Today my class was visited by Maria Balinska, founder and editor of Latitude News, a site that covers, in her own words connects international news on a local level.

Since one of my life dreams is still to be a travel writer (foreign correspondent, Anthony Bourdain‘s assistant, etc.) I love international news sites, and this a good one.  It was cool to meet and listen to the opinions of someone who has begun a site like this.

Balinska started latitude News about a year ago, and still laments that it is hard to make journalism stories go viral in the age where cat pictures are king (I concur). She gave a lot of great advice on how to handle and manage an online presence.

“If you’re going to keep people coming back to you, you need either volume of content or a particular niche voice,” she said.

As a soon to be alumni of college, it is always a bit scary to try to figure my life out, but knowing that this woman started her own website gives me the courage to at least look for a job.  I’m just not willing to settle on any job, though.  I’m super happy at my part–time job for the meantime, and I have plenty of time to blog.   I will be reading Latitude News though, to keep myself updated on international news and primed if I ever get that interview of my dreams.

Did I mention she used to work for the BBC? She lived outside of the US for 20 years. So Jealous.

She did give some great marketing advice as well:

“You have to be nimble,” she said.  “The idea is not enough, marketing is critical.”

Taking her words as inspiration, I am going to a blogging networking event at Mistral in a few weeks, and I ordered my first business cards to help me market myself and Frugal Foodie. Wish me luck!

-L