My baby is turning 6 months today!

No, I haven’t hidden a baby from you for the past months… 😉 Six months ago, on 1st April 2020 exactly, I launched the Expat in France website! My baby is 6 months old today! This project has been “composting” for a while, to use an expression so well described by a blogger I discovered recently and that has such a deft pen, Jessica from Croissants and Conjugations! I have been wanting to start my own project for a few years now, without knowing how or even what to do. I have been employed for all my professional life, but I knew that something was missing. I now feel that Expat in France is giving me purpose and maybe the baby will grow into an accomplished adult! The future will tell, but for now, let’s enjoy the present and Expat in France blog’s anniversary!

Throwback on the last 6 months

How did it start?

I started Expat in France in the middle of the lockdown, and quickly I set myself a crazy challenge of writing one post per day for 30 days! You can find out more about my challenge here. I had started the blog for 10 days only, I didn’t know much about blogging, the technical part of creating a website, how to write for the web, the SEO rules to make sure Google finds the blog… I am still learning but the more I do it, the more I love it!

I love to share my experience either as an International Mobility professional or as a serial French expat. I want to help as many non-French speaking expats to nail their arrival and thrive in France!

Expat In France blog stats

Biggest traffic source: Facebook, followed by organic searches.

Number of posts published so far: 50 including this one

Most popular article in terms of page views: How to benefit from French healthcare?

Most personal post: 3 major culture shocks I experienced as an expat

My favourite article: Faire la bise in France

The most popular keyword that got people to Expat in France: furnished vs unfurnished apartment

Countries where you are reading me from:

• 45% read me from France
• 20% live in the USA
• 8% from the UK
• 8% from India
• the other 20% is split between a multitude of countries

What do I plan next for Expat in France?

I will continue providing comprehensive posts about the main administrative tasks expats have to go through when arriving in France (immigration, housing, healthcare, misc. administrative tasks), but also French culture to give you some clues to minimise the culture shock.

I’m trying to put together an Expat in France linky, where expat bloggers living in France can share their views and experience on a specific topic. The first edition will be published in the first week of November about The top… things I’ve learnt from being an expat in France.

If you know any blogger that may be interested in participating, please don’t hesitate to share this link with the guidelines, the more the merrier both for you, the reader, and also the bloggers.

I am also working on the visual identity of Expat in France to give a bit more coherence between all the social media platforms & the blog and also creating a logo!!! Tada! I’ll have it by the end of the year. Can’t wait!

And last but not least (for now), this is something I have been postponing or even procrastinating on… I am creating an Expat in France YouTube channel! I think it is a great way to give useful content and share thoughts and information. I have been fearing showing myself on video, but now that I’m actually announcing it, there is no way back!

Be gentle for the first few videos that will come out in October. This is a learning process and I hope you will like it!

Thank you!

Finally, I’d like to thank you for reading me. The Expat in France Community has been growing for the past 6 months and I have received so much encouragement and great feedback. Thank you so much for that! I’m happy to see that it helps and that you are following what I’m sharing on the web.

If you want to continue supporting my blog, or any blog that you like actually, here are some clues to do it without spending one cent on the below infographic. One like, one share, one comment helps more than you think when it comes to Google, SEO or social media existence.

Actions you can take now

1. Download your Free eBook “The expat housing guide to France”, useful for newcomers and more experienced expats in France as it explains the rights and responsibilities of tenants in France in addition to the housing search secrets you will need to nail this difficult task.

2. Join Expat in France on your prefered social media not to miss any coming insider tips (Scroll up and see on the right sidebar)

3. If you find useful information here, share it with your friends as they may find it useful too.

Thank you,

Guiga