The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) conducted a two-day Refresher Training on Website Management, SEO, and Website Audit, in partnership with Inquirer Academy, on October 26-27, 2021, from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. The refresher course aimed to re-equip IT personnel handling localized BaLinkBayan websites with competencies in website management, design, and maintenance, and to introduce newly assigned CFO personnel to the BaLinkBayan Web Portal project.
The program was hosted by Ms. Alyssa Jeane Gozo and Ms. Marjorie Aboga from the Website Development Team of the Commission, while the opening remarks were given by Dir. Marita L. Del Rosario Apattad of the Project Management Division (PMD). On the first day of the refresher course, Mr. Samjay Khemlani, a freelance website designer/developer, tackled the basics of logging in, adding and removing users, content and media, uploading and managing web files on a hosting server, and setting up a content management system. On the second day, Mr. Genesis Nathaniel Guevarra, a freelance SEO specialist, discussed the essentials in building SEO for international audiences, optimizing for local search engines, identifying key SEO metrics, and collecting, interpreting, validating, and reporting success to stakeholders, as well as some technical strategies for increasing site traffic.
Dir. Marita Apattad of the Project Management Division (PMD) delivers the opening remarks on Day 1. Mr. Samjay Khemlani introduces the participants to the Commission’s BaLinkBayan Web Portal Project.
The training proper included live demonstrations, allowing the participants to work together with the resource speakers in real time. The Day 1 and 2 programs also involved question-and-answer portions which enabled the participants to pose relevant questions regarding the training topics. By the end of the two-day workshop, the participants have successfully created their own content plan for their respective localized BalinkBayan websites.
On October 27, the refresher training was capped off with a brief consultation session with Mr. Khemlani and Engr. Romeo Rosas II of the Management Information Systems Division (MISD) delivers the closing remarks on Day 2.
Mr. Guevarra before it was officially concluded by Romeo Rosas II with a message expressing his hopes that the learnings from the training would be of use in the effective and efficient management of localized BLB websites.
The refresher convened a total of 75 participants, 52 of whom were representatives from 30 BaLinkBayan partner LGUs, 17 from Management Information Systems Division (MISD) and 6 from the Projects Management Division (PMD).
English