Tumblr + Google Apps + Domain = Full Blown Blog Site

Background
For personal sites, it’s often not a priority to create your own domain and host it. Most don’t really bother to do so, because it usually entails a lot of work and effort to maintain, as opposed to just creating a free account in say, Blogspot or Wordpress.com. I myself started my personal space in the Internet with free blogging  accounts courtesy of those services. It didn’t take long for me to start wanting to own a domain for myself, and ever since, I’ve been meaning to expand my space online.

Recently, I embarked on a journey to create a new domain to host my other blog on Travel and Photography.

Here I’ll share with you how you can actually create and host your own domain with ease, and have all the bonuses setup along with it. You can have your own blog, an email connected with your domain, and a calendar. All these are possible by connecting Tumblr (a good free blogging platform that is easy to use) and Google Apps with your domain.

Here’s How

1. Register a domain with NameCheap or your preferred domain registrar. This usually costs around USD 10 per year for a .com domain.
2. Create an account in Tumblr.
3. Edit your domain’s host records to point the domain’s A-record [IP Address] to 72.32.231.8.Note that for Tumblr, IP address is used, instead of nameservers. In NameCheap, the link to editing host records can be found under Host Management.
   

   NameCheap Host Records Link

   Edit the A-record as follows:

   

   NameCheap Host Record - Tumblr A-Record

   The @ signifies the root of the domain, i.e. iamasampledomain.com, while www signifies the root, with a www prefix, i.e. www.iamasampledomain.com. Save your changes.

   Note: It may take upto 72 hours before the changes take effect, depending on the registrar.

4. Customize your Tumblr blog to allow custom domains.
   

   Tumblr Custom Domain

   On the Info menu, tick the Use custom domain name checkbox and enter the domain you have created. Once this is setup, test your domain by clicking the Test your domain link. Don’t forget to save! You should now be able to type your domain and the site you have created should show up (assuming the domain settings has already been setup and has already taken effect).

   [optional]
   The following steps are optional if you want your own domain email via Google Mail and other Google Apps such as Docs and Calendar linked to your domain.

5. Create an account in Google Apps (Standard Edition) as an Administrator.
6. Activate and customize the email and calendar settings in Google Apps. Change the Web Address/URL for Email and Calendar to a custom name. e.g. mail.iamasampledomain.com and calendar.iamasampledomain.com.
7. Edit your domain’s host records CNAME to reflect the settings you made in Google Apps.
   

   NameCheap Host Record - Google Apps CNAME

8. In order to fully allow the emailing to work, you need to edit the MX records to:
   
   Priority | MX Server address
   10 | ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
   20 | ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
   20 | ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
   30 | ASPMX2.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
   30 | ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
   30 | ASPMX4.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
   30 | ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.

   For NameCheap, it’s a simple change. Simply tick User under Mail Settings, tick Quick Change and Google Apps Email then save. All the required MX records will automatically be loaded.

   

   NameCheap Host Record - Mail Settings

   Note: It may take upto 72 hours before the changes take effect, depending on the registrar.

Finale
Congratulations! You should now be able to access your newly created site, your email and calendar using your new domain.

Visit my Photravelography Blog for a sample blog done using the above method.

Have fun!

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Maintaining a site is not as easy as it seems. There are certainly lots of things to take note of, and one of the more important pieces in web design and blogging is SEO. While being bloggers, we know that the most important thing is content, we can’t deny the fact that good content is a waste when people cannot access the content. This is where marketing effectiveness and SEO come into play. There are a lot of ways on how to improve in this aspect, and there are lots of resources out there that may help you.

One of the tools that might be of interest is WebsiteGrader, developed by HubSpot. WebsiteGrader helps you analyze your blog/site, and provides inputs as to how you can further improve your site’s marketability. Here are some points of analysis:

• Site Content – recent articles, readability, indexed pages, etc.
• Optimization – metadata, image content, domain analysis, inbound links, etc.
• Promotion – links to Del.icio.us and Twitter
• Conversion – RSS feeds and contact forms
• Traffic Analysis – Alexa ranking, etc.

For a sample result, view the grade for Martian Footprints. Give it a shot!

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Political Ad Spending

I don’t know how it is with other countries, but in the Philippines, in order to win an election, you’d have to spend millions and millions in Pesos. And mind you, it’s not even a guaranteed win. Unless, of course, it’s all part of a well-orchestrated move that involves inside manipulation.

Background

A politician’s salary is a measly below-average compared to working in the industry, yet a lot are willing to spend gazillions in cash to win. What’s so important about winning an election, aside from the obvious seat of power and glory? Ahh, the ever so limited cash that the Philippines has. Every project they are engaged in, they have the “power” to insert lines into contracts, to add miscellaneous fees, to fake receipts, etc. This oftentimes result to more than 100% increase in the total amount, which they put under the guise of public service – ‘This project was brought to you by: So and so…’

Strategy: Diversify and Modernize

Nearing the May 2010 elections, more and more ads can be seen or heard in radios and TVs. Not only that, ads start to diversify as well, targeting not only the usual channels, but also utilizing more modern approaches. Imagine political ads invading the Internet and taking the form of YouTube videos, Google Ads, Facebook Fan Pages and Facebook Ads. Yes, it’s happening! I never thought this day would come, but it did! I must admit it is a brilliant strategy, as more and more people are reliant on the Internet and are fans and loyal users of social networking sites.

BS: Too Much Spending

There are just too many ads a normal human can take of a single political candidate. Spending too much is pure crap. Taking that aside for a while, many of them have already been airing these ads since last year! Let’s revisit what constitutes a fair election. A very clear example of too much spending is Manny Villar. Yes, he has been the pioneer in Internet campaigning. According to this ABS-CBN News article,

Romano said he estimates that Villar spends $1,000 or P47,000 a day on the Internet, compared to their $50 to $100 or P4,700 budget daily.

Imagine Php 47,000 in 120 days (4 months). That’s already Php 5.6M, and I guess that’s the least of his worries. He even has his own game show on TV! What’s up with that?! He gives out house and lots on TV, and pays for millions of celebrity endorsements. Now what can I say? No wonder estimates say that he has already spend at least Php 1 billion ($20 M) for his campaign. I’ve mentioned Manny Villar, because he is a premier example of overspending, but almost everyone is guilty of that.

Spending Capacity = Justifiable Overspending?

It is now not a matter of spending capacity. Ok, granted that you are indeed very rich and can spend well beyond your means? Let’s say you spend Php 100M, how will you regain what you have lost? Why will you spend that much if you do not have something to gain? It’s just like a business. Why will you invest in something with no returns? It’s crazy and a total BS to say – “I want to serve the Filipino people,” when in fact you just want to get your way.

Villar was asked in a recent presidential debate in DLSU whether he agrees to limiting the political campaign spending or not. Here’s his reply:

“In limiting campaign spending, we should not shut the door to those candidates who are poor, whose mother was not a celebrity, whose sibling was not a celebrity, so that they can be known…Even though I have a lot of infomercials, I don’t think I can reach the level of popularity of a popular celebrity or a popular mother,” he said in an apparent jab against Aquino. Aquino’s mother is the late president Corazon Aquino while his sister is popular TV host Kris Aquino.

Agree. But how about those who have nothing to spend? Are you not shutting the door on those poorer than you? Here’s his reply:

“It depends on what you do. For example, in business, if you have no money, it’s probably because you don’t know how to manage. You will be giving a big problem to the country if you run when you can’t even manage your business.”

You be the judge. However, I still don’t believe that it is justifiable, whether it is him or his opponents. It’s pure BS!

Finale

Winning is all that matters, apparently. The problem lies in the people, yet the problem also lies in the system. As long as the system allows such behavior, and as long as people allow it to happen, the Philippines will remain last in South East Asia. The once pride of Filipinos, now is dead last in overall standing, yet first in corruption.

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Windows 7 God Mode

Windows 7 users, here’s a way for you to control everything in one place, and I mean everything! I recently discovered this on ElegantCode.

So how does it work?

Simply create a folder on your Desktop and rename it to:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Presto! You’re all set.

Here’s a snapshot of what you can tweak using this neat trick:

• Administrative Tools
• Backup and Restore
• Date and Time
• Keyboard
• Internet Options
• Mouse
• Network
• Programs and Features
• Remote Desktop
• Troubleshooting
• User Accounts
• Windows Firewall
• … and a lot more

So be sure to check this out. Have fun!

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