I am currently on my trip to Hinunangan, Southern Leyte and have just dropped here in St. Bernard, Southern Leyte in order to inform you that you can now use the Kontera Plugin for Wordpress in managing your own Kontera ads.

Few of its features are:

• Insert the ContentLink™ tag into all your pages.
• Block ads from particular posts or categories.
• Decide when Contentlinks will appear on new posts.
• Block ContentLinks from comments.

You can download the Plugin here.

And by the way, you can earn $25 per publishers you bring in to Kontera Network. What you need to do is just invite your friends by using the INVITE feature in your Kontera Account.

One of the commentator of Mapiles.com asked this: “Hi, so how do you measure influence? and impact? By the number of hits?” This question is actually raised in connection to the latest writing project organized by the Digital Filipino which is the “Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2008“.

I will not answer directly that question. However, I will give you my thoughts on how to spot the emerging influential blogs in 2008.

Actually, the blogs you listed in your own list of 10 emerging influential blogs are really emerging influential blogs among the blogs you found in the internet. You listed them based on your own judgment. But don’t forget that you are just nominating them, and your nomination will be counted as 1 vote to each of the blogs in your own list. The final list of the emerging influential blog will be made by Ms. Janette Toral. The 10 blogs with the highest number of nomination or votes will be considered as the top 10 emerging influential blogs in 2008.

So, how can you spot the emerging influential blogs in 2008 that can be included in your own list? Well, the process is just simple… You only need to check the following:

1. Date of the Start of the Blog. According to the instruction of Ms. Janette Toral, the blogs that can be included in your own list of “10 emerging influential blogs in 2008” are those blogs that started on July 1, 2007 to the present. In other words, all the blogs that started anytime from July 1, 2007 to the present are already considered “emerging” … only “emerging“… but not yet “emerging influential” (lol) blogs because we need to consider the things below to know if they are really “emerging influential” blogs.
2. The Traffic of the Blog. Actually, not all blogs that have high traffic are influential blogs. But it is true that influential blogs have enough traffic. Just check the traffic-counter or the buttons of the blog-ranking system that the blog has participated.
3. The Number of Feed Subscribers. Almost all blogs display the number of feed subscribers. Usually it is displayed at the right side of the blog.
4. The Number of Commentators. Just check the number of commentators in each of the posts of the blog.

But what if the blogs you listed on your own “top 10 emerging influential blogs” have few number of visitors, feed subscribers and commentators, is it fine? Of course, yes. Tere’s no problem if the blogs you listed on own list of “top 10 emerging influential blogs in 2008” have only few visitors, feed subscribers or commentators as long as (just like what I said above) those blogs started anytime from July 1, 2007 to the present. After all those blogs in your own list are really the top 10 emerging influential blogs in 2008 among the blogs you found in the internet. So, it is of course true that there are blogs that have higher number of visitors, subscribers, and commentators compared to the blogs in your own list, but it just happen that you didn’t found them before completing the list.

I hope this post helps.

Our blog’s homepage is recently given by Google a PR of 5. But it was dropped from 5 to 4 during the recent update of Google on our blog’s PR. Is my blog slapped by Google?

Allen considered the drop of the PR of his blog as a penalty imposed by Google for posting a sponsored post. Some bloggers suspected that Google’s algo contains a code that detects sponsored posting on sites and blogs as it spider the webpages.  Soon as the system detects PR-banned terms within the website, Google automatically set the display PR to 0.

Well, it might be true that Google are penalizing the PR of the websites that sell links to their advertisers. However, I didn’t consider a thought that Google penalized this blog by dropping its PR from 5 to 4. What I am really thinking is that, some of the bloggers and webmasters withdraw links back to this blog, if not, they simply insert the “no follow” tag on the links linking back to this blog. Once the number of backlinks to this blog dops, so it is normal also that the blog’s PR will drop to the corresponding PR.

So, what should we do to avoid the drop of PR?

Well, there are 2 things I knew how to avoid the drop of PR. And these are:

1. Avoid selling links. We all know that Google hates to learn that you are selling your blog’s links based on the PR rating given by Google to the pages of your blogs.
2. Continue your link campaign. You might already gain a considerable number of backlinks to your blogs from other websites and blogs but it is not yet the time to stop looking for backlinks.  Don’t forget that from time to time, some websites or blogs that are linking back to your blog might die or some of them might withdraw the links back to your blog. So, think of ways to gain more backlinks to your blogs.

Actually, you don’t have to worry if your blog’s PR has been dropped to a lower value. The world is not over yet if your blog has been penalized by Google PR system. Continue your blogging activities, SEO campaigns and your money making jobs, then you’ll see that the display-PR is just a piece of a useless a useless thing that exist in the internet.

Of course, today is not yet the day set to give honor to our mothers. Mother’s day will be on Sunday, May 11, 2008 but I just want to greet my mother, your mothers a “happy Mother’s day!”

To let you know, your mothers might be better than my mother in terms of richness, intelligence, toughness, etc., but I consider my own mother the best mother in the world. You see… I became what I am now because my mother helps me to become like this. My traits are inherited from her, if not, they are influenced directly and indirectly by my mother.

When I abandoned our faith, the Catholic Faith (even if I grew up serving our local parish church as Sacristan Mayor), my mother showed me her disappointment but never abandoned me. We always engage in religious debate (every time we meet) but she never hurt me with her words. My friends and former mates in the Catholic faith consider me a black sheep, but she always looks at me and considers me as good sheep.

My mother is not that rich and couldn’t even support me financially in my activities but she never forget to show me her moral support. She’s always there reminding me on what to do. When I am facing problems, she’s there giving the best of her advices. When I feel sad, she’s there comforting me.

If I will be given by God a chance to wish…. I just want my mother to live longer with the strength and good health…. I also want her to become part of the church where I belong now, for I really want her to be with me, to join me and to be part of my services to the true God and true Christ that I have known through the teachings of the Holy Bible.

I know my mother couldn’t read this post of mine because she doesn’t know what an internet is, but I just hope that she feels what I feel for her. I really love my mother.

P.S.

Today, April 30, 2008 is the 44th birthday anniversary of my brother Engr. Lorenz Laplana. I know he’s with his family and friends today in PASAR Housing, LIDE, Isabel, Leyte celebrating this special day.

To my brother… Happy Happy Birthday!… and I also want to thank you for financially supporting my college studies… and I am also sorry if I don’t practice the degree that I acquired. I just love to blog than to be an Electrical Engineer. I couldn’t pay you for what you have done through money or cash, but I never forget that I owe part of my life from you.

Again, Happy happy birthday!

I am currently looking for blogs that can be included on my list of the “Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2008″. Please suggest blogs by dropping your comments at our comment section of this post. The 10 lucky blogs will receive backlinks from this post, my Ka Webspy blog and from the digital filipino blog.

Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2008

1. Pa-Cute by Brother G. Urbi
2. Your Partner Online - “Blogging, Branding, Marketing, Troubleshooting and Making Money Online by Joliber Mapiles
3. Blog 3
4. Blog 4
5. Blog5
6. Blog 6
7. Blog 7
8. Blog8
9. Blog 9
10. Blog 10

Candidate for Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs:

1. Blog Ex Machina. The blog of Toonex which started on January 2008. As of writing this update, the blog has 6 feed subscribers.
2. Filipino Voice. A blog of a group of bloggers blogging about politics, entertainment, technology, or any topic that interest them. The blog started on the month of April 2008 but I don’t know yet the number of feed subscribers and its daily traffic.
3. Silken Hut. I thought this blog is already too old to be nominated for the 2008’s emerging influential blogs. Silken Hut is the blog of Allen.

To be checked:

1. Wealth Building, Money and Personal Finance.
2. CAD Softwares.

Blogs I Considered

Below is the list of blogs that I want to include on my list of top 10 emerging influential blogs in 2008 but failed to qualify based on the qualification provided by the writing project organizer which says, “… These are blogs that started anytime from July 1, 2007 to the present”; “Old blogs who move to a new domain are disqualified” and “Blogs who remove their archives just to fit in the cut-off date are disqualified.” (source: Influential Blogger) and the qualifications I set for my own list.

• Can Talk Tech. The monthly archive is not included on the every page of the blog. I don’t have ideas when did this blog start. But considering its rank on Pinoy Top Blogs which is rank number 18, this blog can be considered as emerging influential one.
• Pinoy Ambisyoso. The Blog of Mr. Lavern Tan about his thoughts and experiences as blogger which officially started on June 2007.
• Our Journey To Forever. The blog started since 2006 and I don’t know who the blogger behind this blog.
• Fashion Express Tips. This blog might be considered emerging and influential considering the start date of it and the number of feed subscribers. But I just don’t want to include blogs on my list of the top 10 emerging influential blog in 2008 that are using the subdomain names of free blog hosting services like blogspot.com and wordpress.com, and the identity of the blogger behind the blog is not revealed on his about-me page. I’m sorry for this. Anyway, your blog gets a backlink from this post.
• Mar Roxas for President. The title of this blog speaks on what the blog is all about. I am not campaigning for the candidacy of Mar Roxas but the blog does. I did not include this on my list of emerging influential blog in 2008 because I don’t have idea when this blog started.

Join the Emerging Influential Blogs Writing Project

Those who joined the writing projects organized by Ma’am Janette Toral (Influential Blogs of 2007 and Filipina Writing Contest) knew already the benefits in joining this kind of program like backlinks, traffic, friends, etc. To understand what I am saying, read few of my posts:

• Reasons Why You Must Participate the Filipina Writing Contest
• The Effect in Participating Filipina Writing Contest
• Filipina Eyeball, I was There

So, if you want to gain more back links for your blog, then list your 10 emerging influential blogs in 2008 now. To join this writing project, please visit this page.

P.S.

I forgot to mention above that one ten of the participants will receive $100. So, participate now. Who knows (in the aparador lol) you’ll be chosen to receive $100.

I am a little bit busy preparing the things I need to bring in riding my Honda XRM Motorcycle down south for my longest trip for the year 2008, but I just couldn’t avoid the urge to blog before taking my adventure.

You know, I am not yet that old but I am already suffering the illnesses that are normal to old people. At the age of 15, I already started taking my maintenance for the hypertension. And now, my right knee hurts, and I think it’s caused by arthritis. Thinking of these illnesses leads me to loss hope in reaching the age of 60. I wonder if lots of Filipinos are also suffering similar illnesses that I have. If that is so, then Filipinos couldn’t live longer like the Americans. Patsy revealed this:

Americans are living longer than ever before. With better health care, early screenings and people choosing healthier lifestyles, this trend is expected to continue. In Fact, the population of elderly is expected to increase. It is estimated that by the year 2040 the Old folks will account for twenty-three percent of all Americans. Nearly one half of those will be over the age of Eighty-five! I plan to still be here annoying my kids and Grand kids when My age group is the largest of all age groups.

By the way, as of writing this post the result when googling for “Smart Bro” is now balanced. The first page of the result already contains blogposts that tell us that “Smart Bro Sucks” and “Smart Bro, The Best”. Take a look at the screenshot below:

I’ll just hope that this result will not change anymore or if there might be changes, the blogpost that say “Smart Bro, The Best!” will be moved upward of the SERP. Well, that post is my post that was published on this blog.

So much for that, I want to thank GM Tristan for sending me the installers for the “Perfect World” MMORPG of the Level Up Philippines. And thank you all for visiting me here.

Jay emailed me recently this:

Hi Sel!

I have seen in TV that PLDT is now offering its new product that directly competes with Bayan Telecommunications “Bayan Wireless Landline.” What can you say about it?

Yes, I’ve seen this too in TV. PLDT’s advertising their new wireless landline which is called PLDT Landline PLus. Of course, PLDT couldn’t use the term “Wireless Landline” for their wireless landline telephone because Bayan Telecommunication uses it already for their own wireless telephone.

These two products are both wireless telephone system. They only differ in the mode of paying the usage. PLDT Landline Plus is prepaid while Bayan Wireless Landline is post paid.

Currently, I haven’t tested it (PLDT Landline Plus) because in the first place, there’s no PLDT franchise here in Maasin City; And secondly, I will still look for households who subscribe to the new PLDT Landline Plus.

Anyway, according to PLDT, the PLDT Landline Plus can be used anywhere in the Philippines that has PLDT fixed and wireless network. But it doesn’t mean that a Metro Manila subscriber can use his PLDT Landline plus subscription outside Metro Manila. What I mean is, you can bring your PLDT Landline Plus unit and use it only on the place with the same area code where your subscription has been set to. It’s not like a mobile phone where you can bring it and use it anywhere in the country.

The good thing of it is, you can use it to send SMS or text messages. I still don’t know the the price of every SMS you sent especially to mobile phones… and I am still wondering if we can really send SMS or text message to mobile phones.

Just like what you have noticed, the ads displayed on this blog have been rearranged. We do this because we need to increase our blog’s income so that we can finance the transfer of our blogs, including those under our reseller hosting, from shared to dedicated server to lessen our blogs downtime and problems. Few of the changes are:

1. Ads on the header part or our blog
2. Ads on the sidebar
3. Ads on the content side

Header Ad

Last March 24, 2008, we’ve tried to place a 468×60 ad on the header part of our blog through the Project Wonderful service. I set the price, lowest bid price, to $1 per day on that ad. However, I only got few advertisers on it. I should earn an average of $30 per month on that space but it wouldn’t happen. So, I decided to offer that space to direct advertisers. But while waiting for advertisers, I temporarily place adsense 468×60 image ad there.

Sidebar Ads

On the sidebar, we have the 160×600 ad of Adsense and below it are the 6 slots of 125×125 ad from the Project Wonderful.

The Adsense ad (160×600) has been configured so that it will show image ad when viewing the single-post of our blog, otherwise it will show text ads. I did it so that only 5 or fewer text ads of Adsense will show up on every page of our blog and the other ads should be image ads.

You see, if you are viewing the single-post of our blog, the square ad above the content of our post will show 5 or fewer text ads. So, then other adsense ads (header and the sidebar) should be image ads. However, if you are viewing the homepage, category pages, and archive pages, there’s no square ad displayed on the content side, so the160×600 adsense ad on the sidebar will show the text ads and the the adsense ad on the header should be image ad.

What’s the point in configuring Adsense Ads in that way?

Okay. Our purpose in doing this is to increase the CTR of the Adsense ads because as the CTR increases, surely, our Adsense income will increase too. I set the adsense ads to show up to 5 or fewer text ads in every pages of this blog. In other words, the ads of the top 4 high bidders (adsense) will only show-up in every webpages of our blog. And we all know that these ads have high PPC price.

But of course, not all users will be interested on the text ads shown. We need to make our visitors exit our blog in the right exit door which is the ad on our blog, that’s why we put image ads from Adsense, hoping that they might be interested with them.

Content Side

The size and type of the adsense ads shown on the content side are not changed. The adsense ad is still in square and in text. What has been changed here is the color of the title of the text ads, from red to blue. However, I’m not sure if this placement is not violating the new terms and policies of the adsense program.

Finale

For one month, we’ll observe if what we’ve done really works. If not, then we’ll find other ways in increasing the income of our blog.

Update: April 14, 2008

I made some changes on the ads. The 468×60 header ad spot will now be served by AdBrite. I also changed the 336×280 ad above the post-content to 300×250 ad with a 250×250 image ad on its right side.

Let’s say what’s the effect of this arrangement.

The recent acquire of a Kodak C613 Point and Shoot Digital Camera helps me blog again at my Honda XRM Rider blog as the Motoristang Pinoy.

Just this day, I posted my new blogpost, “Breakfast at HoneyBee Burgerhaus & Eatery,” as part of the Motoristang Pinoy food trip. Read it here.

With regards to its theme, I am again designing new theme for the blog. I am still working it and don’t know yet when can I apply the new theme for the blog.

I am quite desperate to have my own digital camera for my blogging activities. So I bought a Kodak C613 at OrmocNet (Ormoc Villa Hotel, Ormoc City) for PhP7,995.00. I think the price is higher compared to the price offered by Kodak Digital Camera dealer in Metro Manila.

I am very happy to have this. But I feel sorry to my self after learning that the Kodak C613 in Amazon online store is only &74.99 as shown on the screenshot below or check this page:

I should have saved a lot if I bought it from the Amazon store.

About the Kodak C613:

The EasyShare C613 features a 6.2-megapixel CCD for stunning prints up to 20 by-30 inches, and more megapixels means you can crop and still get a great picture, while Kodak Color Science helps to capture bright, beautiful color. A Kodak AF 3x optical aspheric zoom lens (35 mm equivalent of 36–108 mm) captures crisp details and gets you closer to your subjects without losing picture quality, and 5x digital zoom enlarges your pictures even more. Plus, we made sure it had the one feature you’ve come to expect — simplicity. Because if your camera is simple to use, you’ll love to take pictures.

Features:

• 6.2-megapixel CCD for prints up to poster-size
• 3x optical zoom; 5x digital zoom
• 2.4-inch indoor/outdoor color LCD screen
• On-camera Share Button for easy transfer of pictures
• 16 MB internal memory; SD/MMC card slots

Review by users:

Pluses:
+ Low price.
+ very easy to use.
+ Takes great pictures with little effort, on nearly every shot.
(I have used some cameras in the past that required you to take several
pictures in order to get one not blurred, not a problem with this camera).

Negative:
- I have only one issue, the camera is slow, must wait many seconds
between pictures before able to take another.

PS

Thanks to Ruby of OrmocNet for entertaining me well and for the compliment. Mabait daw kasi ako lol. While checking the Kodak C613 Digital Camera, I took a photo of her as shown below: