Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Lazada's Shop 'Til You Blog (plus blogging tips from Kryz Uy!)

I was very fortunate to be invited by Lazada to their Shop 'Til You Blog event, a lifestyle blogger mixer, last June 10 at the Discovery Primea Hotel in Makati.


As the leading online shopping site in the country, there’s only one thing Lazada brings to the table - countless products and brands for shoppers to choose from. Whether you are into the latest trends of fashion or the recent releases of gadgets, fill all of that and more when you shop at Lazada. Their website has the best and the hottest deals when it comes to fashion apparels, high tech electronics and many more.

sponsors at the event and brands you can find at Lazada.com.ph

The event started with Inanc Balci, the co-founder and CEO of Lazada Philippines talking about the future of social commerce. I admit, online shopping seemed scary for me a few years ago. I was wary of the authenticity of the products, my items getting lost in the mail, my credit card details getting hacked and so on... But now, the rapid growth and popularity of online shopping is gradually changing our market. I applaud innovations from websites like Lazada that now offer convenient alternatives for Filipinos who want to shop online, right in the comfort of their homes. Like Lazada's tagline "Effortless Shopping" they make sure to provide us with the true hassle-free shopping experience achieved with various payments and delivery options.

Cash on Delivery
Use the Cash on Delivery payment method and have the product delivered to you and conveniently pay at the doorstep of your home.

Free Delivery
Orders over ₱1,000 free shipping. For orders under ₱1,000: Metro Manila - ₱55 and outside Metro Manila - ₱99 shipping fee

Buyer Protection Guarantee
All purchases on Lazada are guaranteed to be genuine, new and free from defect. They exchange or refund within 14 days for items sold by Lazada and 7 days for items sold by sellers.

Trusted sellers only
All sellers listed on Lazada have passed a thorough selection process in order to guarantee you a high quality shopping experience.

Customer Service
Their Customer Service team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Inanc Balci, co-founder and CEO of Lazada Philippines

After, Kryz Uy, one of the top bloggers in the country today, gave a talk on improving your blog content. She shared that being a blogger is not as easy as you might think. It's not all about fun and parties and being glamorous all the time. Having a successful blog is a product of hard work and is mostly a 1 person job - you're the photographer, the stylist, the writer, the editor all rolled into one. She gave great tips that were really informative and I'll share some of the things she talked about.

- Find a need and fill it
Let's say you're looking for an article or a tutorial about something and can't find it online. Why not make your own blog post about it? This way, other people who are searching for the same thing will be directed to your site.

- Do something NEW and OWN IT
Try to differentiate yourself from all the bloggers out there posting the same content as you. Let's say you're a fashion blogger. We all know there are hundreds of bloggers who post their OOTDs online. But if you like working out, then why not make your blog about fashion and fitness combined? Especially if you know there aren't many people posting about this yet. Be original.

- Be relevant, Be current
Know what's trending and what people want to know about. Blog regularly. If you're invited to an event, post about it as soon as you can when people are still interested about it. Listen to your readers. Do they want more pictures and less words? Do they prefer a particular layout of your blog, like a Read More function? Make sure to be on top of what's new online and in the blogging scene.

- Use Hashtags and Geo tags 
Use your own hashtags to make it easier to group your photos together. For example, Kryz uses #thirstythoughteats for food posts, #thirstythoughttravels for her trips, #thirstythoughtfitness for her workouts and so on. But remember not to go overboard with your hashtags para hindi naman OA. ;p

- Be yourself cause no one can do that better than you
Post about what makes you happy and what you're interested in. If you just keep copying others, then people won't patronize your blog because they'll see right through you. Most importantly, respect your readers.

Kryz Uy

Kryz also shared some tips on taking better Instagram photos. I was so interested in this because I'm constantly in awe of how some people have such gorgeous IG feeds! Like they can take a photo of just anything and make it look good. Here's some tricks she shared to help us Instagram challenged people. ;p

Elements - Add flowers, accessories, or whatever decor you have to make the photo look more full

Effortless - Make the photo look "effortless" or natural but in reality, everything is perfectly placed. For example, a "what's in my bag" pic where every product is clearly shown.

Half Cut - More commonly used in food shots, especially if you have a messy table. Just zoom in on one area to hide the unwanted parts.

Focus - Use focus to add more depth to your photos.

Space - Usually, we take pics by putting the everything in the center. But why not make it more interesting by showing more of the floor or wall area and just putting the subject in the corner?

Colors - If you have a lot of elements that you want to take a photo of, having a similar color scheme or focusing on 1 to 2 colors makes the pic more cohesive.


Live - Kryz shares that her followers love it when she posts a "live" pic of something she is doing at that very moment especially when traveling.

Patterns - Make use of patterns you see around you like stairs or floors.

Light Play - Using natural light is best when taking photos but if it's really dark, then try lighting your shot with your cellphone or something so it won't look grainy.

Point of View - Let's say you're doing an activity like ziplining. Taking the photo from your point of view which shows where you're currently at and what you're doing is more exciting than just taking a photo of your surroundings. It makes your followers feel like they are doing the activity right there with you.

Sunset - Who doesn't love a sunset shot? And it always manages to looks nice no matter from what angle.

Upside Down - When all else fails and you don't know how to make your photo more interesting, why not try turning it upside down for a different perspective?


Lastly, Florian Holm, the Chief Marketing Officer of Lazada Philippines talked to us about being part of Lazada's Affiliate Marketing Program. I know a lot of people want to know how to make more money out of their blogs. By signing up, you can stand to earn up to 10% commission on sales made from Lazada! Not a bad deal right?

HOW IT WORKS

Anyway, it was really a very fruitful afternoon where I was able to learn a lot and also meet fellow bloggers. Plus, I was able to take home all these goodies!


With the convenience that online shopping brings, and the low prices that the Lazada items have, there is no better place for you to shop your items online. And if you want to learn more and be part of Lazada's Affiliate Program, just visit Lazada.com.ph or like their Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/lazadaaffiliateprogram.ph.

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad Lazada has a C.O.D payment option. I hope imported products will have that too. I like to bu there because they really have lots of products that are not available in my city.

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