How finding a niche can be freeing and how proper branding skyrocketed her traffic with Meggan Hill from Culinary Hill. ----- Welcome to episode 93 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork chats with Meggan Hill from Culinary Hill about how finding a niche transformed her business. As an internet entrepreneur, it can be tempting to try to appeal to everyone. You don’t want to send potential traffic away from your website, right? However, successful bloggers have said time and again that a big contributor to success is finding a specific audience and sharing only content that fits that audience perfectly. In other words, finding a niche. Meggan Hill started her blog, Culinary Hill, with an aim of pleasing everyone. And… it didn’t work out so well. Her blog did okay, but she ended up feeling discouraged and gave it up for a while. A couple years ago, though, she decided it was time to make some changes and make this blogging thing work for her. With the help of a branding agency, she was able to find a niche, free up her creativity by sticking to that niche, and nearly triple her traffic in just one year. Today, she’s here to tell us all about it. In this episode, Chelsea shares: How she narrowed down her niche Why finding a niche was freeing How refining her brand increased her traffic Why she is going to culinary school What the first step is to finding a business coach How she gets her morning started What she would have changed over the last few years How she finds time for her blog Resources: CookIt Media Jadah Sellner Coaching Meggan’s Geocities Angel Blog 5 Minute Journal The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod Insight Timer meditation app Headspace meditation app If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!

The thing she did when starting her blog, where her first year income came from, and what she would do differently now. ----- Welcome to episode 92 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork talks with Chelsea Lords from Chelsea’s Messy Apron about making $40,000 in her first year of blogging. Most bloggers start out with the long-term plan in mind: they probably won’t make much money in the first year or two, but it’ll pay off in the end. And while this path works for a lot of people (Bjork and Lindsay included!), other bloggers decide to do it a bit differently. Chelsea Lords from Chelsea’s Messy Apron hit the ground running with her blog and ended up making $40,000 in just the first year. Today, she talks about the first steps she took on her path to success, how today is different from that first year, and what she would have done differently looking back. In this episode, Chelsea shares: What her first step was to stating her blog as a business Why she underestimated the amount of money she would make in her first year Where her first year income came from The equation she used to calculate how much to charge for her first sponsored post How she balances family & work Why it takes her 15 hours to make a blog post How she decides what posts to make videos for What her Facebook strategy looks like What she would have done differently looking back Get the resources for this episode at foodbloggerpro.com/92 If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!

Should you delete old content, SEO in other languages, structured data for recipes, and repurposing old content with Joost de Valk from Yoast SEO. ----- Welcome to episode 91 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork interviews Joost de Valk, the founder of Yoast SEO, about optimizing SEO for your food blog. SEO is something we bloggers hear a LOT about. It’s so important! But it can also be really confusing, even with the abundance of information out there. Fortunately, there are tools such as the Yoast SEO plugin to help us navigate this often confusing landscape. Yoast SEO was founded by Joost de Valk and is one of the most popular WordPress plugins in use today. That’s… kind of a big deal. Joost met with Bjork for this interview to discuss a wide range of SEO topics, including why SEO matters for your recipes and how you can optimize it. In this episode, Joost shares: How you actually pronounce his name How SEO changes with languages other than English How to structure your site for usability Whether or not you should delete older content How to repurpose old content If your recipes should show dates in search results Why you need structured data for your recipes Why your blog might not show up in search engines right away Resources: Yoast.com Yoast SEO plugin Yoast SEO course on Food Blogger Pro Google Search Console Screaming Frog scraping tool SEO for WordPress Tasty Recipes If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!

Making money outside of your blog, quitting your job, and finding a service in demand with Brita Britnell. ----- Welcome to episode 90 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Brita Britnell about how she stepped off the beaten blogging path and found a new way to work for herself. Most bloggers start on their blogging journey hoping to eventually work full-time for themselves on their blog. While this is definitely an admirable and achievable goal, some bloggers have found that this is not the only way. Brita started making videos for her blog about a year ago and unexpectedly found that she absolutely loved it. She knew there was demand for bloggers to create video, but she also knew that most bloggers just didn’t have the time to learn a new skill. So, she started making videos for other bloggers and found the demand so great that she had to start a waitlist for clients. In just a few months she was able to leave her job and work for herself doing something that she loved. Today, she’s here to share her story. In this episode, Brita shares: What motivated her to turn her blog into a business Why she recommends bloggers go to conferences What the different stages of her blog were Why videos were addicting to create How she managed a full-time job and her growing blog What made her feel comfortable with quitting her job How she found her first clients to work with What it looks like to work with clients What advice she would give to herself when she was starting out Resources: Canon 6D Canon 50mm f/1.8 Lens Canon 60D Canon 85mm f/1.8 Lens Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro Lens Adobe Premiere Premiere course on FBP Adobe After Effects Tasty Recipes bbritnell.com Video & Photography resources on B. Britnell If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!

Our best advice for new (or experienced) bloggers, how to manage an affiliate program, and where you can find what to blog about in the coming month. ----- Welcome to episode 89 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork interviews FBP team members Alexa, Jasmine, and Raquel about what goes on behind the scenes, and what they’ve learned about blogging during their time as FBP employees. -----  Alright, alright. This episode is not really about building a plane. Not a real one, at least! But “building a plane” is an analogy we use nearing the end of the episode when we talk about the most important advice we would give to new (or experienced) bloggers. This advice is so important, in my humble opinion, that I’m wiling to give you a free pass and tell you to skip right to the end if you only have 5 minutes to listen. If you’ve got more than 5 minutes, settle on in for a listen about how we run Food Blogger Pro behind the scenes, and how you can use the same tools, processes, and techniques as we do to take your blog to the next level. In this episode, Alexa, Jasmine, and Raquel share: Why you need to be using a recipe plugin on your website What the Happening Now videos are and why you should be watching them How Jasmine manages the affiliate programs What deals you can find as a member of Food Blogger Pro What purpose the Trending Now articles serve for food bloggers How we communicate with our customers What tool Raquel uses to optimize email Why coupon sites aren’t allowed in our affiliate programs How Raquel felt giving up her career in microbiology What makes working at Food Blogger Pro really smooth for Jasmine How to build a plane! Resources: Asana Asana course on Food Blogger Pro Food Blogger Pro Blog Google Trends Ahalogy FBP Podcast Episode 019: How to Master Pinterest for your Food Blog with Susan Wenner Jackson from Ahalogy Intercom KickoffLabs Inbox by Gmail Mixmax ShareASale foodbloggerpro.com/design If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!

How Pinch of Yum employs full-time workers, communicating on a remote team, finding what works with video, and tips for working remotely. ----- Welcome to episode 88 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork interviews two key Pinch of Yum employees, Alana Woolley and Jenna Arend, about what goes on behind the scenes of Pinch of Yum. If you’re not a food blogger, it might seem like it’s a job that would be easy to do in your free time. If you are a food blogger, you know that there’s way more time that goes into it than that! Many people are surprised to hear that Pinch of Yum employs a team of people, 3 of whom work full-time, to keep the blog up and running. Alana and Jenna are two of those people - Alana is the Pinch of Yum Video Specialist, and Jenna is the Pinch of Yum Office Manager. Today, they’re here to break it down for us and talk about how it all works. In this episode, Alana and Jenna share: What they do on a day-to-day basis How they communicate on a remote team What Jenna’s “lifeline” is for her job What Alana’s video editing procedure looks like How she manages backing up giant video files to the cloud What tool they’ve been using to manage sponsored content contacts How they experiment with video to find what works How Jenna got more engaged with Pinterest scheduling Their tips for working remotely   Resources: Slack Asana Asana course on Food Blogger Pro Process.St Crashplan Highrise CRM foodbloggerpro.com/design If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!

What it means to take permission, the ugly truth about online marketing, and how to genuinely connect with influencers with Andy Traub. ----- Welcome to episode 87 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Andy Traub, a business coach who specializes in helping you take permission in your career.   The phrase “take permission” might settle a bit weird in your brain. Don’t you ask for permission? That’s exactly what Andy’s all about. He feels that for your business to really thrive, you have to be comfortable with simply taking permission. Take permission to start. Take permission to invest. Take permission to learn. This mindset is crucial to not only finding success as an entrepreneur, but also finding out what your best, most useful skills and roles are in your business. With this mindset, you can really see your business grow. In this episode, Andy shares: What inspired him to work for himself How he got started with his business What it means to take permission The hard, ugly truth about internet marketing How to genuinely connect with influencers Why he makes short, simple courses What is more important than simply following the footsteps of successful people   Resources: Take Permission 48 Days by Dan Miller Episode 064: Finding work you love with Dan Miller from 48 Days Making Money On-line; It’s Not As Easy Or As Difficult As You Think Zoom Wirecast Andy’s Short Courses Reach by Andy Molinsky Strengths Finder Read to Lead podcast Tribe Writers course by Jeff Goins Startups.co If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!  

Reinvent your Mondays, transition to a new career, and start Do Overs in all areas of life with Jon Acuff. ----- Welcome to episode 86 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Jon Acuff, a New York Times bestselling author who helps you work a job you love.   While many entrepreneur-motivators will promote the strategy of quitting your job first, then figuring your new career out later, Jon Acuff takes a different stance. In his most recent book, Do Over, Jon talks about preparing yourself for a new career well before you ever need to actually start one. Jon’s books have helped thousands of people reinvent their Mondays, transition to a new career, and start Do Overs in all areas of life. In this episode, Jon shares: What a Do Over is and how you can track their effects Why you shouldn’t quit your day job How to utilize your time without sacrificing your family What you need to have in place to be prepared for a Do Over Why hustle is a key component, even if you have everything else What a Career Savings Account is and why you need one The best way to build relationships and be remembered   Resources: Jon’s books including Do Over and Quitter Powerhouse by James Andrew Miller Jon on Twitter and LinkedIn Acuff.me If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!  

Working with contributors, monetizing from day 1, and finding your support person with Leslie Means from Her View From Home ----- Welcome to episode 85 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Leslie Means, cofounder of Her View From Home, about scaling her website to over 450 contributors and 9 million visitors per month.   Leslie Means started her website just like many of us did - with a passion and a dream. However, instead of the typical create-publish-promote-repeat agenda, she took a bit of a different path: she wanted to publish articles from contributors and pay those authors based on article performance. Today, Her View From Home has over 9 million monthly visitors and pulls from a pool of 450 contributors. The business is thriving, and Leslie is here to tell us all about it. In this episode, Leslie shares: How Her View from Home started, and where it is today How she monetized her website from the beginning Why writing a business plan was instrumental for her success Why her husband was so helpful in the early days When she started working with contributors and why How they afforded to pay contributors When she started taking an income from the site What she would have done differently at the start What social media platform has worked best for HVFH   Resources: AdThrive The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson Her View from Home Become a contributor for Her View From Home If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!  

Gratitude, constant growth, and keeping overwhelm at bay. ----- Welcome to episode 84 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork talks about gratitude, constant growth, and keeping blog overwhelm at bay. In this episode, Bjork discusses: How your past is relevant to your future Examples of using past skills to grow your business How you can contrast negative thoughts with grateful thoughts to stay balanced How you can simultaneously be content, yet still aiming to learn and grow What the difference is between blogs that thrive and those that get stuck Why just creating consistent content is not enough How you can apply 1%∞ today How 1%∞ can keep things from becoming overwhelming Resources: foodbloggerpro.com/afton Pinch of Yum Workshops Lynda.com If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!