I’ve been pretty quiet for the last couple of weeks, mainly due to offline endeavours. However, I did find time to finish off a new WordPress plugin called LocalCurrency, that allows you to show currency values to your readers in their local currency.

For example: If a post contains 10 yuan, a user from Australia will see 10 yuan (AUD$1.53), while a US user will see 10 yuan (USD$1.39).

How LocalCurrency Works

LocalCurrency determines the reader’s country (via IP address), gets the current exchange rate from Yahoo! Finance, then calculates the equivalent value in the readers currency for any values in the post. It then updates the post so the reader can see their currency, in brackets after the original value.

All of this is done using ‘AJAX’ techniques so that page load times aren’t affected. Readers can change their currency via a selection box if they desire.

Where Do I Get LocalCurrency?

See the LocalCurrency plugin home page for more information about LocalCurrency, a live example, and to download the plugin.

Why Is It On JobsInChina?

There is one big difference about this plugin, compared to my other plugins. LocalCurrency is a JobsInChina production. That means I’m hosting  it on the JobsInChina.com website. There are several reasons for this:

1. It was written for use on the JobsInChina blog
2. It’s running on that blog, not this one
3. It is more likely to appeal to a higher percentage of visitors to that blog (as many will start their own blog when living in China).
4. Honestly, the backlinks will help JobsInChina. I’ll write more on this in the coming weeks, but a plugin is great at generating backlinks.

This was a hard decision. This is my WordPress plugin site, so it could be argued that all my plugins belong here. Point three swayed the argument. JobsInChina is supposed to provide resources to people wanting to live in China. That includes bloggers!

It’s not all about point four. In fact, I’m sure there are SEO experts out there who’d say that it’d be better to keep the two sites separate and tightly focused. Of course it is possible for a site to be an authority on more than one topic. This blog has some authority for China – it ranks at position 20 for Chinese Hospitality (it used to be on page one, but it’s slipping).

Anyway, I may come to regret the decision, but it’s been made now. I’ll provide any feedback on the SEO impact if it becomes obvious.

Final Thoughts

This was one of the more complicated plugins I’ve written, as it involved JavaScript and ‘AJAX’, but it’s been very satisfying to complete. I’m not expecting it to be a mainstream plugin, but it is handy for people living abroad who often talk about what they’ve spent recently.

Happy Chinese New Year! The arrival of the Chinese New Year seems like a good time to announce my new blog at jobsinchina.com. Primarily a blog, for now, JobsInChina will cover issues related to living and working in China.

What JobsInChina Will Offer

I’ve been wanting to write about China and my experiences here for a long time. This gives me the outlet. I’ll write about anything related to China: daily life, culture, travel, news articles, amusing stories, pictures I’ve taken, etc.

I’ll relate these back to living and working in China, because the primary focus of the blog is to help people understand what it’s really like here.

The site will also aim to provide resources for people wanting to live or work in China. I plan to add sections covering work visas, legal issues, etc. This part of the site will build up slowly, as I’ll need to research it carefully.

It’s also quite likely that at some point in future, the site will list jobs available in China. This will probably be done in partnership with an existing job listing provider.

There are lots of possibilities with JobsInChina. I’ve taken the unusual step of leading with a blog and adding other services later. That doesn’t mean that those services won’t be provided in future.

Why Lead With A Blog?

I’ve owned the jobsinchina.com domain name for four years, but never done anything with it. My original plan was to create a job listing service, but I was too busy to put it into action. Time passed and the opportunity was lost. There is now a lot of strong competition in this area and a new job listing site would be unlikely to succeed (without a lot of money behind it).

However, my experience with More Than Scratch The Surface made me confident that I could create a successful China-related blog. I realised that the easiest way to succeed with the www.jobsinchina.com domain would be to build the blog first, then leverage that to add the other services later.

Besides, I wanted to write about my experiences here in China anyway!

Monetization Of JobsInChina

If I can build the JobsInChina to a reasonable level, it will offer some good monetization options, including:

1. Adsense (search traffic only): While not a high paying niche, it should work reasonably well, once search engine visitors start to arrive. With lots of content, it should be able to attract reasonable search traffic.
2. Affiliate Reviews: A blog lends itself to reviews of products related to China: books, DVDs, language software, cameras (to take with you).
3. Direct Advertising: This may be where the real money comes from, once traffic reaches a certain level. Potential advertisers include large chains of English language schools in China, corporations hiring in China, companies selling China-related products, etc.
4. Partnerships: I won’t talk too much about this now, but once the site is reasonably successful, it will open the way for partnerships with job listing sites and other China related sites.

I’m sure more opportunities will arise as things proceed.

Adsense Related Posts Explained

Regular readers will have noticed a lot of Adsense related posts recently, including:

1. The Adsense Dilemma (Or How To Make Money)
2. How To Avoid Adsense Smart Pricing On Blogs
3. Shylock Adsense Plugin – Hack To Avoid Smart Pricing

These all came from the planning for jobsinchina.com. My first thought was to create a Made For Adsense mini-site, but I soon decided that I wanted to create a blog, so I could write about my experiences in China.

At that stage, I realised that a blog with good content, would be less successful with Adsense than an MFA site with mediocre content. This lead to the "don’t solve their problems" theory outlined in the Adsense Dilemma post. As part of researching that post, I learnt more about Adsense Smart Pricing and the high risk blogs have of being smart priced. That lead to the second post. The third post was my solution to the problem.

So that’s why I’ve been subjecting you to all these Adsense related posts!

Ultimately, I decided to go with a blog for JobsInChina with the plan to expand into other services later. This will mean a lot of extra work, but should result in better monetization options once it’s reached a certain level.

Final Thoughts

I’m excited about JobsInChina and I’m really going to enjoy writing about China. If any of you are interested in learning more about China, or what it’s like to live there, join me at Jobs In China. Happy Chinese New Year!

I recently took part in Snoskred’s Get Out Of Your Niche series. This has been an excellent series with guest posts on a variety of topics. My own guest post was added to the collection last Friday.

The premise of the series is that instead of writing about your normal topic, you write about life in your country. As it looks like we will be returning to Australia in about 6 months time, I wrote about what I am looking forward to about Life In Australia and what I’ll miss about Life In China.

If you’re interested in what I wrote, go and read it!

I have to hand it to Snoskred – this series is a fantastic idea. For me, I get the chance to write on topics I normally don’t get the chance to. I also get more exposure and the chance of picking up some new readers. For Snoskred, she gets a variety of rich stories which add value to her blog. It’s win – win for every one, including our respective readers. Thanks Snoskred!

I really enjoyed taking part. I have been thinking for some time that I’d like to write more about my experiences in China. I’ve even thought about starting a separate blog. Unfortunately, that’s not likely to happen any time soon, because I don’t have the time to do it justice.

If you feel like trying your hand at something different, get on over to Snoskred’s Get Out Of Your Niche post for instructions on how to join in. Let me know if you do!

After 4 months of blogging, I had my first enforced break and have been away from my computer for 5 days. I didn’t really miss it much – a few pangs now and then, some minor guilt about people expecting replies to comments, but mostly I just really enjoyed being with my family.

In my last post, I said I wanted to get back to my stated topic, web development. However, before I do so, I am going to take the opportunity to write about our holiday and Chinese hospitality.

For those of you who don’t know, I live in China. There’s a lot I’d like to write about China, so I may come back to this topic in future. I may start a separate blog for my China writings, but for now I’ll include them here.

Chinese National Day Golden Week

October 1st is Chinese National Day and marks the start of a Golden Week holiday. We normally just stay at home during Golden Week holidays because travelling is a nightmare.

It is estimated that 120 million people travelled during this holiday. Trying to book flights / trains / hotels etc is difficult. If you’re successful, you’re in for an uncomfortable experience – people will be crammed into every available space. To top it off, the prices are two to three times higher than normal.

It’s not just travelling that’s a problem. Most of China’s 1.3 billion people are on holiday, so the shops / streets / tourist attractions are jam-packed with people. And I mean jam-packed. All in all, it’s normally better to relax at home and leave travel and tourism for a quieter period.

This holiday we decided to venture out and accept the invitation of a good friend. Fortunately, we weren’t travelling by public transport. We were travelling by private car and enjoying some famous Chinese hospitality.

Chinese Hospitality

Our friend invited us to spend the holiday with his family. When you receive an invitation such as this, you’ll learn that Chinese hospitality is fantastic, although at times it can be overbearing for Westerners.

They made us feel as though we were part of the family, provided us with accommodation and food, and tried to keep us entertained. One night they even gave up their own bed for us. Our friend’s family is quite well off, but I’ve found this kind of hospitality throughout China, regardless of wealth.

So what did we do? Mostly we just relaxed with his family and ate (more on that below). We also went on several outings, including a day in Tianjin.

One night we stayed in the Zhengan Palace Hotel in Grand Epoch City, which is a huge luxury resort. It is truly epic in scale and combines a modern facility with classic Chinese architecture. There’s a golf course and a variety of other sports and activities. Luxury resorts are not really my scene, but it was well worth the look.

For trivia buffs and soccer fans, Real Madrid stayed here in 2005. Michael Owen, David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane feature in the hotel’s pamphlet, in that order. We also saw a German camera crew setting up to shoot a movie, but I have no idea what it’s called.

Banquets, Banquets, Banquets

Everyday, for lunch and dinner, there was a banquet. The food was delicious! If you’ve never tried real Chinese food, I can assure you it is far superior to the food you get in Chinese restaurants in the West. For those not familiar with Chinese dining, each person does not have an individual meal. Instead, many dishes are placed in the centre of the table and you help yourself to a little of everything.

There is a strong drinking culture amongst the men, with toasting throughout the meal. Normally the drink is baijiu (a lethal spirit), although red wine or beer may be used instead. Often the toaster will say ganbei, which literally means dry glass. For some reason, most Chinese think Cheers means the same thing. Either way, you’re expected to drain your glass.

I’ve often heard people complaining about having to drink too much or eat dishes they didn’t like. I fell into this trap myself early on during my time in China. I’ve since learned it’s fine to say no, or that you don’t like something.

With food, the host may pressure you a little more (it’s considered polite for the host to offer), but they will normally accept this. However, there are right ways and wrong ways to say no. Sometimes, it is better to say yes, then just not eat it. Actually saying no can lead to a loss of face for your host. You may find that it’s harder to get the host to accept no when it comes to drinking, as it is considered a courtesy for the host to get you to drink.

For a Westerner being pressured to do something you don’t want to do can be very annoying. We expect that if we say we don’t like something, the host will respect our wishes and not raise it again. At times it takes all my patience to remember that I’m dealing with a different culture here and that the reason they keep asking is that they are being courteous by their standards. If they don’t ask, they don’t care about me.

I’ve lived in China for 3 years in total, but I’m still learning how to deal with this. I think I was a little rude to our hosts at times, but hopefully I made up for it with the arm wrestling competition!

The Final Word

We had a great holiday and enjoyed some great Chinese hospitality. Now, its back to everyday life… If you have had any experience with Chinese hospitality I’d like to hear about your experiences.