I gave my best for each one of them.
But I believe it takes more than a great product for it to be successful. Being sincere in your objectives is key.
On the ground level, I remember handling several bookstores for prepaid card distribution. You'd know from the staff if the store manager is accommodating and has customers foremost in her mind because it reflects on how they treat their customers (both buyers and suppliers). The staff mimic their boss. On the executive level, I remember having a very progressive boss. He's a Wharton Business School graduate and I learned a lot from him because he's a forward (futuristic) thinker. He would be in a business today that would be the next best thing tomorrow. But sadly, the people under him do not see his vision. His sincerity is lost because his minions are all only after their own objectives.
I've seen products and services go down the drain, not because of lack of support, strategy or programs, but because of the lack of sincerity of people running the organization.
Provide what people need and the rewards will follow. Be sincere. It shows ya know.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Friendster's Newest Friend
The other night a friend of mine was bugging me to check out his Friendster profile. Logged in my Friendster account, but it was under maintenance. That was Saturday evening.
I was pleasantly surprised to find new changes in Friendster's search box... check this out:
Cool eh? You can also do this for your own website or blog, just go to Google AJAX Search API.
I was pleasantly surprised to find new changes in Friendster's search box... check this out:
Cool eh? You can also do this for your own website or blog, just go to Google AJAX Search API.
Friday, June 01, 2007
June Activities
Back-to-back speaking engagements this month in Manila, Cebu and Davao!
Here's my sched:
June 18, 2007, Monday
Marketing Your Business Online Workshop
Digitalfilipino.com
Time: TBA
Venue: TBA
June 19, 2007, Tuesday
New Media Marketing
Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Venue: Ateneo Professional Schools, Inc., Makati City
June 20, 2007, Wednesday
Marketing Your Business Online Workshop
Philippine Trade and Training Center
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Venue: PTTC, Pasay City
June 24, 2007, Sunday
Google Marketing Secrets
Fil Negosyo Expo
Time: 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.
Venue: Megatrade Hall, Megamall, Mandaluyong City
June 26 to 28, 2007, Tuesday to Thursday
Promoting Investment in Asia (as panel)
Cebu ICT 2007 Intl Conference & Exhibition
Time: June 26, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Venue: Shangri-la Mactan Island & Spa
June 29, 2007, Friday
Marketing Your Business Online Seminar
Department of Trade & Industry - Davao
Time: TBD
Venue: TBD
June 30, 2007, Saturday
Google Apps for Education
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Venue: Blugre Cafe, Davao City
This post will be regularly updated.
Here's my sched:
June 18, 2007, Monday
Marketing Your Business Online Workshop
Digitalfilipino.com
Time: TBA
Venue: TBA
June 19, 2007, Tuesday
New Media Marketing
Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Venue: Ateneo Professional Schools, Inc., Makati City
June 20, 2007, Wednesday
Marketing Your Business Online Workshop
Philippine Trade and Training Center
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Venue: PTTC, Pasay City
June 24, 2007, Sunday
Google Marketing Secrets
Fil Negosyo Expo
Time: 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.
Venue: Megatrade Hall, Megamall, Mandaluyong City
June 26 to 28, 2007, Tuesday to Thursday
Promoting Investment in Asia (as panel)
Cebu ICT 2007 Intl Conference & Exhibition
Time: June 26, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Venue: Shangri-la Mactan Island & Spa
June 29, 2007, Friday
Marketing Your Business Online Seminar
Department of Trade & Industry - Davao
Time: TBD
Venue: TBD
June 30, 2007, Saturday
Google Apps for Education
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Venue: Blugre Cafe, Davao City
This post will be regularly updated.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Google Job Opening for Pinoys
Google's looking for the following:
Localisation Editor (Temporary) - Singapore
Check out other openings in Google Singapore here or check out Google jobs around the world.
Localisation Editor (Temporary) - Singapore
Check out other openings in Google Singapore here or check out Google jobs around the world.
A Sample of a New Media Campaign
Now with the end of Book 1 of ABS-CBN's Maging Sino Ka Man (a local telenovela/soap), I don't have anything to watch on TV. Well, I do prefer to entertain myself on-demand now - through Youtube, getting updated through my Google Reader and, of course searching for my interests through Google.
As a marketer, I pay attention to advertisements and imagine how the team behind it produced the ad. I know how hard it is to produce an ad and markets are much more difficult to profile nowadays because people have diverse interests. In the 38th National Marketing Conference I mentioned that new media should be part and parcel of a campaign. Aside from traditional programs, have an online counterpart to reach other markets such as a video, a podcast, a blog and, of course, a website.
Here are sample ads done by HP using Shrek characters as endorsers. It's fun to watch, doesn't feel like I'm watching an ad. I'm sure your children will enjoy watching it as well.
Fiona Ogre Princess
To All the Girls I've Loved Before
Dancing Through the Ages
To watch more videos from Far, Far Away go here.
As a marketer, I pay attention to advertisements and imagine how the team behind it produced the ad. I know how hard it is to produce an ad and markets are much more difficult to profile nowadays because people have diverse interests. In the 38th National Marketing Conference I mentioned that new media should be part and parcel of a campaign. Aside from traditional programs, have an online counterpart to reach other markets such as a video, a podcast, a blog and, of course, a website.
Here are sample ads done by HP using Shrek characters as endorsers. It's fun to watch, doesn't feel like I'm watching an ad. I'm sure your children will enjoy watching it as well.
Fiona Ogre Princess
To All the Girls I've Loved Before
Dancing Through the Ages
To watch more videos from Far, Far Away go here.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Da Marketing Code and Blogging
Last week I had the privilege of speaking to an audience of almost a thousand marketers during the 38th National Marketing Conference, aptly titled "Da Marketing Code".
It was no easy feat.
The conference theme was based on the movie "Da Vinci Code" and everything revolved around that... down to the title of my talk "Google Marketing Secrets". In their opening speeches, PMA President Ricky Alegre and NMC Overall Chair Donald Patrick Lim promised that the conference was geared towards unlocking the code to the best marketing secrets.
The 2-day conference evolved from the traditional marketing strategies to new media on the second day. I was unfortunately not able to attend all the sessions.
Below are some of the key points I spoke about.
1. Why it is important to be searchable online. Read more about search marketing in a previous posts I made.
2. How to get found in the resulting chaos through all the marketing messages that consumers get bombarded with. Find the answer here.
3. Google products and services that can help your business. Learn also how you can inculcate Google in your daily routine by reading this. Check out also links to different Google products at the right side of my blog.
4. Do an integrated marketing approach. It is a MUST to have offline AND online campaigns.
5. And, new media trends. What tomorrow's landscape will be.
Missed my talk? I'll be talking next month in the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association Philippines general membership meeting and I'm doing a workshop series with the Philippine Trade & Training Center.
Over lunch with bigwigs such as Mr. Mon Lizardo, VP-Business & Linkages of Inquirer.net, Mr. Ricky Alegre, President, Philippine Marketing Association, Dr. Nards Garcia, famous full professor of De La Salle University, Ms. Lizanne Uychaco, SVP & Chief Marketing Officer, PhilamLife, Mr. Rene A. Espinosa, President/CEO, Powermax Consulting Group Inc. and Mr. Christopher Paris Lacson, President, Habitats, the topic veered towards blogging. I was quite surprised that they were very much interested on blogging (I kept mentioning during my talk that Euro RCSG Manila Managing Partner/COO, Mr. Ed Mapa has a blog). They had many, many questions about it and I indulged them and encouraged them to set-up their own blogs. (I even got an offer for a consultancy job after, but had to decline gracefully :p).
I told them about a discussion I had with a UP professor that there should be a project to preserve the minds of the silver generation, those who are experts in their own right, be it in business, parenting or what-have-you. It was a very exciting discussion and they've requested to have a "blogging for CEOs" workshop since they had to go back to the conference and I had to run to my meeting.
Game! :)
It was no easy feat.The conference theme was based on the movie "Da Vinci Code" and everything revolved around that... down to the title of my talk "Google Marketing Secrets". In their opening speeches, PMA President Ricky Alegre and NMC Overall Chair Donald Patrick Lim promised that the conference was geared towards unlocking the code to the best marketing secrets.
The 2-day conference evolved from the traditional marketing strategies to new media on the second day. I was unfortunately not able to attend all the sessions.
Below are some of the key points I spoke about.
1. Why it is important to be searchable online. Read more about search marketing in a previous posts I made.
2. How to get found in the resulting chaos through all the marketing messages that consumers get bombarded with. Find the answer here.
3. Google products and services that can help your business. Learn also how you can inculcate Google in your daily routine by reading this. Check out also links to different Google products at the right side of my blog.
4. Do an integrated marketing approach. It is a MUST to have offline AND online campaigns.
5. And, new media trends. What tomorrow's landscape will be.
Missed my talk? I'll be talking next month in the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association Philippines general membership meeting and I'm doing a workshop series with the Philippine Trade & Training Center.
Over lunch with bigwigs such as Mr. Mon Lizardo, VP-Business & Linkages of Inquirer.net, Mr. Ricky Alegre, President, Philippine Marketing Association, Dr. Nards Garcia, famous full professor of De La Salle University, Ms. Lizanne Uychaco, SVP & Chief Marketing Officer, PhilamLife, Mr. Rene A. Espinosa, President/CEO, Powermax Consulting Group Inc. and Mr. Christopher Paris Lacson, President, Habitats, the topic veered towards blogging. I was quite surprised that they were very much interested on blogging (I kept mentioning during my talk that Euro RCSG Manila Managing Partner/COO, Mr. Ed Mapa has a blog). They had many, many questions about it and I indulged them and encouraged them to set-up their own blogs. (I even got an offer for a consultancy job after, but had to decline gracefully :p).
I told them about a discussion I had with a UP professor that there should be a project to preserve the minds of the silver generation, those who are experts in their own right, be it in business, parenting or what-have-you. It was a very exciting discussion and they've requested to have a "blogging for CEOs" workshop since they had to go back to the conference and I had to run to my meeting.
Game! :)
Thursday, May 24, 2007
SEO Buzz
May 23, 2007
At Max’s Restaurant, my second time this week.
A friend of mine just sent me an SMS about two girls talking in line at a money changer. Girl #1 said that she’s going to enroll and get a course in SEO because she heard SEOs earn six figures per month. Girl #2, apparently a SEO, said that she’s earning very little since she learned from the company she’s working for.
My unsolicited advice to Girl #2, do some freelancing and then quit your job and do it full time. (I just hope you’re not an employee of one of my friends). LOL. Who knows, you just might be the next SEO World Champion.
Anyway, during the IFEX I got asked a lot about “getting found on top at Google”. I had to be careful about using the words “ranking”, “search engine optimization”, “algorithms” and “robots”. Whenever I mentioned one of those words, the person’s eyes I was talking to would glaze over. Those simple, almost non-techie terms is not the way to explain SEO to traditional business people. (Put down your brows my dear tech blogger friends, try sitting in my workshops and you’ll understand what I’m saying).
Search engine optimization is "The act of altering a web site so that it does well in the organic, crawler-based listings of search engines" (from here). There is a whole industry for this and they basically work on getting your website to the first page of the search results to your query. Lost? It’s like when you open the yellow pages, it’s the first ad that comes to your attention (the biggest one usually).
SEO is very exciting and it’s interesting to note that SEO Philippines founder will be teaching in a university soon. It’s also part of a workshop series I will be doing with the Philippine Trade Training Center. Abangan.
At Max’s Restaurant, my second time this week.
A friend of mine just sent me an SMS about two girls talking in line at a money changer. Girl #1 said that she’s going to enroll and get a course in SEO because she heard SEOs earn six figures per month. Girl #2, apparently a SEO, said that she’s earning very little since she learned from the company she’s working for.
My unsolicited advice to Girl #2, do some freelancing and then quit your job and do it full time. (I just hope you’re not an employee of one of my friends). LOL. Who knows, you just might be the next SEO World Champion.
Anyway, during the IFEX I got asked a lot about “getting found on top at Google”. I had to be careful about using the words “ranking”, “search engine optimization”, “algorithms” and “robots”. Whenever I mentioned one of those words, the person’s eyes I was talking to would glaze over. Those simple, almost non-techie terms is not the way to explain SEO to traditional business people. (Put down your brows my dear tech blogger friends, try sitting in my workshops and you’ll understand what I’m saying).
Search engine optimization is "The act of altering a web site so that it does well in the organic, crawler-based listings of search engines" (from here). There is a whole industry for this and they basically work on getting your website to the first page of the search results to your query. Lost? It’s like when you open the yellow pages, it’s the first ad that comes to your attention (the biggest one usually).
SEO is very exciting and it’s interesting to note that SEO Philippines founder will be teaching in a university soon. It’s also part of a workshop series I will be doing with the Philippine Trade Training Center. Abangan.
Monks and the 38th Marketing Conference
Wrote this post at the 38th National Marketing Conference...
Seated on the speakers couch
I am so glad that I woke up early today to catch the opening of the 38th National Marketing Conference, aptly titled “Da Marketing Code”. I arrived as the “show” was about to start. Good thing I saw past colleague, Maeyeth Cadungog, and she got me through the throngs of people outside of the ballroom. We trailed behind monks. Yes, MONKS!
The ballroom was transformed into a monastery/The Louvre to mimic the setting of the movie, “Da Vinci Code”. It’s a good thing I didn’t read the program (and wasn’t able to attend rehearsals last night) because I was surely awed by the opening program. As Maeyeth asked, “Kinikilabutan ka na ba?” Just to give a glimpse of the atmosphere here at the conference, the video walls are framed with museum frames, bookended by “stained glass” on tarpaulin and paintings adorn the wall. The last time I felt this way was the opening number in the 2003 Advertising Congress (Baguio) and, uh, the fireworks at Disneyland.
Here's Ricky Alegre, Philippine Marketing Association president, during the opening ceremonies:
Here’s a video of Donald Patrick Lim, executive committee head from the Philippine Marketing Association, opening the conference.
Seated on the speakers couch
I am so glad that I woke up early today to catch the opening of the 38th National Marketing Conference, aptly titled “Da Marketing Code”. I arrived as the “show” was about to start. Good thing I saw past colleague, Maeyeth Cadungog, and she got me through the throngs of people outside of the ballroom. We trailed behind monks. Yes, MONKS!
The ballroom was transformed into a monastery/The Louvre to mimic the setting of the movie, “Da Vinci Code”. It’s a good thing I didn’t read the program (and wasn’t able to attend rehearsals last night) because I was surely awed by the opening program. As Maeyeth asked, “Kinikilabutan ka na ba?” Just to give a glimpse of the atmosphere here at the conference, the video walls are framed with museum frames, bookended by “stained glass” on tarpaulin and paintings adorn the wall. The last time I felt this way was the opening number in the 2003 Advertising Congress (Baguio) and, uh, the fireworks at Disneyland.
Here's Ricky Alegre, Philippine Marketing Association president, during the opening ceremonies:
Here’s a video of Donald Patrick Lim, executive committee head from the Philippine Marketing Association, opening the conference.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Why Put Up an Online Store?
I was at the IFEX trade show the whole weekend and quite a number of business owners asked me if they should put up an online store. Their main concern was finding buyers online for their products.
The past few months I’ve been thinking about what kind of product I could probably sell online. Products that are known to be sellable online include music (CDs), books, online services like hosting/domains etc., a couple of gadgets to the mundane like trinkets/fashion accessories, swimsuits, t-shirts and what-nots. I want an online business because; (1) I don’t want the huge risk involved in setting up a shop; (2) I don’t have the capital to set-up a shop – this entails rent and stocks; (3) I don’t have the storage space; and (4) I don’t have that much time.
I thought about many, many things to sell online, but I’ve been getting side-tracked since I’m busy with my work. And then it dawned on me the other day while talking to a business owner.
You can sell anything online. Yes, anything.
Why?
Because you need not market to the masses to sell your wares. You don’t need a thirty million marketing budget to introduce your brand. You just need to speak to those who are interested and will actually buy your stuff.
It could be a mundane as kakanin (Pinoydelikasi.com is known for this), a very specific personal interest like OPM cds (check out Titikpilipino.com) or bakery items (check out a teacher's online bakeshop).
How so?
Because: (1) Only the people interested in your product will actually go to your website; (2) Only the people interested in your product will actually search for you online; and (3) let’s face it, mass marketing is no longer as efficient as it was before, person-to-person marketing is now the name of the game. And there are millions of internet users locally.
And?
That is why search marketing is the most efficient marketing tool nowadays. Why? Read my earlier post on this.
So, should you bother putting up an e-commerce site? YES!
Because it mainly expands your market and allows you to reach customers beyond the borders of your country. And that means sales. And more sales means profit!
Do you have a business you wish to put online? Here are just some companies I know who can help you:
Yehey!
Yehey’s Newest Payment System Kaban
Annex Store
Sheero Media
Spinweb
IAMD Software Solutions
*Note: This is not a paid post, nor an endorsement. The companies I enumerated are just some I have encountered at work.
The past few months I’ve been thinking about what kind of product I could probably sell online. Products that are known to be sellable online include music (CDs), books, online services like hosting/domains etc., a couple of gadgets to the mundane like trinkets/fashion accessories, swimsuits, t-shirts and what-nots. I want an online business because; (1) I don’t want the huge risk involved in setting up a shop; (2) I don’t have the capital to set-up a shop – this entails rent and stocks; (3) I don’t have the storage space; and (4) I don’t have that much time.
I thought about many, many things to sell online, but I’ve been getting side-tracked since I’m busy with my work. And then it dawned on me the other day while talking to a business owner.
You can sell anything online. Yes, anything.
Why?
Because you need not market to the masses to sell your wares. You don’t need a thirty million marketing budget to introduce your brand. You just need to speak to those who are interested and will actually buy your stuff.
It could be a mundane as kakanin (Pinoydelikasi.com is known for this), a very specific personal interest like OPM cds (check out Titikpilipino.com) or bakery items (check out a teacher's online bakeshop).
How so?
Because: (1) Only the people interested in your product will actually go to your website; (2) Only the people interested in your product will actually search for you online; and (3) let’s face it, mass marketing is no longer as efficient as it was before, person-to-person marketing is now the name of the game. And there are millions of internet users locally.
And?
That is why search marketing is the most efficient marketing tool nowadays. Why? Read my earlier post on this.
So, should you bother putting up an e-commerce site? YES!
Because it mainly expands your market and allows you to reach customers beyond the borders of your country. And that means sales. And more sales means profit!
Do you have a business you wish to put online? Here are just some companies I know who can help you:
Yehey!
Yehey’s Newest Payment System Kaban
Annex Store
Sheero Media
Spinweb
IAMD Software Solutions
*Note: This is not a paid post, nor an endorsement. The companies I enumerated are just some I have encountered at work.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Secrets Revealed: How to Profit from Trade Shows
I’ve been joining trade shows for more than 8 years now and I had to learn everything from scratch.Joining trade shows is an effective means of marketing products and services, especially when you have new stuff you want to introduce to your market. Aside from generating leads for sales, it also gives you a chance to test how your market will react to new products. A booth also helps you network and do PR for present and future use.
But, the key metrics to a successful trade show participation are: (1) ROI and; (2) PROFIT!
As a product manager to get budget approval I had to determine the number of accounts we had to close in order to break-even. I was always nervous about spending money for trade shows because I had to promise, no swear, to my boss that it was going to profit. I had to because I didn’t want to get beaten to a pulp. Yes, the pressure was that high. Anyway, I did, I always did.
Having a great looking booth (aesthetics) and appropriate collaterals is never enough. The secret really lies on tracking the development of your participation. And this is what you have to do:
(1) Define your success factors i.e. break-even point, goals.
(2) Brief your salespeople/booth attendants how many leads they have to generate or accounts to close. It’d be great if you already have the leads conversion rate.
(3) Make sure all the leads are logged into a visitors log. Encode everything and put it in a system.
(4) Determine conversion rate. In my past work we even created a salestracker system and had separate tags for trade show leads. That’s how we managed to determine the leads conversion rate per trade show. (So now I know which trade shows I should really join and which I shouldn’t). It doesn’t have to be really fancy, what’s important is that you can determine where your sales are coming from.
And remember, the system will not run by itself. You still need to monitor closely the movement of the leads generated from the trade show. After the show you have to closely monitor if your sales people are utilizing the leads. Breathe down their necks if needed (I used to LOL). Determine whether it is a hot lead, under negotiation or if the account declined. Tracking the reasons for decline will also help a lot in defining rejection points.
A successful trade show does not lay with a great product manager. It is a team effort. Motivation is important and if everyone has the same objectives, understand the objectives and has passion for the product, then your show will be quantitatively and qualitatively successful.
Trade shows don’t need to be boring. Have fun in it. Find out from “An Apple a Day” how.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
April Zeitgeist Now Available
The top gaining queries for the month of April are now available and very interesting and varied results!
Check it out now!
Check it out now!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
38th National Marketing Conference: Da Marketing Code
I don't mean to scare off people with my photo, but that's the overall them of the 38th National Marketing Conference which will be held on May 23 to 24, 2007 at the Hotel Sofitel Philippine Plaza.The Philippine Marketing Association, the organizer of the conference, held a speaker's briefing the other night and believe me I've never been this excited for a speaking engagement. We even had a photo session after the meeting (check out my scary looking Silas look-alike photo).
I'm looking forward to attending the conference and listening to all the marketing experts. Here's a rundown of the topics:
Day 1
Customer Experience - Managing the two moments of truth in business
Marketing Strategy - Lessons learned on the road to becoming a global brand
Advertising Agencies - How advertising agencies are addressing the challenges of specialist marketing communications companies?
Media Trends - Understanding the Consumer Generated Media
Digital Marketing Trends - Unlocking the Evolution and potentials of Digital Marketing
Day 2
Global Consumer Trends - Prosumerism: The emergence of a progressive breed of consumers borne out of today's revolution in new media
New Trends in Internet Marketing - Google Marketing Secrets
Innovation Trends - Discovering the way people see Health and Medicine
Pinoy Consumers - Understanding the Filipino shopping code in Metro Manila
Media Convergence - Changing the way people see print media
Consumer - The new code on marketing evolution
Marketing Forum on Sunrise Industries - Unearthing the potentials of sunrise companies
I heard that they're raffling off a brand new car through an interesting raffle - you have to unlock the code to get a chance to win the car. Wow! I hope I get a chance to win it!
There's still time to sign-up for the conference, get in touch with Ms. Sarah Velasco at the PMA office through +632-6344890 or 636-1451.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
What Every Business Should Use
A few weeks ago I blogged about how businesses can go online at almost no cost. I've been meaning to share the good news about Google Apps for Your Domain which I think is very useful for businesses. And the best thing about it is, it's FREE - unless you want to use the Premiere Edition!
All you need is a domain name to be able to use the following Google applications for your domain:
(1) Gmail - use Gmail's platform for your company's email address. Now your employees can check their mail anytime, anywhere!
(2) Google Talk - chat right inside your email. Download the Google Talk console and do voice calls and send files through it.
(3) Google Calendar - check out my calendar by clicking on the "view my calendar" link here. View your colleague's calendar and book appointments with him through the Google calendar. This way you know immediately if he's available or not, but of course he's got to accept your invitation.
(4) Google Docs & Spreadsheets - share and edit documents with your colleagues online. Now you don't need to merge their revisions because it is automatically saved when you do it through Google Docs & Spreadsheets.
(5) Google Page Creator & Start Page - create and publish a website in just minutes!
I'm kinda shy about showing my Google Apps for Your Domain page coz I don't have a logo to brag about yet. All I could say is, it's very easy and convenient to use.
It's also a great communication tool schools and universities should take advantage of. Giving email to all your students and professors will definitely help in propagating internet literacy. Google Apps for Education is free as well.
All you need is a domain name to be able to use the following Google applications for your domain:
(1) Gmail - use Gmail's platform for your company's email address. Now your employees can check their mail anytime, anywhere!
(2) Google Talk - chat right inside your email. Download the Google Talk console and do voice calls and send files through it.
(3) Google Calendar - check out my calendar by clicking on the "view my calendar" link here. View your colleague's calendar and book appointments with him through the Google calendar. This way you know immediately if he's available or not, but of course he's got to accept your invitation.
(4) Google Docs & Spreadsheets - share and edit documents with your colleagues online. Now you don't need to merge their revisions because it is automatically saved when you do it through Google Docs & Spreadsheets.
(5) Google Page Creator & Start Page - create and publish a website in just minutes!
I'm kinda shy about showing my Google Apps for Your Domain page coz I don't have a logo to brag about yet. All I could say is, it's very easy and convenient to use.
It's also a great communication tool schools and universities should take advantage of. Giving email to all your students and professors will definitely help in propagating internet literacy. Google Apps for Education is free as well.
Google Analytics, a Marketer's Heaven
One of the problems I faced before when I was handling a brand was tracking the success of the marketing campaigns I implemented. Of course, the ultimate measure of success would always be conversion (sales). I used to join countless numbers of trade shows to generate leads and one of the things I had to determine was which show generated the most number of conversions.
The solution? End-to-end tracking of leads to sales. It wasn’t easy since we had to have quite a number of people in the system to encode, tag, milk and analyze the data. And, of course, sales had to cooperate with precise reporting. But at the end of the day I was able to pinpoint which shows were good to join and where efforts had to be put in (imagine finding out that sales practically didn’t touch the leads generated from the shows!).
Advertising online relieves a marketer the pain of tracking data and measuring the efficiency of one’s campaign. I’ve tried different tracking systems prior to using Google Analytics. They were quite fine, but we usually had to do some manual computations to get the exact data we needed.
Ahhh, the wonderful world of data (warm, fuzzy feeling).
Google Analytics basically shows you the following:
Traffic – shows details of your unique number of visitors and pageviews.
Referrals – shows you where your traffic is coming from, whether it is from search or from a link from a website/blog. You’ll also see the top keywords that you are referred from.
Geographic/Location – shows you where your readers are based. Location can be as specific as the barangay or city that the visitor is in.
New vs. Returning – shows you the percentage of visitors who are new and those who are returning for another visit. The console also shows you the average number of visits that visitor has gone back.
And, if you have a Google Adwords campaign ongoing, you will also get to see very detailed data about your campaign, like which keywords or creatives are effective etc.
You can also track the history of a sale. Great isn’t it? Every marketer’s heaven.
The solution? End-to-end tracking of leads to sales. It wasn’t easy since we had to have quite a number of people in the system to encode, tag, milk and analyze the data. And, of course, sales had to cooperate with precise reporting. But at the end of the day I was able to pinpoint which shows were good to join and where efforts had to be put in (imagine finding out that sales practically didn’t touch the leads generated from the shows!).
Advertising online relieves a marketer the pain of tracking data and measuring the efficiency of one’s campaign. I’ve tried different tracking systems prior to using Google Analytics. They were quite fine, but we usually had to do some manual computations to get the exact data we needed.
Ahhh, the wonderful world of data (warm, fuzzy feeling).
Google Analytics basically shows you the following:
Traffic – shows details of your unique number of visitors and pageviews.
Referrals – shows you where your traffic is coming from, whether it is from search or from a link from a website/blog. You’ll also see the top keywords that you are referred from.
Geographic/Location – shows you where your readers are based. Location can be as specific as the barangay or city that the visitor is in.
New vs. Returning – shows you the percentage of visitors who are new and those who are returning for another visit. The console also shows you the average number of visits that visitor has gone back.
And, if you have a Google Adwords campaign ongoing, you will also get to see very detailed data about your campaign, like which keywords or creatives are effective etc.
You can also track the history of a sale. Great isn’t it? Every marketer’s heaven.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Filipino Wins SEO World Championship
Filipinos be proud!
Benj Arriola, a Filipino based in the US won the SEO World Championship for his GlobalWarming Awareness entry. Aside from the accolade of being the winner for the first ever SEO World Championship, Benj's going to receive a brand new Citroen C2 car. Woohoo!
I met Benj through the SEO Philippines forum (back then it was just a mailing list) and is one of the experts in the field. Unassuming and generous in his tips, Benj is one of the well-loved members in the group. He even won the "Hunk of the Night" in the last SEO Ituloy-Angsulong Awards night (LOL - and let's not talk about who was forced to be the "Babe of the Night").
I sent my congratulations to Benj this afternoon through Twitter and we ended up chatting. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that Benj is actually a Chemist (and took up MS-Chemistry too)! And taught at DLSU when I was a freshman in college. Too bad he wasn't my chemistry professor, he could've probably weaned me away from my fear of open light. He shared too that he managed to solve the "first 11 digit prime number of e .com" thingy. Wow!
There's so much to learn from Benj. He even gave me tips on how to solve online mysteries and, of course, SEO!
Congratulations Benj! You do us Filipinos proud!
Benj Arriola, a Filipino based in the US won the SEO World Championship for his GlobalWarming Awareness entry. Aside from the accolade of being the winner for the first ever SEO World Championship, Benj's going to receive a brand new Citroen C2 car. Woohoo!
I met Benj through the SEO Philippines forum (back then it was just a mailing list) and is one of the experts in the field. Unassuming and generous in his tips, Benj is one of the well-loved members in the group. He even won the "Hunk of the Night" in the last SEO Ituloy-Angsulong Awards night (LOL - and let's not talk about who was forced to be the "Babe of the Night").
I sent my congratulations to Benj this afternoon through Twitter and we ended up chatting. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that Benj is actually a Chemist (and took up MS-Chemistry too)! And taught at DLSU when I was a freshman in college. Too bad he wasn't my chemistry professor, he could've probably weaned me away from my fear of open light. He shared too that he managed to solve the "first 11 digit prime number of e .com" thingy. Wow!
There's so much to learn from Benj. He even gave me tips on how to solve online mysteries and, of course, SEO!
Congratulations Benj! You do us Filipinos proud!
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Discovering and Loving Picasa
I've been using Picasa for quite a while now. Aside from making it easy for me to search for photos - I usually tag my folders this way when I download photos from my digital camera "Year-Date Photo was Taken-Occasion/Venue/Event", for example 2007 April 29 to May 1 Cebu and Bohol - and that makes it easy for me to put a keyword in the Picasa search box and find the photo I'm looking for.
Aside from Picasa's search function, the next best thing I like about Picasa is the "I'm feeling lucky" button which can be found when you view photos and edit them. I'm no expert photographer nor web designer, so it's a bit difficult for me to determine what's the best contrast and brightness for a photo. I just click on "I'm feeling lucky" and the photo gets fixed up instantly. Check out the photos below I spruced up using Picasa.
Photos taken at Fort San Pedro, Cebu City, Philippines
using a point and shoot digital camera. I used the "Focal B&W"
feature to set the photo in B&W and one point in color.
And, of course, since I seem to be verging towards "I can't go through a day without blogging" I'm really happy about the following Picasa features: Blog This, Web Album (where you can easily get link URLs and codes for embedding albums in your blog), and the Collage.
And! And! 1 GB storage space! :)
Aside from Picasa's search function, the next best thing I like about Picasa is the "I'm feeling lucky" button which can be found when you view photos and edit them. I'm no expert photographer nor web designer, so it's a bit difficult for me to determine what's the best contrast and brightness for a photo. I just click on "I'm feeling lucky" and the photo gets fixed up instantly. Check out the photos below I spruced up using Picasa.
Time Warp
Photos taken at Fort San Pedro, Cebu City, Philippinesusing a point and shoot digital camera. I used the "Focal B&W"
feature to set the photo in B&W and one point in color.
And, of course, since I seem to be verging towards "I can't go through a day without blogging" I'm really happy about the following Picasa features: Blog This, Web Album (where you can easily get link URLs and codes for embedding albums in your blog), and the Collage.
And! And! 1 GB storage space! :)
Friday, April 27, 2007
Digitalfilipino Web Awards
Photos (L-R) Top: Winners, finalists and Digitalfilipino members; That's me giving my talkBottom: Marc Macalua, SEO Philippines; That's me accepting an award for a friend.
Attended the Digital Filipino Web Awards today, April 27, 2007, held at the Bureau of Investments in Makati to witness the awarding ceremonies. I also gave a short talk on "Putting Your Business Online". I also accepted the award for a friend, Honey Caragos, who won in the Corporate/Professional Category.
Congratulations to the winners!
1. Apparel / Fashion Category - Kamiseta
2. Art Category - Canvas
3. Association / Organization Category - Atikha Overseas Workers and Communities Initiative
4. Auction / Shopping Portal Category - MyAyala
5. Automotive Category - Ford Philippines
6. Beauty Category - FemaleNetwork
7. Blog - Personal Category - Touched by an Angel
8. Blog - Professional Category - Manuel Viloria
9. Books Category - Booktopia
10. Community Category - SEO Philippines Forum
11. Computer / Consumer Electronics Category - PC Express
12. Consumer Banking / Bills Payment Category - HSBC Philippines
13. Corporate / Professional Category - Syntactics
14. Education Category - De La Salle University - Manila
15. Food Category - Bulacan Sweets and Delicacies Center
16. Games Category - Philippine R.O.S.E. Online
17. Gifts Category - RegaloService
18. Government Category - Government Portal of the Republic of the Philippines
19. Home Furnishings Category - Cebu Rattan Company
20. Insurance Category - Sun Life Financial
21. Music / Movie/ Film Category - PhilMusic
22. Newspaper Category - Inquirer.net
23. Pharmaceuticals Category - Philippine Herbal Medicine Site
24. Podcast Category - Viloria.com Pinoy Podcast
25. Politics Category - Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
26. Real Estate Category - Philippine Realty Showroom
27. Services Category - Chikka
28. Social Networking Category - Itzamatch
29. Telecom / Value Added Services Category - Globe Kababayan
30. Tourism Category - Pinoy Travel Blog
31. Travel Category - Lakbay Pilipinas
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
"Have You Been Ratified?"
I placed quotation marks on the title coz that is what Ratified.org is all about. Ratified.org developer, Andrew de la Serna, explained that the name comes from Technorati, emphasis on the "rati". Good choice of name coz ratify means to approve or confirm. And that is mainly the objective of Ratified.org - to measure the top 100 blogs in the Philippine blogosphere based on Technorati data "sprinkled" with Feedburner stats.
Andrew said that he created the website to showcase and promote the best Filipino blogs. He said that if your stats are good then that means you're being read. I think it also means that you are relevant and that you are connecting to a certain base of people.
Well, if you're a serious blogger or a newbie who wants to improve your blog and hopefully define your niche so you could grow a reader base, then checking your stats at Ratified.org is a prudent way of gauging your relevance.
My Daily Dose of Google
I was talking with a friend this afternoon and we were discussing the different products that Google recently announced like the Google Website Optimizer, Google Notebook, Gmail being open for sign-ups etc. and he asked me, "How much of Google do you use in a day?"I said, "A lot."
I use Google products a lot because it is very convenient and easy to use. And besides, it's easier to speak about things when you are a user yourself. Well, I promised my friend I'll post about how much I use Google products in a day, so here it is.
The first thing I do when I wake up is turn my PC on and the first thing that greets me are messages from Twitter from my Google Talk window and while that's ongoing a little window pops up and appraises me about new mail I got on my Gmail. And then, of course, I check my mail, click on the Google Reader link to check up on new feeds from blogs I regularly read.
After I finish reading my mail I click on the "all my services" link in my Gmail account and then click on Blogger to moderate comments I received for my blogs. I may blog or I may not, depending on my free time or if my muse is around and depends on whether I have updates for my personal, work, wedding, or ghost blog. Or I may decide to upload some photos in my Picasa account. And I also use Google Blog Search to check out stuff I'm interested in.
I then sometimes tinker on my Google Adwords account and practice on making text ads and check on statistics in the Google Analytics tab. It's really so cool to have information about blogs/websites you maintain and Google Analytics is one of my favorite Google products. But, it's been a while since I checked on my Google Adsense account.
I used Google search a lot when I was going through graduate school. I still do and I wish I knew about the Google cheatsheet back then, well anyway I still search on Google a lot of times in a day. I've also personalized my own Google page to show news and other stuff that's important to me (including Pacman!). I've been using Google Notebook a lot to clip interesting websites and blogs, and I find it really useful since I can put little comments about the website easily.
And, of course, I try to get in touch with my brother and sister who are abroad regularly by sending them email updates about what's happening back home. I created a family Googlegroup more than a year ago and that's how we communicate with the whole clan. And badminton announcements and other plans are announced by my friends in our Googlegroups as well.
I'm now brushing up on Google Apps for Your Domain - planning to use it for our family as well.
Whew! It seems quite overwhelming to be using so many different products, but it's become second nature. I'm not as techie as my tech blogger or programmer friends, but I like trying out new things and that's how I learned how to use all these products and it's made me a whole lot more productive :)
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