The Audio-Technica ATH M50 has been around for almost three years now. Since it was released, it has received countless positive feedbacks from audiophiles and casual listeners because of its superb sound reproduction for its price. Find out why these pair of monitors has gained the hearts of audioheads around the world in our full review after the jump.
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If you’re still aching to get a hold of the new LG Optimus Black and LG Optimus 2X but still don’t have enough budget, you might want to wait a little bit since LG Philippines is doing a sale on these two units soon.
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When the first Sony Vaio P came out last year, I drooled over it. The design was exquisite and you’d even ask if Apple made that sexy thing. The price was too high and the specs are on the lower end. A year later, a redesigned Vaio P, the specs were bumped a little and Sony lowered the price too. You can even say it’s an engineering feat.
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In a press conference this morning at the Hotel Intercon, Yahoo! Philippines General Manager Jojo Anonuevo formally announced Yahoo’s Sponsored Search marketing product (codename: Panama).
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I’ve had a Google Adwords account for some time now and have tried running an ad or two before using some free Adwords credits but this will be the first time I am running an ad campaign for an int’l client.
I did some quick research on my own and must read quite a number of articles about running an Adwords campaign, yet I can’t say that I already know everything there is to learn about it.
From my understanding, it’s as simple as:
- Doing some keyword research. I use Overture Keyword Selector Tool as it gives me an exact figure of the number of searches in the previous month (though only for Yahoo). In conjunction to that, I also use the Adwords Keyword Tool just to verify if the search volume is relatively the same on Google.
- Create a good copy for your ads. Make multiple copies targeting different potential audience and different selling points.
- Optimize the landing page to adjust to the intended audience to maximize conversion. It could be in the form of newsletter subscriber, a registered member in the forums, etc.
- Set the daily budget and hope that there are no competitors in the targeted keywords.
- Watch and learn — wash, rinse and repeat.
Anyone have extensive experience with Adwords? Anything else I might have missed? My client’s targeted keywords are not competitive so I’m hoping for $0.01 PPC rate.
The first Filipina problogger in my series of inteviews is Melissa Atienza-Petri, more commonly known as AnP in the blogging world. AnP current works for the mother company of one of the world’s top 5 providers of servers and PCs. Since her expatriation in Germany, she has been on the look-out for the best (and cheapest) VoIP provider hoping that one day the “beam me up, Scottie!” technology would go beyond the drawing board of George Lucas.
Her other online involvement reflects her passion in life. She is the founder of PINOYexpats, an ezine for Filipino Expatriates. She is also a professional blogger for Creative Weblogging’s Travel and Parenting sites. When everyone else is asleep and her eyes are still wide awake, she blogs over at Aboutweblogs’ Budget Travel Europe & SnowboardingMOM and at her personal site, Pinayexpat in Deutschland.
- How would you define problogging?
One is a professional if one engages in an activity as a source of livelihood or as a career; One is a professional if one gets paid for what one does; One can also be called a professional if one shows great skill or if one is an expert.
Pprofessional Blogging is just about the same. If you earn from it, well and good; if you are good at it, even better.
I cannot understand people who try to make it sound as if it’s something to be put in a pedestal. It should be treated the same way other professions are treated.
- When did you start blogging? When did you get into problogging and how did you realize that there’s some money to be had from it?
I’ve had Confessions of a Coke-Addict since 1997. I used it as a repository of my travel pictures and to keep my friends and family updated of my life abroad.
Back in 2003, Julie Moos (Managing Editor of Poynter) invited me to join one of her personal online blogging projects, DotMOMS. That was where it all started. I saw the potential and started looking around. After which I applied and got accepted over at CW. It was in April 2005 when I started to really earn from blogging. After that, sunod sunod na.
- Which blogs are you writing for and which blog networks are you affiliated with?
Escape Blog (Travel/Culture) – 9rules
Europe String (Budget Europe Travel) – b5media
Flyaway-Weblog (US/Europe Travel) – Creative-Weblogging
Road Gladiator (Business Travel) – KnowMoreMedia
Parenting-Weblog – Creative-Weblogging
I am currently undergoing PREP and Training over at About.com for another travel site. It’s pretty tedious but I am crossing my fingers (and toes) that I “graduate” and become an official About Guide.
- Are you problogging part time or full time? Do you see this career as a part time gig or you are looking into going fulltime problogging?
I am a part-time problogger. And I do not think that I will ever give up my career to become a full-time blogger.
However, my present condition is going to allow me to get a taste of pseudo-full-time blogging. Since we are allowed to take 3 years of maternity leave, I will now have the chance to stay home (temporarily), spend more time with my kids AND earn on the side. Thanks to ProBlogging.
- How do you monetize your blog? Which ones bring in the most revenues?
My contract for 2 of my blogs is on a fixed-payment scheme. I get a fixed amount per blog per month and they get their money through Direct Ad Sponsors and Adsense.
Network #2 contract is set on a per-blog entry. They have a big VC behind the blog so they can afford to pay a lot. Basically, I can decide how much I would like to earn per month. We do have a minimum & maximum number of entries per month.
Network #3 is based on Adsense, BlogAds and Text Link Ads.
Network #4 is based on Adbrite, Adsense and Text Link Ads.
- What are the requirements to go into problogging for a network? Flat fee or profit sharing? How much is the salary range?
It all depends. Some networks (like CW and KMM) prefer those with the right background. CW needs a sample blog entry, in addition. Others, on the other hand, only need bloggers with passion.
Segurista ako so I prefer flat fee. I only work on revenue-share IF I believe in the project.
Note: Though I can’t publish AnP’s specific earnings, she is basically earning in the four figures per month (i.e. $USD x,xxxx).
- How much time do you spend on problogging?
Including reading my rss feeds and looking for photos, I spend around 3 hours per day and produce 8-12 entries per day.
- What other benefits do you get from problogging?
I am learning from the other pros.
- What’s the most significant event/moment you had in your entire problogging career?
Making the B-list of Blogebrity. I know that a lot of people say that it is BS but, hey, it does help get me more problogging gigs.
When I was invited (last week) to cover a Travel Event/Conference in New York, with an all expenses paid plane ticket, hotel and stipend. Unfortunately, I am heavily pregnant and flying from Frankfurt to NY is not possible.
This May, I have been given 2 different Press IDs to cover another travel event. This time, it is possible because IMEX will only be held 5 minutes away from my home.
- What personal tips can you share with bloggers who want to try out problogging?
Unless it is for your personal blog, do not blog about everything under the sun. Blog about what you know and like. It will be obvious if you are bored or pilit with the topics you have chosen.
Develop a niche. It is easier to get problogging gigs if you can show archives from other blogs that belong to the same niche instead of having lots of blogs but with different topics.
IMHO, more pinas-based bloggers should try and get a problogging gig. It will be more financially “meaningful” if you earn $1500 in Manila. For us who are based abroad, it does not really amount to much kasi ang mahal dito!
The first time I personally met her was during the 2004 PinoyBlog Christmas Party. She practically introduced me to most of the expat bloggers I know nowand am very glad she was part of the PTB group blog we started July last year.
From the blogs she handles, we can see that she has found a strong foundation and identity as the ultimate travel blogger. AnP is surely one pinay power blogger!
It all started out from a short brownout yesterday afternoon. The UPS kicked in but while the PC was rebooting, it died probably due to lack of juice. Ten minutes later, the power came back but my PC wouldn’t. There’s no POST, no beep errors and no video output. This has happened before. This time, I wasn’t as lucky.
So I was off to PC Express to have it checked (either the PSU or the mobo). Since my old Athlon XP and Socket A mobo is practically obsolete, there are no spare parts to test it with. The PSU seems to be working fine though. I decided to push thru with the unscheduled upgrade. A new Asus board and Sempron 3100+ cost me 10 grand. I didn’t want to spend anything more as it would drastically reduce my budget for a new laptop.
Glad that was over. Got back home and re-installed everything. After 3 hours, the rig just died out on me — total power failure with the stinking smell of burnt plastic wires. The PSU gave out.
Back to PCX again for a new 450-watt PSU and another grand off my wallet. I realized the old one was only 300 watts and may have not been able to cope up with the system.
It’s now 6 hours hence and my WinXP Pro re-installation is crashing each time I pop in the CD. Just discovered that the on-board LAN is the culprit so I had to disable it I’m getting some serious MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION error. The new wireless mouse isn’t working too. *darn*
More Filipino Probloggers: