Meeting Kiko, the blogger-designer-technical artist all rolled into one

Name: Francis Morilao or Kiko

URL Address: bench20yrs.multiply.com

http://ilovethisong.blogspot.com

http://psalmist-sings.blogspot.com

http://www.kwentonikiko.com

http://unnamedpsalmist.blogspot.com

ABOUT YOUR BLOG 

1. How, When and Why did you get into blogging industry?

I started blogging since Friendster, where I posted some of what’s on my mind, but I deactivated since there are too many stalkers J. Then came multiply which is still active, and now I have 6 blogs, Love Songs Lyrics, Worship Songs, Tagalog Poetry, Short Stories, Novel and English Poetry and  (2 Unknown to anybody).

When I came to Qatar way back 2008, I joined a forum called QatarLiving, and also joined a Filipino Community named Filex (Filipino Expatriates in Qatar Living), there, I met Omar (Buhay-Qatar Marcruz) he encouraged me to join another forum (BuhayQatar.com) and entrusted me to share knowledge in poetry and balagtasan in one of the forum, there, I exercised what I longed for. I met Ronald Mallari a very dear friend, also a PEBA 2011 nominee, with the help of Omar, we (Ronald) created our own blog – me, (Unnamed Psalmist) and Ronald (Poems about Life and Love)

2. How you came up with the name for it?

Unnamed Psalmist – I am a worship lover, I sing, hum worship songs even while I’m traveling, I prefer to be called unnamed 🙂

As for Mga Kathang Isip ni Kiko (before) it was a mistake making a very long URL mga-kathang-isip-ni-kiko.blogspot.com not until it earned that much that I bought a domain turned to kwentonikiko.com, I remember there’s one forumer who enjoys my tagalog poetry and replied saying “natutuwa ako sa mga kathang isip ni kiko” That’s it.

3. How long have you been here and what made you want to start?

I’ve been in the blogging industry since August 8, 2009 (Unnamed Psalmist) then came Mga Kathang Isip ni Kiko January 2010, I started blogging since there were some misunderstandings with the forum members that Omar made a decision to delete those post (and some of those were very important to me) and I don’t have a back-up (my bad) I decided to make my own.

4. Do you blog for a job full time? What else do you do aside from blogging?

No, I’m a designer/technical artist in a printing press here in Qatar.

5. Did you choose to start blogging directly about your chosen niche or because you just saw a good way to make money from blogging?

Yes, I followed my mentor (Omar), and my 2 Lyrics blogs are from where I searched and studied.

6. How much time do you spend on work related to your blog(s) each week?

N.A. on work

7. What do you find to be your biggest struggle as a blogger?

My poetry comes when I’m in the bathroom so I have to memorize it, and say out loud so that I can remember it when I have to type it on my mobile. Even in the middle of the night around 2-3 a.m. when that spark of idea came, it overflows and it really affects my health sometimes. I remember when I wrote Love Bus my first novel written here in Qatar, I slept holding my pen and paper, I put my heart into it because I have to remember those places where I’ve been and those scenes to give justification to my piece. I skip eating sometimes to the point that I’m writing chapters of food eating in the story.

8. How does blogging help you, in terms of life and career? How did you get to where you are now with your blog(s)? To what do you attribute your success? And what is the next goal you hope to achieve?

Blogging helps me to give inspiration to others, especially when someone (Gemma Sierte) the mother of a PSD student with cancer sent me a personal message and asked me to write a poem for her daughter just to encourage her to fight. It was an honor for me to exercise what I was doing. Here’s the link Hiyas sa Aking Palad http://www.kwentonikiko.com/2010/08/hiyas-sa-aking-palad.html

In life, I see myself to give legacy to those who believe in their talent, especially in modern poetry. Maraming mga mahusay tumula at magbalagtasan, kailangan lang ay inspirasyon, at masaya akong maging isa sa kanilang inspirasyon.

When it comes to Poetry, I think it’s enough being included in A POETS UNITED ANTHOLOGY Vol. 1 Issue 1

here’s the link free download online, you can see my writings there on page  www.lulu.com/items/volume_69/9789000/9789167/1/print/9789167.pdf

pages 33 & 96

My next goal is to support my family business with the help of blogging, to own a domain for my business Bersikulo – Curves And Lines Graphics, konting ipon pa.

9. Where do you see your blog(s) and yourself in 5 years?

My blogs, I think Uncle Google will still remember me.

Myself, I’m enjoying my life together with my family when I come back to the Philippines.

10. One of the hardest things for beginner bloggers is getting traffic. What tips can you give bloggers to drive traffic to a new blog?

First and foremost choose your niche and don’t get away with that, because when you’re accepted by Uncle Google, those robots will do the rest, be more specific with your chosen title every post, try to ask something to Uncle Google, Tita Bing or Kuya Ping, in that way you will have an idea what will be your title, then your content, it should and must support primarily your entire blog, and of course your title, there are kinds of traffic, from your bloggers friends, from Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ping, and from other links that have the same topic as yours (WordPress is good at that) but if you want traffic with income, focus more on the content of your post and let the robots crawl, your blogger friends will visit you but will never click your ads and it is proven, so, to get income you have to work for it, place your ads near your title or the very important part of your content, when a unique visitor come across your blog, not satisfied by what he/she searches, there’s an option (your ad) that will help him/her, and you earn your click.

Give Title and Alt codes to your Photos included in your blogpost, some of the searchers out there not only search for words but also for images, when your photo have their particular alt code and title, it will also drive traffic to your site.

Try this sample, type “Nokia 2860” on google image search you can see my Entry Nokia 2860 on the first page of google search with kwentonikiko.com

Social Media, Create a Fan Page on Facebook, maintain your friends in Multiply, have your own LinkedIn, maintain your google/gmail friends, yahoo friends, high school college groups, join Facebook fan page and mingle with fans and admins, in that way you can share your thoughts and later you can ask them to visit your site and share links, it is not an overnight job, you have to work for it little by little.

Expand your reach, create an account on Youtube and Vimeo, incorporate your site link and comment on videos uploaded related to your niche.

Have a Twitter account, it will gain more traffic by retweets that come from your friends-followers.

Here’s an ending clue, after you post your blog entry, wait for 1 day or 2 and search your title in Google, if it appears you’re lucky but sometimes it’s on the next few pages, ahahaha… that’s what the Google Page Rank happens…

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts and share my ideas on your slambook, I hope it will be included and an honor for me to be a blessing to those who will be the beneficiary of this cause. God Bless you Gracia!

 “everyone of us, a poet when we are in love”

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