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MBA Graduation: Reflection, Gratitude, and Adventure
What to do when you graduate from your MBA in the middle of winter and want to celebrate? Take an adventure trip to Lapland!
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Welcome
Thanks for visiting Expat Heather! I’m an international educator, writer, and expat mom currently living in South Korea. On this site you’ll find things about living abroad, teaching in international schools, travel, hiking, and expat life.
Earlier this year I was able to ‘meet’ fellow former expat, Maria Foley, for an interview on blog monetization published at Expat Women. Maria is the blogger behind I Was an Expat Wife, and like me, although she’s not currently overseas she has a lot to say about living abroad. She reached out to several expat women bloggers to find out how and why we’ve taken the step of blog monetization.
You can read Maria’s article here: Expat Bloggers are Going Pro
Considering my responses were, uh, too verbose to be published in full in the article, I’ve published my full responses below.
Why do you blog?
When I first started blogging from overseas my intention was to share my experiences with friends and family and have an online ‘storage space’ for my thoughts. This resulted in a collection of long, rambling posts that my mother would print out and read to other family members who hadn’t quite figured out how to navigate the internet; I’m not sure if anyone else was reading!
When I started writing professionally in 2008, I changed the way I blogged drastically by focusing on informative, evergreen posts that would help other expats thinking of moving to Pakistan – where I was living at the time.
More people started reading, and more people started emailing me with specific questions about where to find the best pizza, how to get clothes made at the tailor or how to navigate the complicated visa procedures. Instead of writing dozens of individual emails with the same information over and over, I put the info on my blog.
In June 2010 I launched ExpatHeather.com, a site that focuses on expat life, international teaching and travel writing. The purpose of this blog was to complement my work as a travel writer and editor, provide informative posts about expat life and travel, and to connect expats, teachers and writers in an interactive online community.
Why do you monetize your blog?
The main goal of my blog is not to make money, but rather to create a sort of online brand for myself and a place where I can ‘meet’ other people. I’d be happy if the blog ended up consistently paying for itself (hosting fees, WordPress theme, domain name, etc), but I don’t intend for it to provide a steady income at this point.
While I do offer advertising, I’ve made more money from freelance contracts and other projects that I’ve been able to get involved with after potential clients found me through the blog. This has included consulting, writing, and editing work. That said, I do obsessively monitor my site traffic and my Alexa ranking, and now I know that since it’s not only my mother who is reading, there’s a lot more potential for future monetization!
Read about the other expat women bloggers interviewed by Maria: Expat Bloggers are Going Pro
Do you have any ideas or strategies that have helped make your blog profitable, or at least pay for itself? Please share in the comments.
A quick note for all food, wine and travel writers: The deadline for IFWTWA (if-twa) scholarships is July 31st. IFWTWA – the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Association – recognizes writers with its annual scholarship competition. I entered on a whim just a few days before last year’s deadline, and I was chosen as the grand prize winner for my story Cooking in Lahore: An American Woman in a Pakistani Kitchen.
The grand prize for this year will be different, but here’s what my prize included just to give you an idea.
This year there are two award categories: Professional and Emerging. Emerging writers are writers who have made less than $500 on food, wine and travel writing during the year prior to contest entry (not tax year). Professional writers are those who have made $500 or more during the year prior to contest entry. Money earned from page views or advertisement doesn’t count toward the total.
Here are the details on this year’s prizes.
Writing Scholarship Award Details
Professional Journalism Scholarship Award
Emerging Writer Scholarship Award
There is a $15 entry fee for both categories. If you’re borderline, I’d suggest entering the Professional category because the prize (attendance at the Las Vegas conference) will be an awesome opportunity to meet other writers and attend the annual conference. Your story can be about food, wine OR travel or any combination of the three.
TO ENTER: IFWTWA Scholarship Awards
Photo: Wine tasting at Chateau St. Michelle in Woodinville, Washington during the IFWTWA Best of Seattle press trip organized by Allen Cox, Chair of IFWTWA’s Excellence Awards Committee.
As you’ve probably guessed, our new son Gabriel and my editorial position at Matador Abroad have been keeping me pretty busy for the last five months. I’ve just come back from my first post-baby big trip to Alaska’s Inside Passage for the IFWTWA (pronounced if-twa) Conference at Sea with Holland America. It was my first cruise, and I actually won the trip as part of the 2010 IFWTWA WiFTy scholarship.
I’ll be writing and blogging a lot more about the cruise and sharing tips for getting AWAY from the crowds at each port of call, but for now here’s some photos:
Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, Alaska
Holland America's ms Westerdam at Juneau
Hot tubbing at Hubbard Glacier
Free shuttle bus to Fortress of the Bear in Sitka
Eagle flying over Ketchikan, Alaska
Yup, section VIII page 223 – that’s me! For those of you haven’t heard yet, in late November the team at The Expeditioner released their first print anthology: The Expeditioner’s Guide to the World – Intrepid Tales of Awesomeness from the Open Road. I’m stoked to be one of the contributors with my narrative article about traveling Pakistan’s Karakoram Highway.
I bought copies of the book for my dad and my grandparents for Christmas, and none of them knew that one on my stories was included. When my dad opened his copy, it was hilarious because everyone else in the room (my mom, sister, brother and my husband Duarte) knew that I was a contributor to the book, but my dad didn’t. I had put a sticky note on the page that said something like “Open Here!” but the sticky note covered the byline. It took my dad a few minutes to realize that it was my story he was reading!
Look inside the book or buy a copy on Amazon:
The Expeditioner is planning to publish Volume II in 2011. Submissions are being accepted through June 15, 2011.
See The Expeditioner for submission details and guidelines.
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