On this blog, you’d see more tutorials/guides like this one aimed to help people who are new to the world of blogging. Most of them were requested. If you would like to request for a tutorial/guide, contact me.

I’ve got tons of blogs I follow and have listed on my browsers’ bookmarks (I use Chrome and Firefox). But, because of my very hectic schedule online and offline, I don’t get to visit all of them as often as I want to.

I’m just glad that most of these blogs that I follow and enjoy reading offer this email subscription option to their readers. I don’t like subscribing through other feed readers (Google Reader, Bloglines, etc). I still prefer getting updates through my email so I can easily get access to them since checking my inbox is on top of my daily to-do list.

Why Should I Put a Feed Subscription on my Blog?

You might be asking yourself why you should place an email subscription form on your blog when you’re not even sure if there are loyal readers of your blog. Trust me, just because you own a personal blog doesn’t mean no one would want to keep track of your blog updates. You might be posting about topics that seriously interest people so I suggest you give them that option to subscribe.

Why Would I Offer Feeds? Wouldn’t that Affect My Blog’s Traffic?

Some bloggers may prefer not to offer this option because they want their readers to visit their blogs instead of reading their new contents through email. But, there’s actually a workaround for this – by setting your feeds to summaries only. I’ll be covering that near the last part of this guide.

Trust me, offering feed subscriptions can even boost your blog’s readership / traffic. Some may argue that if your readers don’t see anything interesting on your feed updates, they won’t visit your blog. Now, consider this – if they have no idea you have new content, that’ll definitely decrease your blog’s readership. So, interesting or not, let your readers decide.

About Feedburner

For all my blogs, I use Feedburner to handle feed subscriptions. It’s pretty simple to use and set up. It’s also under Google so you know that you can really rely on their service.

What’s good about Feedburner is you can have all your Atom or RSS feeds in one place. It’ll automatically convert your blog’s feed based on what feed reader is used.

So, for this guide, I’ll show you how easy it is to setup your feeds on Feedburner and I’ll share some tips along the way.

How to Setup Feedburner (Initial)

(more…)

I joined Sulit‘s Christmas card-making contest in the hopes to bag the Viral Poster special award and the iPhone 3GS that came with it. The contest will be ending this November 30th and so I’m still gathering support from anyone who has a blog (WordPress, Blogger, Multiply, Friendster, etc) or Facebook account. You can be my viral poster and it’s as easy as 1-2-3.

Here are previews of my Christmas card entry:

Static preview of my official entry (3.3mb GIF file)

Static version, for printing, etc

Click here to know how you can viral post for me. Hurry! You still have time!

(Updated with actual photos of the E5)

I have a Globe Tattoo 3G USB dongle and I’m not pretty happy with the connection speed I’m getting from it. Some say it’s because of my location (I live in Malabon), but most of my friends who use 3G say there are better options.

I’m planning on traveling more really soon and so I need to find a better way to get faster 3G speeds wherever I go. Or at least, give me an option to choose which network I want to use for my internet connection.

I heard about Globe’s MyFi and I wasn’t really interested because, of course, it was exclusively theirs and I’ve already mentioned my disappointment with my Globe network speeds here in our area. I found out that the MyFi is actually a Huawei E5830 3G router (thanks to this post) made for Globe. Though I’ve read some really good reviews about Huawei products, I’m still not convinced to try Globe’s MyFi.

And, so, I’m pretty glad when I heard that Huawei, a leading telecom solutions provider worldwide, will be bringing their innovative products to the Philippines. This November, Huawei will be launching their consumer products, starting with their E5 Pocket MiFi mobile wireless modem.

I was reading through the specifications and features of the Huawei E5. It’s not just any wireless modem or 3G USB dongle. It has router features so that means multiple devices can connect to it. My bro would definitely enjoy having this around during our future travels.

Also, because of its router capabilities, you can secure your WiFi connection, just like a regular router. The Huawei E5 has its own admin page where you can control or setup your wireless network, and even access its network storage (a microSD card of up to 16GB).

Another thing that I’m excited about the Huawei E5 is the battery. It can provide up to 5 hours of continued use or 100 hours of standby. And, if the battery runs out, you can simply plug it into your computer to charge and it can work as a regular 3G USB dongle. How amazing is that?

And, have I mentioned how small it is?! You can easily bring it or put it inside your baggage or bag, even in your pocket! How convenient, right?

Of course, since Huawei E5 will be exclusively distributed by Gcomm Business Corp., it’s open-line so you can simply switch networks when you’re not happy with the other’s connection speed. That’s the main reason why I’m looking forward to the E5′s launch here.

The Huawei E5 will be available in retail shops really soon (target is this November) and the price is set at Php 5,995.00.

You can contact Gcomm Business Corp for more info about this new product: (+632) 659-0072 or email them at admin@gcomm.ph.

I’m hoping to get a hands-on experience with the Huawei E5 so I can write a full review of it.

Eihdra of One Proud Momma was the grand prize winner of my Make a Wish blog contest over at Just Another Pixel. Among her prizes, she won a custom blog design or makeover. But, for some reason, the sponsor disappeared on us. Since I already got familiarized with WordPress after putting up my first self-hosted WP blog (Pinay Reviewer), I decided to complete her blog’s makeover myself.

After the contest, Eihdra and I became friends. And, I was happy to complete the makeover for her. She had a LONGGGGGGG list of things she wanted me to do with her blog (she’s very aware of this, she even blogged about it *lol*) and I gladly accepted the challenge.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Almost everything on her list of ideas, I was able to accomplish. I’m pretty happy with the outcome. And I’m so glad Eihdra loved it.

Details of the Blog Makeover

She wanted pink and purple and I’m glad she loved how I combined those colors for her blog’s layout. She also likes butterflies so I added that pink butterfly on her blog header (rather subtly), and on her sidebar and blog title designs, including her post signature.

I found 2 images that suited what I wanted to do with the header. There were a lot of space on the header so I decided to add that RSS email subscription on there, which I feel added more fun to the whole layout/design, don’t you think?

This is my first WordPress blog makeover project (I didn’t count my WP blogs, of course) and I feel that I’m now ready to do more blog makeovers. It’s fun designing for other people, really.

A couple of people already asked me about my blog makeover rates. Well, honestly, I don’t have a rates list prepared yet. I’ve been really busy with all the changes happening in our computer shop business so I might postpone posting that ’til December. I want to offer affordable blog makeovers for bloggers out there so keep posted for that. For now, if you are interested, please, contact me with your details.