Planning to Retire Soon!

If you are planning to retire in the Philippines soon, I suggest you visit several excellent websites on pro's and cons of retiring in the Philippines. However if you want to retire in the provinces, where life is simple, standard of living cheaper, less traffic congestion and pollution, availability of fresh seafood and vegetables compared to the big cities, my island province is the place for you! If this is your first time in my site, welcome. Some of the photos and videos on this site, I do not own. However, I have no intention on the infringement of your copyrights. The photo above is the front yard of Chateau Du Mer- Our Retirement Home in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines

Monday, December 3, 2012

My Personal Tips for Effective Blogging



So You want to Blog? Here's my personal tips for successful blogging based on my blogging experiences.

When I was in graduate school two decades ago, I attended a two day seminar in how to write effectively. The most important information that I learned from that seminar was to write simply. Another useful information was to make short sentences. The last useful item I learned was try to use the active voice instead of the passive voice when you can. The above three basic information you should follow, if you want to write effectively and be a successful blogger.

I was always wondering whose original ideas were the above. Today,I found it was a quote from George Orwell as follows:

“Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. Never use the passive where you can use the active. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon
word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.”


If you plan on writing a blog, remember that majority of your readers just scan on the information, unless your topic is really interesting. Most readers like to read simple and concise articles, poems or short stories.

Another tip is to check your grammar and spelling. Most readers are turn off on misspellings and glaring errors in grammar. I also learned from my blogging
experiences (I have been blogging since 2008) that articles that deals with sex, politics and religion attract the most page views.

The use of headings, bullets and lists are good and useful. Your list however should not be too long.

When I was still writing for the ViewsHound writing site ( became defunct in December, 2011), I won only two awards out of the sixty articles that I wrote.
The articles that won the awards were my personal experiences ($50-gold award-Childhood experiences during the Japanese-American War in the Philippines) and my wife's personal experiences ($15-bronze award- Extrasensory Perception and Clairvoyance). My two-award winning articles showed that writing informally about your personal experiences, in a conversational style is good and effective.

My other advice to would be bloggers is to write not only to inform but also to entertain. A little humor to your postings will not hurt. Moreover, you should get to the point quickly. Do not write an article that exceeds more than one page if at all possible. After one page, most readers are tired, so unless your article is extremely exciting and controversial, your readers will lost interest.

Last but not least, always try to have an attention getting title to your post. Finally, if you write from the heart, nothing can go wrong! I wish you a Happy Blogging experience!

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