Hectic Capiznon Bloggers
If you came here via Google Search for the keywords “Hectic Capiznon Bloggers” then this rant is for you. Let me guess, you are part of this “SEO Contest” to push this particular set of keywords up in search result rankings. Think about what you are doing for a second. Do one better and ask yourself, “What am I doing? Is this SEO or is this spam?”
What is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. What it all boils down to is that you use optimization techniques so that your website shows up first in the search results when someone searches for a particular keyword using Google or Yahoo search. It is a legitimate practice that is not only allowed, it is also encouraged. Google engineers like Matt Cutts encourage good Search Engine Optimization techniques and practices because it makes Google Search better at providing people with relevant search results. The problem lies in some shady “SEO techniques” that subvert the system.
Personally I have no problem with SEO and SEO Contests in general. I have used “white hat” Search Engine Optimization techniques when building CMS-enabled websites. The new Django-based multi-user blog and content publishing platform I am working on has features geared specifically towards SEO. However, I do have a gripe against people who use shady practices for “SEO”. Practices such as link bombing, keyword stuffing, spamdexing, content scraping, and cloaking are not only bad form, they are harmful.
Most SEO Contests I have seen used a set of intentionally nonsensical keywords. The organizers of events who use nonsense keywords such as “Nigritude Ultramarine” and “Seraphim Proudleduck” understand that the actions of their contestants have the potential to pollute search engine indexes. There are some organizers who fail to grasp the importance of keeping search engine indexes free from bogus search results and intentionally use valid, and sometimes commonly searched, keywords for these contests.
“SEO Contests” which use valid keywords like this one for Hectic Capiznon Bloggers are particularly bad. I am not sure if the organizers of this event know it but the following keywords will also match “capiznon”, “hectic blogger”, “capiznon blogger”, “capiznon blog”, “capiznon blogger”, “hectic capiznon” and a few other permutations. From what little information that I have found on this particular contest, there does not appear to be any set of rules as to what SEO techniques are allowed/disallowed (if there are, please point them out in the comments). So what is stopping the participants of this contest from using bad “SEO” practices?
Again I must stress: I have nothing against SEO and SEO Contests in general. But contests like this “Hectic Capiznon Bloggers” Contest pollute search engine results with bogus sites with no useful content on them whatsoever. For example. Search for the keyword “Capiznon” on Google. You will get only 1 relevant search result and it points to a Wikipedia entry. Capiznon is a valid keyword and it is something someone would enter if they were looking for information about the Capiznon Language. Instead of useful information about our cute little variant of Hiligaynon, you will get two pages full of irrelevant search results all pointing to this SEO contest. I will say it outright: You have just spammed the entire world with your nonsense! You have diluted the value of the word “Capiznon” with all this gibberish about a contest that no one really cares about.
Piece of advice to anyone who wants to start yet another SEO Contest: DO NOT USE VALID KEYWORDS IN YOUR CONTEST!
NOTE: The following paragraph has been reworded to make my point clear.
Piece of advice to people (especially the students) who join these contests: take a look at what the contest requires you to do. Review the rules and requirements carefully. There have been contests in the past that required one or more of the following from the contestants:
Link back to several websites. One or two link backs are not bad. They are a powerful promotional tool. For example Animax Lamb used this to promote their website. On the other hand, link farming is a questionable activity.
Contestants are required to “sign-off” their domain/blog/website. Now this requirement is fishy. If the contest requires you to transfer ownership of your domain/blog/website or content to the organizers walk away (unless there is at least a 5 figure sum involved
). Your domain/blog/website should be yours and yours alone and if they want it for themselves, you should make them pay through their noses instead of handing it over to them because of some sneaky contest rules.
Update
Note to those who wish to comment: Before you post a comment, please read the first three comments below. This is a conversation between Mr. Duane Cartujano (the organizer of “Hectic Capiznon Bloggers” SEO Contest) and myself. This post is mainly a critique on the way the contest was set up and not on SEO and SEO Contests in general. It is meant to serve as a guide on “How NOT to Do an SEO Contest”. As you can see, Mr. Cartujano has been professional enough to respond with tact to my criticism, even soliciting me for advice on the subject.
I have allowed some disrespectful comments (most probably by one of the contestants) against me. But this is only because I wanted to clarify my position regarding SEO and SEO Contests. This is my personal blog. I can pretty much say whatever I want to say here, but you cannot. So if you wish to leave a comment, please do so in a courteous and professional manner. Any more disrespectful and unprofessional comments will be deleted.
On “SEO” for this blog. It has very little SEO applied to it, only as much as you can get with a default Wordpress installation and this is by intent. The reason is that this is a “disposable” domain name. I might let go of this domain name in the future and I do not want it to have a high Google PR.
Thanks for stopping by.
February 14th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Hi Toto Nimrod, this is duane may be you do not know me at all, I am the organizer of this contest….I appreciated your comments… In fact i tried to organized this contest before but because i was extremely busy hindi natuloy. I understand your concern because you are a capiznon also…
My purposed in this contest ay para mabigyan sila ng kasiyahan and mapracticed ng mga starter ang kanilang skills….and of course i know that the required links in every entries could help.
May be nakita mo ang mga link spamming, but this is out of my control…i want them na manalo sa healthy competition but i know it is impossible to control these contestants.
If you want to correct this contest and if you have any suggestions please add my ym cartujanoduane@yahoo.com and let us talk about your concerned I dont want to argue to anyone lalo na sa kapwa capiznon ko, i want to settle everything if may kailangan ayusin….I know you are a professional kind of people and you are welcome to suggest.
Respectully Yours,
Duane Cartujano
February 14th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Duane,
Thanks for responding. Again let me stress my point that I am not against SEO and SEO Contests because as you can see, my blog is search engine optimized as well. As someone who does SEO professionally you should have been aware of what effect your chosen keywords will have on legitimate search engine queries. In this case, you have chosen keywords which interferes with anyone who searches for the keyword “Capiznon”. This is the keyword that will be used by someone who intends to do an Internet search for our variant of Hiligaynon.
It is already too late to change keywords at this point since your contest is already well under way. What you can do to repair the situation is to instruct your contestants to point a link to the Capiznon Language entry at (for lack of a better alternative) Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capiznon so that people who are doing research will find what they are looking for.
As for contestants who use link-spamming, you should have rules in your contest against that and other “black hat” techniques. Any contestant who does this should be blacklisted from any future contests.
For future contests, you might want to consider the following:
Wish you a successful run with your contest. I hope you have one every year, it at least gives IT students something to do.
February 14th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Nimrod,
Thanks for your concerned, anyway first time ko nagpacontest and sobrang busy ko hindi ko na nalagyan ng maraming rules, yes you are right its too late na….Even Busby SEO test last time kahit bawal gumamit ng unethical there are many contestants pa rin was doing dirty tricks….
anyway thank you very much…By the way one of your friend Mr. Solano told me about you and im glad also to meet you soon.
Take care.
February 14th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Ah, give my regards to Mr. Solano.
February 17th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Bok, ano ka ba? developer? kaya pala wala kang alam sa marketing e. imagine ang feasibility ng study mo? gumastos yung nag organize dito. did you dare see how much only to think that he can sell domain later on? My god nasaan ka ba sa mga sinasabi mo?
Of course this is an obvious move to manipulate search engine rankings like other contests but the organizers pay for it. Ikaw ba gagastos sa marketing method mo kung wala kang mahihita. Aba, kung ganon eh tanga ka! Who are you to say this is a SCAM
Make a good research before you talk blah blah blah. selling domain won’t even give you a profit that will reach 10,000 Php these days dude. i hope yo publish this comment to be fair to other concerned.
February 17th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
@sam
Talaga naman pag nagtatago ka sa likod ng alyas sobrang angas. OK ka lang ba? Magpalamig ka nga muna! Bumili ka ng sorbetes.
Saan ka ba natutong magbasa ng Ingles? Ang layo kasi ng mga pinagpuputak mo kaysa mga sinasabi ko sa entry na ‘to. Baka naman gusto mo itagalize ko ‘yan pa para sa ‘yo? Eto yung mga puntos na gusto kong maintindihan mo:
Ibig sabihin nun sa Tagalog, for your convenience:
Wala akong problema sa SEO at sa mga kontes para sa SEO. Ako mismo gumagamit ng mga “white hat” na SEO teknik sa pag gawa ng mga website ko na meron CMS. Yung isa kong project na “multi-user blog” at “content publishing platform” gawa gamit ang Django ay meron din mga “features” na nakatutok sa SEO.
Eto pa:
Eto yan sa Tagalog para mas lalo mo maintindihan:
Isang payo lang sa mga sumasali sa kontes (lalo na sa mga estudyante): tingnan n’yo muna kung ano ang pinapagawa sa iyo ng kontes. Kung ikaw ay kinakalingan mag “link back” sa isang website. HUWAG KANG SUMALI! PINAHIHINTULUTAN MO LANG ANG SARILI MO NA MAGAMIT SA PANDURUGAS! Bakit? Ito ay dahil meron mga taong gahaman na gusto lamang pataasin ang ranking ng domain nila para ibenta ito sa mas mataas na presyo. Huwag magpaloko sa mga kontes na ganito.
Saan ba d’yan na tinawag kong “scam” yung “Hectic Capiznon Bloggers” na kontes? Wala naman akong kontes na tinutukoy ah. O baka naman ikaw ganyan ang gawain mo? Gawain mo ba na mang-uto ng mga tao na sumali sa kontes mo tapos dudugasin mo lang? Yun na ba ang “marketing” para sa iyo?
Sa susunod kasi matuto kang magbasa at umintindi ng Ingles bago ka mag comment ng ganyan. Tsaka basahin mo rin yung comments dito, makikita mo na nag-usap na nga kami mismo ng organizer ng kontes na tinutukoy ko at nagkaintidihan kami. Humingi rin siya ng payo kung ano nararapat gawin. Baka naman hindi mo rin siguro na intindihan yung sinabi ng organizer sa comment niya kasi Ingles din yun?
Unlike you I actually know what I am talking about and I have seen domains with high Google PR go up to as much as $1.2Mn, last price na yan matapos ng maraming linggong tawaran. Ikaw siguro kailangan mag research ‘tol. Isama mo na rin sa research mo kung paano sumulat at bumasa sa Ingles bago ka bumalik dito para mag reply.
At sa susunod “sam”, tingnan mo muna kung yung tinatawag mong “tanga” ay may mas marami at mas mahabang karanasan kesa sa iyo, para hindi ka naman magmukhang tanga.
February 17th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Pare huwag mo namang guluhin ang contest. Para matuloy ito. Pampasaya lng po ito sa mga tga Capiz. Kung sa experience alam ko mas marami kang experience kaysa sa amin na nagjojoin kasi kitang kita na mn sa site mo ang tagal na PR 0 pa rin. Tapos kitang kita sa site mo na walang kalaman laman ang onpage optimization. Tsk tsk! Kung ako sayo kung sumali ka na lng kaya para mapatunayan mo na magaling ka. Nakakahiya naman kapag natalo ka ng mga students… Tsk tsk! Pero kung ayaw mo ok lng huwag ka lng manggulo.
February 17th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
@Wewiwit
Ay dipuga. Ikaw nanaman ba ‘to “sam” o baka naman magkaklase kayo?
Una, wala akong pakialam kung PR 0 o PR -1,000,000 etong blog ko. Kung gusto kong maging PR 10 eh di sana ginawan ko na ng paraan noon pa para tumaas. Kaya nga wala kang makikitang onpage SEO dito eh. Gets mo ba?
Ikalawa, mas lalong wala akong paki-alam kung tatalunin ako ng estudyante sa pag-SEO. Eh di mas lalo akong masaya kung malampasan ako ng estudyante. Mabuti nga kung ganun, para at least meron silang talent. Eh ikaw anong talent mo? Manggulo sa blog ng iba? Ikaw nga ayusin mo yung blog mo:
Susmaryosep! Labas ang bituka ng embedded Flash mo o. LOL. Mag-aral ka muna ng HTML!
Nag-usap na kami nung organizer nito, tingnan mo yung start ng comments. At ayon kay Mr. Cartujano, tuloy na tuloy na yung kontes niya. Humingi pa nga siya ng advice sa akin. Kaya anong “panggugulo” ang pinagsasasabi mo? Ikaw nga etong nanggugulo eh. Kaya tumahimik ka na d’yan at ayusin mo na lang muna yung blog mo.
February 17th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Masaya kung matalo ka? Tsk tsk! Hindi ako maniwla.. haha.. Ikaw nga ang panggulo eh post ka ng post na wla katuturan, Para lng magkalink bait site mo. Wawa ka nmn,, Bka nga siguro hnd nagrarank site mo sa google.. tsk tsk tsk!
Tpoz kung sa html nmn. Alam ko mas magaling ka. Kitang kita naman sa template mo ang ganda ng design marami kang makikita.. Astig pagkalayout ikaw ba sa dulo ng banner mo? Astig ha gling kang maglayout pwd magpaturo..
February 17th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Teka, kasali ba ako sa kontes na to? LOL. Hindi naman ah.
Eh kung walang katuturan yung post ko, bakit mo binasa? Bakit ka nagreply dito? Wala ka lang ba magawa? LOL
Hahaha! “Linkbait”. OK ka lang? Sigi nga, i-link mo nga yung post ko sa blog mo. Pahingi na rin ng trackback. LOL. Ayan nga yung site mo nakalink na sa blog ko. Oops! Naka rel=”nofollow” pala. Sori. Mas lalong kawawa ka kung hindi mo ayusin yang site mo at iba pa ang manalo. Kaya ayusin mo na yan para manalo ka kesa naman makipagsagutan ka dito sa blog ko. Talagang wala kang mapapala dito. Pero salamat sa pagbisita mo dito.
Mas maganda yung blog mo. Kasing ganda mo. Ang galing! Sobrang astig din yung banner mo. Pati yung color scheme ng site mo ang ganda. Ikaw ba talaga gumawa niyan?
February 17th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Makiksali po!
For the other guys, I think ang point lang ni Nimrod is next time when we will try to conduct a competition like this, let us just try to make clear to the students and to the participants specially kung may word na Capiz or Capiznon na to make sure na pag may naghanap na Capiznon, hindi splog ang lalabas kundi may laman namang magpapakita ng isang content na may relasyon sa Capiz o kung ma-aari gagamit na lamang ng “target phrase” na hindi ma-aapektuhan ang paghahanap ng talagang naghahanap ng about Capiz. (actually guilty rin ako nyan kasi nagpacontest ako nung una may Capiz din sa keyword). Kaya lang andito na e naumpisahan na so tuloy na lang at ayusin na lang ang mga content.
For nimrod, I’ll try to leave a comment on Duane’s site so that other participants of the said competition will try their best to build contents that is really related to Capiznon. Kaya lang minsan hindi talaga mapigilan ang mga “native spammers”, nagmamadali talaga e ( kahit ako kung minsan/madalas
) but I see your point pre and syempre normal na reaction ng organizer medyo maiinis, kaya lang ang angas talaga ng pagkakacomment ni Sam dito , maybe because you call the event as scam which I think unfair sa kanilang part, kung mapapalitan lang sana ang word na mas lighter. 
For Wewiwit, if you are a student which I think you are, try to study the word RESPECT and the word TACTFUL, you will never be successful kung ganyan ang ANGAS mo!
February 17th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
@Bleuken/Felix
Uh, no. I left all their disrespectful comments intact, so it’s only fair that I leave this post intact as well. As for being unfair, as it stands right now, I am the one who is at a disadvantage because I have no idea who these people are but they already know who I am. If only they had the guts to use their real names before disrespecting me in my own blog then maybe I would give them much more credit than they are worth.
I never called this particular contest a scam. Neither do I think that this particular contest is a scam. In fact, nalipay gani ko nga may ara nga contest nga amo sini para sa mga estudyante sang Capiz. Some people like “sam” just don’t know how to read and understand what they are reading, kapin pa kay puro Ingles. Lingin lang guro ulo niya pagkabasa niya sobra kadamo nga Ingles. Sa sunod guro bisayaon ko nalang para mas maintindihan. LOL
At the time I wrote this, gusto ko gid tani i-point out ang isa actual nga contest (I repeat: not this one!) where the organizers scammed everybody into jacking up their domain’s PR. Pero better judgment prevailed on my part and thankfully I decided not to mention that other event. I guess that’s what happens when you use too much emphasis: your point gets taken out of context and people misunderstand what you are trying to say.
Needless to say I know Mr. Cartujano had all the best intentions when he started this contest and I wholeheartedly commend him for that. I also hope that there are more contests like this na exclusive lang sa mga Capiz students.
Anyway, good luck to all of you.
February 17th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
hindi man sya gyapon kaintindi sang bisaya meg galing i-translate man na giyapon sang kilala ya. pwd pre pakikuha lang ang name sang school kasi baka makita ni bosing tapat naman ko hehehe sensitive na sya nga da-an isa pa way sya kabalo nga gaentra kami di. please lang ang last line mo, thanks!
.
February 17th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
@Bleuken
No problem basta ikaw ah. Kung sabagay basi himuan naman ako isyu nga biased ko sa inyo. LOL.
February 18th, 2009 at 2:18 am
Hello guys! It’s like we are having a reunion over here. Nimrod, can we be friends? I can see that we have a lot in common. I also blogged about the commenters before. You can check it if you want. Anyway, I suggest that the “Hectic Capiznon Bloggers” seo contest rules must apply that entries should talk about Capiz.
February 18th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Hehehe. Gani man.
Of course, why not? Look me up on Facebook if you have an account.
Obvious naman na nagmamarunong lang yang mga yan. Ganyan talaga pag bata pa, mapusok. Yan din ang dahilan kung bakit yung mga bata ay hindi dapat sumasali sa usapan ng mga matatanda. LOL.
Yes, that’s a very good suggestion. Imagine someone from abroad searches for “Capiznon” sa Google tapos puro blog ng mga contestant ang lalabas sa first 20 results. And what do they talk about on their blog? Nothing about Capiz or Capiznon. Sayang din naman kasi kung tumaas yung PR score ng blog ng mga batang ito tapos puro keywords lang naman yung laman at walang useful content.
February 18th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Hi there… Buti na lng… ‘Capiznon’ gamit ko but i’m promoting Capiz.. and posting relevant information that will promote Capiz. I do hope that we will unite for the good of our Province. We should be proud being Capizeno. It is really a good intention of having contest like this so that students could really practice their skills in SEO… but we must avoid spamming and using unethical practice in optimizing your entry… and most importantly.. POST related and informative content that would really promote CAPIZ.
February 18th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
I hope my comment will be publshed.. sometimes it’s nice to have a healthy conversation ayt??
February 19th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Ayan tuloy nakatikim ka ng mga comments na maganda. Akala mo kasi bata ang kaharap mo eh. Sa pagkakaalam ko marami ng comments na naging postsecret mo sa blog mo ah.
February 19th, 2009 at 10:31 am
@capiznon/Prof. Sario
Yup. That is what is really important. I think future contests should have a ruling regarding that because like I said, Kanugon man lang nga taas ang PR ka mga website nga ini. Una gid na sila magwa sa Google and therefore una na sila nga makita sang mga nagaresearch about Capiznon and Capiz. Gani maayo gid kung may useful and relevant information man sila nga makuha sa mga site nga nagaintra sa contest. Or just do what other SEO events do and use nonsensical keywords.
As per my conversation above with Mr. Cartujano, he has made it clear na first time ini niya nag organize sang contest for SEO. Which is alright naman. We all make mistakes and we should learn from them.
@axiale05
How can you have a “healthy conversation” with people who resort to calling you names and insulting you on your own blog? Have you ever had a “healthy conversation” with an angry person shouting profanities at your face? I think not. Well maybe kung police negotiator ka hehehe.
I don’t know what comment you are talking about. This is the only comment I have gotten from you so far. Or did you use another alias? Perhaps if you had the courage to use your own name at magpost ka ng matinong comment, yung tipong hindi bastos at nang iinsulto. Kasi kung puro pambabastos at pang-iinsulto lang laman ng isang comment eh what will that add to the conversation? Pwede mo naman express na galit ka sa ibang paraan at gamit ang mga salitang hindi bastos.
@James
Hindi ganun ser. It’s the other way around. Yung mga nagcocomment na iba ang nag-aakala na bata lang kaharap nila sa blog na ‘to. Obvious naman sa dalawang post nila na pinalusot ko eh. Kung talagang mga professional yang mga yan eh hindi ganyan ang magiging asal nila. Kung talagang nag-iisip sila at marunong magbasa at umintindi ng Ingles eh hindi sila mag re-react ng ganun.
As for sa mga comment na nagiging “postsecret” (aliw din yung blog mo ah hehehe damihan mo pa ser). Wala naman nadadagdag sa usapan yung ibang mga comments kaya bakit ko pa idadagdag dito?
February 19th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Why you dont post some other comments? Some said that you ignore some comments. Its unfair to all that they dont read the other comments. I hope you will post the other SEO people that are commenting on you blog to become fair. Some SEO cant understand what are you talking. Its because you can target a good keywords that no competitors for a contest like in busby seo test, global warming awareness seo contest. That keywords shows no competitors. I hope you will considered this things even your not actually know what you are posting.
February 19th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Nimrod,
Hi Again….is there other way that you can do so that this kind of conversation would be stop? Are you able to delete this post para sa kabutihan ng marami…
If you cant do that….
Can you reword this paragraph below, because the sponsored of the contest seen this may be and he told me much better we should top the contest….
“Piece of advice to people (especially the students) who join these contests: take a look at what the contest requires you to do. If you are required to do a link back to a website, DO NOT JOIN! YOU ARE ALLOWING YOURSELF TO BE USED IN A SCAM! Why is that? Because there are some unscrupulous people out there who use these contests to push a domain ranking high enough so that they can later sell it at a premium price. Do not be fooled by contests like this. The prize money that they offer is chump change compared to the hundreds of thousands of pesos that they will probably get when they sell the domain later on.”
I respect anyone here in Capiz, i dont want to argue and i dont want to speak anything that can hurt.
There are many contestants here in Capiz blame the Assigned Keyword in this contest, because they wasn’t able to made quality articles, Lumalabas na ang keyword pa ang may problema at hindi sila makagawa ng matinong content (Kung ito ay lalaki pa ng lalaki I WILL ASK SEARCHENGINENEWS.COM to Explain everything and i will use the subscription fee of my clients)
Some people because of this nagyayabang ng kanila mga profiles which is hindi tama in my point of view….
Maraming Tao na Matindi yung profiles hindi naman nagyayabang ng kanilang mga nalalaman, Sir Benj Arriola the SEO World champ, Gio Castro earned 1.5 Million a month because of SEO/SEM hindi naman nagyayabang. Yung mga tao kasing marunong magpapakumbaba yan yung mga taong pinapala ng Diyos James 4:10
I know that nobody is perfect! We learned how to forgive and to forget….
Best Regards,
Duane
February 19th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
@Blademaster
Who told you that I ignore some comments? I have allowed all the comments that contain useful and relevant discussion to be posted. So what are you talking about? If someone told you that I am ignoring comments, please slap them in the face for me. As far as I can remember, I have only deleted one comment and that comment contained nothing useful that will add to the discussion.
As you can see, I do post these comments. What more do you want?
Then that is no longer my problem. If they cannot understand English, then they have no place in the SEO profession.
Yes, but these contests actually have rules that regulate what you can and cannot put in your blog. So I don’t see what your point is here because I have already addressed that above.
February 19th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
@Duane (thanks for coming over)
Voltaire once said:
I will add to that, “But if you yell profanities at me your post gets deleted. GTFO! lulz”
As I already explained to “BladeMaster” above I allow comments as long as they remain civil, respectful, and useful and I respond to them when I can. I have no control over what these people post. They skim my article, something highlighted as STRONG catches their eyes and they respond in knee-jerk fashion by commenting without even reading what has already been said by others and myself.
And no, sorry but I will not delete this post.
I already reworded it and mentioned specific rules that make for a shady contest. If your contest has those rules that I outlined in the reworded version then sorry but that is not my problem anymore.
As for stopping your contest, I don’t think you should do that. I for one would be very disappointed if you do that! If anything, the discussion we are having here is an eye-opener especially to those who wish to consider a career in SEO/SEM and for those who wish to hire SEO and SEM professionals. At the very least this is a wake-up call for those who are in this business: your actions are affecting search results for everyone who uses search engines and you must ensure that your actions are not disruptive to the overall user experience. Search engines are not your personal playground and you should make it your top priority that everyone who uses them will get relevant search results. In other words, if you must optimize for search engine marketing purposes, please do so in ways that will not screw it up for the rest of humanity.
What you should do is add a rule that will require participants to post some useful information about Capiz and Capiznon (the dialect). Is that so hard to do? Is it so hard to promote our province and our culture in addition to promoting your client’s site?
I have looked at the blogs in the first two pages I found via Google search for “Hectic Capiznon Bloggers”. Almost all of these blogs talk about the contest and nothing more. There are some who talk about Capiz but only in passing metion. What happens to these blogs after the contest is over? The information found in these blogs will float around the Intertubes ™ for decades, even if you take them down. Now wouldn’t it be nice if these blogs contained relevant and useful information?
Are they serious? I can think of several topics that I can write about and still use those keywords. For instance, you are a “Hectic Capiznon Blogger” so talk about what makes you a hectic Capiznon blogger. Talk about how, even with a hectic schedule, you are still able to blog and talk about things happening around our province. Talk about what makes your life hectic. It’s not that hard to come up with relevant topics aside from talking about the just contest itself. If it is hard for them to make quality articles then perhaps SEO is not for them. One of the skills required for good SEO is the skill of writing good copy. Now I understand that your contestants are only students but they have teachers that they can ask for advice, so what’s their excuse? They should not blame your keywords, they should blame themselves for their lack of creativity!
I don’t know why you would have to go to searchenginenews.com to clear this up. All the participants are from schools here in Capiz. You can set up a formal meeting with the contestants and discuss what others like Felix, Pweng Bee and Prof. Rommel have said. These are professionals coming from the same field who more or less agree with what I am trying to get across here.
If it will serve to promote Capiz and our culture all over the Intertubes ™ then I am all for this and other contests. If you want, we can even hold another event like this in the future and I will even be a sponsor (you can hold me to that promise, just look me up on Facebook).
I don’t know who you are referring to here. But when some anonymous coward calls me “tanga” on my own blog that’s when it becomes a penis length competition
It’s mostly a “I showed mine, now show yours” kind of thing. It’s for the lulz mostly.
I have kept this blog on a very low profile (which is why there is very little optimization here) and I was frankly surprised to see so many people finding this and responding to this particular post. I get less than 1,500 hits on any given week and I don’t really care about traffic. There are ads on this site but that’s because there are times when clients need me to teach them how to use Google Adsense and for that I need an Adsense account. Trust me, I have way better things to do than update this blog.
If you must know why I wrote a rant which just happened to mention your contest, it’s because I met one Capiznon on Facebook and I was curious to see if there are other like this person. So I typed in “capiznon bloggers” on google and guess what I found? I thought to myself “WTF?!? Another SEO Contest???” So there you go.
What’s the namedropping for? I know both of these dudes from PhilWeavers. I don’t know what that was for exactly but I guess now we know why the Philippine economy is not in bad shape like the rest of the world. We have people earning 1.5M from SEO/SEM alone. Talo pa si Manny Pacquiao. LOL.
I beg to differ sir, but it should be “you live and you learn”. This why most people never learn, they get forgiven and then they forget about the mistakes they made and the make the same mistake again
Thanks for adding to this discussion. Please keep the contest going. I don’t see how writing relevant content about Capiz and Capiznon would affect your results. Isn’t that what SEO is for? SEO is making sure that a site contains relevant information about a particular set of keywords so that they show up higher in search engines. Keyword stuffing is not SEO.
February 19th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Re: I don’t agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it…..
So ano gusto mong palabasin? hahayaan mo bang pupunta ito sa walang kabulohang discussion?
Re: What you should do is add a rule that will require participants to post some useful information about Capiz and Capiznon (the dialect). Is that so hard to do? Is it so hard to promote our province and our culture in addition to promoting your client’s site?
I think ikaw siguro magpacontest sa susunod? Pwedi dahil madalas hinihingi ng karamihan na may pacontest dito sa capiz….AGAIN this is out of my control, and i organized this contest para sa enjoyment ng mga taga-capiz.
Re: I don’t know why you would have to go to searchenginenews.com to clear this up. All the participants are from schools here in Capiz. You can set up a formal meeting with the contestants and discuss what others like Felix, Pweng Bee and Prof. Rommel have said. These are professionals coming from the same field who more or less agree with what I am trying to get across here.
So meaning to say, KASING GALING NA ni Felix, Pweng Bee and Prof. Rommel ang SearchEngineNews.com??? Pinaintindi ko ang line na ito sa Editor in Chief ng Capiz State University, and huwag mo akong turoan para mag setup ng meeting dahil binabayaran po ang oras ko sa office. I have no time to talk with Felix, Pweng Bee and Rommel, but if you want i can waste my time siguro if you want to meet me in person…Siguro Today or Bukas…text me sa mobile ko [mobilenumber-deleted] para magkita tayo. ano ok ka ba?
Siguro magmeet tayo sa Personal Nimrod, Gusto ko pati ikaw magkita tayo sa personal…
February 19th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Nothing like that. I was quoting Voltaire on what he said regarding freedom of speech. Of course meron naman limit dun. If you read the above comments there are only two disrespectful comments there. Perhaps, I should not have posted them but then I will get people like “BladeMaster” complaining that I ignore comments.
I have tried to keep this discussion in line by deleting comments (1 comment mind you) that do not add to the discussion. If people are talking about this somewhere else then I don’t know what you want me to do about that. Did it ever occur to you that if you stop talking about something, then the discussion goes away?
Now, why would you go out of your way and say that? I thought you wanted us to be “professional” about this. I thought you asked me if I wanted to correct this contest and this is what I did, I gave you advice in the comments above. Whether you do what I suggest or not is entirely up to you.
As for holding another contest, sure why not? I can help you organize and sponsor the event if you want. Like I said before I commend you for what you did and I still do. I know you had all the best intentions at the time.
No, you and your editor in chief got it all wrong. What I was trying to say to you was that going to searchenginenews.com and paying them is not necessary. This is a local contest after all. The contestants are local. So hold a meeting with the contestants and discuss the rule additions. The meeting does not have to be in person, you can hold a meeting using IM conferencing via Yahoo! Messenger. A meeting is not even necessary, if you have a website for this event post the updated rules on the website and inform the participants. And where did I say that you should meet with the people I mentioned above? These are people who basically share my sentiments based on their own comments above and I just pointed them out.
As for your being on company time, what does that have to do with anything here? If you organized this contest outside company time then you should also coordinate your efforts outside company time.
I don’t understand. You are telling me two different and conflicting things. I am not even sure that this is the real “you” replying here. Let me get this straight: At first you asked for suggestions. Then when I gave you suggestions you tell me na huwag kitang turuan. And now you tell me want to meet with me but then you also tell me that it’s a waste of your time. Now why would you bother to meet with me if you say that it is only a waste of your time? I am giving you the benefit of the doubt and just assume that “waste my time” was not what you really meant to say.
If you want to meet with me to clear up any misunderstanding and to discuss this and future contests then that’s fine with me. Just leave a reply below (all comments are moderated so no one gets to see them until I publish them) and tell me when, where and how many hot women you are bringing with you
I can use a break.
I have been very civil and tactful to those who are also civil and tactful in their comments. Kung nabudlayan ka mag reply sa Ingles, then tagalog or Capiznon is fine. I don’t mind kung magbinisaya kita diri. Mayo gani na para maintindihan sang tanan.
February 19th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I am already in a private discussion with Mr. Cartujano (the organizer of the SEO contest in question). I am closing comments on this post, which is just as well because the latecomers who have posted their comments are taking the discussion off topic.
This post stays here though. Thanks for playing.