Benj’s Busy Blog

I never thought this will make me a bit tensed. This is just a contest, what I would say with the Isulong SEOph and the ItuloyAngSulong, SEO contest and was mainly playing around and learning at the same time. But in the Vorgermilten… I was a bit serious since the top prize was supposed to be $10,000. Eventually I got the top rank in Google but unfortunately it was a hoax. No money for me.

Now here comes the SEO World Championship and is now giving away a brand new car as the first prize. Carribean cruise as the second prize and a Sony Plasma TV as third. I thought I would have the same feeling like in the Isulong SEOph and Ituloy AngSulong SEO contest. Where I would say… this is just a contest and not feel tensed at all.

But for some reason, I feel tensed. I currently have the number 1 spot in the SEO contest with my GlobalWarming Awreness2007 entry. And being the number 1 site, I feel a bit tensed. Knowing that FredrikMH of eglobalwarmingwareness2007 and Mr. Monkeycolo ecoloband is just there and any drop I may get could move them forward.

Yes it’s just a contest, 1, 2 or 3 spots are all cool. Yes I know, but once you are up on the number 1 spot… you want to stay there. And I’m just hoping to stay there for the next 40 hours when the contest ends.

We SEOs all know the story of Jim Westergren when he was not the winner of the V7N SEO contest but after 15 minutes, he was already on top after the winner was declared. He lost by 15 minutes.

40 hours is such a long time to say that I already win the contest. Maybe in an hour or less my ranking can go down. Considering Yahoo and MSN sometimes mixes it all up. Hopefully not. If they mix it up at the same time, oh no, that is double Jeorpardy.

I am pretty competitive in the things I do, although I am no sore loser as well. In the things I get into, I like competiting and in my early teens, I was into BMX racing, I competed in races. In mountain bike races, I competed as well. I got into several martial arts and has competed in Taekwondo competitions. But most of the time, these were local, or at the highest level I got was national competitions. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. And win or lose, I am having fun.

But for some reason, I feel so tensed with this competition. Simply because it is global and this is something that can give worldwide recognition, but if search engines play around which is not impossible, it will just be part of a dream in the past and I will be totally unknown.

Somtimes I feel it is better to lose with a big lead, than lose when you were already very close to winning and at the last moment, you lose it all. Now that is the tensing part. It’s because I am the current leader and still feels uncertain on the stability of some search engines.

Hopefully, everything stays the same after 40 hours. As for the other competitors, ecoloband and eglobalwarmingawareness2007, it was a good contest and I have high respect for your efforts. I hope I get to know you guys too and just share ideas probably via IM in the future.

Before 2007

• Finish all client projects - Probably one of the toughest, but I will push through with it.
• Answer client calls - I still have many pending issues, either by email, voicemail, or our support ticket system. Projects are overwhelming and just taking over the time of everything.
• Fix up room - Due to all client projects, this is what is also delaying everything else in my life.
• Greet everyone - I am not done with all my Christmas greetings. It is still a long way to go but I have partially sent all my ecards already.

In 2007

• Get back in shape - Especially in cardiovascular endurance. It is more of a psychological war to me than a physical limitation since I tend to compare myself to my physical abilities in the past when I was competitive in various sports and I tend to compare what I can do before and what can I do today and this has depleted over time. Which sets frustrations in. Unlike if I was just starting and was unaware of my past, it would be easier.
• Concentrate on customer support - I am considering on adding a good CRM system, and concentrate more of the production processes than doing production itself.
• Develop production teams - And since I am not going to concentrate on production, I will develop production teams of my own. Sometimes I can never be contented with the code and I am strict with the code. So hopefully, I get to find the right people to do it that has nice and clean code.
• Fix computers - Basically my workstations, I have 1 windows PC running and 1 laptop, both on dual monitors. My Mac is temporarily not used because of the convenience I get with dual monitors on my PC and I have no monitor for the Mac. I have 2 more PCs that are not running that I will fix where one will be my Linux workstation and the other I will give away or sell.
• Sell printers, scanners and photocopier and maybe my fax machine too - I will buy a 4-in-1 color laser printer, copier, scanner fax machine probably, it will be a space saver in my small office-home office setup.
• File management - if my room is a mess, so are some of my files. And have a better organized backup system.
• Watch more movies - Mainly not for recreation, but awareness of trends. Awareness of the market. I will just probably sign up with Netflicks and watch at home.
• Attend tradeshows - This can be expensive, so I will probably just attend 2 or 3. I am targeting Search Engine Strategies, Search Marketing Expo and maybe Webmaster World’s Pubcon.
• Go to church more often - Although I have my own meaning of the church, my own definitions, my own belief, I believe I am not in conflict with the teachings. I may even augment and strengthen my faith, but if I share it with others, it might just confuse other people and they will say I am weird or something. So i do not share my belief, but my belief is basically having my religion entangled with science and they are actually united in a way and are not divided as some people may think.
• Get a new video camera - The Internet is all about video next year. More Internet marketing activities will involve a lot of rich media, so I need a video camera, and will start working on some video editing skills, and if time permits it, try working with some animations as well.
• Get a new lens for my digital camera - Maybe a lens with a better aperture and some F-stops and will try to do some magic with my amateur photography skills.
• Speaking engagements - Will probably talk more in mini shows, mini conventions, small training seminars I can arrange. Probably both in the US and in the Philippines.
• Buy some VOIP hardware setup - This is for better customer support as I will have someone dedicated to work for me on the other end of the world for my US customers, who can also immediately implement some technical help needed. With this setup, which I do not plan to abuse also, but I can use after office hours for cheaper calls to my family by installing a VOIP gateway as well on the other end.

So far I only have those to do. Maybe even more but I haven’t planned it out that well yet. Let’s see.

If you try searching for Ariola on Google, you get some results.

If you try searching for Aryola on Google, you also get some results.

But when you search for Benj Ariola or Benj Aryola, this is what Google says:

Did you mean: Benj Arriola

There is really nothing special here. No special SEO technique involved. This just shows the the word Arriola occurs many times in the Google database with the word Benj. Thus name corrections like these can, in some way be a measure of online popularity.

Yes, if you found out somewhere that I am one of the new writers of an SEO blog, oh no… and you are looking at my personal crap blog. *lol* My main blog is still ActionOnline.biz, but of course my name on that blog is still my name. Hmmm… Maybe I need an alias like the others, but I think it’s too late. I should have made some name for some branding effect. Oh well, what the heck. I don’t care. I still like my blog as it is, but if you are looking for SEO topics I post… sorry most of them are not here. You will probably find them in ActionOnline.biz or Isulong SEOph.

Look at this Web Design:

This design was by Gail Dela Cruz, but she issued a full refund to the client. Maybe the client did not like the design. Now check this out:

This is the final design that came out. Hmmmm… what do you think? Looks like a free design. So this is the secret of this rich! *LOL* Read the story about the 10 Sikreto ng Mayayaman and you decide yourself if this is a major rip-off.
Downloads on Isulong SEOph Downloads on Isulong SEOph Downloads on Isulong SEOph Downloads on Isulong SEOph Downloads on Isulong SEOph Downloads on Isulong SEOph Downloads on Isulong SEOph

In the online advertising world, people have been doing this in several ways and one of the most effective ways are ranking high in organic results in search engines. But some how, this has been getting more and more competitive in some markets like in the Pharmaceutical, Porn and Online Gambling industry. And this is where spamming was the last result of these types of companies, from spamming email, spamming forums, spamming blogs, and everything. But spam just does not really work. Nice written write up contents still work best. So the PayPerPost.com that pay bloggers to have ads on blogs is a good way to spread the news, but I have heard from somewhere that PayPerPost.com, PPP is really just a bait for many bloggers to start blogging about Viagra and Porn websites in the future and PPP really meant Porn and Pills for Pharmaceuticals.

There are tons of photo galery scripts out there for websites, but I like the effects of Lightbox JS v2.0 but there is no gallery script for it. So I decided to make Isulong SEOph Lightbox Gallery. It should be easy to use for the average webmaster. I posted it on my Isulong SEOph website.

isulong seoph

I haven’t really maximized the power of social networking yet and so far has only done Friendster. I get invites from everywhere going to a bunch of other sites but I have never really decided to sign up yet. Just give me a few more weeks. Right now, I will just pass over a little link juice to my Friendster page. And also some link love to my Friendster blog.

Darren Rowse is an excellent blogger. And he has made a living out of blogging. He blogs for profit. His site is problogger.com. He even provides some consultancy on how to make profits out of blogging and is an authority in the field. But he does not believe in PayPerPost.com. He has cited several websites as well that do not like the idea. And a general pattern I see is getting paid per post decreases the credibility of the post and will just pollute the blogosphere.

I Get Paid to Blog. And I believe it is the same in the real world from face-to-face product endorsments, radio, TV and print. An article in a magazine, an interview on the radio or TV, it is all about promoting yourself or promoting your service, or promoting your product. Many post against PayPerPost.com talk about approval and reviews, that is it not screened. But as for my post, I have had rejected postings and I needed to edit them to get them approved. They also talk about people giving reviews on a product or service without trying them. This is the responsibility of the blogger. I do not want to give reviews personally of something I haven’t tried. But I give my opinions on a product based on what they are offering. And many advertisers give free samples of their product or service for testing purposes.

Here are photos of some of the desktops of friends I had at work at Einstein Industries, my previous job.

Mook’s Choi Bead Necklace. I know those, those are the ones you throw to girls so they show their stuff during some party.

Jesse’s Morgan Webb Design sticker.

Evan Scheingrosshad a lot going on. He had monsters and a baseball field on his desktop at work. at Einstein Industries

Evan’s Scheingross Monitor Monster.

Evan’s Scheingross baseball field. Which is now owned by Joko Jokosetio Halim at current press time.

More Monitoring Monsters! Monsters on the Monitor. at work at Einstein Industries. Joko’s Jokosetio Halim Halimaw Monsters! It looks like he also enjoys the photo of the old batman type of vintage car tail light.

Glenn’s Batuyong logos that look like targets. But they remind me of the disc bullets of a toy gun I had before.

Camron Deen likes his world upsidedown like going downhill.

Camron Deen draws inspiration from this? I remember seeing a big version of this statue while mountain biking in some trail going downhill.

Macromedia Flash Expert Ben Sebby did not like his name on top of his monitor.

Ben Sebby had more important things to place on his monitor.

Ben Sebby had lucky stars and pink dumbo flying on top his monitor. Also in view is John’s Kelly Frog.

Is this a Webmonkey? Or a Web Gorrilla on top of Edgar’s Karim Zurita Einstein Industries Work monitor? Also in the view is Derek’s Monkey.

John ‘Dru’ Kelly decides to have a frog instead.

Justin Sepulveda did not like his name on his computer…

But Justin Sepulveda likes Hula Dancers on his table to arouse him.

Aron Yu reminding him of what’s coming on the weekend.

Jason, Kent the web radio voice over voice, likes his bird on top.

Mike Michael McCarthy likes his bird on top too…

And cars below…

What is Michael McCarthy reading? Readings from the dark side? Blackhat SEO? LOL.

Jimmy Nguyen aka DJ Happee Vietnamese sensation has some Feng Shui fortune plant. Also in view are the monkeys of Edgar Zurita and Derek Ashuer.

Jimmy Nguyen aka DJ Happee likes to be reminded of the beach…

And his girl…

Asian surf chick Cathy Vang loves the beach. Loves surfing. So while designing website, she constantly reminds herself of the waves.

Another thing on Cathy’s desk is the book, The Vang.

Aimee’s Dotts sexy bare monitor, nothing on it but a post it and a sexy fur scarf.

Graphic Artist Daniel Huffstutter likes mountain biking, so he keeps a mountain bike trail on his Einstein Industries computer monitor.

Using a highlighter in books is to usually highlight keywords that are important. And Eldar Graziev is important.

And my monitor. Benj Arriola’s computer monitor at Einstein Industries computer monitoring has an anti-spyware CD right beside it.

But leaning right beside the monitor, is my Before and After work done by Dr. Benj on my Liposuction operations. At Einstein Industries.

He does SEO?

I attended a seminar on Internet Marketing by Adam Urbanski last July 20. It was a small group, maybe about 10 to 15 people only. And everyone was required to say a few stuff about themselves. I kept my self-description conservative and just said I know technical stuff in making websites, and I came to the class to learn more of the marketing side. How to market well online. Although I could say I have a fair knowledge of Internet marketing, but I was not there to say what I know, but I was there to learn other stuff I may not know yet. Even just a few small tips.

One participant, I can still remember how he introduced himself. He said he was also into Internet marketing, and SEO, I may not remember what he said word for word, but I do remember clearly one line he said, while he was addressing what he was saying to the speaker… he said “…You see, I do what you do too…” So he must know what he is saying.

Right after the seminar, I just did the same thing I did with the Sean Roach Internet Marketing seminar I attended. I SEO’d it. And it was generating traffic and a little more hits that translates to earnings of course for those that know how to make money out of traffic. It was not like an additional really big bucks, but it was still a little more to add to still give it some increase.

Just this afternoon, this participant that also does what Adam Urbanski does, calls me up since we exchanged cards and ask me about some other matters related to the course. And I mentioned that my other blog was ranking 1 for Adam Urbanski Internet Marketing as well other other keyphrases. And he asked how did I do it? Well for me, all I did was just the basics, I did no serious hard core competitive SEO yet, but since no one else was targeting it, it was easy to rank 1 right away. And an experienced SEO guy would have just laughed probably and find it funny I was targetting it. But now that I mentioned the story here. Maybe someone might be trying to beat me at number 1 for this keyphrase and I do not care. This was just for fun anyway. Maybe I will be more competitive if it was a paid SEO client. Uh oh, My SEO clients might have high expectations this time *LOL*. But this is what I have to say to my SEO clients, if you are not ranking number 1 for your general terms, do not worry, let’s target the tail and just keep in mind that our objective is to increase conversions. Not just get the number 1 spot on every term.

Remove Company Name

Every company name has a keyphrase tail to target. And this tail is still related usually to the company’s product or service. I targetted a keyphrase in this format: company name blog. It just took 2 days to get the number 1 spot. But the company talked to me and asked if I can remove the company name on my blog. And you know, these people are really nice guys and I have no intention in going to battle with them just over a simple search term. Actually I personally know how to over throw my own entry by the official company site and get the number 1 spot. But I guess it is also a matter of other legal issues that I cannot place the company name. Well ok, I took it out, although I still rank number 1 for it even if I took it out, Google should reindex soon and see the changes.

SEO Contest, SEO Contest, SEO Contest

I am getting tired of Isulong SEOph SEO Contest. Comparing it with Ambatchdotcom and Vogermilten that has $4k and $10k respectively with not even half of the people in the SERPs in Isulong SEOph that has already 800,000+ pages in the SERPs all battling for that number 1 spot with a prize less than $2k. I find it funny. But the reason why Isulong SEOph just has so many entries, is because of the SEOPhilippines community as well. The group just interacts so well with each other that everyone is having fun, sharing, talking about SEO, and website monetizations. We have seen several non-Filipinos in the list already because maybe also of the popularity, but predominantly, they are still all Filipinos. I did an IP change on one of my Isulong SEOph entries not only for a new class-C IP, but for a regional advantage as well. I think I am just going to mildly play around with Ambatchdotcom and consider to seriouly work on Vogermilten. But there is still a lot time for that. In this contest I joined, I have been in and out of page 1 with the highest rank i reached was 7, but I still get pushed back to page 2 or even page 3 sometimes. I once had a rank 3, but it just looked like Google glitch or someting, and only lasted a few hours when the other sites were missing. Oh well, let’s see how it goes. At least get into the final 7 sites, and hopefully I can ask for a vacation for the awarding if ever I do get in. Oh well, let’s see. I am a bit lazy compared to the other competitors. But maybe, actually hopefully I will get some second wind by mid-August.