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    Blogging tips from the award-winning Geek Girl

    Time was, few people had heard of blogging, let alone maintained their own blogs. Now that blogging has become a familiar online activity, with users ranging from hobbyists to professional bloggers to journalists to companies, how can Pinoy bloggers stand out from the crowd?

    For blogger and social media manager Lia Espina Lopez, who maintains the Geek Girl Manila site, the key differentiator is passion. It's what fueled the growth of her blog and led to it being named the best blog in the Lifestyle Category for the National Level of the 2011 Philippine Blog Awards.

    Tip No. 1: Write about your interests

    "I felt really honored and happy and, of course, surprised! I didn't really expect to win since the other finalists were really good! I was just happy being one of the finalists. It was surreal for me going up the stage and giving an acceptance speech," she told Yahoo! Southeast Asia.

    Geek Girl on stage at the 2011 Philippine Blog AwardsGeek Girl at 2011 Philippine Blog Awards

    A personal website, Geek Girl Manila is all about Lia's interest in gadgets and technology, geek culture, anime, movies, TV, books, fashion, shopping, food and events.

    Tip No. 2: Love what you do

    "Personally, I consider blogging as a hobby—a hobby that I'm passionate about. So being recognized for doing something that I love to do feels simply amazing," she shared.

    As someone who has always kept some sort of diary, Lia began blogging in 2004 with an online diary she created in livejournal.com.

    "It was purely full of random thoughts, rants, and feelings, while occasionally linking to things I like and find interesting," she detailed.

    Tip No. 3: Recognize opportunities

    "In 2007, I met Jayvee Fernandez of [the tech blog] A Bugged Life and he asked me if I was interested to write for Gadgenista.com, a tech blog for women where you can read about cute things, pink gadgets and gadget reviews from a woman's perspective. They apparently needed a woman's touch in their testosterone-filled tech world. And that's how I got hooked on blogging!"

    She launched Geek Girl Manila in October 2009. The following year, she was out of Gadgenista but continued her blog on her own site.

    Tip No. 4: Share what's useful

    The best thing about blogging, Lia says, is that it's a good platform for self-expression and allows her to help people when she shares useful information. The trade-off, of course, is that blogging is time-consuming.

    "But I guess that's not such a bad thing since it just means blogging is such an enjoyable thing to do that you lose yourself in it," she said.

    Tip No. 5: Never blog for money

    And if she could add extra advice for aspiring bloggers?

    "Just be yourself. Be real. Write about the things that you love. And if you can, never blog for the money. Blog because you love to."

    Photo courtesy of GeekGirlManila.com

    Author's note: Hi Rocco, di_mo_til, thanks for reading the article and your feedback. I could be wrong, but I believe "Time was" is idiomatic. It's been used for quite some time:

    http://idioms.yourdictionary.com/time-was
    "Formerly, in the past, as in Time was, the city streets were perfectly safe at night. [Mid-1500s]
    The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

    "Time was when" is also acceptable informal usage:

    http://www.antimoon.com/words/time_was_when.htm
    "Time was when" is an informal way of saying "There was a time when".

    Thanks and keep visiting Yahoo! Philippines!

    ***

    Joey Alarilla is the Southeast Asia Head of Social and Community of Yahoo! Southeast Asia. Visit his personal blog at JoeyAlarilla.com and follow him on Twitter: @joeyalarilla

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    20 comments

    • di_mo_til  •  1 month 12 days ago
      Time was, few people had heard of blogging, let alone maintained their own blogs.

      SHOULD BE: Time was when few people...
    • Spartacus  •  1 month 12 days ago
      I am not a blogger, i am a commenter, and i believe in the saying:
      "there is no right or wrong opinion, but i believe your stupid opinion is wrong"
      i, thank you...
    • Jona May  •  Manila, National Capital Region  •  1 month 12 days ago
      so proud of you lia! galing-galing!
    • SalingPusa  •  Austin, United States  •  1 month 12 days ago
      blogging tulog naman ako.. :)
    • Suzette  •  Manila, National Capital Region  •  1 month 11 days ago
      Writing practice:

      January 12, 2012, on our way home approx. 730-830PM what started as a reminder have become a major argument that resulted to so many conflicts. Zeta was asking for a pair of expensive sandals, I told her that its quality won’t last long during the wet season and suggested she get a pair havaianas instead.

      She already went to the mall earlier to check out some slippers but then she admitted she cannot choose among the designs. Since she has been bugging me for the slippers, I remembered that I was noticing her having something new to wear each day which I thought might catch the attention of her officemates. I reminded her to stay humble and low-key since it might catch the eye of envious officemates.

      To my surprise she went totally ballistic over my mild reminder. I remembered explaining that I meant to remind her but she refused to understand. She exceeded my patience so we were yelling for almost 10 minutes, and the tone down was her pitching so many of my supposed shortcomings.

      Now that I’m trying to reflect, I guess she has a point that I held on to cash when it comes to her. I thought everything is well between us and that we are living a happy life but apparently she wants more and is not content of how I run family life on a day to day kind of thing. All I can see now is her going ballistic over some pair of slippers, slippers that is certainly not worth my life, our family and the future of our children.

      I remembered trying to explain that it should not be that big of a deal if she only told me earlier when we are okay and in a mild tone, she can go ahead buy it. But something about the way she tries to impose her attitude bothers me, she always threatens to leave me and flee with our children.

      I tried to hold on to more cash considering Zeta’s job seemed unstable, it gives me leeway and peace of mind, what I’m not telling is that I think I’m having my own insecurities with the pressures of my work, she doesn’t know that I fear that the pressures in the office affects me too much and may have an effect on my health or performance but since I consider myself a fighter, I just pray that I keep the bosses happy with my department’s activities, perhaps reason enough I decided not to worry her.

      Now I think I’m coming to terms with what’s inevitable (as she says it), she told me we were forcing it to stay together and yes I think I was forcing it, I was being too patient and forgiving considering this cheat for the sake of our children. Now I think I’m confused, afraid to face life without my kids, certainly I can live without her but not so sure about the children.

      All the time spent with her is useless, I think I was the one holding on, I was tolerating, I was giving, but once I stop its really over. I think I’m tired or it’s slowly sinking in, we don’t share the same happiness, we don’t laugh, we don’t enjoy each other purely anymore, we are different now. I don’t know how to regard her anymore… pure silence would kill it… I guess having nothing to say is scary.

      I think there’s no winning a point with her anymore, it’s done. She’d eventually finally find some reason to leave without me provoking it. My feelings are not important, I can’t even tell her how I feel as when I do she is practically saying if I’m not happy and if I feel a certain way negatively then she’ll end it.

      For a pair of slippers ……….
      My life, my children’s future and our past is almost over for a pair of slippers….
      It opened old wounds and created new ones….
      The new ones didn’t hurt as much as the old being nurtured ruptured anew...
      Who is selfish when it takes one slipper to cause irreversible damage?
      Was it I who simply delayed it or Zeta who seemed materialistic,
      or it was simply used as a convenient excuse?
    • MARNIE  •  Manila, National Capital Region  •  1 month 12 days ago
      never really know how to blog in the first place.... hmmm =(
    • nestor  •  Bangkok, Thailand  •  1 month 12 days ago
      ahhhh
    • Sigbin  •  Manila, National Capital Region  •  1 month 12 days ago
      helpful article :)
    • jacob f  •  1 month 12 days ago
      blogging are for unemployed geeks. "yeah i love my job cause i love computer blah blah"
    • jk  •  Quezon City, National Capital Region  •  1 month 12 days ago
      nice.... be real.......
    • Asiong Salonga  •  Manila, National Capital Region  •  1 month 12 days ago
      Hmmmmmmmmmmm...........maganda siya
    • Amore Shop  •  1 month 11 days ago
      one thing i dont do is a having a group meet up of bloggers hehe im very busy and im such an introvert but sometimes i want to meet them in person. i saw few of them but i want to see everyone :P
    • Teng Ene!  •  Florence, Italy  •  1 month 12 days ago
    • Roy  •  1 month 12 days ago
      Anyone who knows blogging sites about sex, porn? Anyone?
    • marc  •  1 month 12 days ago
      isang puntos lng lamang mo saken, next time, sure winner ako..
    • D' SHOOTER  •  1 month 12 days ago
      I don't need the blogging tips, ok na ako dito sa yahoo blog mas masaya maraming kikiti kiti. Just name it lahat ng klase miron dito.
    • Sakristang Hiphop  •  Manila, National Capital Region  •  1 month 12 days ago
      di ko kailangan ng tips sa blogging. kilalang kilala na ato ako ng lahat dito sa yahoo. di ata to papatalo kay DOM na baboy maniac SABIO at IAN squatter na bisakol CAMU sa paramihan ng thumbs down. at least ako may naguumapaw na salapi at mga gwapo at machong papa na hunk. ang tunay na sakristang hiphop lalake ang hanap. o ha!
    • Joelito kanor Tionzon  •  Manila, National Capital Region  •  1 month 12 days ago
      blog safely para may award ka - i-blog mo ang mga interes ng PERA para bigyan ka nila ng award
    • pilyonghusband.blogspot.c ...  •  Manila, National Capital Region  •  1 month 12 days ago
      I am a blogger myself and those advice are really cool... mag one year pa lng ako pero I never blog for money kung may mag donate it would be nice... blog is a hobby and we should have fun doing it!
    • Kis  •  1 month 12 days ago
      Blogging is like sharing your secrets with the whole world.

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