Learn from the Experts

Screen capture taken from: http://www.philippineblogawards.com.ph

In my pursuit to be a successful lifestyle blogger, I had to learn about the blogging business. Yes, I have been blogging for years already but usually my blogs are only centered on my life. If I really want my blog to be well known around the country (or even around the world *cough*), I have to learn more about the blogging industry. What better way to learn about blogging than the mecca of awesome Filipino blogs today: The Philippine Blog Awards.

What better way to read good blogs than to visit a site that features the best Filipino blogs. I've been roaming around their website this morning and looking at the process involved and stuff. Anyway, here's an excerpt from their awards section.

The Philippine Blog Awards aims to recognize notable Filipino-owned blogs in their respective niches. With topics ranging from the arts, culture, technology and politics, Filipinos have become more abreast because of the fast growing blogging industry here and abroad. The Philippine Blog Awards is a venue to showcase notable blogs with quality content that engages readers from around the globe.

The Philippine Blogging Community has grown by leaps and bounds within a year. This diverse universe of ideas represented in words, images and sounds have gave birth to more types of blogs and new bloggers. As such the Philippine Blog Awards has widened and re-organized its awards to better reflect the zeitgeist or spirit of the times. — Philippine Blog Awards website

Before going to this website, I never thought that blogging is very diverse. I never knew that blogging was part of our culture too and that Filipinos make a living out of their own blogs. Looking through the categories, I learned that there's more to blogging than just posting about how your day went.

There were 21 categories in the website that came to my surprise that there was at least one blog that focused on that certain category. This made me think on what I really want to focus on in my blogs. As I browsed through the different categories, I think the best one for me is the LIFESTYLE category. I think the idea of blogging about how to live and enjoy life is something that I really want to talk about. I wanted to focus on how to live my life and share ways on how on how I enjoy life. I'm an outgoing person and I feel like I'm qualified to be a lifestyle blogger.

So I went to visit the site that won the Best Blog in Lifestyle category and learn a thing or two about lifestyle blogs. His name is Robbie Bautista and he is the author of The Creative Dork. I was able to read a lot of his articles about fashion and design. He is such a good writer because usually I get tired reading a lot of blog entries in one day but with his illustrations, I can't seem to get enough of it.

He makes such amazing illustrations that make my Photoshop skills look like crap. The entry that helped me the most was looking at his tutorials about starting a blog. From developing a concept to picking a palette, his articles heavily influenced the design of my website. I learned about de-cluttering my sidebar and picking a color scheme that went well with each other. (sidenote: I even followed the "Don't use a black text if you have a white background" tip)  His tips help me make this design that you see right now.

Robbie Bautista's "The Creative Dork" http://thecreativedork.com

Though I may not be as good as him when it comes to illustrations, hopefully I'd make up for it with the content that I post. I hope someday I'd be able to be such a successful blogger like him. Right now, I'm joining the mainstream blogging as my biggest past time and use this blog as my way to express myself and showcase how to enjoy life.

2011 is a year for new things and new passions. I hope for the best and try to make most of the year to focus on myself and get my life going.

To a new stepping stone in my life,

Rye

Thank you!
I want to say thank you to Robbie Bautista for showing how awesome it is to be a lifestyle blogger (and providing tips on how to make a good blog). I also want to thank Randz Manucom for opening the idea on taking blogging to a whole new level. You'll know more about him in the near future.