Asiaxpat - Chinese Newspapers

AsiaXPAT, founded in Hong Kong by ex-physical education teacher Canadian Paul Luciw, capably supported by his tech-savvy younger brother John, went online in the year 2000. From humble beginnings in a back-alley office in Soho, AsiaXPAT now operates city-specific sites for all Asian centres with significant populations of expatriates and English-speaking Asian professionals.

AsiaXPATÌs initially untried formula of providing an interactive resource as opposed to the almost universal strategy of most other early web sites of regurgitating magazine and news content paid instant dividends both in terms of solid traffic and revenues; AsiaXPAT was running profitably from the sixth month of operation and has not looked back since.

Although AsiaXPAT has hundreds of thousands of visitors every month and dozens of blue-chip advertising clients, there were some bumps along the road. ÏI remember dragging myself and John out on Sunday mornings to head down to Central where the domestic helpers gather to get them to sign up for ads to find employers on our site. And during the dark days of the Îdotcom crashÌ we would grind away for the smallest contracts trying to convince skeptical clients that online advertising was viable,Ó says Paul.

AsiaXPAT has a very aggressive expansion strategy that includes extensive online plus regional television advertising primarily targeting major sporting events such as Formula One Racing, Tennis and Golf Majors, Rugby, and big-time US sporting events such as the World Series and Super Bowl. The site is also advertised heavily on family-targeted programming across Asia and ads for the site are seen regularly on the likes of Desperate Housewives, 60 Minutes, American Idol, and Seinfeld.

In addition to investing substantially in both above and below the line advertising, AsiaXPAT also looks to expand its audience through acquisitions. In 2005, the company purchased the very popular ThatÌs Magazines web sites for Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. After merging the audiences from these sites with the respective AsiaXPAT sites for these three cities, AsiaXPAT was firmly established as the leading web site for expatriates and English-speaking professionals in China.

Going forward the management of AsiaXPAT remains focused on what made the site successful which is providing innovative, useful resources and services. So stay tuned for some great new content on AsiaXPAT in the upcoming year!