From Frustrated to Excited

I Got Frustrated..

Because I thought I managed to save our photos from Kep from being lost when my PC was reformatted.. That’s what I thought. I have two hard disks, one containing my OS/Programs and the other one for data. When I reformatted the drive for the OS all things in my data disk was not affected so I was ecstatic that I wouldn’t be losing any important data save for the bookmarks in my browsers.

But last night when I was about to post more photos of Kep, I couldn’t find it! I was ready to tear my hair out when I remembered I didn’t save it to my data disk but on my main disk. I was in a hurry that time coz we were leaving for Siem Reap..

What else can I do? Nada.. I’m just so frustrated..but I’d rather not deal with it so I just decided to get excited.. How does one induce excitement? Easy for me.

Then excited..

I simply thought about our impending one-month vacation to my home province- Albay, Philippines! Yipeee..I really, really miss the place and mostly my parents. We’ll also be taking a lot of side trips so I’m so excited. Chinks is also looking forward to it. She has a lot of ‘pet chickens’ there and she said she’s excited to count them already..

It’ll be a month of catching up with my parents, eating a lot of Bicol foods (laing and bicol express, here I come!), daily swimming or walking near the beach (our place is just a few minutes away from the beach), doing some gardening (err really sitting down on Mama’s outdoor cushions and reading books, while she does the gardening bit), catching up with friends.. Just lazy activities like these with people I really miss makes me really excited..

Mama and Papa has a huge garden.. Keeps them busy and healthy..and us, a place to laze around..

One more month to go…

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Computer Glitches..

I swear I would just be cool about this. The weather is hot enough and I don’t wanna add to my stress levels and be mad about what happened to my desktop computer. When we came back from our weekend in Siem Reap, my desktop just refuses to turn on. Yesterday, we had it checked out and they recommended to have it reformatted. I don’t understand why it happened but since its like that there’s not much I can do about it.

Good thing I backed-up the whole thing and I’ll just be losing a week’s worth of work and data. But still!! I don’t have time to install programs I need, transfer files etc. Though I think this will be forcing me too to get organized, get that project management software I’ve been planning on installing, and delete files I don’t need.

I should get down to it this afternoon coz I have loads to do this morning plus Hi-ace asked me to do some urgent lesson writing. Hayy! I wanna tear my hair out already but well I’ll just take everything in stride. Lol! I don’t want to have wrinkles just because of this..

The only good thing to come out of it is that, Hi-ace offered to buy me a blogging laptop hehe. I’m using his computer right now and it disrupts his work sched too but I declined coz really I prefer working with my desktop..

On with the work..

Add A Contact Form To Your Blogger Blog

It has been awhile since I’ve posted something about blogging and though I’m a huge fan of WordPress blogging platform, I also like Blogger for its ease of use so I still have a couple of blogs on Blogger.

When I started out, one of the things I found lacking in Blogger was the ability to add a contact form. For WordPress, its a breeze, just pick a plugin, upload, activate that’s it! Blogger doesn’t have this easy functionality but there are ways around it.

First you might ask, why do I need to have a contact form? People could just leave comments on my posts if they have something to say. Right, but adding a contact form gives your blog a more professional feel, and more importantly contact forms (direct to email) are the best way for readers, advertisers to contact you. Most people are wary about sharing personal details or financial details on a comment page with everybody seeing it, so having a contact form is important.

Just an example, for my Blogger blogs I’ve added contact forms and you know what? Every month since I’ve added it, I had been receiving at least 3-5 advertising/linking request directly. And just for my two blogspot blogs I earn around $30-$50 per month from direct advertising who contact me via my contact form. Not a lot but I’m happy coz adding just a little tidbit of form is working and adding some moolah to my Paypal account!

Adding it is quite easy, you don’t need to be a computer geek to do it.  There are a lot of tutorials about this, here’s one with step by step guide on using Google Forms.

Anyway, I’ve done it a little differently coz I used a free contact form script to generate my contact form. There are actually a lot of free contact form generator scripts  you  can choose from, and here’s some:

• EmailMeForm - free, signup required.
• Kontactr – free, signup required.
• Wufoo-3 forms free, signup required.
• FreeContactForms – free, no registration needed.
• WRASAP (Will Reply as Soon As Possible) – free, signup required.
• Response O’Matic – free, signup required
• My Contact Form – free, signup required
• Odio Works – free, no signup needed
• 123 Contact Form – free, signup required
• Foxy Form – free, no signup

(more…)

Let Me Introduce…

I’ve been busy with something. Nope I haven’t been just contemplating on the shape of my navel, nor have I been learning the inner workings of a POS systems. I was simply blogging, more specifically setting up blogs! Several months ago, I bought several domains (GoDaddy has this irresistible promotion..) and I wanted to develop these domains into blogs where I could experiment with different niches and to try it different streams of income and which is most effective.

Niches I picked where of course those that I find personally interesting. I still prefer writing from a personal point of view with lots “I’s” in it. Anyway, setting up has been a slow thing since there were lots of things to distract me (namely, FB, chatting etc..) plus I am still adjusting to the way life goes here in Phnom Penh. Lately, though I’ve been on a blogging roll, so I finished setting up the first two..

One, I’ve already mentioned a few posts ago – Lui-Bloggera. This blog is mainly about trends. It’s one of my favorite pastimes – trendhunting! So, this site will be featuring the latest on fashion, entertainment, people, luxury, technology, sports and other things I find weird, unique, interesting. As I’ve said, this is where I’ll be indulging my gossiping propensities. Anyway, here’s a peek at this new site..Your comments, suggestions and link exchange requests are very much welcome..

The second one is called – Feminine Reveries and its all about what we women likes talking about.. It’ll include posts on beauty, fashion, health and fitness, dating, relationships and marriage, career and education and more things about women..This is still new with just a couple of updates thrown in so I’d appreciate comments and visits and also link ups =)

Blogger Tips: Earn By Selling Links with Ask2Link

I’ve been looking for ways to monetize my other sites. I haven’t been really that successful with Google Adsense with my other blogs and I’m far more interested in finding other ways to earn money from my blogs. A year ago, a blogger friend suggested selling links. Hmmm, interesting. I have tried out two well-known text links companies for my blogs and I just love it! Regular monthly income and I don’t do anything but update my blogs and generally keep it alive.

This made me far more interested in selling text links as a way to earn from blogs and I’ve been looking around for similar companies that could help me sell text links. Then I found Ask2Link from another blog and I signed up. Getting things started with them is real easy. I’ve just installed the widget and once you’re done, your site will be up in their marketplace. It does help to have a PR when you sign up though.

Why I like Ask2Link? (1) You have the freedom to choose your links selling price. (2) Its easy to sign up. (3) Their text link ads are non-obtrusive. You can easily blend it in your sidebar.  (4) No minimum payout. Now this is a really good point. They pay every month so even if you just earned a small amount you don’t have to wait to enjoy it. (5) Publishers are accepted no matter where you are. (6) Full control of text link ads you add to your site. (7) And best of all, they support more varieties of website platforms even WORDPRESS.COM and BLOGSPOT blogs.

Before I had a hard time looking for text link brokers that accept  wordpress.com and blogspot sites but Ask2Link does. So, I had been trying this out on some of my Blogspot blogs. I’m still waiting to get my first link and hopefully it’ll be soon. Check out Ask2Link website and sign up to earn from your blogs.

I Totally Forgot..

To Renew THIS DOMAIN! For those who dropped by late last Sunday and early Monday, I’m so sorry. Pinaywifespeaks went on a short holiday =). I own several domains and all of them I bought from GoDaddy and domain management has been a breeze for those domains.

I’ve forgotten that this domain – Pinaywifespeaks, I have registered elsewhere,then transfered to Hostgator. I haven’t been checking my email and Hostgator has been emailing me about the expiring domain. Then I checked the site last Monday coz my cousin said something weird was coming out when she types in my URL, and my blog site was replaced by a webpage selling adult toys and photos. Hehe so this sent me in a panic mode, and I was thinking, ‘Has my site been hacked?? Who would even bother to hack this?’

I then contacted Hostgator’s 24/7 tech support and you can imagine my relief when they said that its simply a case of the domain expiring. Ok, I just love Hostgator’s support team. They are very accommodating and patient in guiding a semi-crazy person like me. I’m not very familiar with renewing domains and billing with Hostgator but the guy from tech support guided me all throughout. Few minutes and less than $20 later, I had my domain back. Whew! I should really set a reminder about this. I’ll probably be putting this on auto-renewal mode so this won’t happen again.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Pinaywifespeaks

Time passed by just like a breeze and I was browsing through my archives that I realized February 2008 was when I first started with this blog. And now its hard to believe that I have been at it for 2 years already. There where reasons why I didn’t blog earlier, but I’m glad I did.

This blog has been my virtual playground, a place to take out my frustrations, to rant and vent. How many times did I mess up with my WordPress installation – read posts here and here, that time when I forgot that I exceeded my bandwidth limitations, my paranoia about transferring web hosting, how many times the whole site went into frenzy just because I could not get enough of tweaking the themes?  It’ll be an understatement if I say I learned something from blogging. I should say, I learned a lot. I also discovered a lot of things about myself and blogging..

…That I have the aptitude for things technical and for tweaking this and that. For understanding what’s behind the blog – the themes, the plugins, the site structure etc.

…That yeah, though I’m not a great writer I can work on it and practice more, still some people somehow survive reading my entries

…That yahoo! I could actually earn from blogging! This blog supports itself. My initial outlay was for the domain registration only, while the monthly hosting bills are all taken care of out of the blog’s earnings. I know some blogging purists would say inserting paid links is something almost like a crime but hey! this is my blog, I’m sure people who visit understands that while I love to blog, write, share thoughts, I’m still a practical person, I don’t have bottomless pits of money to support the blog, so occasional paid links are fine and I do strive my best to be discrete and choosy about paid links.

…  I realized I could actually find lots of people who share the same views, who could somehow appreciate what I have to say. I love receiving emails and comments from readers. Some would email me when they are coming over to Cambodia, asking for travel advice, some would give me suggestions, some would critique a post.. This is for me, is one of the most gratifying things about blogging – connecting with people who reads the blog.

… that I could actually find friends through this blog. I found friends I could constantly correspond with through email, some blogging friends from all over, and here in Phnom Penh, I found a great set of Filipina friends (Zarah, Josiet, Che..)  all thanks to blogging.

Blogging has been a superb learning experience for me. Being able to earn from it is an added bonus and I love the extra income I get out of blogging. So what’s in store for this blog for the next year? More posts, just more.. Things I dunno yet, so do keep visiting, explore and experience blogging with Pinaywifespeaks.

Changes, Changes and A New Blog

I’ve been doing the laundry this morning and its one of the chores around the house that I don’t particularly enjoy. And since I almost loathe it, I would usually allow my mind to wander and ironically this is usually the time when ideas and plans are best conceptualized.

Here’s what I’ve been mulling on while the sheets were being laundered. I’ve decided to make more changes to this blog. When I first started this I really had no idea what this will be all about, more like a random thoughts – personal blog thing. Then it just evolved by itself I guess and just last year I made changes to organize all posts. For sometime, Pinaywifespeaks.com  has been my blog for musings about living in Cambodia, about life in the Philippines, and also about blogging and the web.

I found myself getting more and more immersed in Cambodian culture and lifestyle so lately that seemed to be what I had been constantly writing about. So then from now on this would be focusing mainly on three things:

• Living in Cambodia and exploring Cambodian culture
• of course, Philippines is still home for me, so expect some occasional posts about Pinas
• and my other passion, Travel. Just featuring travels, places, travel promos and deals.

I’ll be removing the blogging and web categories soon. Though previous posts on these categories will still remain under Exploring the Web category. I will be running a featured Cambodian blog soon too.

Last year, on a whim I registered another domain – Lui-bloggera.com, then I promptly forgot about it and it has been sitting on my hosting account like a wet blanket. I should really bang my  head often on the wall! It’s time I make use of this domain and not let it go to waste.

I’m developing it into a new personal blog where I could blah blah about my other interest. Topics would be…

• blogging – WordPress, earning with blogs, blogging tips etc,
• trend hunting –   i love trends! ,
• latest buzz  - celebs, gossip, luxury lifestyle,tech, fashion – yeah I’ll be indulging my gossiping tendencies a bit..

I’ll be awfully busy these next few days to get this off the ground and I’m super excited. =) I guess I’ll be loosing some sleep over this and getting some pimples again, but that’s nothing acne scar removal creams can’ t take care of. I’m always excited about new things, new projects.  Things are looking up and I do hope you check out my latest blog – Lui-Bloggera.com..