It started in 2008 with one blog post, “I want to be an Internet marketer”—but the straightforward declaration of intent over the next two years would flow into a stream of a dozen more blogs, training seminars, and a consultancy that enables Carlo Ople to live the kind of life he wants. Passion for one’s work and financial independence are possible, says the internet marketing consultant/blogging expert/social media guru to the many others who would follow eagerly in his online footsteps. But the whole thing shouldn’t be seen as an exercise in easy money—the journey must be done for the long haul. The monetary rewards, no matter how delightful, must be seen as part and parcel of creating one’s own impressive portfolio that can attract and keep clients for a significant period of time.

Online success boils down to building one’s brands for the corporate, the freelancer, and the individual professional—and blogging and other social media tools are the foundation on which to build the virtual brickand-mortar.

Ople, the president and CEO of Catalyst Interactive Marketing Inc. and New Media Philippines, readily disassembles one popular notion, “People automatically think of Ad Sense and Google Search when they think of making money online. But don’t focus on the monetary rewards. Focus on building yourself online—build on who you are and then make money out of it. In crafting a resume or creating a company, what’s important is the reputation that has preceded you. It becomes even more important when you have a blog.”

Ad Sense pertains to those small ads that appear mysteriously on the corner or sides of a Web page. Run by Google, a click and/or an outright purchase of the Ad Sense link translates into a few cents’ commission for the owner of the Web site or blog. Current thinking has it that money can be made by the more people clicking on your Ad Sense, which is made possible by more people reading your blog, which is an effect of your page appearing in the top ranks of a Web search every time someone googles on a product or service you advertise, or a topic on which you just posted.

With an estimated one million blogs worldwide covering the entire spectrum of topics from A-Z, a company or an individual who wants to be noticed must be able to make some headway or at least offer something different from the norm.

The good news is Ople believes that regardless of the population explosion in cyberspace, this new frontier is limitless and can always be explored to generate new, fresh identities and the communities they can inhabit. He says, “You can make money doing what you love as long as you have something to say, and offer something of value to your readers that they will find interesting.”

Online Personal Branding

In building a virtual online brand, Ople stresses that the blog has to embody or capture the blogger’s heart. As posting and updating will be continual, the content must be something he is passionate about. Blogging cannot be reduced to artificial research and writing just to obtain the web traffic and the necessary hits. “What I write reflects what I am,” says Ople, who blogs on food, politics and new media, the three things he says he likes writing about the most. “The blog has to be genuine. It cannot be forced.”

Through the blog, one can also build a portfolio that can open to other opportunities, particularly if one is a freelancer. To Ople, the online portfolio is the differentiator that can set a writer, web designer or artist from the hundreds who sign up in freelancing Web sites like elance.com or odesk.com, and then compete for projects by bidding. “Jobs come not just because you search for them—it’s the start of a long process,” he says. “Build your online resume so that when these potential clients see you, they will give the work to you.”

He is confident that there is “so much work for graphic designers and writers online. I get weird writing jobs that are fun and require little effort. For one Web site, I submit one 70-word article every day which are very short updates on Philippine politics. I get paid almost double the salary of a call center agent.”

Every one or two months, at a tenth of the cost of what other speakers would charge, Ople holds a seminar on the dynamics of online personal branding and how it can positively impact one’s career. Subjects include how to make money through blogging and how to find online freelance work. He says, “We teach you where to find the work online, and what to build on a decent portfolio so that clients overseas will pick you.”

The Biblical Christian sees the seminar as an advocacy that pays forward and shares with others the gifts that God has given him to help them build better lives. His core business remains his internet marketing consultancy which now has a staff of less than 10 handling a list of 20 clients, the more prominent including Senator Mar Roxas (the first to call Ople after that very first post), GBS, Bobson Jeans, C2-Collezione, Fish & Co., and Converse. Many of them come to him after reading his posts, listening to him speak or by friends’ referrals. Others were sold after downloading and reading Ople’s e-book, “Social Media Guide for Filipino Entreps,” which is offered on his New Media Web site for free; to date, 2,000 have downloaded the e-book and another 100 have made firm inquiries.

Pushing for Social Media

When it comes to companies, Ople admits that he is “really pushing for social media,” the networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, and LinkedIn (just to name a few) that have made online daily interaction including the swapping of videos and photos a phenomenally popular habit. He continues, “They offer opportunities in targeted advertising. In social media, you don’t go out to look for news, the news finds you. Content becomes more personal, relevant, engaging. You can make your brand more personal, relevant and build a longer relationship over time. Businesses who take advantage of this stand to gain a lot.”

Ople’s e-book estimates that out of the 25 to 27 million Pinoys online, 11 million of them (nearly half) are Facebook users. The other networking sites would not be far behind in terms of numbers. For a company, the trick is to capture a target market and expand it, such as developing online relationships with its loyal followers or consumers, also known as Fans. In the U.S., 50 percent of Fans who follow a certain brand on Facebook eventually buy a product. Ople points out that even if only half the numbers were to do that in the Philippines, the company still stands to make a tidy profit at very minimal advertising costs; he pegs the cost of making or tapping one Facebook fan at P10.

Ople continues, “The Internet is about finding people who are interested in buying your product. You build your own community and your own channel for a captured audience. If you get 100,000 people to like your brand on Facebook, every time you have a promo or product, you have 100,000 people ready and willing to listen to you, willing to be activated. Imagine the power if you turn them into brand evangelists.”

Unlike the usual modes of advertising which often release their audience after the last ad has been played or the last jingle sung, social media campaigns can keep their Fans engaged until the next campaign. He gives an example, “Senators, in particular, can start campaigning the day after the elections—especially if they had lost. If they have three million Facebook Fans, they can ask each Fan to get them three more Fans—that would total to nine million Fans which is enough to get them a seat in the Senate by 2013.”

The company Web site is key to the success of the social media campaign. He points out, “Once you’ve enlarged your Facebook community, keep on updating your Web site. You have to make the people on your social media sites keep on checking your Web site through e-mail or newsletter campaigns. You close your deals on the Web site.”

And deals have been closed, he enthuses. Advertising can translate into actual sales. He claims that one wedding company tripled their sales because of their Facebook media campaign.

Although Ople’s consultancy firm has serviced multi-nationals, he finds more “satisfaction in partnering with SMEs and watching them grow through social media.” His services come in two packages: a strategy customized for the client’s specific brand and target market which said client can implement; and an end-to-end solution wherein Catalyst walks with the client through all the phases from the creation of a marketing plan, web development, social media account management, to blogger relations.

One U.S. company had offered him a high-paying package that he turned down because “it would tie up all our resources [just for them]. Besides, the legacy I’d want to leave is for the Philippines.”

For more info, click on www.newmedia.com.ph and e-mail info@catalyst.ph.