Month 6 in the Blogosphere

It's been six months that Teecup Limited has managed stayed up and running in the blogosphere.

Other bloggers have done it longer, but considering how easy it is to get derailed from a pursuit that pays nothing and imposes no disciplinary action to force an individual to "deliver," it's worth mentioning that genuine passion in blogging drives a blogger to be an active blogger.   

Fast forward 120 posts later, what really happened between Month 1 and Month 6 of Teecup's blogging journey? Read on:

• The site got indexed by Google 24 hours after the first few blog entries went live in January 2011. Analytics showed an average of 4 to 5 daily visitors.
  
  
• The blog became part of the Adgitize blogging network in February 2011. The move dramatically improved the site's Alexa ranking from 14M to 600k.
  
  
• Because no posts were published for May 2011, a lot of visitors thought the blog had already been abandoned. The last few entries talked about blogging in absentia.
  
  
• By June 2011 and 100 blog posts later, the site became a PR1 blog. The kitty blog which only had about 10 posts was also assigned a site rank of 1.
  
  
• On July 2011, Teecup Limited joined the Adgitize network of advertisers - a move that brought the average number of daily visitors to at least 50 and further improved the site's Alexa ranking from 600k to 300k. 

What lies in store for the next half of the year? One thing is certain: The blog site will be walking hand in hand with friends who share Teecup's passion with writing, blogging and freelancing. A very special mention goes out to Chin Chin, Midnight Cowgirl, Umihoney and Geri for their regular visits and comments.

August is going to be a pretty busy month. Now, let's talk about your blogging milestones, shall we?*

Teecup Limited posting update

Teecup Limited has been up and running in the blogosphere for 3 months. The site is just a few posts away from the target of 100. After then, entries will be published bi-weekly. This plan is essential to:

prevent blogger burnout
produce better content
make way for Vanilla, Munchkin and Cookie Boy's new blog
streamline the site

What does this mean? Good news for you actually: You can finally rest your eyes and allow the daily bombardment of freelancing and blogging tips to subside. If you do want to catch up on the posts that you missed, you could browse the Topics tab or check out the Blog Archives on the right.*

Just How Useful is Comment Luv for Bloggers?

At last, I've successfully installed the Comment Luv plug-in to Teecup Limited! The plug-in is not one of those fancy but useless widgets used to prettify (and add clutter to) your site. It's rather a handy tool a sociable blogger would like. Just how useful is Comment Luv for bloggers?

Blogging Advantage 

As a blog site owner, you entice readers to comment on your posts. Why? By default, the tool automatically pulls the latest entry from the RSS feed and appends the title to the comment.  Your readers' motivation to post translates to traffic for your blog!

Tip: There's an option to select which of your 5 most recent posts to go with your comment. Simply click the semi-transparent arrow that appears beside the RSS feed to make the selection.

Comment Luv also makes a wonderful scout for blog site owners who want to go blog hopping. How? The plug-in gives you a preview of the comment maker's blog without requiring you to actually visit the site. You can then decide which blog to visit and which one to skip based on how well the title piques your curiosity . 

Getting to know Yahoo Answers

This week on the forums, Yahoo Answers took center stage. I, for one, participate in Yahoo Answers for fun and for some target trafficking to Teecup Limited.

Yahoo Answers is a community-driven site that allows members to post questions, give answers and select the best response. The responses range from off-topic to excellent, but I've found  the community useful on occasions when I required specific directions and advice regarding trip planning and sundry.

Cookie Boy's story - lost in translation

Cookie Boy wears a "lost" look.

I was googling Teecup Limited last night when I came across a weird link that said Google could translate my latest blog entry on Cookie Boy from English to Filipino.

The original story was about the cat discovering the corpse of a bat this week. I wasn't really expecting much from Google's English to Filipino translation.

Still, curiosity got the best of me. Here is an excerpt of the translation:

Isang unidentified bat na nagkaroon wandered sa Teecup Limited headquarters natutugunan ng isang wala sa oras pagkamatay na ito linggo.

Walang mantsa ng dugo, kagat marks at iba pang mga pisikal na katibayan upang magmungkahi na ang isang away ay ensued, sinabi ng cat sa bantay.

"Ang mga bagay lamang froze sa kamatayan," isiwalat Cookie Boy.

Ang tanging lalaki na miyembro ng's pack teecup ng mga di-tala ng mga ninuno cats ay sa patrol kapag siya natuklasan ang katawan.

Siya tinanggihan paglusob ang kabag at sinabi na siya natagpuan ang bangkay matapos habol sa roaches.

"Tulad ng marami bilang Gusto kong kumuha ng credit para sa mga pumatay, hindi ako isang bat nakamatay," cat ang sinabi.

I had the pleasure of a good laugh from the giant G's paragraph-by-paragraph rewording. Google's English to Filipino translation is SO much funnier than Nagmalitong Yawa (a character in Filipino literature). Don't you agree?

On a serious note, if you want your English blog site translated to Filipino, take my advice: Get a human  to do the job. Here's why:

• No matter how advanced technology may be, absolutely nothing can substitute the real human being in terms of language usage.
  
  
• Translation isn't a matter of expressing individual words from one tongue to another. Rather, translation takes into account the dynamic expression of thought within a given context.

There's no way I'm leaving Teecup Limited to the hands of a machine. The story on Cookie Boy's encounter with the bat deserves an international audience.

Cookie Boy - Watch Cat

Cat on patrol. Cookie Boy winks at the press.

An unidentified bat that had wandered into Teecup Limited headquarters met an untimely demise this week. 

There were no blood stains, bite marks and  other physical evidence to suggest that a fight had ensued, said the cat on guard.

"The thing just froze to death," disclosed Cookie Boy. 

The only masculine member of teecup's pack of non-pedigree cats was on patrol when he discovered the body.

He denied attacking the bat and said that he found the corpse after chasing roaches. 

"As much as I would like to take credit for the kill, I'm not a bat slayer," the cat said.

Though docile to humans, Cookie Boy is notorious for his hunting prowess in the animal world. 

Teecup's 1st Monthsary

     Cheers, Teecup Limited

This blog is a labor of love. Kampai to a wonderful start.
(photo credit: Jon Luty)

  

  20+

   blog posts

  200+

   unique readers

  200+

   votes and likes

  1000+

   page views

  50%

   return visits in

  30

   days!!!

A Writer's Break called Kit Kat