The Food Blogger Pro Podcast

How recipe creation is like architecture, how to improve your food photography, and how to become a full-time freelance food photographer. ----- Welcome to episode 98 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork talks with Ashley McLaughlin from Edible Perspective about becoming a full-time freelance food photographer. An Architect's Journey to Becoming a Full-Time Freelance Food Photographer Architecture and food…it doesn't sound like there would be many similarities between the two, right? But there are, and Ashley's background in architecture helped her understand experience, perspective, and design in a culinary setting. After staring her blog, Edible Perspective, as a way to stay creative, Ashley's love of food transformed into a love of photography. After a long learning process, she went from a complete novice with a DSLR to understanding exposure meters, shooting in manual mode, and writing a food photography series on her blog. Now she's a full-time freelance food photographer who has photographed multiple cookbooks for bloggers. In this episode, Ashley shares: How recipe creation is like architecture Why she launched her blog How she started using a DSLR Her tips for improving your food photography skills How she was able to become a full-time freelance food photographer Resources: Record a message for our 100th episode! About the Slow Food Movement Michael Pollan books Canon 5D Mark III Canon 7D Oh She Glows Every Day Peas and Thank You Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love Canon 35mm f/1.4L Bubble Level Ashley's Photography Series Follow Edible Perspective on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com.

How to make money from blogging, why you should divide your income into eggs, and how to fill your egg carton with Bjork Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 97 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork talks about dividing income into multiple "eggs" in a carton of blogging income. How to Create a Full-Time Income from Blogging using The Egg Carton Method For a lot of us, "pro" blogging (i.e., making a full-time income from blogging) is the dream. In order to do that, however, income needs to be coming in from multiple channels. Bjork likes to think of these "channels" as eggs in an egg carton; you need to fill your egg carton with different revenue streams in order to create a sustainable income from your blog. It's really difficult to create a full-time blogging income from only one "egg," so diversifying your egg carton can help you get there even sooner. In this episode, Bjork shares: Two things that make an impact on making an income on your blog How to divide your income stream into multiple "eggs" A way to figure out how much you need to be making from each of your "eggs" 15 different ways you can make money blogging Resources: Record a message for our 100th episode! ProBlogger How to Make $40K in the First Year of Blogging with Chelsea Lords Finding Success on the Verge of Quitting with Dustin & Lacey Baier How to Connect with Brands & Find Sponsored Content with Francesca Bandicci Pinch of Yum on Instagram Generating Income through Self-Publishing a Cookbook with Jason Logsdon Food Blogger Pro waiting list FBP Affiliate Program Eventbrite

What recipe plugins are, why you should be using one, and how to create the perfect search result with Bjork Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 96 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork talks about recipe plugins and why you need one. How to Create the Perfect Recipe Post Regardless of where you are in your blogging journey (just starting out to full-time), chances are you've heard the words recipe plugin before. These plugins are incredibly important for food bloggers to be aware of because they not only make your recipes look beautiful, but they also help your blog communicate with search engines like Google and Pinterest. There are so many elements to consider when choosing a recipe plugin for your blog, and it's important to choose one that checks off "all of the SEO boxes." So when Bjork noticed the recipe plugin Pinch of Yum was using wasn't quite keeping up with the times, he decided it was time to build one in-house. In this episode, Bjork shares: What a recipe plugin is and why food bloggers should be using one What structured data is and why it's important How to view your recipe posts like a search engine Why recipe plugins are helpful for both search engines and your readers How to create the perfect search result in Google How you can start using Tasty Recipes today Resources: Tasty Recipes on WP Tasty 8-year-old drives to McDonald's Joost De Valk (Yoast SEO) podcast episode Info about JSON Info about Microdata Google's Structured Data Testing Tool How to search for a specific search result on Google: site:pinchofyum.com pesto asparagus noodles Yoast SEO Plugin Nutrifox

How she started Catch My Party, what problem MiloTree solved for their business, and using popups on mobile. ----- Welcome to episode 95 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork interviews Jillian Tohber Leslie from Catch My Party and MiloTree about making successful career changes by embracing the mess. As with life, business isn't always pretty. No matter how put-together someone's business looks from the outside, you can bet your bottom dollar that they've had their own fair share of messy affairs to deal with in their business. Jillian Tohber Leslie learned early in her career that the key to moving forward was embracing this messiness and using it to help propel her career and her businesses forward. She and her husband started Catch My Party, the largest party ideas site on the web, and went on to found MiloTree, a social and email growth popup that's perfect for bloggers. In this episode, Jillian shares: How she successfully changed careers a number of times Why messiness in life and business is okay What her first drafts look like Why she left Hollywood to start Catch My Party How Catch My Party's users defined their business How she solves tech problems How they monetize Catch My Party Why they built MiloTree Whether or not you can use popups on mobile Resources: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott Let Me Google That For You MiloTree Catch My Party Catch My Party on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, & Twitter 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 finding the right path for you can help you keep going with your blog. ----- Welcome to episode 94 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork talks about how to keep going when you're not sure you can continue. Whether you've been blogging for a few months or a few years, you've no doubt had the thought at some point or another: How do I keep going? Blogging can be tough. You might be fitting it in after your regular full-time job hours. You might be running your blog as a business with not enough hours in the day. You might be juggling it on the side while trying to raise a family. Whatever your situation, you've likely found out that blogging isn't easy, and on some days it's tough to imagine how you'll keep it up. Today, Bjork talks about some techniques that he and Lindsay have used in their businesses to help them get up in the morning and do The Work. In this episode, Bjork discusses: Why someone else's path might not be the one for you How to find your own path Why time is a key ingredient How The Path differs from The Resistance How temporarily stopping can help you keep going Why deadlines are important and how they have impacted Pinch of Yum and Food Blogger Pro Why gratitude moves you forward Resources: Open for Business Podcast Startup Podcast Smart Passive Income Podcast FE International Website Brokerage Quiet Light Brokerage Episode 032: Buying & Selling Websites with Mark Daoust from Quiet Light Brokerage Pinch of Yum - Afton posts 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 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!