Feb is the anniversary month of Hoshilandia.com, a more than decade-old Filipino website created by Hitokirihoshi or Hoshi Laurence (kung sino man siya, charrot!). I can’t think of any extravagant gimmicks to celebrate. But I guess sharing the life lessons I have learned from blogging or content creation can be a good thing. If I will be invited to TED Talk or Fast Talk ( char) and a webinar these are also the things that I will talk about. Te and Kuys, it is an achievement already for me that Hoshilandia is still up! 

Personally, these life lessons are my reflection of how blessed and grateful I am in this journey–digital journaling or online publishing. At the same time, it is my way of helping fellow bloggers, content creators, and others to get an in-depth understanding of blogging or content creation in text or writing.

1 Blogging can help you to develop self-awareness skills

 This is one answer I can give to questions such as What are the benefits of learning to blog? How useful is blogging in today’s life? Blogging can be your digital journaling but with a purpose. You only have to be creative and mindful of how you present it to your public. But still, it can help you to be aware of your style, persona, etc.

Blogging helps me to be aware that I am purpose-driven and have non-standard preferences. I can give 101 excuses to stop blogging. Realistically, many things have been happening in my life beyond this site—ups and downs. However, I cannot simply do it because

• It is where I can be in be my authentic self (including my writing style/voice and how I perceive things in life)
• It is an outlet for me to serve people by giving information and entertainment.
• And when you love what you do (fueled by purpose) and love who you are in this journey, you empower yourself to achieve more in life, including happiness. 

Honestly, my reasons for blogging are five or seven.

2 Your website/ content changes as you evolve as a content creator. 

I chatted with a friend about my plans for Hoshilandia. One of the things she said that stuck in my mind was, “is it not you incorporating humor in your blog? Wow! Hearing that, I realized the changes in my website and my blogging style since she last checked it.

To brief you, I used to post articles with humor. At one point, I even had a series of stories about poops or tips about pooping in public toilets. Geez, I am now far from that blogger! Those were the punch of my creative writing when I had so much time to observe things and spare time to create content. 

Well, I don’t intentionally go far from a humorous blogger. I gradually and naturally changed to a more serious and informative type because of different factors such as

• I often do in-depth research studies.
• I am actively learning and developing business skills.
• And above all, I have various passions to focus on only one interest. But I do like to do creative writing—who knows, as a scriptwriter or book author.            

Reminiscing those times, I remember gaining avid readers/fans, interestingly mostly guys, because of those posts. So if you like a humor blog in Filipino or English, it’s good. People love reading funny and entertaining stories.

And the skills I improve or learn from blogging through the years are

• writing or communication skills
• digital marketing skills
• creative thinking and problem-solving skills 
• Interpersonal skills
• Self-awareness-building skills
• And more 

3 Getting invites for events or promotions is awesome, but you need to work on it. 

One of the top goals of most content creators is to be invited to events or media conferences, etc. If you’re sociable, this is enjoyable and beneficial. What I like the most about attending events are the interview and discussion portions. It is an opportunity to learn new things and create more content. My common problems though are when the venue is too far  from my place or challenging for commuting and if the date does not fit with my work schedule.

I have fellow bloggers who are active in this stuff. And some of them are sought-after for the PRs, while others are not. The latter group feel sad whenever they’re snubbed or remain unnoticed. It is even if they are exerting efforts to publish posts that sound suitable for the businesses and brands. The thing is, there are now specific criteria before you get invites

• Number of followers/ subscribers
• You are part of a group/ company—ideally, have a connection or influential 
• You are game to upload content faster to your website (s) and social media accounts

There are more factors to consider besides these depending on the campaign manager. So if you want to get invites quickly, you can start doing things to meet those conditions. Consider also that on the business side, marketing or PR people need to provide metrics for their marketing campaign— at the end of the day they want sales conversion. 

On the other hand, you can also follow other effective tactics, which are what I do since I can’t meet those typical standards. 

4 Do digital marketing tactical efforts  

You can’t beat the number game, at least have a website with quality and searchable content. I am talking about SEO, SERP, and similar techniques. 

I cannot call myself an influencer. And for now, I wish to post more often than usual since 2017. So the only key I’m seeing why I get invites from time to time is because my articles are searchable on Google and other engines. Some of my posts are being shared and used as a source for studies, profiles, news, etc. Additionally, I refrain from publishing copy-paste press releases.

5 Prioritize creating posts for your target readers (including yourself)

I can’t emphasize enough that I like getting invites from our dear PR people and companies. But it is more worthwhile to focus on publishing content you are passionate about and helpful for your target market. It is fundamental, sustainable, and more beneficial long term.  

Moreover, advertisers/ companies would notice creators with something to offer the public than publishing promotional-centric posts. Who reads a website purely about press releases and brand promotions, anyway? 

Check Part 2 and 3 of this series, I will discuss about

• Why collaboration is important
• Politics and some issues in the community
• Things about being online publisher
• and more