Updated August 8, 2007:
Sensitive information has been removed under the privacy and policy practice of this blog.
During the recent weekend (Saturday – August 4, 2007), I invited myself to my first Malaysia WordPress Blogging Seminar preview at the Crystal Crown hotel. It was conducted from 3pm to 5pm by two Malaysia internet marketers; May Ong and Steven Wong.
Their announced qualifications during the preview were May is a certified Internet marketing consultant while Steven who has the same certification adds self-proclaimation being an expert in Web 2.0 marketing. How does he come up with that – he clarified during the end of the preview.
The room was almost full fitting 24 people and through my observation, the prominent age group who attended were 30 years old and older. Surprisingly enough to me, I noticed a very young age group of below 25 years old guests seated in the front. However, while majority of the audience were following Steven there was a listener actually falling asleep at the back row.
The topics covered during the WordPress Blogging Seminar preview I attended were:
- What is blogging?
Short history, its basics and the comparison of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. - Why do we blog?
Blogs to replace websites and ease of using blogs to get listed on search engines. - Malaysia blogs that make money online
Featurette of local blogs like Chan Lilian, Paul Tan, LiewCF and a list of other blogs from different categories. - Blog techinques, strategies & tools
Theme changing in less than 1-minute and how search engines love WordPress blogs - Results from the blog applications
- Choosing the right domain name
- Finding a suitable hosting
- Install blog in less than 15 minutes
- Adding blogging to your business?
Though the topics above covered the general idea of blogging, I was more interested in what Steven had to present on applying blogs to corporate businesses. As you may know, corporate blogging is one topic I’ve emphasized and many local companies aren’t identifying its effectiveness.
How to apply blogging to your business?
- Focus on your blog topic/business
- Blog 3-6 times a week
- Write short articles (100-300 words)
- Build relationships with your commenters
- Offer free downloads to capture their name and email
At the end of this part, a number of listeners misunderstood the concept of leaving a blog comment. They took the blog comments as a way to harvest names and emails for their marketing database. This is one of the problems why some still feel fear in leaving a comments on blogs.
Besides that, Steven covered a little about monetizing your products or services by blogging.
- Own products/services
- Join affiliate programs
- Write short review on products/services
- Recommend to your blog readers
- Offer bonus products for any purchase
- Offer mystery/unannounced bonus
- Give away trial offers
- Marketing ‘his’ 7-videos on internet marketing
The tips given above do relate more to Internet marketing than conventional blogging. However, understanding Steven’s specialization in Internet marketing doesn’t come to me as a surprise the tips above are of the best ways to monetize a blog.
At the end of the Malaysia WordPress Blogging Seminar preview, it reminded me of another ‘seminar’ I invited myself to called; Online Business Opportunities Using Affiliate Marketing.
If you’re interested in attending the same preview for free, you may contact Steven at WPAdsenseMastery.com. The first 20 registered guests may attend free while the late comers will need to fund RM68 to reserve and attend the preview. This is in order to cover the cost of room rental.
To conclude my experience of the Malaysia WordPress Blogging Seminar preview, it was a new observation to how Internet marketing is evolving and making its way into blogging.
Question of the day:
Will blogs replace commercial websites?
Did you pay for the seminar?
Haiyoh, die! (noted the names quoted) First the ISA, next the IRS. All come knocking on my door, how? Mana mau lari. LOL.
Yes and no. I actually think blogging backend software makes a pretty good replacement for small scale commercial sites because it makes itsier for the owner/operator to update content once the site is setup. as opposed to the same business website displaying the same content for 3 stright years :P
Buy yea, i highly doubt blogging will ever replace commercial website (I dare say never even) because there are alot of business that either don’t translate well to web or have to be massively complex to translate well to web.
snecx:
I attended the preview for free. As for the 1-day seminar, I don’t think I’m that serious into Internet marketing yet.
lilian:
LOL! You too femes mar…one of the prominent bloggers who’s making it happen in Malaysia.
nicholas:
The last part of your comment is the point which made me feel blogs could never replace commercial websites because there’s a limitation though many are thinking of WordPress as a CMS than a publishing software.
And if they did try to squash into the application, WordPress won’t really be that easy to use anymore.
I find that blogs aren’t applicable in every type of business. And not every business person is a writer.
Some company will probably think twice before customizing / integrating blog into their site, as usual, afraid of additional costs.
goldfries:
I beg to differ that blogs aren’t application in any type of business. But I do agree not everyone is a writer which is biggest hurdle for most bloggers – personal and commercial.