Filipino Historian third State of the Blog Address

Filipino Historian: Third State of the Blog Address

This is the history blog's third State of the Blog Address. This, however, is not your ordinary blog update. Last year, the second State of the Blog Address was published to provide an annual report on the progress being made by this history blog. This year, the newly established tradition of publishing an annual address continues with the third address. This is the 29th update article published by this history blog. For many who may think this is just some chest-beating and chair-raising, then I am probably doing mine. However, these small successes are owed not only to a single author writing somewhere in the archipelago, but also to the tens of thousands of readers who even bothered, because I may be an army of one, but we have empowered thousands to know and appreciate their history. These people must know that they have been part of a larger movement to restore our national memory, because a nation without history is like a person without memory.

Why October?

New name, new logo
It portrays the site's initials

It has to be recalled why the annual address has been delivered every October of the year. While the anniversary is in December, on October 4, 2014, the Filipino Historian (FH) began as The Young Filipino Historian (TYFH), which revival was first announced on September 29 of the same year. The task was not easy as this blog focuses on a discipline that is not really popular in the Philippines. There is also fierce competition presented by older and better organized, although usually trivialized, history blogs and websites. What can a "single author writing somewhere in the archipelago" do? Still, while the situation seemed hopeless, the restoration is on. This is where our story begins.

Not expected to outdo in the near future what has been achieved in the first two years, the bar at the time was quite low. However, it is to be found out that this is not your ordinary history blog. Going beyond simple trivia and speculation, the blog featured details and analyses that are not to be found among leading history blogs. Most of the articles also have a reference list to encourage readers to confirm what they have read and to establish authority for this history blog. Relevant images and videos were added wherever possible to keep articles from appearing bland. What is aimed here is to show that history is not only about dates, personalities, and places. There is more to it than meets the eye. These methods, however, had kept the article generation of the blog relatively low compared to most blogs.

In the first two years of this blog, it has recorded a monthly average of 52 views. In the next three years, the blog has recorded a daily average of 106 views (up from 34 views a day as of December 2016), and the trend continues to hold. As of June 2017, the blog has exceeded 12,000 views in a month, a performance which may well solidify a spot for the Filipino Historian in the Top 50 blogs in the Philippines.

Rising the ranks

This blog began from what we can call level zero. Frankly, it was insignificant when it re-entered the blogosphere three years ago. However, as the audience continued to grow, and traffic began to take an upward trend, the Filipino Historian was soon detected in the radars of national and global rankings. In 2015, the author has installed tools from Blogtopsites (a ranking website since 2004) and Top Blogs Philippines (a ranking website since 2006) to quantify these gains. These ranking websites feature thousands of blogs and have been doing their respective functions for a number of years. This is how this history blog ranked from 2015 to 2017. However, due to the expiry of Top Blogs Philippines as a domain, it will be necessary to find additional sources to reaffirm this position.

Filipino Historian averaged 48 (as of 2016) and 28 (as of 2017) in the rankings.
The nearer to 1, the better it is in the ranks.

From January to December 2016, the average ranking is 47.5 overall. From January to October 2017, the average ranking significantly rose to 27.6 overall. The ranking is nearer to 1, the better. With such encouraging numbers, this only solidifies the blog's position among the top 50 blogs out of thousands being tracked (around 4,800 for Top Blogs Philippines and around 10,000 for Blogtopsites).

In September 2017, ASEAN UP evaluated more than 130 Filipino blogs to come out with a list of top 50 blogs in the Philippines. Unfortunately, the Filipino Historian is not included in them. For reference and comparison, the rankings mainly involved a mix of SimilarWeb rankings, Moz rankings (an equivalent of Google PageRank), and social media following (such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). However, if we are to base on Moz rankings only for instance (which quantifies the site's "raw" popularity in a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 as the highest), then this history blog can compare with the top 50 blogs listed by ASEAN UP. To illustrate:

Top 1-10 (according to ASEAN UP, from left to right): Yugatech (5.09), WhenInManila (6.55), LionhearTV (6.26), Naldz Graphics (6.13), Travelbook.ph (4.72), The Poor Traveler (6.65), Thirsty Thought by Kryz Uy (5.45), Pinoy Money Talk (4.78), Pinoy Adventurista (5.45), Unbox.ph (4.8)

Top 11-20 (according to ASEAN UP, from left to right): Two Monkeys Travel (5.59), Our Awesome Planet (6.61), The Pinay Solo Bakcpacker (5.8), The Macho Mom by Kikay Sikat (4.35), Camille Tries To Blog by Camille Co (5.29), Love, A (3.89), Pinoy Fitness (5.46), I Am Aileen (5.41), DG Manila (5.53), Dear Kitty Kittie Kath (4.57)

On average, the top 10 blogs in the Philippines have a Moz rank of 5.58. If extended to include all the top 20 blogs, the average Moz rank is 5.42. It can be observed that no history blog actually entered ASEAN UP's top 50, which just proves that history, or any related discipline, is yet to gain nationwide recognition. Even the closest competition of this history blog, the Indio Bravo (3.8), and Views from the Pampang (2.86), are not included in the list. How about the Filipino Historian? It has a Moz rank of 5.45, which can actually trumps over nine of the top 20 blogs listed by ASEAN UP. This is not to lay doubt to the methodology of ASEAN UP, or any other ranking sites available. However, while it is indeed recognized that history is not a very popular discipline in the Philippines, it has to be acknowledged that one history blog is making strides to share it freely to our people.

One million miracles in 2018

Facebook page as of 2017

On October 29, 2014, the official Facebook page of this history blog was launched. To date, the page had exceeded 1850 followers. This means an average growth of 12% per month since the second address, a quicker pace than last year's 9% per month. For the information of many, unlike other "popular" blogs and websites, even those dabbling with history, the Filipino Historian does not, and will not, buy or purchase followers and views for the sake of popularity. Until now, the author has no means to acquire its own top-level domain, which may further boost its search engine optimization. What was achieved now by this single author is hard work, coupled by the irreplaceable support of thousands who grew to love and appreciate history through this medium.

Twitter page as of 2017

All time statistics reveal that Facebook has been the largest single source of views for this history blog so far. Views from Facebook account for 50% of the total all time views of the blog, up from 23% last year. The following year, on October 27, 2015, the official Twitter page of this history blog was launched. From 5 followers last year (2016), it has increased to 14 followers. While Twitter remained insignificant in contributing to traffic for this blog (around 0.1%), it is seen as one of the possible growth areas in the coming years. Other rising traffic contributors include Google (8.7%), Wikipedia (0.19%), and Blogarama (0.13%).

Also last year, it has been projected that the Filipino Historian will reach 500,000 people by 2017, and a million people by 2018. This history blog has made this as its short-term vision for the next few years: "a million miracles." As of October 10, 2017, we have broken through 800,000 impressions in social media, whereas the target for the year 2017 is only 500,000 impressions. As the year arrives at its final quarter, these signs help our lone author gain confidence that a million people can actually be reached by 2018, and the miracle be achieved. Of course, the service to the people of the Philippines and the world does not end. As we approach five years of public service, it is envisioned for this blog to reach as many as possible to fulfill the greater good of history.

Satisfaction ratings
The exact question used in the survey is: How is your experience with the articles? There are four choices: Very satisfied, satisfied, unsatisfied, and very unsatisfied. More than 99% of the 242 respondents were very satisfied, and less than 1% were satisfied. For the first time since 2014, there were no unsatisfied ratings. Respondents increased from the past year (2016), and ratings remained sky high (it was 97% from 2014-2015, and 98% from 2015-2016). On October 10, 2017, a new year-long survey was launched. You can rate your experience with the Filipino Historian at the sidebar.

A national blog for the Philippines
On November 24, 2014, the blog began to officially record its reach throughout the Philippines partially through Facebook. This is the first result received by the blog. Darker areas meant there are more readers within the province. It is evident that the blog had only reached some parts of Luzon. Of course, it has to be considered that the blog had to begin from virtually nothing, and it has no tangible team to even consider. This history blog is maintained by a single author.

However, the goal has been raised. It is now aimed to expand towards nationwide coverage and finally be worthy to be called a national blog. On October 3, 2015, this is the extent that the blog has reached. The task ahead is arduous, but we have breakthroughs by having presence in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao for the first time since 2012.

As of October 10, 2017, this is the extent reached by the blog nationwide. There are still provinces of the Philippines wherein the blog has not received a significant readership, but this is projected to change as we go towards our fifth year and beyond, especially with efforts to go local.

How international is international?

On June 1, 2015, the history blog recognized that it was read in 35 countries worldwide other than the Philippines, and had double- and triple-digit number of visitors in at least six (6) of these countries since the official count began February 3, 2015. Since then, the title International has been added. How has the Filipino Historian fared after two and a half years? As of October 10, 2017, the blog has been read in 90 countries. It also had double- and triple-digit number of visitors in at least 30 countries worldwide, an increase from 26 countries last year. Meanwhile, the social media outlets of this blog has followers from 45 different nations, up from 28 last year. Despite the increasing worldwide reach of this blog, and the diversification of the topics being covered, it is noticeable that 62% of all time views (up from 58%) and 90% of social media followers hail from the author's homeland, the Philippines. He is, after all, the Filipino Historian.

The itsy bitsy blog crawling up the Web

Filipino Historian averaged 48 (as of 2016) and 28 (as of 2017) in the rankings.
The highest rank reached in any ranking website was Top 4.

The following are some of the screenshots to showcase how the blog has fared in leading search engines. All the readers and the followers of this history blog receives utmost thanks from its author.

This blog has two out of ten top entries in Google, even trumping over
the official blog of historian Ambeth Ocampo

This blog also has two out of ten top entries in Yahoo, placed even above the
official website of the Philippine Historical Association (PHA)

This blog is the top entry in Bing, and has two other entries in the top ten

This blog is also the top entry in Naver

"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master!"

(Matthew 25:21)