This is is the second installment of our interview last week with search engine marketer/blogger Gary Viray who recently co-founded Blog4Reviews.com, touted to be the first local blog advertising site which caters to an international market too.

Q. How did you come up with a project like Blog4Reviews?
A. Blog4reviews.com was launched last April 9, 2009, after a lot of brainstorming since December 2008.
It is actually a collaborative effort of two individuals who believe that there is something about blog marketing and advertising as it directly targets not only user-generated contents (undeniably, has a 95% trust factor among searchers/buyers) but also the very core of all search engine algorithms.

Q. How does Blog4Reviews differ from other local blog advertising networks in existence?
A. There is not much difference at all. However, we do have a more focused and country-specific blog networking model.
As of now, we are catering to the advertisers and bloggers in the Philippines as our initial takeoff before we get into a more global market.

Q. Can you expound on your statement that user-generated content has 95% trust factor among searchers/buyers?
A. User-generated content gets a 95% trust factor as it depicts the traditional "kapitbahay" recommendation in buying products which more often believeable than those ads seen on TVs and magazines created by the companies themselves.
The only difference is that the content generated reaches a global audience using blogs, videos, photos and social networks.
User-generated contents are mostly first-hand experiences on the products and services.
I would say, it is a more honest way of rating products/services that is why it has a better trust factor percentage than the usual above-the-line (ATLs) advertising models and what-have-you's.

Q. What do you think is the future of online advertising in the Philippines, as we've noticed that there are even ads on social networking sites like Facebook?
A. Online advertising in the Philippines will have an exponential growth as it can be directly correlated to the tremendous growth of online users and social networks. Advertisers jump into where the traffic is. Basic Arithmetic.

Q. Can you share basic SEO tips for newbies?

1. A. Improve on your sites’ design, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and usability.
2. Make your site W3C compliant.
3. Promote your site to the blogosphere and link with your online friends. Nothing can beat link love.
4. Join forums and online communities interested in Search Engine Optimization. Meet-up with them if you have the chance. A lot of SEO tricks and tips are being shared during such informal gatherings.
6. Follow the basic rules of SEO. No BlackHats.
7. The Google Webmaster Tools guide pretty covers the do’s and don’ts of SEO.
8. Make a lot of researches and simply, do tests online. Just don’t use your main site or else you might end up penalizing your website.
9. Shop for SEO tools. We have many free tools out there.

Q. Q. Pls. name some useful SEO tools bloggers can use, at the start?
Mostly browser plugins such as, SEOQuake, Aaron Walls' Tools,wordtracker.com and backlinks checker. Try to visit my blog, athttp://www.garyviray.com/page-site-analysis-tools-con-link-building-tools.html.