Thursday, April 15, 2021

Candc DC-C9 Cardioid Microphone Quick Unboxing Review

Ceddy April 15, 2021 0 Comments

Candc DC-C9 Cardioid Microphone Quick Unboxing Review

Hello Guys! Ceddy here, and welcome back to another quick tech unboxing review.

I recently purchased a mirrorless camera which is a pretty big investment for my vlog, I really took into consideration investing in these kinds of stuff as I can see potential and a good steady income from creating such good content, anyways.

This is the Sony A6100 Mirrorless Camera:

I love the quality of the video and the images it produced. However, one thing that I noticed was the sound quality, especially if I vlog or record outdoors, there is something quite missing though the video quality superb, upscaled to 4K Resolution, There is a downside to its audio quality despite having a Dolby Stereo feature.

Having a good video should have good audio, that's why I purchased this Cardioid Microphone.

Some of you are not familiar with this brand, but you know the brands such as Rode which is one of the leaders and well know brands when it comes to producing great audio equipment, interface, wireless, and software dedicated to rode devices. And their product line up (in my opinion) is a bit pricey.

So I consider purchasing a Cardioid Microphone which is very affordable yet has some similar features that it can offer.

This is my Quick Unboxing Review of Candc DC-C9 Cardioid Microphone.

You're not familiar with this brand and it sounds like the product is generic. To be honest, that was my first impression too. But upon using this cardioid microphone, I can see no difference between using other brands, (even though I never tried rodes, but hey, as long as you have good audio quality, then I think it's a good bargain for me to have this accessory)

The Packaging

What's on the picture is just as same whats the product inside, sounds redundant? Hahaha

Here are some of the pictures...

What's inside the box?

First is always the documentation, of course, if you are not techy and would still rely on the instruction manual, you can always refer to the guide, but actually it's really to set it up.

Next below is the cords, which are very important, and as what you noticed, It comes with two cables. My first impression, I thought it was just only a gimmick or something that you can just throw off and any of them and connect it to your camera jack and start filming right away. But nope, my mistake. These 2 cords serve 2 different devices, the one on the left is used for smartphones while the right one which is a bit longer is used to connect with your DSLR or Mirrorless Camera. So I tested both of them and the audio quality is sooooo good but not great (haha) compared to filming without any external microphone.

And this is the Cardioid Microphone, It's a bit heavy actually but holding it and the build quality looks premium. I'm not an expert when it comes to reviewing any microphones (this is my first time actually) but judging the built and premium, looks like it will last a long time for me to use it.

The next one is the Faux Fur Wind Absorbing Shield for the microphone below (that's a little lengthy name) Fyi., Faux Fur or also known as Fake Fur or synthetic fabric which is commonly used to have an appearance and warmth of an animal fur. This is commonly used in jackets and accessories. And now they also used it for microphones as a wind absorber.

Do you see that red clip below? Yes, that one. That is also detachable, but it seems that this clip is too thin that I carefully insert it at the shaft of the microphone as it looks so prone to breakage.

And the pouch, of course, the material outside feels like premium leather, and inside is a flannel type of material, it also helps to protect the microphone from any scratches.

And this is how it looks like if you connect the microphone to the mirrorless camera:

So that's it, guys! If you enjoy reading this content, consider subscribing to my email list and my RSS feed. Feel free to browse my other tech-related videos just above this content.

If you want to see my quick unboxing video of this product, you can click this link to visit my Youtube Channel, And also consider subscribing if you want :)

Thank you for reading and as always, stay safe and GodBless!

-Ceddy

Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Youtube Channel Monetization | My Channel is NOW MONETIZED! | Ceddy's Random

Ceddy February 03, 2021 0 Comments

Youtube Channel Monetization | My Channel is NOW MONETIZED!

It's been...

It's been a long time since the last content that I published. Finally, I have something to write again. Hehe.

Priorities...

If you're wondering I skipped few months to write content is because I have to focus on my Youtube Channel.

After several weeks and almost 3 months of getting the right SEO with the help of TUBEBUDDY. I'm able to get the requirements of Youtube in order for me to qualify for the Youtube Partner Program.

Throwback...

I was earning money before with youtube way back in 2017. During those times, the requirement only is 10,000 views.

However, Youtube changed its rules to get into the program, some creators do not adhere to the TOS (Terms of Service) and the Youtube Community Guidelines. And Youtube decided to take further action on these issues and implemented new rules and guidelines.

What are the requirements?

Well, You should have at least 1000 subscribers and a watch-time threshold of 4000 watch hours- in the last 12 months.

Easy huh?

Well actually, it depends. If you have the right niche that is matched to your audience and has a wow factor content, the chances are, People will gonna watch and subscribe to your channel and You might achieve those requirements in no time.

And what about me? HAAHAH. NO. It's not easy. "wala" -wala in Arabic means "I swear by God". Hehehe

Search Engine Optimization...

On my end. I opt. to get the premium version of Tubebuddy. Utilizing all its features especially the keyword tags ranking comparing it to weight or unweight so that I can analyze which is the best tag to be applied on that specific video. This particular video is not getting that many views, but after a month, making some changes on the tags and keywords, descriptions, title, thumbnail, and analyzing other channels with their tag, Surprisingly. The number of views increased subsequently. There were days that I'm getting a lot of comments with 93 views within 48 hours period and a few subscribers.

The length of this video is approximately 20 minutes. Upon checking the analytics, I can see where they dropped to watched and I was surprised that the average view timings would last until 14 minutes.

I cannot share the screenshots as it contains some confidential information and this is against the terms of service or TOS of Youtube.

Countdown in 3..2..1...

I got an email that I finally meet the requirements. It took me 10 days for my Channel to get approved. Some content creator shared their experiences that they got approved right after submitting the application, or less than 4 hours and maximum within 24 hours.

I'm a bit worried as I exert a lot of effort and time and set aside my website just to focus on getting monetized from Youtube. I thought, they will reject my application because of "this and that". I kept checking my emails from time to time within the first 6 days. Afterward, I decided to leave it. Maybe I'll get disappointed if I expect a positive result and ended up being rejected.

But wait...

But, low and behold, December 15, 2020. 9:43 AM. I was eating my breakfast at my workplace when suddenly my phone chimes, and when I checked my email. Here's the message:

A cloud-nine feeling...

I'm alone in the back store of my workplace and I almost gag while sipping my coffee. Hahaha. All my hard work pays off!

I always dreamed of getting my Youtube Channel monetized. I've seen this only to those successful content creators. And finally, I am one of them having a monetized channel!

Despite the pandemic. All my goals for 2020 has been achieved! My Facebook page and Youtube channel are now monetized.

Writing content and creating vlogs. Now that's a talent. Haha.

My Youtube Channel and Facebook Page are linked at the top right corner of this page (via desktop) or at the top portion (via mobile) Feel free to visit them. And I really appreciate it if you can follow or subscribe to my channel.

I have something to share more contents. Stay tuned :)

Stay safe and GodBless.

--Ceddy

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Facebook Page Monetization: Pros and Cons

Ceddy November 21, 2020 0 Comments

Hello Everyone! Its been a few months since the last time that I wrote content.

I was so busy focusing on my Facebook Page, for the past months, I was able to create more video content. It’s not that I already skipped writing and leave it like that, but there are just some things that I have to prioritize for some time.

I am going to share what is my insight and my opinion (reality check) on having your own Facebook page having it monetized. Facebook is enticing creators from Youtube to switch to the social media giant. But is it worth the try? Well here's my insight into Facebook.

This is the Facebook Page Monetization: Pros and Cons

Let's dig in with the Pros.

Pros:

You are getting more exposure to the ecosystem of Facebook and you're totally locked from it. . It's like a domino effect. Once you create your own content and the netizen love's it. They will share, like, and engage with your content. And the engagement, the higher the chances that Facebook's algorithm will recommend your video to all viewers who's interest is base on your niche. Adding the feature of silent play feature where your videos will play automatically without any sound, and that counts to your insights for playback.

You know who are the people who liked and follow your page. Unlike Youtube, People will gonna subscribe to your channel but those subscribers have limited profiling on their account. Compared to Facebook, You have the access to all profiles and all there details which they provide.

There are plenty of monetization tools that they offer to the creators. Here is the list of tools which Facebook can offer you as long as you meet the criteria:

As mentioned, My page is eligible for the in-stream ads and the brand collabs manager.

Some creators have the chance to take all the monetization tools mentioned above.

Ensuring that creators are following the monetization and community guidelines of Facebook.

Now I am going to discuss the Cons:

Cons

Let me start with the Monetization Guidelines is CONFUSING. I get frustrated, to be honest. But before anything, I am going to share what are the legends behind the color of the dollar icon ($)

Plenty of repurposed content on Facebook. I watch a lot of videos from Tiktok, which is being reuploaded to Facebook, other creators are genius. If they find that this type of video is trending they have access to RIGHTS MANAGER- its a tool where you are tagging the specific video that you fully owned it and once other creators will repurpose it, You have the rights to tag them and the chance that their page will get demonetized.

For the first month of uploading content, I never encountered any issues with monetizing my videos.
But the longer that I upload content consistently, I noticed that some of my videos turned yellow. Which means it's not monetized due to not meeting the criteria.

Some criteria which they mentioned is the language.

The fact that I am speaking in Tagalog and English primary.

Facebook allows my Language -Tagalog to get monetized as this is one of the supported languages. But for some reason, they are tagging it as Yellow. But I find ways to move it to green by deleting the video and reuploading the content. It confused me a lot and it came to the point that It would take 4 days to approve my video despite getting high views (Pending Review)

The algorithm is complex and difficult to figure out. I have my Youtube Channel and there's plenty of third-party provider like TUBEBUDDY to help you from optimizing your channel. It's easy to figure and optimize and there's easy instruction on how to do it as long as you have the plugin. I figure out how the algorithm of Facebook works and applied it to my Videos, but once you figure it out, they normally tweak the algorithm. In my opinion, it's a guessing game.

**If you want to try the free version of Tubebuddy. Feel free to click this link

Most of the creators at Facebook don't last their pages because of violating the monetization guidelines.

I knew some creators decided to focus more on Youtube. Although Youtube is an intent app, -means you have to visit the website or app just to watch the content. Nevertheless, People are still preferring to watch Youtube and creators are getting more revenue from it.

Lack of 60 fps or 50 fps refreshes rate. This is one of the downsides which I really don't like the most. I am filming content and the refresh rate of it is 1080p 60fps and Youtube accepts it without any flaws at all. But for Facebook, at this time, they don't accept any refresh rate other than the normal refresh rate around 30fps. But they do accept the quality of the video up to 1080p.

Writing this content, my Youtube Channel is not monetized at the moment. But I'm looking forward to it.

For now, I am focusing on Facebook. I'm getting decent views from it and getting followers consistently,

As a content creator, I carefully read the monetization and the community guidelines of Facebook. As they are getting lenient when it comes to the guidelines.

So, Is it worth it to invest your time creating a page and uploading your content on Facebook?

The answer?

Well, I am in between actually, Sometimes you're good at Facebook, sometimes not. But work smart. I upload my content from Facebook and Youtube at the same time.

So I hope you learn something from it :)

Follow my Facebook Page if you want to see my videos :)

Thank you and stay safe!

--Ceddy

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Captivating Georgia | Part 2 - Doramode Digital

Ceddy August 27, 2020 0 Comments

Captivating Georgia | Part 2 - Doramode!

Hello Folks, Welcome to another travel blog. And for today's content, I am writing about my recent trip to Georgia. This is my 2nd-day trip and one of the highlights of the tour.

This is Jvari Monastery at Mtskheta Eastern Georgia

Travel Time...

We left our hotel around 1:30 in the afternoon. We have a personal tour guide and a driver with a coach service. And it took us approximately 20 to 30 mins drive to reach the site all the way from Tbilisi.

Architecture...

Jvari Monastery is a Georgian Orthodox Monastery that existed for the last 6th century. And it is situated at a rocky mountain top of a hill overlooking the town of Mtskheta.

It is currently a Unesco World Heritage Site that survived to the present day that's almost unchanged.

Breathtaking View...

The breathtaking view within the monastery is surreal. If you're into nature thing, You would definitely love the scene. We arrived at the spot around 2PM, and the weather was bit gloomy and cold. and the parking lot was full of coasters, some of them are locals and other tourist wanting to check the monastery.

Some of the pictures I took below:

The good thing about us, as we're able to help by our local tour guide and made it easy to reach the top.

The local tour guide explained to us about the architecture of the monastery. The monastery was strengthened by a "controforse" wall. So that it would look like its growing from the mountain. Its an example of harmonic relation of architecture with nature.

Bas-Relief of the Monastery...

Ascension of the Cross, bas-relief above the southern entrance of the Jvari Monastery

Relief is a term for a sculptural technique where the sculpted elements attached to a solid background of the same material. And the monastery has a lot of it. Ranging from a Georgian Nobleman of Iberia to the Ascension of the Cross. I took a picture of it. See above for your reference.

Inside of Jvari Monastery...

I still have plenty of time to roam around the area and I went inside the monastery. The fact that this is 6th Century old structure, yet Georgian is still able to remain whatever needed to preserved inside. Using the night mode on the DSLR, I was able to capture some shots inside.

Here are some pictures:

The above image is Saint Nino, a female evangelist credited with converting King Mirian III of Iberia to Christianity,(credits from Wikipedia)

Above Picture: View of the dome and the wooden cross

The most important part of a Christian: I light up a candle and prayed.

It took Us around an hour to finish checking what's in the area. Afterward, the local tour guide transferred us to another Orthodox Church. But I'm going to share that content on my next blog :)

I hope you guys enjoy reading this content. And Looking forward to seeing you on my next Part 3 of my Tour to Georgia :)

As always, Stay Safe :)

-Ceddy

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Ceddy's Random Milestone: The Good and The Bad - Version 2020 (Sister Site of Doramode Digital)

Ceddy August 26, 2020 0 Comments

The #NewNormal...

Hello Everyone! Welcome back to my blog. It's been a while since I did not write any content. As most of my content on the website focused on product reviews and travel reviews, however, the pandemic strikes that I decided to postpone it for some time and switch to an alternative.

Adding some unforeseen factors like having a furlough for 2 months and returning back at work with a hefty workload. But that doesn't stop me from creating great content for everyone. Prioritizing "vlogging" doesn't mean leaving my website. It's just things that happened so quickly.

Lately, I focused myself on vlogging, though I've been creating some video contents before, I prefer to write (I'm an introvert, but with a little practice and a sprinkle of confidence, I was able to surpass it and I am comfortable now talking in front of the camera)

A the time goes by, I decided to start creating a daily vlog on my youtube channel and Facebook page. and finally, all my hard work was totally paid off. I think this year, I mostly focused on vlogs as I'm unable to make more content on my website. But, still, I have a third party ad player that integrates with my website and I always upload all of the contents that I have. Making sure that all of my videos have an exposure of 360 degrees.

Creating a vlog during this pandemic is a no easy peasy task. I need to be more creative and make a content where viewers can watch it all over again. So since I cannot leave the country or go to other emirates due to COVID Restrictions. What I did was to create an Episodic Content of my Daily Vlog in Abu Dhabi.

Basically, All of those interesting things and those things that I normally do during my rest day from work or at my workplace. I compiled this daily vlogs into an episodic content and upload it to Facebook.

Facebook offers episodic content, unlike Youtube where you have to create a playlist first and upload all the contents.

Anyways, I upload all those contents from Facebook to Youtube and to my website.

So far, I was able to achieve 10,380 followers from my Facebook page and I was able to monetize it.

on the other side, My Youtube channel is still under review, and my watch hours are still ongoing to reach the 4000 watch hours.

Having 10k followers on Facebook is a significant milestone from my end. I couldn't ask for more. I am so happy that my page was now able to earn money. Having the passion to write won't stop me from doing it.

Creating a content thru writing and vlogging is a talent. And I am so grateful to have those both.

Ceddy's Random Milestone...

So far to, summarize all. Here's the milestone of Ceddy's Random up to date:

From humble beginnings, my website gained affiliation with partner companies such as

Skyscanner
Booking.com
Klook.com
Starz Play
Austrian Airlines
Air Malta
Etihad Holidays
Amazon Associate
Nord Vpn
Noon
Gabriel New York.

Awarded by the prestigious Liebster Award--an exclusive award-giving body for bloggers in the blogosphere.

Furthermore,

Google AdSense
Media.Net
Infolinks
Monumetric
Mowplayer
MGID
Facebook Audience Network (with 10K Followers on Facebook)
Purple Ads.io

are my official publishing and monetizing partners. To sum it up, those mentioned above are the farthest milestones of Ceddy's Random.

All I can say is. Despite all these unforeseen circumstances, I was still able to learn and create more valuable content and to share it with everyone. If you want to visit my Facebook page and want to check out my videos. Please click this link.

Thanks for reading my short and simple content and I'll see you on my next blog.

Stay Safe Folks!

--Ceddy

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Fiverr Online Marketplace -Review 2020 | Doramode Digital!

Ceddy August 22, 2020 0 Comments

Author Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click on the links at no additional cost to you.

It's Been A While!

Hello Everyone! It's been a long time that I missed to write content.

I was so busy at work and doesn't have time to make new content and because of Covid-19. All my travel plans were moved to 2021 (I should have fresh content for the past 2 months but since unforeseen circumstances happened.)

Back On Track!

And Since I'm back on track on writing content. I have something to share with you- a personal review of an online marketplace. This is FIVERR.

I was searching for some specific "Gig" for my website. I am searching for someone who can fix some errors on my website and to optimize it more. So I hire a professional to fix that issue.

Why I hired a Professional SEO Consultant?

I noticed that due to COVID 19, 50% of my traffic footfall decreased sporadically for 4 months and I was worried as this is greatly affecting my ad revenue performance. So to prevent this from getting worst, I hired someone who can fix this issue as I don't have time and I am busy at work

Does Fiverr worth it?

With the help of Fiverr, I was able to find the right person to fix the issues on my website. A quick chat via Fiverr App, settle the payments, Fix the issue, and deliver it. And voila. After 5 days of promised delivery, the guy who's happened to be a social media manager as well from Pakistan was able to fix and delivered its service on time. And if you wish to hire other professionals, there's plenty of services that Fiverr offers.

The screenshot below via Fiverr App:

What Are The Payment Option?

All I did was to pay via Apple Pay on my phone (Since Fiverr can support Apple Pay without entering your card details manually) If you want to learn more about Apple Pay, You can check my Apple Pay Review HERE.

Fiverr accepts the following mode of payment:

Apple Pay
Thru Debit or Credit Card
Paypal

What I did from my end was just to submit all the requirements that he needs and some credentials.

And I was able to get a 10% discount since it's my first time to order a service from Fiverr. After providing the valid promo code,

You have to apply the promo code provided by Fiverr to get a discount before checking out

I did a check out via Apple Pay and Voila. The person who I hired can start his job right away.

Dashboard & Status Of The Gig

You can always monitor the progress of the gig by utilizing the Fiverr App. I have taken a screenshot below:

All you have to do is go to Manage Orders

And the expected delivery will appear like this below:

Trust Is Always Important

I know that some of you would not trust People by giving your credentials, but You should. Luckily, The guy from Pakistan did his job and didn't share my sensitive information from anyone and I am highly satisfied. I am going to order a gig from him again.

Of course, before trying the service offer from Fiverr, I read some reviews first and the feedback from that person. Luckily, Plenty of people did a 5 Star rating.

If you want to learn more or you wish to sign up and get your first order. You can click this link.

Once again, Thank you so much for reading my blog. Stay safe!

--Ceddy

Doramode Daily Vlog

Thursday, April 15, 2021