Name: Pristine Remolona
Age: 23
Location: Verbier, Switzerland
Blog URL: newkidontheloch.com
What is your blog about? After growing up in Texas, I moved to Edinburgh, Scotland then Verbier, Switzerland. New Kid on the Loch is where I share details & tips on expat life, travels, and photography.
Is this your first blog? No, my first blog (A Pristine Life) documented my travels abroad while a student at Texas A&M. But I had a much more difficult time maintaining it.
When did you start your current blog? End of July 2013
What made you do it? I was moving to Scotland and wanted to keep friends and family up to date with my travels and adventures.
What was your first blog post about? Saying goodbye to my life in Houston by skydiving over the city
What do you think is the most useful tool to you as a blogger? At the moment, I’m loving Buffer. Being able to preschedule Tweets and Facebook posts makes my life much easier.
Do people in your “real life” know about your blog? If yes, has your blog helped you career wise? Yes absolutely. Especially since I started my blog as a way of keeping friends and family up to date with my life after moving abroad. I love when people in “real life” mention my blog to me. I haven’t used my blog as a way to leverage my career (yet!), but I imagine it would be helpful. Since I have a mostly technical background, it shows that I also have a bit of writing and creativity skill.
What has been the one thing (blog post, project, etc) you’ve been really proud of? I’m a relatively new blogger, but I love getting emails from readers who are using my blog to plan trips to Edinburgh or other parts of Scotland where I’ve travelled. It’s a great feeling knowing that my blog is contributing to readers’ travels.
Where do you see your blog in a year? It’s hard to say since I don’t even know where I’ll be living in a year! But hopefully it is still quite full of travel experiences, improved photography, and a growing readership.
What do you wish you knew when starting your blog? I wish I realized how important it is to be consistent with your blogging schedule. I used to post rather sporadically which made it harder to keep readers. Also the more I post, the better I get and the easier it becomes to write.
What do you wish you knew about now? Definitely want to learn more about SEO.
How do you keep motivated to post? I have a list of post ideas that I keep so I can try to schedule posts ahead of time. I also read a lot of other blogs.
Anything else you’d like to add? I love hearing from readers and fellow bloggers. Feel free to email me at pristine@newkidontheloch.com or tweet me @premolona
