The Food Blogger Pro Podcast

Pinning what's important on Pinterest, establishing an Instagram Story series, and tips for understanding engagement. ----- Welcome to episode 215 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, you’ll learn how to optimize the time you spend on Pinterest, how to establish an Instagram Story series, how to calculate engagement, and more. Share  Let’s talk sharing content! In this episode, we’re focusing on sharing content on social media. There are so many social media platforms and strategies, and this episode will help you create those processes to help you increase followers and engagement. First, you’ll hear from Kate Ahl, who is one of our Food Blogger Pro experts and who owns a Pinterest management company called Simple Pin Media. She’s here to share information about common traits of successful pinners, how to encourage readers to pin your content, and how to control what your readers share on Pinterest. Then Abby, the Social Media Manager for all of our brands, talks about how we’re using I

How to figure out which old posts you should optimize, what it means to "connect" your posts, and a simple way to track your optimization efforts. ----- Welcome to episode 214 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, you’ll learn how to optimize old posts, connect your posts to one another, understand the impact of your optimizations, and more. Optimize  It’s time to talk optimization! And this episode will help equip you with the strategies and processes you need to optimize your posts, build authority, and First, you’ll hear from our SEO Expert, Casey Markee, as he talks about optimizing and republishing old posts. He also talks about whether or not it’s okay to have a 404 page and when you should consider noindexing your posts. Then you’ll hear from Jeff Coyle from MarketMuse, a content planning and optimization software, about connecting your posts to one another and the tools you can use to optimize your posts. And then Bjork Ostrom, rounds out this episode by talking about how you can

Trends in site speed, how to publish trendy content on your blog, using hashtags on Pinterest, and creating a patterned Instagram grid. ----- Welcome to episode 213 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, you’ll learn about tips for optimizing your site speed, how Lindsay publishes trendy content, and how to share smarter on social media. Trends  This week on the podcast, we’re focusing on trends, and you’ll hear tips from three experts on site speed, blogging, and social media. First, Andrew from NerdPress will talk about trends in site speed, and he’ll share his photo size recommendations, his favorite plugins, information about caching, and more. Then Lindsay from Pinch of Yum talks about how she publishes relevant content for her readers and how she stays on top of food trends. And last, Abby, Food Blogger Pro and Pinch of Yum’s Social Media Manager will talk about some of the trends we’re seeing on social media, namely hashtags on Pinterest and then Instagram pattern grids. It’s a grea

How Lindsay organizes and creates new content for Pinch of Yum, new courses on Food Blogger Pro, and why we're switching up our podcast format. ----- Welcome to episode 212 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, you’ll learn about the new podcast format, new courses on Food Blogger Pro, how bloggers can approach creating new content, and more. New  It’s the first episode of our new format for the Food Blogger Pro Podcast! We’re trying a little 10ish episode experiment with this podcast format, and we’d love to hear what you think. In this new format, we’re going to split each episode up into a few mini interviews, all surrounding the same topic. Today’s topic is “New,” and we talk about the new format, some of the new content we’ve published to Food Blogger Pro, how bloggers can approach creating new content, and more. We’re so excited to launch into this new series! We cover: What’s up with the new Food Blogger Pro Podcast format What’s new on Food Blogger Pro How Lindsay creates new con

How you can join Food Blogger Pro, when our prices are increasing, and how you can get access to a special master class called My Instagram Playbook. ----- Welcome to episode 211 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork talks about Enrollment Week here at Food Blogger Pro. Enrollment Week at Food Blogger Pro  Welcome to Enrollment Week! This is a really exciting week here at Food Blogger Pro because we’re holding a free, virtual event, opening enrollment, and giving you the ability to sign up for an exciting master class. Here are the deets: Tuesday, July 16: Our Instagram Playbook Event Thursday, July 18: Enrollment opens on Food Blogger Pro Thursday, July 25: The last day to get our current prices and access to the My Instagram Playbook Master Class An important note about this enrollment period is that Food Blogger Pro enrollment will stay open indefinitely, which means that enrollment will remain open after July 25! We are increasing our prices after that date, so if you want to

The two biggest decisions that helped Pinch of Yum grow their Instagram account, why it's important to track your social media habits, and how to register for our free, virtual Instagram Playbook event with Lindsay Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 210 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Lindsay Ostrom about her Instagram Playbook. Pinch of Yum’s Instagram Playbook  We have some exciting news for ya today - we’re holding a brand new, free, and virtual event next week called “Our Instagram Playbook.” During that event, Lindsay and Bjork will be opening the Pinch of Yum Instagram Playbook and talking through the intentional strategies and decisions that have helped grow the Pinch of Yum Instagram account to over 850,000 followers. This episode of the podcast is a bit of a teaser for that event, and Lindsay talks all about why having rules set up for the Pinch of Yum Instagram account has been so beneficial to her. You’ll learn all about where the idea of a playbook origina

How you can make money from a blog, what Chelsea's social strategy looks like, and how much to charge for a sponsored post with Chelsea Lords. ----- Welcome to episode 209 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, we’re rewinding back to an episode from 2017 with Chelsea from Chelsea’s Messy Apron about how she made $40,000 in her first year of blogging. How to Make $40K in the First Year of Blogging  We’re so thrilled to share another FBP Rewind episode with you today, and this episode with Chelsea Lords from Chelsea’s Messy Apron was originally published allllll the way back in 2017. That said, the advice and tips that she shares are all just as prevalent as they were back then. This is the story of how Chelsea made a whopping $40,000 in her first year of blogging. If you’re already monetizing your blog, or if you have a goal to start monetizing your blog sometime soon, you’ll love hearing about the decisions that Chelsea made in order to turn her blog into a profitable business. As you’re

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

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

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 Wh

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

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 busin

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

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 H

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 mov

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 t

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

How Google Ads works, when you should consider using Google Ads, and best practices for YouTube ads with Chris Schaeffer. ----- Welcome to episode 198 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Chris Schaeffer all about Google Ads. Using Google Ads as a Blogger  We see ads all of the time, but do you know how to run, optimize, and analyze your own ads? Enter: Chris Schaeffer. He’s actually working with our WP Tasty team to help optimize their Google Ads, so he’s here today to chat about the strategies, tools, and placements you can consider as you’re getting ads set up for your content. If the idea of running your own ads makes you want to cry, this episode will calm those nerves and give you a great starting point to a pain-free ad strategy. In this episode, Chris shares: The difference between AdWords and Google Ads What Google Ads is and how it works Where you can see Google Ads The difference between Google Ads and AdSense When should you consider using Google Ads How to

Giving meaning to (not provided) data in Google Analytics, removing your own pageviews from your traffic, and making your numbers more accessible with Jeff Sauer. ----- Welcome to episode 197 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Jeff Sauer from Jeffalytics about making the most of your analytics data. Making Sense of Your Website Analytics  We’re so excited to welcome Jeff Sauer from Jeffalytics back on the podcast. Jeff was actually on our podcast before, episode 76 to be exact, and he’s here today to continue that awesome conversation. Jeff is a pro at making analytics data meaningful, which helps him and his clients make smart decisions about their businesses. You’ll learn about some helpful tools that you can incorporate into your workflow, some important concepts to remember as you’re analyzing your analytics data, and how you can start to fully understand your readership and conversion numbers. In this episode, Jeff shares: How he started to work with analytics Ho

Measuring an ROI, how to fit into a brand's strategy, and long-term brand relationships with Nick Brucker. ----- Welcome to episode 196 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Alexa interviews Nick Brucker from Sparq Designs about common questions about influencer marketing. Answering Your Questions about Influencer Marketing  Nick knows marketing. His company, Sparq Designs, helps businesses with their online marketing, media needs, and strategic planning, and he has a deep understanding of marketing from both a brand and a blogger perspective. Today on the podcast, Nick is tackling your questions about influencer marketing, and…we’re answering real marketing questions from bloggers like you! We asked the Food Blogger Pro community about their influencer marketing struggles, and Nick is here to offer his advice and strategies for creating long-lasting and beneficial relationships with brands. In this episode, Nick shares: How he started Sparq Designs Why brands like to offer free product