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In episode 379, Brooke Harmer teaches us how to monetize our blogs before hitting 50,000 pageviews. Explore 7 strategies ranked in order of difficulty and time required. Brooke launched her food blog in March 2020, because she knew she could work from home and still be a full time mom. However, after her son was born, she struggled to keep up with the demands of the job and constantly felt discouraged that despite her best efforts, she still hadn't hit 50,000 monthly pageviews. Instead of focusing on what she didn't have, she honed in on the time and talents she DID have and began to monetize her business in other creative ways, even while raising her 6 month old son by herself for a time. She has since self-published two cookbooks, landed 5-figure brand deals, and hired her first employee. In this episode, you’ll learn about additional sources of income for your blog, from easy ways to earn money through affiliate marketing and more intense methods like brand work and online courses. - Focus on the qualitative aspects of your business instead of the quantitative. - How do you create the habits that will help you monetize? - What is the best way to go about affiliate marketing? - Email marketing gives you full control of your audience. - Sponsor work for a brand requires more time but allows you to make more money. - What is the difference between sponsor work and freelance work? - Why do unpaid speaking gigs help your business grow? - Digital products can help expand your brand and help your audience. - Are online courses and coaching worth investing time in? Connect with Brooke Harmer Website | Instagram

In episode 378, Megan chats to Zhen Zhou about how her experience in business school translated into her blogging career and how that has helped her succeed. Zhen blogs about cooking up flavorful South East Asian recipes for her audience because she can't stand bland food. She also occasionally shares about the life of a food blogger. She shares her story of going from doing an MBA in London to starting a food blog as a way to reach more people with her creative work on the Internet. In this episode, you’ll learn more about Zhen’s top five lessons from business school, including what helps you succeed in one field won’t necessarily help you get to the next level, invest in your blog like a real business, the importance of diversification, lean into what is uncomfortable and think about the consumer. - Set different goals to adapt to your blogging journey and the next step of success. - Should you focus on RPMs more than keywords? - What you don’t pay for in money, you pay for in time. - Invest in courses that will help move your blog to the next level. - Ways to diversify in traffic sources and income. - If your ranking gets affected on Google, having diverse sources of traffic is useful. - There is a payoff in doing what feels uncomfortable, like being a guest on a podcast. - Imagine yourself in the consumer’s shoes - do you need to adapt your marketing for your ideal audience? Connect with Zhen Zhou Website | Instagram

In episode 377, Jamie Silva teaches us strategies that we can use to grow our blog business without relying on Instagram. Jamie quit a safe and secure full-time job in 2016 and started A Sassy Spoon, her food blog. Two years later, Jamie began making a full-time income (from $0 to $85k in 2 years). Today, she’s making over six figures from various income streams (close to $100k from ad revenue alone). Jamie focuses on coaching food bloggers on how to grow and manage their food blogs so they can turn them into a full-time business in less time. If you’re feeling frustrated with Instagram right now (or another social media network), this episode will show you how to make progress without the need to rely on that platform. Jamie shares why she stopped posting regularly on Instagram, what she does instead and how this impacts her business and wellbeing positively.  - The attraction and trap of Instagram is chasing likes, shares and views.  - For the time spent, how much ROI do you get from posting reels? - Instead of posting on Instagram, how can you spend your time differently? - Going back to the basics is invaluable. - Audit your blog and reevaluate your niche. - Can you land sponsorship deals without Instagram? - Make your largest traffic source organic search by paying attention to SEO. - Be intentional with key words and establishing E-A-T for a bigger ROI than Instagram. - Be transparent and negotiate carefully when discussing brand sponsorship contracts. - Do all brands care about Instagram followers and engagement? Connect with Jamie Silva Website | Instagram

In episode 376, Megan chats to Nadalie Bardo about why we are losing potential traffic opportunities by not exploring Pinterest more and which Pinterest strategies work the best for growth. Nadalie is a Pinterest coach dedicated to helping blogs, brands, and businesses like yours achieve their goals of more traffic, more subscribers, and more sales. Achieving 1M views on Pinterest since her very first month for her personal development blog, It’s All You Boo, she’s grown her email list to 14K subscribers and has sold 1000s of copies of her digital products and courses. As a Pinterest Coach, Nadalie has taught thousands of creators how to market their blogs, businesses, and brands on Pinterest. In this episode, learn why you should be immersing yourself in Pinterest marketing and how to balance new features like Idea Pins and Video Pins with your Static pins to drive maximum traffic to your website. - Food and recipes is the biggest niche on Pinterest. - New space is opening up as old users are dropping off from Pinterest. - Great images are your edge on Pinterest. - Which type of pin will drive most of your traffic? - Use pins as trailers for your website. - What are the best practices for Pinterest in 2023? - Make the most of Pinterest Trends to map out your recipes according to seasons. - Market your Pinterest account outside of the platform. - How can you optimize SEO for Pinterest? - Promotion is almost as important if not more important than just creating. Connect with Nadalie Bardo Website | Instagram

In episode 375, Megan chats to Tim Schmoyer about expert strategies to optimize our YouTube channels for easy discovery and growth in 2023. Since 2011, Tim Schmoyer has been one of the leading YouTube strategists in the online video industry. His company, Video Creators, has been featured by FOX, Forbes, BBC even YouTube themselves as his team trains creators and brands to master YouTube and use it as a place to spread messages that change lives. Their clients have organically grown by over 20 billion views and 81 millions subscribers under their guidance. In this episode, you’ll learn more about YouTube search, discovery systems and YouTube’s goals in general so that you can optimize your channel to get discovered more and increase your subscribers. - What are YouTube’s goals and how can you align your channel with that? - How much do keywords and viewing time impact your discoverability on YouTube> - Content on YouTube has become completely customized. - Optimize your content for your ideal audience - think how will they respond? - How do you spark curiosity and create intrigue? - Create title, thumbnail and first couple of seconds before you create your content. - Should you request viewers to subscribe, like and comment? - Take the approach: Hang out in the kitchen with me while I cook. - When analyzing your content, think how can I improve my game? Connect with Tim Schmoyer Website | Instagram

In episode 374, Andrea Liebross teaches us effective strategies for long-term planning, making it less daunting, doable and fun. Learn how two become clear on what you want to achieve and how you’re going to make it happen in 2023. Andrea is a coach, speaker, podcast host, and soon to be published author who is known for helping bold, ambitious women make clear, confident decisions, so that they get exactly what they want, every time, and not just add another thing to their to-do list. Andrea’s clients become “I’ve got this” kind of women by creating their own custom secret sauce for success in both life and business; the sauce has just two ingredients - the right mindset and solid systems. In this episode, find out how to shift your mindset about annual planning, set SMARTER goals, get over your fear of failure and think honestly about how you want to grow in life and business. - Why are we daunted by long-term planning? - Our fear of not achieving goals often prevents us from making them in the first place. - In life and business, ask yourself: What do you value most? - Start your vision with 10 years - where will you be? - How do you see yourself evolving as your business grows? - Set SMARTER goals. - Do you truly celebrate reaching your goals? - Partner with someone when you go through your future vision. - Spend half of your energy on mindset and half of your energy on your goals. - A plan helps you focus on what you need to do to move forward faster. Connect with Andrea Loss Website | Instagram

In episode 373, Megan chats to Chandice Probst about the importance of networking to grow your business and how your business community can help you succeed. Chandice Probst is the business partner and sponsor director of Tastemaker Conference, which is the premier food blogger conference and community for food content creators. It is a place where food bloggers and content creators make contact with incredible brands and foodies. Based on Chandice’s experience of Tastemaker Conference, and making lifelong connections in a community of like-minded creatives, in this episode, you’ll find out more about every aspect of networking. This includes everything from reaching out to someone on Instagram to networking with competition and making the most of an in-person event. - What is the best networking method? - In-person and virtual conferences are worthwhile investments. - Find the right conference for you. - Why do food bloggers need community? - What are the best ways to connect outside of conferences? - Do not focus on isolating yourself from competition. - Focus on building a support group, even within your niche. - Overcome fear of reaching out to somebody and asking for help. - What happens at Tastemaker Conference and why can it make a difference to your business?

In episode 372, Casey Markee gives us his best SEO predictions for 2023, describing the bigger picture and what we should be thinking about as we create our content in the new year. Speaker, writer, and trainer, Casey Markee, is the founder of digital consultancy company Media Wyse. He is a well-known SEO professional with 20+ years of experience. Casey has trained SEO teams on five different continents, he has spoken at over 100 conferences, and he has worked with thousands of bloggers in the Food, Lifestyle and Travel niches. He also collects comic books, enjoys watching trashy reality TV with his wife Tifany, and he believes bacon should be its own food group. In this episode, you’ll learn exactly what to look out for when it comes to SEO in 2023, including how to deal with new Google updates, how visual content is going to have a major impact on your Google rankings going forward, keywords versus entities and the importance of E-A-T. - What should you know about the Helpful Content Update? - Product reviews should be unique. - What does Google prefer: Quantity or Quality? - Tips to rank for visual content. - What is the difference between entities and keywords? - How to optimize for semantic SEO for higher rankings - Ranking categories: Navigational, Informational, Transactional and Commercial - Target featured snippets on Google (quick answers to questions) - What to know about E-A-T optimization? - Google ranks according to 2 factors: 1) relevant scoring, and 2) a quality assessment. - How can podcast guesting help your E-A-T? - Why should you consider openly supporting a social cause on your blog? Connect with Casey Markee Website | LinkedIn

In episode 371, Megan chats to Vanessa Mota about how to niche down, finding the ideal topic for your blog, and why this can increase traffic and income. Vanessa Mota is an award-winning food photographer and nationally recognized content creator. Her love for food led her to create My Dominican Kitchen, a bilingual platform with traditional Dominican recipes and Latin-inspired meals for home cooks, as a way to preserve her family’s recipes and share with the world the flavors of la comida criolla. In this episode, you’ll learn about the benefits of having a specific niche for your food blog and what to focus on when deciding your niche. - Make everything clear for yourself and your readers. - Who is your reader and how do you help them? - Develop a content strategy that is SEO-focused. - Ask your audience what they’re struggling with as the base for your content strategy. - Build trust with your reader. - What is your top content on your blog and social media? - Learn from your competition. - A specific niche helps you create specific products you can sell. Connect with Vanessa Mota Website | Instagram

In episode 370, Jenna Gibbons teaches us techniques to take care of our wellbeing, our family and improve our productivity while turning a passion project into a business. Jenna is a stay-at-home mom and founder of the Whole Mama business and non-profit, Hickory Hill Farm. In 2016, living on a small farm in Nashville, Jenna decided to devote her time to her boys and started the Whole Mama business after feeling frustrated with the dynamics of public education. The Whole Mama business and international podcast began in 2020 to help mamas break free from the chaos in education and bravely start homeschooling with the tools and confidence they need to raise happy, healthy, and well-rounded kiddos. In this episode, you’ll learn how to turn a passion project into a business, especially when you’re a full-time, homeschooling parent, including strategies to keep yourself motivated and productive. - How should you start off your day in order to feel energized? - Who you choose to hang out with makes a huge difference whether as a homeschool mom or business owner. - Have daily reminders to help keep you on track on hard and good days. - How do you fill your cup emotionally and spiritually? - Is hustling really the key to success? - Part of your journey is discovering your purpose. - Do one thing at a time and set yourself realistic goals. Connect with Jenna Gibbons Website | Instagram

In episode 369, Megan chats to IP specialist and attorney, Maria Spear Ollis, about protecting our recipes and images online. Maria Spear Ollis is an attorney bringing peace of mind to content creators when it comes to IP protection, contracts, and internet law. Her goal is to help her clients before “it” hits the fan so that if setbacks happen, they’ll bounce back faster. When Maria isn’t hammering away at a copyright issue or recording a YouTube video, you can catch her dancing to Motown hits with her two sons, cooking with her husband, learning about herbs and medicinal plants, or hollering at her dog to get down from the couch. In this episode, you’ll learn more about how to protect your intellectual property (i.e. recipes and images), the essentials of Internet law and why it is important for your business. - How can you protect a recipe that several people make? - Which aspects make a recipe unique to you? - What is the history of your recipe?  - The story behind the food is critical for IP protection. - Can you protect ingredient lists? - What should food bloggers know about the Trade Secrets Law and when is it applicable to them? - Can I reference someone or something famous in my recipe name? - How do I protect my blog images? Connect with Maria Spear Ollis Website | Instagram

In episode 368, Meredith Kruse teaches us 10 strategies for sustainable side-hustling and why we don’t have to quit our full-time job to be successful food bloggers. Meredith is the photographer, recipe developer, and voice behind the blog, Our Love Language is Food. She also works full-time in the commercial construction industry in addition to her food and photography business. Many of her favorite memories were made around a big table sharing food that everyone helped to prepare in her tight-knit family. She started Our Love Language is Food to help aspiring cooks and bakers feel confident in the kitchen so they can bring these types of experiences into their home too. In 2022, Meredith turned her passion for food and photography into a thriving side hustle, booking client work equal to nearly half the value of her day-job salary by mid-year in 2022. In this episode, she shares what she does differently to achieve success in food blogging and photography while  maintaining a healthy work-life balance with her full-time job. - Money from a side-hustle can be used for a variety of expenses. - Having a baseline of income removes the pressure of making money from your blog. - It gives you more time to grow an audience and invest in courses and gear. - Get rid of should’s in your life in general and prioritize what’s going to help you most. - What does it mean to set realistic goals? - What will you sacrifice when you start a side-hustle?  - Should you take on free jobs or only select paid jobs? - Manage your work-life balance and success according to what makes you happy. - How can multitasking help you complete tasks for your side-hustle? - Mindset can put you in the right frame of mind to work towards success. - What does self-care really mean and how can it help you? Connect with Meredith Kruse Website | Instagram

In episode 367, Megan chats to Jessica Fisher about rising grocery prices and how to do food shopping for your blog in an economical way without sacrificing quality or taste. Jessica Fisher is a cookbook author and food writer at Good Cheap Eats. She enjoys helping people who want to save time and money so they can enjoy stress-free meals. In the last recession, she and her husband made a decision to live more economically and manage their finances more wisely in order to pay off a 60K debt and have more financial freedom, all while keeping their six kids fed and clothed. In this episode, she shares the Good Cheap Eats system as a way to deal with rising grocery prices, giving us tips to eat great and make enjoyable recipes without breaking the bank. - The Good Cheap Eats system has 7 steps to save money when buying groceries. - Use inventories for the contents in freezers and fridges. - How can you do your future self a favour? - If you want to prepare a frugal meal, don’t make a trip to the grocery store, check what you already have. - As food bloggers, explain what ingredients are readily available and affordable. - Build your meal plans around what is affordable. - Scout out the most economical stores. - Should you shop from clearance sections? - How to avoid food waste. - Cook from scratch when it matters: do you want to save time or money? Connect with Jessica Fisher Website | Instagram

In episode 366, Kate Ahl teaches us strategies to use Pinterest effectively and grow our reach as food bloggers. Kate Ahl is the founder of Simple Pin Media. She has been helping businesses discover, learn and master Pinterest marketing for over 7 years. She combines the data learned from working with clients, education from Pinterest, and her knowledge of the platform to help people expand the reach of their business using Pinterest. Her mantra is to keep it simple, be authentic, and Pin with purpose. She also hosts her own show, Simple Pin podcast. In this episode, you’ll find out how to adapt to Pinterest’s updates as we wrap up Q4. Kate dives into getting maximum exposure for your content, repurposing and incorporating video on Pinterest and effective ways to use new features like Idea Pins. - Q4 is the time to get max exposure for your content depending on your niche. - Look at your traffic patterns to predict what content will do well when. - Select strategies based on your expectations of Pinterest. - Experiment with changes to determine what is the best strategy for you. - When repurposing content, make sure you adapt it to the platform. - Remember the pinner is in a ‘delight and surprise me’ mindset. - An Idea Pin is a hybrid of an Instagram Story and a Reel. - What are effective ways to use Idea Pins and how to use Pinterest trends? - Is it worthwhile to put videos on Pinterest? Connect with Kate Ahl Website | Instagram

In episode 365, Megan chats to Kristen Bousquet about how food bloggers can successfully work with brands, negotiate win-win contracts and build long-term relationships with their dream company. Kristen Bousquet is social media expert, a Charlotte-based content creator and influencer coach at Your Soulcialmate with a goal of educating entrepreneurial creators on how to turn their online influence into a profitable, self-sustaining business through her podcast, community FB group, and coaching programs. She wants creators to learn how to be successful digital business owners while keeping the "soul" in "soulcial media”. In this episode, she shares invaluable information about how to approach brands for sponsored work, the importance of building an organic relationship and what to look out for when negotiating contracts. - Essential steps to take before you consider approaching a brand. - Warm up the brand by engaging with them on social media. - Pick the time to pitch a brand wisely: are you at a peak with your social media engagement? - Write your bio with brand work in mind - explain what you do in 10 words or less. - Why cold-pitching is ineffective. - Use the anti-pitch method. - Building an authentic relationship is the best way to open up the possibility of collaboration. - Make yourself part of the team and other tips to continue building a sustainable relationship. Connect with Kristen Bousquet Website | Instagram

In episode 364, Megan chats to Claire Woodhouse about how to self-publish a cookbook, including all the logistical details of printing and selling books online all by yourself. Claire is a stay-at-home mom of 2 who loves creating nourishing, delicious, and simple recipes that don't break the bank when it comes to healthy baking. She started the healthy baking blog, Secretly Healthy Home, 2.5 years ago and also runs an intuitive eating membership called, The Smart Sweet Tooth, in which she teaches ladies how to find balance and peace with food. Claire also sells online courses and resources that have helped her achieve a solid passive income for her family. In this episode, Claire breaks down the logistics of self-publishing a cookbook into achievable steps, sharing tips that you won’t find easily anywhere else. - How to choose a marketable topic and how many recipes do you need?  - Pros and cons of using Canva to design your cookbook. - What size font is best? - Amazon is not the only platform to self-publish your book. - Cost-effective ways to print your cookbook. - How to make sure that there is profit when printing and shipping your cookbook. - Giving people an incentive to review the book. - Free strategies to market your cookbook. Connect with Claire Woodhouse Website | Instagram

In episode 363, Andrea Hundley shares six ways to think outside of the box when it comes to blogging. These are unique strategies that can potentially help you grow and keep you motivated. Andrea is the creator behind Design Morsels. She has been writing about decorating and design for the last 4 years. Andrea successfully joined Mediavine after two years by focusing on low-competition keywords and SEO and has seen her traffic greatly increase since embracing Rank IQ. Since then, Andrea trained a VA to update old content inside the tool to keep the momentum going. In this episode, using her insight from blogging in a different niche, she explains six unusual strategies to grow our blogs, encouraging us to approach blogging from a new perspective in general. - Can you rank for topics outside of your niche, especially non-recipe content? - What are good options for non-recipe content? - Delegate more, even when you believe you can do the tasks better. - Should we always listen to everything experts say in our field? - Invest your time wisely - focus on what you’re good at and what you enjoy. - Find communities and experts to learn from outside of your niche. - How can spending time on personal development impact our blogs and businesses? - Focus on passive income strategies instead of followers. Connect with Andrea Hundley Website | Instagram

In episode 362, Bree Pair teaches us about batching and how time-management tools like this can be game-changers for food bloggers.  Bree Pair is a coach for bloggers and entrepreneurs. Her company, Thrive, educates and empowers bloggers and influencers to build their brands so that they have financial freedom and the flexibility to live their lives to the fullest. She's passionate about helping female entrepreneurs live out their dreams and helping them with the strategy to do so. In this episode, you’ll find out what batching is, how to adapt it to your life to save time and get more done and what other time-management techniques are useful to implement for a greater work-life balance. - What are the different batching techniques? - Once you’ve started a task, you can keep your flow going through batching. - Why does batching allow us to save more time? - Think of ways to motivate you to batch, because in the long run it will save you time. - Tips on how you can break down tasks to make batching work for you. - Do your timelines make you feel rushed or stressed out? - What boundaries do you need to set around your work to live the life you want? Connect with Bree Pair Website | Instagram

In episode 361, Megan chats to Taran Conwell about hiring a mother’s helper so that you can carve out more time for blogging. Taran is the host of the podcast the Undomestic Mom, which forms part of her mission to dismantle the watered-down version of self-care in today’s motherhood. She coaches millennial moms and takes them from survival mode to thriving mode by helping them create and implement their own self-care routines and find fulfillment outside of motherhood. Taran became passionate about helping mothers live fulfilling, balanced lives after experiencing mom burnout. In this episode, she explains the ROI of hiring a mother’s helper, including saving money, having more time to focus on your blog and feeling more refreshed during family time. - Why is hiring a mother’s helper more economical than hiring a VA? - It can be more beneficial, especially if you’re a new blogger. - Will it help you be more intentional and get more work done in a shorter amount of time? - How do you find a mother’s helper? - Lay out your expectations clearly (i.e. phone usage during their hours). - Hiring help can lend legitimacy to your business. - What age group should the mother’s helper be and how does this impact their work? - Best interviewing practice to find the best fit for you. Connect with Taran Conwell Website | Instagram

In episode 360, Kimberly Espinel reveals 5 photography styling tips that will take our food photography to the next level and she teaches us how to develop a unique visual identity for our food blogs. Kimberly is a London-based, award-winning editorial and commercial food photographer, bestselling author, educator and creative business mentor. She runs a thriving food photography business and has created content for many brands including Sony, KitchenAid and more. She is also the host of the podcast, Eat, Capture, Share, focusing on how bloggers can progress in their careers by developing an original impactful visual identity. In this episode, find out first-hand how you can do the same.  - Tips to work with light and shadow to maximize the depth and impact of your photos. - Color theory is an essential part of defining your unique style. - Be intentional with your color. - What are presets and how to use them to save time and create different photography looks. - Choose the correct equipment to compliment your style. - Expand your food styling composition to set yourself apart. - Think of the story that you’re telling through your photography. - How can a unique look help you grow your audience and business? Connect with Kimberly Espinel Website | Instagram