My 100th post – A Token of Gratitude

Finally, I have reached the century mark of posting for this blog. How time flies! I still remember my first post last December 19, 2007. It was about the Best Names for your Child.

Although I really want to blog about parenting, I was skeptical to blog about my family, especially about the children. But I thought that it would be better if my readers will know them, somehow. After all, the picture attached was done 4 years ago and I must say, it is funny and cute. If you like to know more about me. please feel free to visit my About Me page.

Just recently, I included tips on how to have a successful marriage and how to have a happy family.

Anyway, I would like to reserve this post to thank the following for helping, trusting and inspiring me all the way. If you do not find your name here, you can remind me and I am really very sorry that I forgot you.

To my first time visitors and newbies, this may be a long post but it’s worth to read. Remember the names that I will mention and I guarantee you, they are worth to visit.

The Bloggers

Raden of My SEO Blog

He is my former buddy at work for 5 years, my first mentor in blogging, and still helping me consistently. I remember besides teaching me, I still use his PC because I really have nothing except for the eagerness and determination. I was even afraid to browse the Internet then. It took 2 more months before I bought one. Could you imagine the heart and sacrifice?

He has been blogging for years and I can say he is a master in his own right. I owe him things I can never repay.

Mr. Art of Article Specialist

Actually, our first meeting was very simple. We are doing our usual visit at Mybloglog separately. We were totally strangers, oceans apart. Yes, he is an Indonesian blogger who owns an article directory - Article Highlight. He was really determined to help me improve my writing. He praises me when I am good and help me to improve when I am not. He gave me the first taste of posting my articles on another blog, his Blognetwork, for free. He introduced to me other sources of communities including Entrecard. In fact, he sponsored my recent and only contest.

By the way, his real name is not Mr. Art. I just gave him this nickname because of his pen name. I wish some time in my life, I can meet him personally.

Meghna of Delve into the Mind of A Budding Blogger

A 12-year old Indian blogger, or I must say a sweet poet, a talented writer, a bright student and a loving daughter. I also met her at MyBloglog. A simple comment from her to one of my post made me visit her. To my surprise, she is as young as my daughter but older than me in blogging. I do not know where she gets the ideas and how she manages her time. With her attitude and dedication, I will not be surprised if she will be one of the well respected journalists someday.

Although she considers me as her Guardian Angel blogger, she will always be among my inspiration to continue blogging about children and their welfare. If you want to know why I made a post Why you should allow our Children to Blog, she is my answer.

Steve Pavlina and his forum

I am one of his avid followers and admirers. His transparency in his personal life really inspires me a lot. His transition from being a junk to a blogger with around 1.8 million monthly visitors is really amazing. His unique style of blogging is incomparable. His long posts tell it all. I have never seen a blog with a forum that deals with personal growth and development like his.

I must admit, he is one of the reasons why I am patient in blogging.

My Communities

Google Community – My first ever community and my first taste of joining a forum. I cannot mention the names of all the members who helped me but I miss you, guys!

BlogCatalog and MyBloglog – No comparison please. Both of them had wonderful people and system. I do not regret joining them. Most of my first visitors came from them.

Yahoo Answers – I am trying my best to give advises to bothered individuals and I hope that my help counted in. I will still continue to visit them although some may I will not get sufficient traffic from them.

Technorati - I almost missed this. Although some says this is only for popularity purposes, I am still buying it. This blog has now 90 fans, 51 authorities and numerous blog reactions. I do not put too much focus on increasing my rank. I believe that if you have quality content, the rank will follow through the help of your readers. But with Technorati here, I am thankful for those who fave me.

Entrecard – the community that changed my blogging career. Without them, I am still helpless in finding visitors to this blog. Many have been written negatively about them such as bounced traffic, unreasonable change of pricing system, droppers not readers and so on. But for the record, almost 75 percent of my regular visitors and still increasing came from them. They are not perfect and will never be, but I do not care. They are helping me a lot which is the more important thing and I met a lot of bloggers including my fellow Pinoy Entrecarders.

In fact, I am now rewarding My Very Serious Droppers and inviting non-members to check them out.

My Article Directories

I reserved a separate page for them. But I have to mention Article Highlight here. This is because a big percentage of my submissions have been posted on Mr. Art's Blognetwork. As a proof, you can see my recent post now live in it.

Yes, he is one of my mentors and friends. But mind you, he is very strict so do not bother to bribe him.

My Money Makers

This is the sad part. Besides Adsense and some affiliates, I got no more, but of course I am still thanking them. At least, it’s better than nothing. Honestly speaking, it is partly my fault. I did not give much effort to monetize this blog. I felt that I have to establish myself first and my readers has been my priority.

My Future Plans

1.0 Make better posts and valuable family tips. Read, observe and ask.

2.0 Discover other sources of traffic including forums, directories, blogs and communities.

3.0 Monetize this blog. I will be doing some product and site reviews. I may also re-write some of my articles and sell them.

4.0 Purchase my own domain. My URL really annoys me. Do not bother to count the number of characters; it is 24 excluding the sub-domain name! It may be a good phrase, but it is hard to encode.

Finally, I would not think of making this blog if not for my wife and children because it is my family that keeps me going. It is my eagerness to be a good husband and a responsible father that really drives me.

All my posts are dedicated to all the families in the world and needless to say, to My Creator!



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Article Source: Happy Family Matters