racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

As any business person knows, the key to success is using your time wisely. Productivity is one of the most important aspects of any highly demanding career. Individuals hoping to “make it” as professional bloggers, time management and consistent productivity are essential to becoming and remaining successful.

A lot of people are trying to make a good living off of blogging, but sad to say, most are not successful, at least in terms of being able to monetize their blogging activities enough to quit that day job.

Sadly, most think that blogging is easy money. But that is not the case. Blogging is hard work–or at least it involves a big amount of effort in writing, marketing, planning and even socializing. Most people would not get that, and think that the fact that you’ve opened a blog, put in some ad units, and posted a few posts would already make you rich.

But I’ve come to think that the age of monetizing blogging purely for the content may not exactly be the best business model (or at least the one that earns the big bucks). It’s not that publishing as a business, per se, is no longer good. For me, blogging is just what it is: a medium. Blogging is not the ends, but rather it is a means.

That’s why it’s a medium.

There are several ways of earning from blogging, and it will be very fruitful if you get it right. But the big money could be somewhere aside from directly earning from one’s blog. Think of marketing. Think of networking. These days, people are able to generate sales, business leads, consultancy jobs, and other such opportunities because of their blogs.

Think of it this way. You can build up your profile online through your blog. Show people how good you are at what you do, whether it’s a skill, profession, or other business that you do. And the opportunities will come. Be a Joel Spolsky. Be a Jeff Atwood.

An example: a blog network can earn more from blog-related consultancy services, or from selling books, or from selling software than from ad revenues. Besides, writers are expensive. But if you’ve built a good product (software, etc.) or service, then they will pay for themselves, and will give you good money down the road.

Blogging is a medium, and not the end-all be-all of things.

There’s supposed to be a rule about writing something witty on your blog’s About page, but I thought it best to be straightforward.

As it is said on the sidebar, I’m a technology journalist and blogger. I also run a small outsourcing team, with focus on content development. Check out my resume for more details.

Racoma.com.ph is my personal blog on technology, economics and other serious stuff. You can find more personal- and writing-related material at racoma.net.

If you want more frequent updates, you can also catch me via Twitter through @jangelo and Google+, where I have been active recently.

From 2006 to early 2010 I was part of Splashpress Media and Performancing.com in various capacities as editor, assistant editor, technical point person and marketing maven. Previously, I was also part of WordContent, Bloggy Network, dotPH and the Philippine National Economic and Development Authority.

I currently write for CMSWire as Asia Pacific Correspondent. I’m also a staff writer at popular technology blog TFTS.

I also helped form WorkSmartr, a small outsourcing team that provides new media consulting, content, virtual assistance and other services. I am also a freelance writer and a tech columnist at the Manila Bulletin.

I am an economist by profession, and a writer by passion.

Yes, I do look like my gravatar.

Navigation

You may search the articles by entering keywords on the search box to the right. You may also browse more than five years’ worth of blog posts by date.

Elsewhere

If that’s not enough, you can find other articles stuff at these sites I either publish, manage or contribute to:

• CMSWire author archive
• TFTS author archive

Splashpress Media

For several years, I contributed to, and helped manage, Splashpress Media’s various blogs and portals. You can find some of my more substantial articles at the Blog Herald, Performancing, and Forever Geek.

BloggyNetwork

I wrote for the Bloggy Network from March to December of 2006. Most of my blogs were tech and gadget-related blogs, including Forever Geek and Apple Gazette (both of which are now Splashpress Media properties).

I also write or have written for various Philippine-based networks/team-blogs:

• The Philippine Online Chronicles
• Pinoy.tech.blog
• Pinoy.urban.blog
• Sun.Star Blog Chronicles
• Pinoy Teachers Network
• The Man Blog

Columns

Here are columns I’ve written for Manila Bulletin So far:

• Netrepreneurship and the Modern Filipino Hero

Featured Posts

I have also compiled a short list of featured articles on this site:

• PayPal: One Great Way to Improve the Philippine Economy
• Problogging Options – a must-read if you want to get in the pro-blogging business.
• Stay Focused. Stay Motivated. Get Things Frickin’ Done!
• How to Blog and Get Noticed
• Misunderstood

In Other Media

•  A recent interview with talk show Mel & Joey, and my reactions thereto.
• ABS-CBN Father’s Day Feature interview
• Insider Interview Video
• Guesting at Ricky Carandang’s morning programme at the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC).
• Sun.Star Cebu – A print copy of my Blogging 101 article on the Sun.Star Blog Chronicles was published in October of 2005.
• FM Radio –  The same intro article on blogging was aired on 90.7 Love Radio in Manila in November of 2005, albeit translated in Filipino (and not citing the original source).
• Entrepreneur Magazine Interviewed about online consultancy in November 2006
• PC Magazine, Philippines – Interviewed by fellow problogger Abe Olandres about problogging

I’ve had various other media appearances, and I shall update this list when I have the time.

Problogging

If you’re intersted about professional writing or blogging, you can check out these posts I’ve made here and elsewhere:

• My Journey: From Full-time Employee to Full-time Professional Blogger (at ForeverGeek);
• Problogging Options – Read about the different ways you can earn from blogging and other online activities;
• Other articles about problogging.

I’m making it a point to blog only about serious and relevant material here on the J Spot. If you feel you’re not getting enough content, please do visit my Elsewhere page for links to my other blog posts.

Interests and Advocacies

• The PayPal for the Philippines Advocacy, which I helped initiate.

Citations

The J Spot was given the Successful and Outstanding Blogger badge on June 3, 2006.

Feedback and Contact

Please feel free to leave a response to any of my articles, using the forms provided at the bottom of each post. You may also email me directly at jangelo (at) racoma (dot) net. I try to respond to all my (relevant) emails as promptly as I can, except perhaps when I’m busy or down with something bad.

You may also use the contact form at racoma.net to send me email.

Subscription

If you have an RSS reader (a tool that definitely makes reading blogs easier), please add my feed to your subscriptions. I personally recommend Bloglines (click here to add my site to your bloglines subscriptions if you already have an account). Or you may simply click the icons below to add to your preferred reader or homepage:

Comment Policy

Being a co-author of the Blog Herald Comment Policy, I subscribe to the same in letter and in spirit:

We do not pre-moderate any comments and welcome all kinds of thoughts, supportive, dissenting, critical or otherwise. We do not delete or censor comments unless they have content that:

• is abusive
• is off-topic
• contains ad-hominem attacks
• promotes hate of any kind
• uses excessively foul language
• is blatantly spam

All comments are filtered through spam filtering technology; the kind we uses varies over time, but we are currently using a combination of Akismet, Spam Karma 2, and Bad Behavior 2. The spam-filtering technology isn’t perfect, and from time to time it flags legitimate emails (false positives).

If you find that your comment isn’t immediately showing up, it may have been erroneously flagged as spam. Please contact the author to follow up on the status of your comment if it has not shown up after 24 hours and we will do our best to sort it out.

This is with the added disclaimer that:

• All comments made by third parties on this site are considered copyright their respective authors; and
• This site and its author is not liable for comments made by third parties. We do our best to keep the comment threads clear from potentially harmful content, as long as it is within the above-cited comment policy.

Interview Policy

To avoid being taken out of context, or being misquoted, any media or new media interviews would have to adhere to this policy:

• Interviews have to to be shown or published in full, as much as possible.
• This author reserves the right to post or publish the interview on this site in full. If not possible, such as in the case of television shows, the author reserves the right to require a copy or duplicate recording of the entire proceedings. This may be posted or published here in full, or as transcribed, where necessary.
• If the interview is in email form, the author prefers that that the entire question and answer exchange be published. If the interviewer is to construct an article out of this author’s responses, it is preferred that the interviewer submit a draft first before publishing the content.

Final words

In case you would like to quote, cite, or refer to articles I have written here, please refer to my site license page, for information on fair use and copyright.

Sorry if this took quite long. Have so much to say, with so little time.

I hope you enjoy your stay!

(image source)

I was interviewed by Miriam Quiambao on problogging. The interview will air at The Beat tonoight, 25 August at about 10:00 p.m. There will be a replay this Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Myasuseee.com is growing fast, and I’ve recently launched a new blog about netbooks: koobten.com. I already have a writer focusing on my personal blog network project, but he’s quite loaded. So I need another writer who can write about all things netbook.

Obviously, myasuseee.com focuses on the Asus EeePC brand. Koobten, on the other hand, covers the entire netbook industry, and this includes news, reviews, and other features on the various brands and models out there, like the HP Mini Note, Acer Aspire one, MSI Wind, etc.

If you own your own netbook, that would be an advantage. If you’re passionate about your choice of model or brand, then even better!

Since these are just startups, I can’t promise that the pay will be lucrative, but I will offer traffic and growth bonuses, and if you grow with the site, then I can say it will be at least a good start with the problogging industry. We may also be sent review netbook or notebook units once in a while. Sure, there may sometimes be long waiting lists for review units, but it’s worth it getting to road-test borrowed equipment every now and then.

Please get in touch with me through my contact form or the other usual means.