Blogging for Expats: List-Building Basics

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Once you’ve created a portable career to support you overseas, you need to start marketing. The best place to do it is online, with a website or blog. When you market online, there are essentially two ways to get your message out. Attract huge amounts of traffic using any/every available means — ads, PPC, social [...]

Blogging for Expats: You’ve Only Got a Few Months to Get This Right

Your website should be easy to read with a phone's browser

If you’re serious about building a business or portable career around a blog, you only have a few months to get one particular technical aspect under control. I’m talking about mobile. Fewer people today are accessing the internet from a PC than from a mobile device. Most of us use laptops, netbooks, tablets and even [...]

Choosing a Niche for Your Portable Career

Minnie Mouse at Animal Kingdom

Which way will lead to a more profitable portable career? Offering to do “everything” in your industry, or offering a service or product that’s very specific? If you’re a writer, will you write everything for everyone? Well, maybe you could, but how would you market your services? How do you stand out from the crowd? [...]

Create a Social Media Profile for your Portable Career

social media icons for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Delicious, YouTube, WordPress

After the recent post on 5 Social Media Platforms Every Expat Blogger Should Use, one reader commented that he “never really caught on to the social networking thing.” Well, if you’re not creating a portable career, you don’t have to “get” social networking. However, if you’ll need to support yourself overseas as a writer, blogger, [...]

Five Social Media Platforms Every Expat Blogger Should Use

social media icons for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Delicious, YouTube, WordPress

You’ve set up your blog, you’ve found a terrific theme, you’re producing content. . . now what? How do you attract the right target audience? Create a social media strategy. Which specific social media platforms you use will depend on your niche and your audience. Basic rule of thumb? You need to hang out where [...]

Don’t Do it with a Blog: Create an Enjoyable Overseas Retirement, Even if the Economy has Blown your Nest Egg

cha-ching machine

You’ve heard the siren song of that soft Caribbean breeze, or the bustling Asian street scene with the bright colors and temple bells. Or maybe your overseas dream runs more toward soaking up the culture of the City of Lights. The only problem is, the US economy has eaten your retirement nest egg and you [...]

How to Know What Premium WordPress Theme is Right for your Site

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This is the 11th in our Blogging for Expats tutorial series. So you’ve got an idea for your blog, you’ve worked your way through the basics of setting it up, maybe you’ve even posted a few articles. But your site still doesn’t look as professional as you’d like. What to do. . . what to [...]

On the Fourth Day of Christmas

Day 4

Let’s move right along with our gift list for the untethered expat blogger. On the Fourth Day of Christmas, my expat gave to me. . . Four Exclusive Clubs Three Premium Blog Themes Two Blogging Books And a website for to earn some money #1. Blog Masters Club Blog Masters Club is a highly structured, [...]

On the Second (and Third) Day of Christmas. . .

3 French Hens

Still pondering what to get for that expat or future expat on your Christmas list? I thought I’d have some fun with the run-up to Christmas and one of my favorite Christmas ditties. Between now and December 25, I’ll bring you the 12 days of Christmas, shopping-for-expats style. Each day we’ll focus on one aspect [...]

Black Friday Shopping List for Untethered Expats

Black Friday at Target

If you’re about to move abroad, you certainly don’t want to collect more doodads, tchotchkes, knicknacks and other stuff you’ll have to store or move. So what do you give a soon-to-be expat for Christmas? I thought we could join the rest of America in some Black Friday shopping, but for things that will help [...]