Top Commentator for April

by Jan Geronimo on May 2, 2009

Elmot of Ani-Mo – a blog on Philippine politics, news commentary and blogging – is this blog’s Top Commentator for April.

For his enthusiastic participation in this blog, Elmot will receive by mail The Appeal by John Grisham. It’s a courtroom thriller set in Mississippi Supreme Court – a new battleground for this big chemical company which previously lost a case for dumping toxic wastes in a small town’s water supply. The company has now appealed to the Supreme Court in its bid to overturn the previous verdict. The struggle now unfolds as it campaigns to win over the 9 justices. What happens next? I don’t know. Elmot – how about a book review? Kidding.

Elmot, please tweet me your mailing address.

Readers who made it to the Top Ten Commentators for April -

1. Elmot - 34
2. Fifi - 26
3. Roy - 21
4. Holly - 18
5. Dee - 17
6. Zorlone - 12
7. Lucrecio - 12
8. Jojigirl - 11
9. Bingkee - 10
10. Yatot - 9

One-two punch

Please take note that for the first time we have a tag team of readers in Dee and Lucrecio. Of course, you already know Dee as the unflappable writer of Tales from the Mom Side. Guess what – Lucrecio or Luke is Dee’s better half. Luke has no blog but he serves full time as Dee’s editor and ombudsman. Well you know – the one who plies Dee with drinks, offers the much needed back rubs, and if all else fails flashes the piece de resistance – dark chocolates!

Thank you, Luke! The dark side must be nuts by now, figuring out your whereabouts. You must brush up on your best Yoda-speak so you’d get off lightly when you report back to the overlords of the dark force.

Do I have to spell it out?

Please also welcome Holly. She’s gifted me lots of info filled with good humor. She also welcomed me warmly in her splendid blog Do I Have to Spell it Out? She’s inspired me to integrate CommentLuv plugin in this blog. Our friend Zorlone has successfully installed it in his blog as well. Yatot and Elmot both like this plugin and just might adopt it one of these days.

Here’s a post I wrote recently on how to integrate CommentLuv in your blog.

Best blogging advice

Lately I’ve been bothered with a small sector of Philippine blogging community which acts as if they’re God’s gift to Philippine blogging. Here’s Holly’s good advice:

That whole business of being an “accomplished blogger”? Reminds me of middle school. There are the popular kids, the sycophants, the totally clueless, the nerds (but who doesn’t run to the nerds when there’s math homework to be done?), the outcasts, the cliquish, and the ones who really couldn’t give a pig’s curly tail where they fit in, because they dance to the beat of the drummers in their own heads.

The only worthwhile advice I can give anyone? Be yourself. Because that’s all that’s ever going to work for you – win, lose, or draw. And don’t worry about everyone liking you or approving of you, because they won’t. And if they did, it would only mean you’re as bland, as inoffensive, and as uninteresting as sliced white sandwich bread.

Thanks, Holly. I will commit this useful tip to memory.

Project: better Alexa ranking

I have a favor to ask you, guys. I know we’re all active in each other’s blog: leaving comments, emailing each other to shoot the breeze.

Gosh. Even Luke who has no blog is very active giving us support with his engaging insights and delightful conversations.

My little project is about us raising our blog to the next level. Elmot, who is hands down my favorite nightmare on Elms street, is asking for your help. His project this May is to improve his Alexa Ranking. And I promised him my help.

Making blog improvement a community project

On second thought, we will be more motivated if if we make this a community project. Elmot needs help. Yeah, but so does practically everyone of us here.

That’s a more democratic way of doing it, right?

This is my question then: What specific steps do you suggest so all of us will have more traffic, resulting in better Alexa Ranking? Over to you now.

Did you like this post? You may consider opting for a free subscription via email or feed so you will not miss future updates.

Share and Enjoy:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

jan

Yatot topped my top commentator awards for 3 consecutive months and he did not spam me at all. Elmot - it's his first award in my blog, he did not spam me, too. Both are blogspot users as you know. :)

Your advice are great. Downloading the toolbard is the first order of business. And I quite with agree with posting more often. The more posts there are the better. You'd keep Google happy and busy. Thanks, celblogger.

I'm glad you survived Cebu Pacific. ;)
cebloger

i can't be in your top of the list unless i spam. LOL. blogspots banned too.

Anyway, one has to download the alexa toolbar first. alexa's ranking system changes very often. my blog once reached 200k but now it's down to 600k. elmot has to blog more often, chase hot keywords, submit (or let others submit) his articles to stumble or digg, comment on blogs with comment luv, network, promote, etc...

Recent blog post: Free Cebu Pacific Airlines Tickets and Travel Vouchers
jan

Ei, Elms, be active on Entrecard. Take it from Bingkee. She knows her stuff really well.

Thanks a lot, Bingkee.
Bingkee

Entrecard, Adgitize, CMF, Project Wonderful, etc....are the best ways to promote your blog. Or promoting your blog on social networks other than Twitter such as FB, Friendster, Multiply, Myspace, etc. Or joining blog networks such as BlogCatalog, MyBlogLog, Pijoo, Spicypage, etc. Adding your blog to blog directories.
But if Elmot is not active on Entrecard, he cannot also get reicprocal traffic.
jan

Sure. GGMarquez is up next. :) Thanks for reminding me. What's the book title again?
jan

Hayan, you've been away kasi. Nahuli ka tuloy sa balita. :)
fifi

hey jan. "sino sila?" lol. really now, i think my previous message was: well, congrats elmot! only 5 comments short to be on the top spot, i'd wait for my turn when a ggmarquez book is up for grabs! hehehe... well, i think that was the message. :-D

Recent blog post: being no. 2 or no. 3 but never no. 1
yatot

whoa! congrats to elmot! wahehehehhe... =-X

Recent blog post: Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo are now happily married! Yey!
jan

Baka may mumo? *DONT_KNOW* That's strange - if it appeared on the page already and then it vanished.

There's no notification you had a comment, fifi. That's really odd.
fifi

hala, something must be wrong here. i left a comment earlier and it did appear on this page but when i checked again, my comment was gone. what could have happened??? :(

Recent blog post: breastfeeding in public
jan

Lemuel, you have many useful things to say about Alexa Ranking. Maybe I should interview you for a future post. That's how Alexa Ranking is getting its figures for its ranking from the Alexa toolbar.

So if your blog is often visited by tech savvy bloggers - the likelihood that they have the Alexa toolbar installed on their blog or browser - it will help you get favorable ranking with Alexa. Every visit will be reflected in your traffic stats.

That's a bit strange and skewed way of measuring traffic right. How about other blogs who can't care less about this toolbar? Well, they are handicapped to begin with. But that's just the way it is for the moment. It's favoring blogs of webmasters.

I only check my Technorati when somebody links to my blog. I have an alert set up in my reader for that.

Well, I checked that Times article. Your blog was indeed mentioned. Sad thing though, there was no live link to your blog. But hey, every little thing counts, right? :-D

I thought the post was something about a cabinet position. lol
Lemuel Ponce

alexa is really strange, sometimes you get a good ranking, sometimes steady lang. at least below 1M ka na. good for you. what alexa does not count though i think are blogsites that doesn't have the alexa toolbar. i don't know if this is true. anyway, have you checked your technorati rating lately?

with regards to the Manila Times, last minute replacement lang ako... hehehe, kaya pressure when answering the questions.. may deadline pa. tsaka i doubt people are buying manila times nowadays. and if you happen to have a copy, nasa likod pa na part yung environment. it is not a priority since environment conservation does not make juicy headlines. thanks jan!

Recent blog post: I Got Featured in Manila Times
jan

Hi, Lemuel. I'm already poor. I have squandered my Alexa millions, down to 680k now. What's strange with Alexa is that today you have a good showing. But you never know what tomorrow's figures will be. It even adds thousands to the current count. It happened to me. I thought I'd break the 1million mark. Then, several thousands more were added the following day. Shucks.

Kaya nga I'm visiting other bloggers from different places. It's tiring - nakakapagod sa panga mag English all the time lol - pero at least it's paying off steadily.

Wooa- congrats. You've been featured in the daily. lol. We have a celebrity in our midst. Everybody! Look here. :)
Lemuel Ponce

congrats elmot! hope you enjoy the book. about alexa thing, i am still figuring out ways to improve it. currently i'm stuck at 1.7M. Your alexa ranking have been steadily increasing from over 1 million to 684K. ditesco is right, you have to get traffic from different parts of the globe since his iblogzone alexa ranking is already 139K. another blogger friend told me that getting an alexa rank below 100k is the target for your blog to get substantial traffic to attract more advertisers.

Recent blog post: I Got Featured in Manila Times
Holly

Now she's blushing, too. :-[

Recent blog post: Learn Something New Every Day (May 2-3 Weekend Edition)
Guest

Jan. If Elmot has Entrecard under his belt, please relay to him that he must drop like crazy.

@Elmot, if you are there, you are allowed 300 drops a day. Do it, and reciprocate for at least two weeks. If you don't improve your Alexa, let me know and I will use proxies to visit your site:) BTW, you can now make money with Entrecard too.
jan

Yesss! Wo-hooo! :)
Lucrecio Emerito

Maybe I should write an update,
      "Blogging is so NOT like sex."

:-D No need to. I already told her that I learn lot reading blogs. Sunod, writing na naman. Huwag lang biglain. O:-)

      "Dee is the better half? Ah well,

       you're giving Dee stiff competition. From where I sit."

Thanks, man. ;)
jan

Hey, you're a bit late. Na-pollute na ang utak ko ng mga herodes na un noh. I've read about their hifalutin posts. And I read the counter attack by some high profile bloggers who take exception to their delusion of grandeur. hehehe.

Hehehe. That's just a joke - the Christmas gift. :-D
jan

Nagmana lang ako sa pagka hyper mo noh. :)Ikaw talaga, oo.

Hey, I hope you don't mind, Elms. I modified your suggestion. I made it community project. Para naman involved ang lahat, pag may stake sila sa project the more they'd work hard for it.

In the first place, if they don't then there will not be much improvement. I hope, you don't take it to mean I'm ignoring your request. I'm not.

Ikaw pa, eh special child ka!

:) :)
earthlingorgeous

I think diTesco has pointed you to the right direction. I am an intuitive blogger so I do what I want, I just joined Entrecard and they have a lot of changes in there so things won't be the same in there I think.

Anyway, since your blog niche is about blogging I want to point you to some nice blog post about the politics of blogging here in the Philippines, but come to think of it I don't want to pollute you and your readers so I will not post the links here. I'll twit it to you if you like.

Oh about my X-mas gift I'm still thinking about it. LOL!

Recent blog post: Beat It!
elmot

hahahah~! thanks dude, thanks! you are really on steriod or on coke? ahahah! i was just mentioning about my plan, but you already made a big announcement about it, a great spoil though, ehehe

and i am to take home the book?! wow! another addition to my collection of grisham and clancy and coelho,e ahahah!

thanks big bro...thanks...no more words...shhhh

Recent blog post: Weekend Treat with Actresses, Crocs and Swine
jan

Wow, your smilies went to see the fight, too? Well, here's what you do:

Click the link to JS-kit on your comment box. It's the one which says: (Powered by JS-kit). It will take you to the homepage of JS-kit. Click "Settings," and a new page will appear,"You Manage." There you can click the box that says, "Support of graphics emoticons." Voila - it's done. :)

So what's this contest? Kasi naman pina suspense pa ako. Do tell naman. I thought it was Roy's contest. Now, it's by Yahoo?

Hey, DiTesco can help you with domain parking. You can still earn from your inactive domains by...ewan! hahaha. I don't know exactly how it works but he has an article on this kind of online earning. He's great and very approachable fellow. You can find him at iblogzone.com. Tell him we're friends. Sabay ilag.

Ah, you should have an Alexa toolbar in your browser. Or within your webpage. This helps rate websites you visit, just like you tacitly vote for them when you make return visits. Similarly, if have the toolbar I'm letting Alexa.com know of my visit on your blog. That adds to recorded traffic to your blog. Imagine if all your visitors have that toolbar. Good for you huh? :-D :)
Zorlone

Wow! If I knew there was a gift I would have commented every time! Just kidding! I did make it to the list, so, that's good enough for me.

Yup, i like using JS-kit on my blog! However, i think I still am not maximizing it's use. The smileys are gone. I don't know if they all watched the pacman 2-round fight, but, they should come back soon!

I don't know anything about Alexa yet... well, maybe just that it's about the rank and good ranks are favorable for advertisers and sponsors. so, I am still learning about that.

By the way, Jan I won the contest! yahoo!!!! some of the prizes include domains, 4 of them. LOL. I don't know what to do yet, maybe keep two and convert the others to cash or EC (maybe cash). We'll see. I would ask for your help too. Just e-mail me.

About elmot, sorry dude I have not been to your blog since I saw the poems. My bad. Will be visiting you soon.

Z

Recent blog post: Thank you very much!
jan

Hi, buddy. Thanks a lot. Darn, why is it you're latest post is not showing below your comment? That's a puzzle. :'(
jan

You can, Ismail. If Manchester United permits it. Well, having a project going sounds like work at the outset. But I want their interaction here have some positive impact on their blog. And to my blog as well. After all, we're all friends here. :)
jan

Hey, the guest commenter got me scratching my head. :) Good you dropped a second comment. Nice to have you back, Ismail.
jan

Huwat?!

Maybe I should write an update, "Blogging is so NOT like sex."

DiTesco's idea is great. I've read that too from a good source so I vouch for it. We should go international and leave our cramped sitios and barangays.

And to start off, we need to be seen and read in high profile blogs with lots of traffic. That's the place we should be interacting more of.

Dee is the better half? Ah well, you're giving Dee stiff competition. From where I sit. :)
jan

hahaha. Nice point, Dee. That's odd - I thought women love drama. :)

Did I tell you I'm based in Oriental Mindoro? Well, my friends in Metro Manila despair I can't be with them on special occasions. One enterprising friend has been very wise in luring me to come over and hang out. The incentive? Books. By Grisham. Jessica Zafra. Any book I fancy. They're free.

The catch is she refuse to mail them to me. I have to pick them up myself. Nice ploy. :-D
jan

I was ecstatic when I beat him in Jaypee's Top Commentator award for February by a measly few comments.

He's now exacting justice right in my own turf. :'( But what can I say, the young man is a blog commenter monster.
jan

Yeah, she's a great writer. Makes a lot of sense, but reading her you don't feel like you're being preached to. Incredible lady, Holly is. And she's funny to boot.

Why, thank you, Fedhz. Elms would appreciate that. You'd not regret visiting him. He'd visit you right back. :)
jan

1. Entrecard? Elms has it under his belt.
2. More visitors from different countries. This is a good point diTesco. We maybe getting lots of daily hits but if we're getting from one place, say the Philippines, that will not count for much.

3. BlogCatalog. Yeah, this is very effective. In my first months, I've got lots of visitors from BC friends. They still drop by and check me out.

Thanks, DiTesco. Perhaps I can collate these recommendations into a post, with attribution of course. :)

Yeah, you did not make it to my Top Ten. You sir suck! :) :)
Roy

I love that last piece of advice. diTesco happens to be one of my contacts there :) I don't frequent Blog Catalog though.

Maybe it's time that I do ;)
Ismail N

That's me commenting as 'guest' on the above. :)

Ismail N

http://passionateaboutblogging...

Recent blog post: Contract Made In Germany
Guest

Congratulation to Elmot for winning the awards. I hope to be the next recipient next month. You might see me stopping by more often this month, especially after EPL & CL are over & the Red Devils lift both trophies. I see you got some great project coming. All the best to you my friend. Enjoy your weekend. :-D
suwari

Congrats on your winning on TheWeblogZone.
Lucrecio Emerito

Hahaha. That's so funny, Jan. Thanks for the mention. But for me, Dee is the better half. Yeah, I don't have a blog. Specially since you posted how blogging is like sex, Dee won't be allowing me to entice and be intimate with my readers. O:-) J/K. But I might blog a spin-off of Tales form the Mom Side like: Tales From the Dark Side. =-X The overlords might be pleased. And they might forget my absence.

Back to the main topic of the post. I honestly don't know much about increasing Alexa ranking. Well, I know about visting his blog and leaving comments there. (doing that) But you already know that.

But Mr. diTesco's comment above gives me an idea. Don't know if this is correct but worth a try. He mentions about traffic from all over the place. So, what if each of us, (no, each of you. won't apply to me 'cause I have no blog. :'( ) instead of commenting only in this circle, comments also to a few international blogs. When those bloggers return to your blog they will see your blog roll. and hopefully, will visit the rest. Hopefully, it will spread. Of course, this is just in addition to what the experts say.
Dee

Congrats to Elmot! :)

Sounds like a good book. #1 NYT bestseller - hmm, I'll check that out. Used to be a Grisham fan but I stopped reading him when his novels became drama instead of suspense. Love his earlier novels, however.

Thanks for the mention, Jan. That was sweet. :)
Roy

Elmot still top the list! And that even after taking a leave more than a week!

I got to hand to you Elmot, congratulations!
fedhz

wow.. I think Holly and I have the same perspective.. this is so timely. Oh, by the way, do you want to join a contest about Social networking. check it out on Mike's foster's blog. I also posted it on my blog. the deadline is on May 8. ^^v

Wow! you have gifts for your top commentators? that's cool. hehe.

Hmm.. what others do to promote their blogs are hosting/joining blog contents and be part of sponsors for exchange links. Better yet, like what Ditesco said, be active, or he should write SEO articles and stuff like that. But what I can do personally, is to visit his site, on a daily basis. Malaki din daw ang effect ng returning visitors no? ^^
diTesco

Oh sucks. I didn't make it to the top commentator list :'(. J/K. anyway, with regards to Alexa Ranking, my best advice for Elmot to shoot out his rankings and everyone else who needs it for that matter is by using Entrecard (sort of a banner exchange). I know that there are some people who doesn't like it because it increases (or not) the "bounce rate" of a blog. Nevertheless, it will dramatically improve your Alexa Ranking in a very short period of time (specially if your blog is new). Drop like crazy and within weeks you will see the results.

BTW, Alexa works in mysterious ways:), they calculate Alexa not only based on Traffic, but more importantly, where the traffic comes from. So, if Elmots blog is visited 1,000 times a day by bloggers from the same geo-location, it will not improve much, in comparison to getting traffic from all over the place. I mean, say he gets only 300 visits, but these visits come from different geo-locations (USA, Canada, Philippines, Nigeria, Brazil, well, you know...every continent), his Alexa will be much better.

One final suggestion, ask him to join Blog Catalog and be active. That site, if done properly, brings in a lot of traffic. Ask him to look for "ditesco" and join his groups. I heard the man "rocks", hehehe. Hope that helps..

Recent blog post: Google Launches DoubleClick Studio - A Tool For Creating Rich Media Ads

blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post: 30 Blogging Tips, Links and Social Media Resources

Next post: I Have a Confession to Make…

Top Commentator for April

Related Posts

Similar Posts

SEARCH THIS BLOG AND ITS NETWORK

Recent Posts

Top Conversationalists

Recent Comments

Archives