Here's Why I Deserve to Win A WordPress Blog

by Jan Geronimo on March 14, 2009

To qualify for the blog contest at TheWeBlogZone, I have to write a post why I think I deserve to win it.

(Author’s Note: Please read the next post for the details of this contest.)

Here are my main points why I think I deserve to win this contest:


I need to take my blogging to the next level
.

I have been blogging for only 70 days and already I feel the constraints of a hosted blog platform. But pundits will say I should have started with WordPress on day one and while their reasons are exemplary, let’s not go into that.

Some background. The blogging virus caught me when I had read Jehzeel’s blog. I did not know I was already infected. I kept coming to his blog to read his latest post. When there was a new update, I’d dig deep into his archives. Consequently, I started commenting on his post and from thereon we kept exchanging emails about blogging. He offered to host my blog. For free. The only thing I had to do is to get a domain name.

I had found a new found love: blogging. But I took the opposite route by registring with Blogger. It took me a while to visit Jehz blog again because I was ashamed of my stubbornness. But he did not take it against me. We’re still good online buddies.

Through these three months that I have been checking in on my blog neighbors, I always feel inferior about my blog. They have WordPress themes to die for. And marvelous plug-ins and widgets. I can only stand along the picket fence with mouth open in wonderment. I’ve been keeping up a carefree facade but deep inside I always feel like a poor cousin among my online friends. After all, I have been living under the bridge at the pittance of Blogger.

Monk waiting - hospital Issan, ThailandImage by Sailing “Footprints: Real to Reel” (Ronn ashore) via Flickr

Why should I be ashamed when I am not hurting anybody in the course of my blogging?

I know. I have been faithful to my blog – posting every other day. But faith and perseverance is not enough.

I have been studying to better my craft: subscribed to the big guns in the blogosphere, sitting practically at their feet to learn as much as my feeble brain can. But passion is not enough.

I have sacrificed many things so I can sit every day at my desktop so I can blog. Gave up prime time television. Which meant no more 24. No more Lost. No more American Idol. Gave up online gaming (I miss you, Nortrom the Silencer. LOL). But sacrifices are sometimes not enough.

I have been writing my own content. They may be a little skewed, a little off-putting sometimes, or juvenile and this I concede, but they are my own. They are not scraped materials from some obscure underbelly of the internet. Forensic blood spatter experts will tell you the microscopic stains on my posts are mine alone. But originality is not enough.

Unless I take my blogging to another level.

I need to be taken seriously as a blog author
. I’m blogging on borrowed time, living under the pittance of Blogger. Any day, any hour, my blog can be taken off the blogosphere by Google. And Google doesn’t need any earthshaking reason to do away with my blog. It can do so on a whim. Maybe down the road, for some quirk of fate, I will hit it big with Digg, driving monstrous traffic into this quiet blog. And Google will have been alarmed about the traffic spike and might have pulled the rug from under Sa Labas ng Mandaluyong. No amount of appeal can bring it back. You’re a splog, Jan, we’re sorry. End of discussion.

I have joined the blogging world without much thinking. I thought my enthusiasm was enough. Seriously, who will remember Sa Labas ng Mandaluyong? That’s quite a mouthful and bad for the palate. It’s obscure. What does it mean? Unless you’re a medical personnel from the mental institution in Mandaluyong City and goes about town with a straitjacket and a zapper. But you’re not. You have no time for this inside joke. Sa Labas ng Mandaluyong is a joke gone stale. It’s not enough if I want to be taken seriously as a blog author. And I do need to be taken seriously.

To sum up, let me borrow some words of wisdom from Friedrich Nietzsche, “No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.”

Winning this contest will give me the opportunity to do just so. A good start so I can rightfully claim the privilege of owning myself.

Invitation to you, dear readers. I’m lusting to win this contest, but I’m inviting you to join me. If I don’t clinch this, I’d feel less crestfallen if one of you can take it home with you. Elmot, Joji, James, Lemuel, Adrian,Jade and Yatot - this is for us, guys.

Come on, let’s make this our project.

Related Post: 10 Traits of a Die-Hard Blogger

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  • So this is the winning entry! hehehe.. thanks sa mention,, sensya na di ko to nabasa.. ang hirap pumasok sa top 10 commenters mo... cocomment pa ako sa ibang post para pumasok sa top 10.. hahaha :D

    congrats for winning! weeee!

    <abbr>Jehzeel Laurente’s last blog post..iBlog5 is the 5th Philippine Blogging Summit</abbr>
  • Jan
    @ash: Thank you. You're always welcome here any time. :)
  • ash
    Its interesting. I enjoy reading ur blog. =)
  • Jan
    @Gerri: Well, we must pull out all stops, Gerri. And having all that can be done, one just have to stand back and let go. Thanks, Gerri. :)
  • Gerri
    You too have made some good points as to why you should win. All the best to you. I will be back around sometime soon.
  • Jan
    @elmot: Thanks, then...Speaking of hands, Jaypee injured his hand playing basketball. It's still swollen I think. He's having a hard time writing his post now.
  • elmot
    that is a compliment bro, don't worry. and for sure, jaypee would agree to that, hands down, hahaha!
  • Jan
    @elmot: wow, I'd take that as a compliment. Thank you. I hope Jaypee agrees. hahaha
  • elmot
    sure bro, sure...i will think about this...


    you are like jayp's too, so convincing, hahaha
  • Jan
    @elmot: Oh, so much on you're plate right now. That's a bummer. I bet you'd find a way to do these things.


    But give this contest another thought. It's a great help for us, whoever among us wins. :)
  • elmot
    ei jan, it seems like that your invitatin for me to join this contest too is just too irresistable. the prizes are great. i personally would like you to win this contest, and i will be very proud of you on this. but i just feel that i am not yet ready to move to a self-hosted blog though i have been contemplating on it, for i am very much burdened right now by tasks: at work and studies (mag-thesis na kasi ako bro sa MA ko) so needs focusing.


    needs to achieve also some goals for my blog first.



    pag-isipan ko muna ha!



    kudos sa ating mga sa blogger pa!
  • Jan
    @joji: now that's the joji I know. hehehe. I will rather be blogging than dead, of course. :)
  • jojigirl
    Heh! I hate posthumousisms, mind you. So never associate my kind words for eulogistics, hehehe... I don't love dead people, I love those breathing ones...and don't mistake me for a cannibal for that!Hahhaha!
  • Jan
    @joji: All things being in equal, an oddball stands head and shoulders above the crowd. It's not a term of endearment for nothing, joji.


    Ano ba you! You're selling yourself short. I will have none of that. We are all rice-eating bloggers here. Of course others don't as they prefer bread and fancy cuisine. But the point is we are all unique, we are gifted all of us. Please don't sell yourself short. You're the man! hahaha.



    We are all equal here. And good buddies should. Please remember that.



    Thanks for the kind words. You made it sound like a eulogy. Gosh, I'm still alive, joji. hahaha. Love you too, buddy. :)
  • jojigirl
    How sweet of you dear to include me in that selection – the oddball, along with the equals, hehe- noticed that I am the only Manang in that group, hahaha! But you’re nice enough to plug me though, this way. I can only love you for this, for should I hate you then? Hehe…


    But certainly, the contest isn’t for me. I’d rather be posting something like why I don’t deserve to win the contest. You know that I am a retard , apparently learning slowly and un-surely my way around here(hush, retard is more vernal than dotard, so I preferred that term, hehe). While you dear, you have the intellectual stamina, raging enthusiasm to be more than just deserving to get what you’ve been dreaming of: take your blog to the next level.



    There are those who make things happen, Jan. You are one of them. And there are those who watch things happen, I am one of them. When you get the accolade Jan, I would be just more happy to be the red carpet that you’d trod on, hehe… At least I am elevating myself as the red carpet. I used to just feel like the doormat, hyuk,hyuk…



    You are an inspiration, buddy, once I hinges on your wisdom, I get a paroxysm of ideas, and it just happen oh, so naturally although it’s unnatural for me to splurge in words. I am a person short of words and ideas, usually.
  • yatot
    @jan: nah... my decision is final... hehehhehe... maybe i'll just join the contest if ever there is a repeat... like what i said, i can always have a domain of my own anytime, but maintenance for me is really hard right now... and i'll stick to blogger until I have such time...
  • Jan
    @yatot: Do you need by any chance an assistant (glorified name for katulong)? I can work for you for free, you know? :)


    No, good friends should be on equal terms and we're good friends. I just don't know how to express my appreciation for your sentiment. Your comment floored me. It's too bad I can't hug you.



    If you change your mind - I hope you change your mind though - we're still good. It will still make me proud if you win, if one of my online readers and online buddies win.



    I will just have to work harder to get what I want. Of course, I want to win. But my needs do not hinge on pure chance and luck alone. Winning that contest isn't everything. Makes it easier no doubt - but hey, we're all doing good even without it. And having fun, too. hahaha.



    Love you papa yatot, but you already know that. hehehe.



    @tonex: Yup, I need that. It's my version of D60. hehehe. Only thing is I don't have anybody to blackmail to get it. :)
  • tonex
    gud lak!
  • yatot
    I certainly wont join this contest because I wanted you to win! you deserve to win! I can always have my own domain if I wanted to.. but as for now... I will stick with blogger muna! I dont want to compete you on this no...! I know you wanted this from the very start and I wont take this dream of yours away from you! good luck on the contest! :D aja!
  • Jan
    @diTesco: I love you, buddy! - is all I can say.


    And thank you. This too. hahaha.



    @Jena Isle: I had something lined up to write about yesterday. But when I read Rocky's announcement on my feed, I couldn't contain my excitement. I sat down and completely let go. I'm glad it came out a bit coherent. And that you like it. :) Thanks a lot.



    @Dee: I have done all I could. Now it's up to the blogging gods to decide. hahaha.



    @Roy: You think? hahaha. I love you, too, papa Roy. :)
  • Roy
    I honestly wish it won't be based on the top commentator. I hate to see you stressed out at month-end just because you're a comment or two down from the leading commentator LOL


    Anyway, I checked the contest link and saw the criteria for winning - 70% Quality and 30% for reason.



    You've got them both covered in this post ;)
  • Dee
    Hope you win, Jan.


    Someday, I also wish to host my blogs using Wordpress considering that it is the pinnacle of blogging platforms. I might even go with CMS when my blogging requirements warrant. But check this out for a different perspective. :)
  • Jena Isle
    Such a very well written article deserves to win. I'm rooting for you. Go for it, Jan, Go!
  • Internet Marketing | diTesco
    @TheWeblogZone - After reading what Jan just wrote as to why he has to win your contest, I have to admit that these reasons are more than good enough. He is not just a serious blogger but a respectable online buddy. Most of the comments I receive on my blog are not as meaningful as his.


    @Jan. Way to go.. I really hope you win. In any event, and if you need it, I will more than happy to help you tweak your blogger blog. You might have noticed that I use blogger and I am quite satisfied with it.
  • Jan
    @TheWeblogZone: Rocky! You're fast on the draw. hehehe.


    Peeps, Rocky is the generous man behind this magnificent contest.



    Thanks for dropping by. :)
  • TheWeblogZone
    Thanks for the post Jan. I've enjoyed reading it. Good luck. :)


    @Binkee,

    Actually, Wordpress uses widget. Thesis Wordpress Theme, which is one of the prizes is sooooo user friendly you don't need any HTML or CSS or PHP knowledge to make it work. Thesis Options and Thesis Design let's you customize Thesis with a few clicks and SAVE. 90% of your customization can be done using these Thesis features.
  • Jan
    @bingkee: It's there now. I wrote two posts for this contest. The contest details should come out on top, that's how I like it to appear. But my reason for joining came out on top itself. Kadiri. hahaha. But it's there now under this post. Hays...


    All the more reason I should find a better home. :)



    You're a quick learner, what's WP to stop you? hahaha. You will do just fine.



    @Roy: Thanks for you show of support. How I wish winning this is as easy winning a top commentator award. I will just have to be attentive to every published post and let go of my insane comments and that's it. This is different. I cannot game it. Hahaha.
  • Roy
    I hope you win Jan!


    and yes, I agree. You do deserve to win.
  • bingkee554
    I don't see the link for the contest. Yea WP is better than Blogger. Even Typepad is better than Blogger. I have a Blogger blog and good thing I don't use that blog for commercial purposes. My concern about stats and IP banning are not available at Blogger. Sitemap is also not available. That's why I was not attracted to Blogger in the 1st place. I have second thoughts about self-hosting in WP format. Typepad is so user-friendly with all features that drive traffic. I am still on the verge of making a decision whether to go on w/ WP because WP is too difficult for me to handle ---even just moving my sidebar items need knowledge of CSS. And u know, I constantly move widgets and items in my sidebar from time to time. If I cannot deal with it until Tuesday, I will probably stick to Typepad and just use a new domain which I already bought from GoDaddy.
    Anyway, what contest was that?

    Whatever, I wish you good luck....because you are a one passionate blogger who always strives to be the best.
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