We hit a couple a cool milestones with The Middle Kingdom blog last week, all centered around the number 100. First we broke 100 unique vistors in a day, secondly we now have a hundred email subscribers, and third we also have over a hundred RSS feed subscribers. Since we hit these number recently I thought it might be a good time to write about why we do this blog and what we get out of it.
When writing a blog the primary currency is trust. We work hard to earn our reader’s trust and don’t take it lightly when it’s been given. There are hundreds of sites out there that exist purely to get some of your money into their pockets. If you do a search for info about moving to China, or traveling in China you’re likely to come upon a bunch of sites that offer some bland generic information about the population of China and random historical facts but not much that is really useful and informative. Usually those types of sites are filled with a bunch of ads and sales pitches for riverboat cruises, China tours, hotel packages and moving companies.
When we started this site we wanted it to be different. We know that moving to and living in China can be daunting, and we truly enjoy helping people and answering questions, that’s why we make it a point to provide the vast majority of the stuff we write about for free. We wanted to provide real, practical information that would be useful and helpful. At the same time, we believe in full transparency and we have no desire to hide the fact that there we are also working on building The Middle Kingdom into a business that can help support us so that we can continue to live in China. We’ve just started to do somethings to monetize the blog, and for the near future there are three things we’re doing to make that happen:
1) Sponsors. We are very picky about the advertising that goes up on our site. We only promote things that we actually use or that we have personally researched and feel comfortable with, and that we believe would be of real value to our readers. Currently we have 2 sponsors: PureVPN (which provides us with VPN accounts) and Beijing City International School (BCIS). We are open to adding a few more, but they would have to fit the above criteria.
2) Affiliate Products. We fully endorse Chris Guillebeau and the work he does at The Art of Non Conformity blog. We have purchased and used his Frequent Flier Master ebook, Empire Builder course, Freelancer Survival Guide and Art and Money Guide and I’m a member of the Travel Hacking Cartel (so pretty much everything he does). Since we believe in it some much we promote his guides on our site, and if you purchase one of his guides through our links we get 51% of the sale. We also get a 500 frequent flier miles for anyone who joins the Travel Hacking Cartel through our link, and while miles aren’t the same as cash, they do help us keep our travel affordable which is a big budget item for us each year.
3) Transition Accomplice Packages. This is our big step forward into making the Middle Kingdom a business. The Transition Accomplice service is a personalized survival, transition, and acclimation program for individuals or families that are just arriving in Beijing and would like someone to help them learn how to navigate life in Beijing. It’s not for helping you find an apartment or job, but for helping you move beyond surviving and on to thriving in Beijing. For some people the price point for the Transition Accomplice might be too high, but we really believe that what we have to offer is worth it.
4) China Guides. Currently our two guides (Driver’s License Guide and Newcomer’s Guide) are available for free, but at the end of September we will start selling them through the site. We are also developing a series of neighborhood guides and travel guides that will be for sale over the next couple of months.
5) Donations. We’ve recently added a donation button to our site. The site doesn’t cost a whole lot to run, but there are some financial considerations and I’m hoping to make some site upgrades over the next couple months that will cost about $300. If you’ve found the info here helpful but aren’t in the market for a VPN or Travel Hacking guide but you still want to support us, consider directly donating to the site. We really appreciate it.
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I have many times thought about a transition guide and how helpful that would be. I wish I had known about this when I arrived in Beijing. If you ever get so big that you need help, let me know! I would love to be a part of such a great idea. I will be sure to post a link to this site on my blog.