As an expat woman, you are likely to have a wealth of knowledge about the countries you've lived in, the lifestyle of an expat or something others would be interested in hearing about. The most important piece of advice would be to make your blog interesting, entertaining and useful to readers.
If you want to write about lots of different topics, then ensure you use categories to organize your blog posts and make it easy for readers to find things on your blog.
It's always good to have a profile with a decent photo of yourself on the blog – either as a separate 'profile' page or down the sidebar of your blog. Readers like to know (and see) who is writing what they're reading – even if you don't have the most flattering picture to use, it can still become a talking point!
Social blogging can be a fantastic way of building up a community, so inject an element of your personality into your blog and start networking online to create your own little blog community.
A great way of building your online community (and of generating more interest in your own blog) is to find other blogs you like and leave comments (surprisingly, nice ones often work better than nasty ones!). Building an expat women blog community is a good way of receiving & giving support to others in the same boat and can help you feel more connected with others.
Write posts frequently – at least 2-3 times a week if you can. This will ensure fresh content for your readers and keep conversations going.
Whilst for some, simply the act of writing a blog can be a cathartic & useful experience, it is always nice to know that others are actually reading what you're writing. Encourage readers to leave their comments and always reply to these comments – it's good blogging netiquette.
Don't forget to post pictures & images on the blog (and if you're technically-inclined, audio & video can make good content too). Especially if you live in a beautiful part of the world – it's great to share inspiring, beautiful and entertaining pictures and the visual people amongst us will love it.
To help with the dreaded 'bloggers block', it is useful to have some structure to the blog. For example, having a category of posts like '5 things I've learned since becoming an Expat Woman' is a good way to get your creative writing juices flowing and can be used when inspiration for topics is lacking – you can just add another part to the '5 things' category.
And finally, even if you think you have nothing worth sharing that no-one will be interested in reading about...have a go anyway! You'd be surprised at the things people like to read about – and if you blog about something you have a passion for, then who knows, it might just open up business & money-generating opportunities too....
Copyright Lea Woodward. Reprinted with Permission. Lea Woodward is a Technology, Business & Marketing Coach who runs her business whilst traveling the world. Her own personal blog can be found at www.LeaWoodward.com
