Tips on Maximizing Our Potential As a Top-Notch Blogger

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The months of March, April and May are so tight with events, ang hirap maghanap ng time for meetings. No worries, pili na lang ng kayang puntahan then offer na lang sa iba yung di kakayanin. It's called blessing-sharing....better than event-hopping! Lol!

I don't have the stomach to cut events (coming in late or leaving early) so that I can attend the most events possible. It's more important to have less events but able to come up with more quality and substantial outputs. The less stressed we are, the more rested we are to write cleverly-crafted and timely stories with awesome photos and videos. Hindi yung puro partial and less creative event coverage, and delayed posting na lang palagi. Ouch!!! Iwas na lang ang tatamaan.

If ever I do come to events late, or leave early, those were for special reasons that requires my immediate and personal attention. Like receiving an award at the next event, or just dropping by at an event due to a special request from the organizers.

It is admirable that we exert every effort to make our outputs as timely and creative as possible regardless of how big or small the event is. I keep stressing timely, and creative, but would also like to emphasize on news and stories having complete and substantial content. Below are my thoughts about how to improve our blogging activities as I've personally experienced and learned throughout my few years within the community.

We are not sharing this because we think we are among the best blogs out there, we are sharing this because we believe our almost three years of experience as a blog is more than enough to qualify recommending tips based on our experience. We will soon be celebrating our third year only so there are still a lot to learn, and we are always open to learn and re-learn new or better things to maximize our potential as the self-declared Pambansang Blog ng Pilipinas, or the National Blog of the Philippines.

Timely: I hate myself whenever I'm not able to publish a story immediately. Especially news that are time-bounded and deserves to be known by people as soon as possible. The companies would prefer we release the story as soon as possible so I am happy whenever I can publish a story immediately within the same day, or at least the next day. Pinakamatagal na siguro ang 1 week for special features that requires critical insights. If we cannot publish within the preferred time frame, at least promote through our social media accounts instead na totally zero promotions.

Nahihiya ako kapag mabagal mag-publish, tapos press release lang pala ang ilalabas. I know all of us have other important things to do, but the moment we accepted the invite, it should mean we are willing to provide quality and timely outputs without expecting too much from the other parties, and not taking our own slow-than-acceptable phase just because hindi tayo satisfied sa event or the tokens they gave us. Know our priorities but let us be considerate for the ones who really need our help. Kung feeling natin ay tambak na tayo sa mga naunang pending articles, try to pause or stop accepting invites for a while para makahabol tayo.

Creative: Use all resources available to us. Make an effort to use the power of multimedia to engage your audience. Incorporate photos and videos, and even illustrations, that would make your stories stand out among the rest.

Also take time to do interviews with the key individuals involved in the event, like brand ambassadors, VIPs, management and executives, marketing peeps, etc.,, and conceptualize a branding to highlight your work as exceptional and beyond the normal event coverage. 

I appreciate the ones who would initiate moves to suggest improvements at certain events, and those who would even go around the entire venue just to capture the event in different angles instead opf remaining comfortably seated at one spot.

Substantial: They keep saying that content is king. It is, and will always be. We need to provide the most possible information that would help our readers get the most learning as possible. There is no such thing as spoon feeding if you want your readers to be glued to your blog. The longer they stay on your blog, the better. Of course, you can't put everything there so it's best to also add links pointing to their official sites or social media pages where your readers can see updates about the brand.

I always make it a point to think of new ideas to enhance the experience of our readers to the ultimate. This is why we keep on collaborating with partners who share our ideals. Soon we will come out with our own mobile app to attract other people to engage by becoming concerned citizen correspondents. We are about to release our own coffee table book, we have been media partners for several events, we have partnered with traditional media outfits, done a lot of guesting for TV, radio shows, and magazines. We have been featured on newspapers, and a lot more coming up soon.

Viral: Our stories are with less impact if not so many people will know about it. So we should also exert effort to share our stories effectively. If we can make it go viral or trending then that would be awesome. However, the hits or views do not necessarily reflect a positive output as we may be attracting the wrong audience.

Some PRs and event organizers think that the sites with the most views and number of readers or followers are the best sites to engage with for ads or other forms of sponsorship. They fail to realize that the only reason it's going viral is because it contained content that is either scandalous or controversial. We should all know that we should be able to identify sites that would reach the right crowd that would have actual usage of our products or services. It is best to partner with sites who have lesser reach but would definitely connect you with the real customers who need you brand.

Warning: The only problem with sharing your events and letting others represent you? It's the action and output of your representative or correspondent that would be criticized. It would reflect on you entirely as they are considered to be a part of your publication. Thus, it is best we also take time to screen out our representatives, and stick with those that are able to produce quality works that passes your own standards.

But be sure to keep those who can be trained or at least willing to be trained and follow your recommendations on how to improve their craft. Sometimes, it's the good ones that refuse to change their ways since they've been around for years. But it's a  lot more worthy to work with newbies who are open to criticism in our combined quest to achieve greater heights.

This is why I've chosen the top view of buildings as my preferred images for this article. After all, the world is there for us to explore. There are so many opportunities waiting for us. Let's exert quality effort to get noticed by companies and event organizers since it is more rewarding and flattering that they reach out to us believing we are influential enough to help them promote their brands.

There are so many bloggers out there. But think of ways on what would set us apart from the rest.