282 – On A 2021 First Quarter Update (Part 2: The Blog)

Here’s the second part of my first quarter update, this time with a focus on the blog itself. As usual, the Philippines is still under lockdown – for more than a year and counting. Fortunately, the Philippine government has downgraded it to the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until the end of April. We’ve had a number of coronavirus strains here in the country, including the B117 and B1351 strains, and there’s even the Philippine P3 variant now! Even worse, a number of family friends belonging to the Baby Boomer and Generation X cohort have also fallen victim to the novel coronavirus.

We can only practice public health protocols such as wearing a mask and face shield, frequently sanitizing hands, avoiding crowds, and staying home as much as possible – given our limited capacities as citizens. But enough of the health bulletins for now, and let’s proceed.

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End of an era: Saying goodbye to the Cosplay Portfolio and Facebook page

I finally put the blog’s Facebook page to rest after almost a decade. I initially created it for a cosplay-related project in 2011. I subsequently repurposed it two years later when I began blogging. For the most part of its life, I used it to promote my blog – until I shifted to Instagram in 2017. My focus on Instagram meant that I had less time to handle engagement on Facebook, and my desire to go “off the grid” only justified removing the page itself. I saw more growth and more engagement on Instagram – so I decided to pivot everything there.

Concurrent with the removal of my Facebook page, I also deleted the Cosplay Portfolio section in the blog. I do not see the value of keeping it up, as it would only result in people being directed to dead links. Furthermore, I’ve already left cosplay seven years ago so it is senseless to beat a dead horse. But for posterity’s sake, here’s an archived version of that page.

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Introducing The Monching’s Partners Program

You might have noticed the two small buttons at the right side of the page. Those two  are part of a pilot I’m testing out here, called The Monching’s Partners Program. Basically, I’m offering people who I’ve seen and worked with in real life a spot to promote their products and services. I’m opting to choose people I’ve known for a long time now to be a part of this program because I can definitely vouch for them.

Now, for a bit of an introduction on the two new partners.

First up is Coach Stepshock (Wil). I’ve known him since 2011 and so far, he’s the only person from cosplay that I’ve been in touch with for the longest time now. He started his own YouTube channel focusing on his interests – mainly fitness, gunpla modeling, shoes, and the occasional food – so pay his channel a visit while you’re at it!

Meanwhile, Darshey Goes To (Hershey) is a channel by a former colleague of mine from a previous job. She and her partner Dar have a pretty solid following as vloggers, but I’m nevertheless promoting their channel as I liked their content. If food and travel tickle your fancy, then their channel is one you ought to subscribe to!

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Migration tasks and the new Wix blog

On a side note, it’s also high time I announced this separate migration effort I’m working on. I would like to plug The Monching’s Guide on Wix, a cleaner and better-looking site where most of the earlier posts I published would be migrated.

You see, most of the earlier entries dating from 2013 until 2019 – especially from 2014 to 2018 – ought to be redacted or updated as they no longer reflect my current status. Some of the establishments already closed likewise and it would not be prudent to keep those up.

What I usually do for entries I finish migrating is that I keep most of the pictures here and put a clickable image to direct viewers to the new site. For those redacted ones, I usually put a message and a link to an archived version of the page. As of now, I’m done migrating posts from 2013 to 2014 – and I still have a lot of work to do.

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Yours truly responds to generic comments, and why I advise against them

I’d also like to bring attention to this recent matter I addressed some weeks ago. Long-time readers know that I tend to be very picky when it comes to dealing with foreigners, most especially whites. I used to dedicate full rants about the despicable practices these foreign bloggers do, but a blog post can only do so much. Thus, I took it to the next level and called them out right then and there.

Thing is, there are some bloggers around this joint that comment generic crap to get your attention. From the looks of their comments, it appears that they don’t even think about what to put in despite making it it look like they appreciate what you do. My word of advice? Don’t be fooled: They do it in other blogs. Even SEO guru Neil Patel pointed it out: “I have actually [copied] and pasted comments I’ve received into Google search and found them being used, word for word, on dozens if not hundreds of other blogs.”

I called out two bloggers with regard to this – and one of them actually reached strike 2.

You might ask: What is the lesson here? True blog engagement can be done if people actually take time to read before leaving a comment. Generic comments seriously look out of place, insincere, and almost robotic – trying to be relevant, but failing in the end. Let me quote Patel once more: “Some blog owners will read every comment and consider it [legitimate] if the comment shows that the reader actually read the post.” Quit using shortcuts those snake-oil salesmen tell you. Slow and steady wins the race, kids!

And to note: This behavior is not limited to Americans and Europeans – I have seen similar actions from Indians, Africans, and Russians. Nevertheless, comment spamming is never a good way to get people to view your blog regardless of race. If in case it does, it’s for the wrong reasons!

Ultimately, your comment will definitely reflect if you read and understood the post properly. If you know that you actually read things instead of just leaving a generic comment, then you have no need to worry.

Well, that’s it for now. Until the next post, stay safe!

(AUTHOR’S NOTE: The featured image for this post came from Pixabay on the free stock image site Pexels.)

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