Expat Women Thanks Our Biggest Referrers

Hi Everyone, We would like to give a big, public shout-out and thanks to the following fabulous websites and blogs, who have referred the most people to Expat Women so far this year. 

We depend on your word-of-mouth/online support, so please tell all of your expat friends, family and expat clubs about our huge, free resource site. 

Please put our link and/or logo on your/your club's website and/or submit your blog to our Expat Women Blog Directory and who knows... maybe next time, your site will be on our thank you list. 

Thanks Everyone for your ongoing support!  Andrea :-)

An Expatriate in Rapallo
Stories about life in Rapallo, Italy.

Bleeding Espresso
Life as an expat in southern Italy.

BootsnAll
Independent international travel guide.

Chapala
Real estate and property information for Lake Chapala, Mexico.

Crystal Goes to Europe
Musings of an expat living in France.

Desert Girl on Kuwait
Stories about expat life from an American raised in Kuwait.

Diary of a White Indian Housewife
Stories and information about life as an expat in India.

Expatica
News and information for the international community.

Expats in Chile Network
Online network providing resources and information for expatriates in Chile.

Fabulously French
Blog about life in France for the online shop fabulouslyfrench.com

Get in the Hot Spot
Empowering tips for life and work.

La Mom
Tales of an American mom in Paris.

Life Style Refugee – The Ajijic Blog
Stories and information about life as an expat in Mexico.

Living in Singapore
Tips and information about living in and moving to Singapore.

Seattle City Brights – Melody Biringer
Blogger for Seattle Post-Intelligencer on a wide variety of topics.

Susie’s Big Adventure
Stories and information about expatriate life in Saudi Arabia.

Transitions Abroad
Comprehensive resource for work, study, travel and life abroad.

Vagabondish
Travelzine with tips, advice and how-to’s for travelers.

Women Welcome Women
International friendship and travel network for women.

What Have I Learnt About Twitter In Just One Month?

Hi Everyone, For those of you still sitting on the fence about Twitter, I thought I would share a little about what I have learnt so far...

1. It's Super Easy

Once you have your account, and you take a minute to learn how to shorten URLs/website addresses (try TinyURL or bit.ly), it is incredibly easy to type a 140-character message and tell the world your latest discovery.

2. It's Great For Keeping Up

Given that the messages are so short, it is very easy to keep up with what your friends are saying, or what others in your industry or interest groups are saying, just by following those people that might have 'news' for you.

Then every time you scan the 'news' from people who you follow, from their tweets which come to your Twitter account, you can retweet anything newsworthy in just a few seconds. It's brilliant: you can boost your own reputation for being 'in the know' and sharing valuable information just by retweeting. I pinch myself at how easy it is to do that.

3. It's Personal

Much to my surprise, Twitter can actually be quite personal. Instead of seeing just an email address on your blog subscription list, you get to not only see a photo (usually) of the person following you, but you can also click immediately on their profile to read their tweets, send a message to them, see who is following them and even follow them if you choose to (so they can message you directly and/or so you can just keep up with their tweets in the future). Again, you are learning who else is 'out there' and it's only taking you a few minutes.

Expat Michelle Fabio @michellefabio concurs:

"Twitter has deepened my relationships that previously had been conducted only through blog comments. Twitter really gives you an opportunity to nurture relationships built throughout the Internet and also find new ones based on similar interests. Plus it's so much fun!"

4. It's Fun

Twitter is much more fun than I expected. As soon as you learn something, you can share it within a minute or two. Once you are following friends or peers that do the same, there are lots of interesting 'learnings' being shared in 140 characters or less. It's fabulous.

Expat Jennifer @louloufrance wrote to me:

"[Twitter is] an excellent way of exchanging information about the subjects I'm interested in (cooking, cheese, France, wine, travel) as well as keeping up to date on news stories.... I love it!"

"A friend of mine started with Twitter and was about to give up on it [but] asked me for my thoughts on the media and after telling her how I used it to glean information she ended up finding a whole group of people in her field (TESL) and now says that it has renewed her interest in her career and has introduced her to new avenues that she would never discovered without Twitter."

5. It Saves You Time

Sure, you need to put aside time to read and write tweets. But, we are only talking about 140-character tweets. Super small. Super easy to scan, read and write, compared to researching all of those people's blogs/newsletters/websites that you would like to keep up with and then deciding if anything they say is 'newsworthy'.

Again, the more people you follow, the more 'news' that will come direct to your Twitter inbox, rather than you searching for it - saving your precious time and energy.

6. It Can Slow Your Blogging

On the negative side... unfortunately, I am finding that it is just so quick to tweet information out to the world, that that's where I am typing my/our news first. Then, if I don't have time to explain it all via a blog post when I tweet it, the blog post (usually, but not always) follows, but maybe the next day or the next week even. For everyone subscribed to this blog, I apologise and promise to try harder in that respect, so that I am not too far behind on the blog, compared to Twitter (smile).

On the positive side... in the past, if I had not had time to blog I simply would not share anything that I had learned until I did have time to blog. At least now, me and others like me, can share on Twitter straight away. So that has to be a good thing, right?

My Prediction: I predict that because of the ease of Twittering, blog owners who twitter will slow down with less regular blog posts. Whilst blog news might then fall a few days behind, for many of us who subscribe to various blog and newsletter feeds, perhaps a few less (but more consolidated) blog updates might not necessarily be a bad thing, as blog owners might focus their blog posts on truly valuable topics and post anything less newsworthy in just a 140-character Twitter update. Then anyone wanting news when it's super-hot and fresh, can read it on Twitter in the interim.

Maybe it's much like the tortoise and the hare... they'll both get to the finish line in the end, it just depends who wants to get there faster. ;-)

Andrea

Follow me on Twitter @andreaexpat

Top 30 Young Entrepreneur Blogs

Hi Everyone, Another great article I found on Unstrapp'd this week: Top 30 Young Entrepreneur Blogs of 2009. These women and men are amazing. The question now is... which blogs to follow, to gain regular doses of their inspiration and useful advice... Andrea.

Expat Women Bloggers: Want To Be on Mamapedia... or Listed on Technorati?

Hi Everyone, I recently read in a Technorati newsletter that Mamapedia is looking for bloggers who write on topics that are of interest to mothers, to feature on Mamapedia Voices. They launched earlier this year and are reaching an audience of almost 1 million mothers!

You can get more information by signing up here: http://bit.ly/agucO. (They ask everyone to mention that you found out about this opportunity from Technorati. If you do, please mention ExpatWomen.com too - thanks.)

By the way, I see that Technorati have a blog directory that might interest some of you to list on as well - especially the "Travel" section. You never know who might find you unless you list, right?

Thanks, best wishes and good luck! Andrea.

Expat Women Blog Directory: www.expatwomen.com/expatblog/

900 Expat Women Blogs

Hi Everyone, Thanks to our wonderful Expat Women community, we now have more than 900 blogs in our Expat Women Blog Directory!

These blogs are a fantastic source of insight into expat locations all around the globe and if you are looking for country-specific stories, news and networks, we encourage you to tap into these great online sources of wisdom abroad.

Click here to see the latest blogs approved.

Click here to submit your own blog.

Best wishes, Andrea.

Expat Susie's Blog Blocked In Saudi

Hi Everyone, I read with interest yesterday a story on Middle East Online entitled US expat's blog on Saudi life censored.

This is a story about Susie who runs the blog Susie's Big Adventure (and Jeddah Daily Photo Journal), about her life in Saudi Arabia, where she moved to in 2007 with her Saudi husband of nearly 30 years.

Susie's blog is one of the most popular blogs listed in our Expat Women Blog Directory, but poor Susie has had her blog blocked for Saudi audiences, even though she can still post to her blog and receive blog comments via email - crossing her fingers that her blog continues to 'look okay' - as she cannot actually see it herself.

If this has happenned to you (wherever you might be located), take heart, you are not alone.

If you are in Saudi, you might like to drop Susie a line here (as you might not be able to access her blog).

Best wishes, Andrea.

800 Expat Women Blogs

Hi Everyone, Thanks to your support, we now have 800 expat women blogs that have been listed on our Expat Women Blog Directory. Thank you!

The 800th blogger kindly gave us a nice (unsolicited) shout out on her blog too. One of the best blog shout out's we have read in ages. Thanks Nancy of A Shore Dive Kinda Life!

700 Expat Women Blogs

Hi Everyone, Today we are very excited to welcome our 700th blog to our Expat Women Blog Directory. This section of our site has become a tremendous resource for women relocating, feeling isolated abroad or just wanting to learn/share overseas experiences, and we thank everyone who has contributed their blog to date.

If you would like to submit your genuine expat women blog (and yes, we do check every single blog is genuine and consistent with our expat women criteria), please click here - it's easy.

If you would like to read the 20 most recent blogs added, we invite you to get inspired here. Thanks.

Got Books On Your Expat Blog?

Hi Everyone, When approving a new blog submission today for our Expat Women Blog Directory, we noticed a very cool way to display books down the side of your expat blog: it's the Shelfari bookshelf.

We've seen many books on many blogs, but the Shelfari widget today on Cat Bauer's Venetian Cat blog was very effective. Take a look if you are interested.

Confused About Social Media, Blogs, Wikis, RSS, Podcasts, Twitter And More?

If you politely smile when these topics are mentioned, but are secretly confused about what they really mean and how they might apply to you, try visiting the CommonCraft Show. This online source of quick, user-friendly video explanations "in plain English" is excellent. Bravo CommonCraft.

Thanks go to Martina, an expat woman in Europe, for reminding us about CommonCraft.