There are two things you need to consider whether an article will be a hit to your audience – relevance and timeliness. Your content should always be relevant to your target market, meaning, it should always feed your audience’s need.

Your content should also be timely. There are just some articles, or white papers or books that can certainly be called classics or all-time favorites, which are relevant anytime and anywhere. However, in order to continually keep your audience coming back, you should always offer something new, something relevant to current events.

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Creating valuable content is not only about great stories and relevant information. It is also about having stellar writing skills. A writer must have excellent spelling and grammar skills. The reason is simple – no one takes bad grammar and repulsive spelling seriously. One must also use the right words and the right tone when writing an article or a paper.

Sure, it takes lots and lots of writing to practice and hone one’s skills, but it you would need a quick fix, or another eye to help you go over a short article or blog post, I suggest you try Paper Rater.

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Among the many press releases I go through everyday for the past few days, one stood out the most – What You Know Can Hurt You: EmployeeScreenIQ Releases White Paper on Dangers of Recruiting Via Facebook.

We have heard those horror stories of people who lost their jobs for what they posted on their blogs and social networking profiles. We all know Dooce and I think some may know Troutgirl.

Yes, employers can be very strict (and utter killjoys, everyone has personal lives, ne?); any misconduct documented via Facebook photos and strong words posted on Twitter can land anyone with a pink slip the next working day.

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Ventureneer, an e-Learning center geared towards helping small businesses and non-profits succeed, has just released its newest eBook, Getting Ready to Grow: The Things You’ll Need.

If you are looking to grow your business by bringing in partners and investors, you need to work on your presentation – starting from a strong business plan to a great elevator pitch that will get you that meeting where you will deliver a presentation that will reel investors in. The eBook is filled with great tips on how to prepare for that big day. The content is short, to-the-point, realistic and doable.

The eBook is composed of four main points, namely:

• Reeling Them In: The Elevator Speech
• Magnetize Your Business Plan
• Developing Credible Financials
• Presenting is More than an Art, it’s a Science

I have downloaded and read the eBook, and I find it very helpful and it served as an eye opener for what my next step, concerning all my blogs, will be.

Actually, the eBook is also applicable when creating valuable web content, specifically every website or blog’s “about page” or “profile page”. So if you are looking for great tips in writing great web content to present yourself, your blog, company or product, then you will find Ventureneer’s newest eBook very helpful. After all, every visitor to your website is not just a reader, but a potential investor or partner as well.

For more free ebooks and webinars for small businesses and non-profit organizations, click here to visit Ventureneer.

I have been more active in Twitter lately that I noticed that apart from the slew of Filipino actors doing their 140 characters (pun not intended), large Philippine brands are now actively tweeting as well.

Telcos Globe and Smart and power distributor MERALCO are not only answering inquiries, they are also broadcasting news and updates to their subscribers. As someone who believes in building genuine relationships between brands and consumers, I am very happy seeing these big names on the social web.

I am sure that some other blog have already blogged about this, as the Twitter accounts have been active for months, but I’d like to talk about it on a personal level. Here are some of my observations (with @talk2GLOBE) and personal experiences (with @SMARTCares and @MERALCO)

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Last month I did something brave. I mustered up all the courage inside of me and tried to apply for a spot in Technorati. And what do you know, I got accepted!

My excitement in being able to write for Technorati has not wavered. As of today I have published five articles with them.

• Child Asthma Potentially Linked to BPA Exposure During Pregnancy (Lifestyle)
• Lifeguard Towers Transformed into Works of Art (Lifestyle)
• Google Buzz Privacy Issues Checklist (Technology)
• H1N1 Vaccination “Fast Lane” (Lifestyle)
• How to Plan a Scream-Free Play Date (Lifestyle)

Lesson learned: Be brave. There’s no harm in applying for a gig or position you are aspiring for. Don’t let the company’s (or publication’s, in my case) big name intimidate you. After all, you’ve got nothing to lose, only so much to gain.

As someone who believes in the power of genuine pleasant relationship between businesses and customers, I am amazed at the things I learn along the way regarding this very valuable concept.

“Relationship” is the operative word in Customer Relationship Management. It’s a two-way street. Which led me to believe that Customer Relationship Management go both ways. The customer has a role, too. And today I would like to discuss that with you. Let me start by telling you about an experience I had last week, when I took on the role of the customer needing some support. It gave me a different perspective on building genuine relationships.

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The other day, I posted about Yahoo! 360°’s impending shutdown on July 13, 2009.

As a result, if you have a 360° profile like I do, you would have to migrate all your content to the new Yahoo! Profiles.

This means that you need to download all your content from 360° before July 13, 2009. Otherwise, you will lose all your content.

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Wow. One of my articles for syndication have been picked up and published on the Valentine’s issue of Sexy Singles Magazine. My article in on pages 27 to 28. I didn’t even know about it.

My Article in Sexy Singles Magazine, February 2009 Issue

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Yahoo’s attempt at a social networking service, Yahoo! 360, is shutting down on July 13, 2009.

Why Yahoo! 360 Didn’t Work for Me and My Network

Being an early adopter, I signed up for Yahoo! 360 the day it opened its doors to social media junkies. I tried to use the service the best I can, but I have always felt there was something lacking, I just cannot pinpoint what it was. So my updates on my Yahoo! 360 profile were very few and far between.

I tried adding friends to my profile, but even they hardly ever updated theirs. Most of my friends on my Yahoo! Messenger list were added to my profile, but they were all Friendster, Multiply, and Facebook junkies to even notice Yahoo! 360. I guess my friends and I weren’t very impressed with 360.

I do know some people who were very successful in networking with Yahoo! 360, and I know that they’re going to miss the service. It’s not the end of the world for them, though.

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