Welcome to neXtDRAFT Issue 16. By the time you are reading this I will be somewhere between Estancia and Kalibo (about 5 hours over 2 bus trips) renewing my tourist visa.
A lot of people ask me about how I'm able live in the Philippines so I thought I'd dedicate some of this edition of neXtDRAFT to explaining just that.
Basically I live here on a tourist visa and I could actually stay in the country for up to 3 years if I really wanted. As long as I pay.
In the Philippines if you pay, you
can stay.
When you first arrive here you have an entry pass for the next 30 days; after 30 days it's a trip to the nearest Bureau of Immigration. Along with your passport, you'll need a couple of photo copies, about $90-$100 (depending on the exchange rate), and a whole bunch of patience.
Oh the queues. Oh the waiting. And
then there's the rackets!
Rackets? What are those?
Well that's the $15-$30 compulsory 'express fee' the staff demand and put in their pockets. Nothing you can do about it when you're a stranger in a strange
land.
Then in two months time you go back and do it all again. This time you'll need photographs and about $200 (plus the $30 racket money). And so it goes on every 2 months.
Sometimes it takes an hour to get your passport back, and sometimes it takes 4 days. And you have to come back exactly on that day or else. Yes, you guessed
-- more money.
If you've been in the country more than 6 months and you want to leave the country, you then need an exit visa. More photos, more photocopies, more waiting, more money.
But, the good news. By the time you read this I'll be somewhere in Kalibo (a different city and a different BOI office) where hopefully my visa
renewal will take about 10 minutes. The good news about Kalibo is ... no rackets (at least there wasn't when I was up there in December). They even had a customer service survey which I happily completed giving them 5 stars (and I meant it too).
Also my 5 hours (each way) travel time will fly by as I'll be reading Jane Harper's latest thriller Force of Nature from my tablet. And I
promise to have a full review of the book for you in neXtDRAFT 16.
How do you find a sense of belonging when living between two countries?
Living between Australian and the Philippines for more than four years is a strange state. Every time I leave one country for another, the
transition is exactly like SCUBA Diving between salt water and the fresh. The lines of my citizenship become blurred as I spend less time in Australia and Philippine culture becomes more a part of my psyche.
Jerry's beloved cat Maxine gave birth to four gorgeous kittens through the week. What a delight to have these little cuties in our life. Declan, David, Rosalie and Pat. Sadly Pat died a few days after been attacked and dragged out of the nest
by a big Ginger Tom. All cats are now living inside our small one room abode, even though I swore this would never happen.
When I saw all the rave reviews and Stephen King giving this book the thumbs up I bought it right away. But I confess I’m a little disappointed (not because it’s a terrible book) it just didn’t live up to my expectations. It took me ages to get into the story and [again] if it wasn’t for Stephen King’s ‘unputdownable‘ on the front cover I probably would have tossed it aside before I reached 1/5.
Being a psychological thriller it has all the suspense and plot twists you’d expect. There were some surprises of course and for a time it did really have me in it’s grip, but overall I found the protagonist very similar to The Girl On the Train (boozed up chick, not sure what’s real and what isn’t). Actually I found the whole alcohol thing a little implausible.
Like can someone drink 4+
bottles of wine and then play a decent game of chess or be able to distinguish clear details of what’s happening in a room across the street at night? Add to that a bucketload of medication with memory loss as a side-affect, chances are they wouldn’t remember anything after the 2nd or 3rd glass. So for me, the plausibility of how much Anna was drinking/medicating and still functioning/rationalising kept pulling me out of the story.
The book had a lot of good points though, the chic references to Hitchcock thrillers and their cinematic sirens, and pouring out the protagonist’s back story sip by sip. Kudos to Finn for a slick debut novel, but I’m glad I didn’t pay more for than $2.99 for it.
This space is for my clients and anyone wanting to learn more about maximising their online presence. Every week I offer my best advice for selling online, improving website metrics, and how to blog strategically. I also
showcase one of my clients each week as a way of saying thank you for the business. Of course it's a place to advertise my own writing services (because I have to make a living too). Email me for any topics you'd like me to cover.
Quick Q&A
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing for bloggers
I'm sure you've been on heaps of websites that offer product reviews and seem to provide loads of information all for free.
At the same time you'll find lots of links to where you can buy the products online (like Amazon) or download them direct from the store (like software comparison sites).
Most of these are probably affiliate marketing websites.
Website owners sign an
agreement with different product retailers (like Amazon) and sell products on their behalf from their own websites (receiving a commission payment for any sales completed).
To attract buyers to the websites, shrewd affiliate marketers blog about topics relevant to the products. Like comparing paint ball guns and then having a link to a paintball store where
readers can buy them.
Affiliate marketing can be a nice bonus to your website (like me reviewing books I've read and then having an affiliate link in the image; If someone buys the book from that link, I get a small commission).
But (like all things) unscrupulous
bloggers create dummy reviews, praise up rubbish products, and spin a heap of BS to get readers to buy. Additionally the reader often has no clue the writer has a vested interest in the product.
Affiliate marketing for retailers
If you're a product retailer or sell your services
online, affiliate marketing can be a great initiative to boost sales. Attach affiliate plugins to your Wordpress website and have bloggers sell your products for you. Wow.
Pay them a commission (you decide how much) for their efforts. Imagine having a great product or service and having bloggers all over the world selling it on your behalf? Why not offer 15-25% commission?
It's low cost way to expand your reach.
Readers beware
So my readers, the most important takeaway for you is to be a discerning online shopper. Make sure online reviews are genuine and not crafted merely to sell something for commission.
Reputable bloggers create real value for their readers and will have an affiliate disclaimer on their websites. They'll be transparent about what they are doing and only be promoting products and services they've personally used.
Client Profile: Meraki Traditional Chinese Medicine
Dr Casey Dorman is a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and holistic practitioner focused on helping women through their reproductive cycle. Pregnancy and pain-free labour, infertility and IVF, PMT, painful periods, and menopause are just a few of the areas where she delivers pain-free and drug-free treatments.
Casey sights
her ideal customer as someone who wants to feel better naturally. Her Clinic Meraki TCM is based in Clifton Hill in Melbourne’s inner north, located in a convenient position close to the city. Patients can take advantage of the nearby trains, trams and buses or just park onsite.
My website has grown quite a bit since it first began, more than 4 years ago. I wasn’t working at the time and at the beginning of a 3 year sabbatical. Volunteering in the Philippines I found blogging was a great way to raise money for the people affected by Typhoon Yolanda.
Fast forward 2018 I’m now working as a full-time professional copywriter and my website
has become a hub to showcase my services to clients as much as an outlet for my creative works.
And as much as I enjoyed my time off blogging, playing guitar and writing poetry, I am loving the challenge of working again and building a writing business. So the blog is evolving again too, now into a commercial site.
From this week I’ll be including affiliate links in some of
the posts as well as the odd advertising banner. Like if I review a book I’ve read and liked, I’ll include a link to the Amazon store. If you buy that book within a certain timeframe I may receive a small commission payment.
Back when I very first met Jerry and he came to
stay with me in mid-2015 my iPhone went missing. It turned up half a day later with more than 600 photos of Jerry and a few others too. What awesome memories!
