The Food Blogger Pro Podcast

How to lean into a blogging niche, how to sell physical products online, and how blogging has changed through the years with Suzy Karadsheh. ----- Welcome to episode 208 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Suzy Karadsheh about growing a blog to a full-time job and selling physical products online. Full-Time Blogging and Physical Products Today we're hearing from Suzy, the blogger behind the site, The Mediterranean Dish. Suzy's story is really awesome because she found her niche and really leaned into that niche, and then her blog took off. From running her own online store for her own products to bringing team members on to help with her business, Suzy is totally owning her space in the blogging world, and she's here to tell you how she's doing it. You'll learn about some of the tools and processes she relies on, how she sells physical products, how she finally decided to take blogging seriously, and so much more. Enjoy! In this episode, Suzy shares: How blogging has changed since she started When she decided she would take blogging seriously How she formed her niche What the Mediterranean diet is The decisions that helped her blog take off How she sells physical products How she wrote for a magazine Resources: Submit a podcast idea! The Mediterranean Dish WP Tasty Nutrifox 15 Ways to Avoid Blogger Burnout 059: 9 Ways to Avoid Blogger Burnout with Bjork & Lindsay Ostrom Shippo If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Iva from Food by Iva! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

Building routines to deal with daily chaos, how parameters help you design, and tips for refining your design with Melissa Coleman. ----- Welcome to episode 207 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Melissa Coleman about designing your perfect workspace. Consciously Uncoupling and Crafting the Ideal Workspace You may recall that Melissa Coleman from the food blog, The Faux Martha, was on the podcast just back in December talking about her Year of the Pivot. Today, she's here to continue the conversation and talk about the project she has been working on recently: designing the new Pinch of Yum offices. If you don't have a dedicated office to work from, you're not alone. But that doesn't mean that you can't make intentional decisions to refine and optimize your workspace. Melissa is here to talk through her process for designing a space, as well as the tips that you can and apply to your own workspace. In this episode, Melissa shares: How she's pivoting her time Why it's important to put some thought your workspace How she builds routines to deal with daily chaos Why you should start with the function of your space Why mood boards are helpful What parameters help you do The indicators that your space might be sub-optimal Tips for refining your design Resources: 181: The Year of the Pivot with Melissa Coleman Melissa on Instagram The Faux Martha Get in touch with The Faux Martha team about their design work The Minimalist Kitchen If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, mak@sgt! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

How YouTube prioritizes videos, why YouTube is different from other social platforms, and the characteristics of successful YouTube accounts with Tim Schmoyer. ----- Welcome to episode 206 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Tim Schmoyer about creating, delivering, and capturing value on YouTube. YouTube for Food Influencers While we know that "hands and pans" videos perform well on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, are they really the best types of videos to share on YouTube? Tim Schmoyer is here today to talk about the nuances that go into creating a powerful presence on YouTube. If you're already making food and recipe videos, you'll love learning about how you can create, deliver, and capture value on YouTube in this interview. If you're not already creating content on YouTube, this episode should shed some light on the many positive outcomes of sharing videos on this platform. In this episode, Tim shares: Why YouTube is important for creators When he realized he could make a career out of YouTube Why you need to fail How he monetizes his channel If it's too late to start on YouTube The characteristics of successful accounts How YouTube prioritizes videos Why YouTube is different from other social media platforms How to deal with haters His advice for creators who want to rely on YouTube for income What UTM parameters are and why they're helpful Resources: 050: The Secret to Engaging Video with Tim Schmoyer Six Sisters Stuff Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money YouTube for Food Influencers course Video Creators Podcast If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, smallfarmbiglife! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

What a Personal Board of Directors does, how to fill the seats on your Personal Board of Directors, and how your Personal Board of Directors can help you grow with Bjork Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 205 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork wraps up our Projects series by talking about building his Personal Board of Directors. How (and Why) You Need to Build a Personal Board of Directors In the final episode of our four-part Projects series, Bjork is here to talk about forming his Personal Board of Directors. The people on his Personal Board of Directors help keep him accountable and encourage him to set aside the time to do the things that are important to him. In this episode, you'll learn how to form a Personal Board of Directors for yourself, what seats you migh want to fill, and how the people on your Personal Board of Directors can help you grow as a business owner and person. Enjoy! In this episode, Bjork shares: What a Board of Directors does The seats he fills on his Personal Board of Directors Who is a part of his Personal Board of Directors What the future of his Personal Board of Directors could look like Resources: Things Zoom If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com.

What is an EIN, how to separate your business finances from your personal finances, and keeping your books in order with Bjork Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 204 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork talks about how we've structured our businesses and the tools we use to manage them. LLCs, S-Corps, and Accounting, oh my! If you're generating income with your blog, it's important that you have your business structured in a way that you not only understand, but that helps you make strategic decisions in the future. Bjork is here today to chat through how we have our businesses set up, as well as the tools we use to keep track of our financials. You'll learn why it's important to separate your business income from your personal income, how to make sure your books are in order, and more to give you a better idea of how you could be managing your blog expenses and income. In this episode, Bjork shares: How you can be strategic with your losses Why it's important to separate your business income from your personal income What an EIN is Why we've separated the financials for each of our businesses How we make sure our books are in order What tools we use to keep track of our purchases and income Resources: QuickBooks Pilot Shoeboxed Leave us a review on iTunes! If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com.

Balancing the attention you give to ads, increasing your business' earning potential, and making a blog visit more valuable with Bjork Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 203 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork chats about how we're strategically targeting our low-hanging fruit. How We're Finding and Juicing the Low-Hanging Fruits in Our Businesses Working smarter, not harder. Sounds like the dream, right? That's exactly what this episode is about; putting in a bit of work and getting a big return. This episode is part two of our four-part "Projects" series, and Bjork is sharing some ways that you can be thinking more strategically about the low-hanging fruit in your own business. He'll encourage you to find the things you're already doing and do them a little bit better so that you can be more efficient and effective with your work. In this episode, Bjork shares: The two ways you can optimize the ads on your site How you can balance the attention you want to give up to ads How you can increase the earning potential of your business How to make a blog visit more valuable Resources: AdThrive Mediavine Slickstream OneSignal 202: WP Tasty – Our Early Stage Strategy for Building Traffic and Marketing with Bjork Ostrom If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com.

Retargeting website visitors, specific opt-ins, and quick-start guides with Bjork Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 202 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork talks about WP Tasty's traffic and marketing strategy. Our Early Stage Strategy for Building Traffic and Marketing We're so excited for this episode because it marks the start of our three-part series, "Projects." Today's episode focuses on WP Tasty, our sister site for WordPress plugins for food bloggers. One of the words that you'll hear Bjork say a few times throughout this episode is the word "intentional," and it's at the core of the strategies that we're sharing today. We encourage you to take some of the strategies you'll hear today and see if you can apply them to your own blog or business in an intentional way! In this episode, Bjork shares: Why WP Tasty's churn rate is low Why support is so important Where traffic is for WP Tasty How WP Tasty is optimizing their traffic Why it's helpful to create content in buckets How WP Tasty is handling content scheduling and planning How WP Tasty uses pixels to retarget customers How to make a "quick start" guide for your content Why a specific opt-in is more helpful than a generic one Resources: WP Tasty WP Tasty's blog Ahrefs 091: Optimizing Recipes for SEO with Joost De Valk from Yoast SEO CoSchedule 201: Email Marketing for Bloggers with Matt Molen Moz Sign up for the Food Blogger Pro waiting list If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com.

Why you should be implementing an email strategy, how to get more readers on your list, and what to do once those readers are on your list with Matt Molen. ----- Welcome to episode 201 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Matt Molen about implementing and maintaining a solid email list strategy. Email Marketing for Bloggers Today's episode focuses on the unsung hero, the oft forgotten promotional medium of blogging: email marketing. It's easy to just set up an RSS-driven email campaign, meaning that your subscribers automatically get new posts, and forget about it. But you can be doing a lot with your email list, and Matt is here today to talk about those strategies and plans that can help you grow a healthy, engaging email list. It's a fun interview, and we hope you have a few takeaways that you can apply to your mailing list after listening. In this episode, Matt shares: Where the name Personalized Paths come from Why segmentation is important What it was like to move from full-time employment to self-employment Why content creators should be implementing an email strategy How to get more readers on your list What to send your readers once they're on your list How to solve your readers' problems How to maintain a healthy email list Resources: Personalized Paths Picture the Magic Calendly ConvertKit 140: From $300k in Product Sales to $9m in Software Sales with Nathan Barry Email Jump Start Email on Autopilot Information on Matt's consulting service If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Quackygirl33! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

How we built a membership site on WordPress, how we work as a team, and how we run our business with Bjork Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 200 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork talks about the tools that we use to run Food Blogger Pro. The State of Food Blogger Pro And the day is here! Welcome to the 200th episode of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! To celebrate, we're focusing on…Food Blogger Pro! More specifically, this episode focuses on how we run Food Blogger Pro as a membership site, business, and producer of content. Bjork talks about all of the tools that are essential to running Food Blogger Pro, and we encourage you to think about the ways that you could incorporate some of them into your own blog or business. Whether this is your first Food Blogger Pro Podcast episode or your 200th, thank you for making the FBP Podcast a part of your week! In this episode, Bjork shares: How we built a membership site on WordPress The plugins we're using on WordPress How we work as a team How the business works How the podcast works Resources: 000: Our Beliefs, Our Hopes, and Our Dreams 195: Some Exciting Updates Coming to Food Blogger Pro with Bjork Ostrom Restrict Content Pro bbPress Stripe PayPal Intercom Nutrifox ActiveCampaign ConvertKit Vimeo ScreenFlow Slack Asana Zoom Loom G Suite Quickbooks Shoeboxed Justworks Slavic401k PeopleKeep Track1099 Heil PR40 USBPre 2 Libsyn If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com.

Tips for recipe development, using photography and writing templates, and working with a shoot assistant with Lindsay Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 199 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Lindsay Ostrom about how she's managing life, work, and her new normal. The State of Pinch of Yum Today marks part one of a two-part series here on the Food Blogger Pro Podcast where we're focusing on the states of two of our businesses - Pinch of Yum and Food Blogger Pro. Today's focus is on Pinch of Yum. A lot has changed for Lindsay and her food blog these past few months. Lindsay now has a young daughter, she took a three-month maternity leave at the end of last year, and she's now back at work three days a week. Because of these changes, her schedule and workflow has had to change a bit, and that's what she's here covering today. She'll talk about her new schedule, how she works most efficiently, and why photography and post templates are especially helpful for her to get her tasks done. In this episode, Lindsay shares: What her schedule looks like now What takes away from her efficiency Her tips for recipe development What it's like to work with a shoot assistant How she works with a photography template How she works with a blog post template Resources: Instacart Destination Delish Photo Mechanic Adobe Lightroom Toggl Follow Pinch of Yum and Lindsay on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com.