Want to Take a Peek on The Newspaper?

This was actually on July 2 just posted this today because it might interfere the contest winners post.

Ain’t that cool? I’ve accomplished another blogging goal, I just hit an interview by Annalyn. (A writer of Manila Bulletin – one of the top newspapers here in our country)

It was a great interview really, though she just sent her questions to me via e-mail. I really can’t explain what I felt on the day I saw my name on the news. It was like “Oh, is this true? Why am I here? Maybe I’m just dreaming or something”?

After I stabled myself :mrgreen and believed in what I saw, my dad told me to bring the copy of the newspaper and maybe share it to some of my classmates. Some of them told me that I just printed it out, LOL.

Oh yea, Want to read what was on the paper?

STRAIGHT FROM A KID BLOGGER: ‘MAKE MONEY ONLINE WITH A 14-YEAR OLD’

By Annalyn S. Jusay

At 14 years old, Carl Ocab touted to be the youngest blogger in the Philippines at present. He’s supposed to be studying and playing online games during his spare time but has chosen to devote himself partly to blogging where he has uncovered the secrets to making money online. Is he on his way to becoming the youngest internet millionaire? Find out more in the following interview:
Q. Please tell us something about yourself.
Hello Manila Bulletin readers! I’m Carl from carlocab.com or as many say, the “Make Money Online Kid” or “kidblogger” though many treated me as a special kid on the net, I still managed to live a normal life offline.
I’m a 2nd year high school student of San Beda College Alabang, and again, living a normal school life there. Though sometimes I share some of my make money online secrets to my school friends, they still don’t believe me. Of course, how can these high school students believe that you can make some cold cash out of the net?!

Before the “make money” entered my world (which was 2 years ago), I lived life happily with music. I play guitar, piano, drums and some violin too. Actually, we are planning to make a band on our school. You might want to hear the “Make Money Online Kid” play some freak’n guitars eh?
My family is happy with my blogging and making money online activities (Who wouldn’t want his/her kid make some cash out of the net?). Though there are days that my mom would scream at me and call me hundreds of times just to let me sleep.
But thanks for my dad for this screaming… Err! I mean internet success because he was the one who introduced it to me. He was the first one to study and test it for a long period of time and just taught me what he learned… So it’s like taking a shortcut to success.

Q Am sure everybody would like to know how you started blogging and at what age…. how can we tell you’re really 14 years old ?
A. Well, I actually started blogging at the age of 12. I was making MFA (Made for AdSense) blogs that time but I was just playing with it. Though after a month or two, I was burned out and stopped. Then I continued to play online games like Ragnarok, O2jam, Pokemoncrater, etc…
But then my dad asked me again “Ano bang mapapala mo dyan?” (What will you get from that?) and that made me realize that playing those games are just a waste of time and money (Because some of those games need to be loaded in order for you to play). So I asked him what would be better to do instead of playing these games? After that he introduced me to the power of internet deeper and how you can take advantage of it. The rest is history.
Anyway… If you want some proof, you can always visit my friendster profile at http://www.friendster.com/sicarlto . And check out my website because I will be soon posting a video for the winners of my 0 contest, Of course, I will be the host! That’s live proof there.

Q. What do you like about blogging as an activity and why would you recommend doing something like it to your peers?

A. Though loads of people are thinking that blogging is the best way of making money (That’s why hundreds of thousands of blogs sprouted each day) I have to disagree with that. For me, blogging is just a way of socializing, building up relationships, and sharing your thoughts. The best part I like about blogging is the challenge to put the blog on top of the search engines. (I was on page 1 of Google for the keyword “make money online” for 5 days – as of this date I’m on page 2). I make a good laugh with I leave behind a seasoned internet marketer.

Q. Can you tell us about your blog’s design and the publishing system you’re using. Did you make it from scratch?
A. Nope, I didn’t make it from scratch, it was a free theme called fresh which I edited… heavily! I just learned coding by self-study. However, I took lessons in Photoshop.

Q. Do you think blogging should be taught in school? If yes, as part of what subject?

A. Nahh… I don’t think so. And I don’t want kids to blog if they don’t have a guardian (like my dad who is watching me) because there are a lot of scammers out there and most of the time, kids just give there personal data without caution.
But if they would, I’ll put in under “English” Make it a project for practicing English. Hehehehe…

Q. Taking note of your blog’s title..how can one make money online from blogging? Is it really possible? Can you give us an idea of how much you earned already?
A. Making money with blogging is not really hard; the only thing that I can suggest if you want to make money via blogging is patience. I have spelled out some of the strategies to make money in my blog at www.carlocab.com
Ahh. I’m not an internet millionaire yet! Actually, my dad takes care of the finances. The checks and payments goes directly to him. Of course, he has a lot of things to pay like hosting, domain registration (I have 30 other domains), buying ebooks and scripts, etc.

Q. Aside from your age, what distinguishes you from other bloggers?
A. I get feedbacks through email daily (Maybe 1 or 2) applauding me for good content, style of writing, etcetera. But I differentiate myself through marketing. If one has an eye with marketing he would easily guess what makes my blog tick.

Q. Any strategies you can recommend for link-building?
A. Help and socialize with others. Even though my schedule is hectic because of the start of school, I am still giving a part of my time helping others with their blogs. Either technical or marketing tactics. You will just be surprised that they put you in their blogroll or give you some linklove.
I actually laid out the link building strategies in my blog. The strategies are done in a consistent manner. For example: leave comments in other people’s blog. This should be done on a regular basis. In the early days of my blog, I leave comments to about 10 blogs before I go to bed.

Q. Please share your ideas about having a successful blog and being a succesful blogger?
A. Stress? *LOL* I must say, having a successful blog in just 5 months is a great achievement but having a successful blog has its downsides too. You get tons of e-mails a day, get comments that you should reply and read, lack of sleep, handle criticisms, but all of those hardwork will pay off!

Q. What does your family say about your blogging?
A. “Cool”, “Keep it Up”, “Look at your brother, he has a lot of money now!” Over and over again

Q. Please feel in the blanks: if I am not blogging, I’d rather…..

A. Internet Marketer? Hehehehe… joke! I’d rather play music. I love listening to music, it started when I was 10 and I got addicted. When I got my first guitar, I could not even hold it well. So I turned to the piano then to drums. I also know a bit
of violin.

I wouldn’t get there without you guys who always supports me and of course, for reading carlocab.com!
It was really quite long, but anyway… it’s all worth it! And did I tell you that I doubled my direct traffic that day?