Last November 17, I conducted a “Basic Newsletter Writing Workshop” for the officers of Optodev, Inc. The latter manufactures ophthalmic lenses and is directly under the Paris-based Essilor International.

I accepted the offer for two main reason. First, I was promised that the participants will only be limited to less than 15. Second, I was provided free transportation from my house in Marikina to its office located at the Laguna International Industrial Park (LIIP) in Biñan, Laguna and back.

Of course, I was compensated for accepting Optodev’s offer, but that’s not the point. In the spirit of transparency, I should also admit that the head of the Human Resource Department gave my bespectacled wife a pair of “transition lenses” for free. While I truly appreciate the warm reception I got from the people of Optodev, I did not look at the activity as just simply a money-making venture.

Believe me when I say that the main reason I accept speaking engagements is the quantity and quality of participants. If you want to conduct a successful writing workshop, I think it all boils down to the number of participants and their willingness to cooperate. No matter how state-of-the-art the equipment may be, I seriously doubt if you can have an effective critiquing of workshop outputs during the plenary if you have to analyze outputs that are more than 15.

At Optodev, I had an easier time pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of each output, entertaining all questions in between outputs and having ample time to summarize everything that was discussed. Even if the workshop started 20 minutes late (yes, I can be very particular about the time), we still managed to finish at exactly 5 p.m.

In my previous workshops, I had to deal with participants that are more than the ideal number. At one time, participants even reached 200.

Anyway, since this post is about another way of monetizing your website, let me just share with you the fact that an official of Optodev contacted me because of the information she got from my website. That seems to be the trend these past few months: Various agencies would contact me upon learning that I had conducted workshops on topics of their interest, and they would ask if I could do the same for them.

For those who don’t know, I have made available online my short biodata since 1999 when I created my website. I have a list not only of my recently published works but also the speaking engagements I conducted through the years.

Please don’t dismiss this action as just plain ego-tripping. In my opinion, a webmaster (blogger or otherwise) needs to be transparent about his or her specialization so that online users can assess his or her authority. In the process, one needs to open up certain aspects of his or her professional life.

In the context of monetization of one’s website, an online biodata can work wonders. As long as you provide your contact information and you opt not to be anonymous like some bloggers, it’s highly possible for inquiries to come in. You have to expect, however, that not all inquiries will work out.

In terms of packaging, please remember that what you are trying to do is to share information, not to profit from what you can do.

Try to keep in mind the following if and when you want to package (or, to a limited extent, “monetize”) your website the way I do:

1. Don’t exaggerate your skills and areas of specialization. Just let the data about what you have done in the past speak for themselves.
2. Try your best to reply immediately to inquiries. You’ll look more professional that way.
3. Always demand a face-to-face meeting to discuss each other’s expectations. At the meeting, you and the organization’s representative should reach an agreement with regard to the date for the workshop, number of participants, equipment needed and deadline for your submission of the training module, among others.
4. After you’ve agreed on the details of the workshop, I believe this is the only time that you can quote your professional fee. There are no tried-and-tested methods about presenting this. In my case, I always let the company present its proposal and we work from there.

Try this approach. I hope it also works for you. Thank you for reading!