The Food Blogger Pro Podcast

Using analytics to help you generate ideas for content, show you what's really working, and help you guide your business overall with Jeff Sauer from Jeffalytics. ----- Welcome to episode 76 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Jeff Saur from Jeffalytics.com about how you can use Analytics to increase your chances for blog success. Oftentimes, when new bloggers start blogging, the only stat they really care about is whether or not their content is being seen by someone.It’s satisfying to see the first day we get 50 pageviews, or 100, or even 1,000. We check our analytics to make sure our content is getting seen. However, Analytics can be much more powerful than this. Used correctly, they can help you generate ideas for content, show you what’s really working, and help you guide your business overall. In short, proper use of Analytics can really help you accelerate your blog and business. Jeff Sauer has made his career out of helping people use Google Analytics. Today, he’s here to give

How many times to share each piece of content, planning ahead, and their long road to overnight success. ----- Welcome to episode 75 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Garrett Moon, cofounder of the popular social media and editorial planning tool CoSchedule.  When it comes to blogging, there is a lot more to do than it would initially appear. Not only do you have to create content, you have to plan it out (preferably well in advance) and promote it after it’s done (preferably for a long time after). Keeping tabs on everything you need to do - including promoting it now, in a couple weeks, and around those holidays when it would make good shareable content - can be really tough. So, Garrett and his cofounder Justin created CoSchedule to make this process easier. Along the way, they discovered some unique insights into the world of social sharing. In this episode, Garrett shares: How they started CoSchedule Their long road to overnight success How they figured out if people wold actu

What kinds of file backups you should have, why DSLRs make good video cameras, and what camera settings to use. ----- Welcome to episode 74 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Caleb Pike from DSLR Video Shooter about how you can use your DSLR camera to make great food videos.   By now, it’s pretty apparent how powerful food videos can be for a brand. They’re awesome! However, there are a lot of technical things to know when it comes to using your DSLR camera as a video camera. Caleb Pike has made his name by helping people learn how to use their DSLR cameras for shooting video. In this episode, he not only talks about important settings you need to pay attention to, but he also talks about how to make sure none of your video ever gets accidentally deleted. In this episode, Caleb shares: Why DSLRs were such an important invention for video How he monetized his website in the early days Why he thinks creating digital product are the best way to make money How he knew people would want

Welcome to episode 73 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Jessica Merchant from the blog How Sweet It Is about consistently creating great content.   In blogging, content is huge. It’s not the only important thing, but it’s the foundation of your business. Creating great content is really important. Just as important is creating content often. A blog needs fresh, exciting ideas to thrive. New content is what your existing readers want to see. However, doing both those things - creating really great content on a consistent basis - can be really tough. It definitely involves dedication and skill to do right. Jessica Merchant from How Sweet It Is definitely has that dedication and skill, and today she’s here to tell us just how she manages to make consistent and quality content every single week. In this episode, Jessica shares: How she discovered blogging and decided to leave her job What it took to build her blog before leaving her job How she networked with other bloggers Where she f

Our first ever member spotlight interview! In this interview we chat with FBP member Sam Turnbull from It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. Sam talks about her decision to make take the leap into blogging full-time and what it was like to land a cookbook deal.

Welcome to episode 71 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork interviews Amanda Rettke from I Am Baker about her success with Facebook Live and how it has helped connect her with her audience. They say you only need 1,000 raving fans to create a successful business. Just 1,000! However, raving fans can be hard to come by. Where do you get them? How do you know they love you and the work you are doing? Amanda struggled with this a bit for the first few years she was in business. She knew she had great fans, but she didn’t feel like she really connected with them. And then she decided to try Facebook Live. Her raving fans loved being able to see and interact with her live, and she loved being able to connect with them. Facebook Live has been the experience Amanda needed to feel connected with her readers, and today she is here to tell us how she did it. In this episode, Amanda shares: What it was about I am Baker that people loved Why it’s important to appreciate the work that you’ve done How her liv

Welcome to episode 70 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Steve Chou from MyWifeQuitHerJob.com about building two eCommerce businesses - one that sells physical products, and the other that sells digital products. --   Steve’s wife Jennifer decided to quit her job in 2007, and within one year replaced her six-figure income with an eCommerce business selling physical products. Steve started blogging about how she did it and later quit his job - fully replacing his salary - with an eCommerce business selling digital products. These two businesses had one thing in common: they were eCommerce businesses. Everything else, from the customer acquisition to the time it took to generate a decent income, varied widely. However, Steve and his wife have learned a lot over the last few years running their two eCommerce businesses, and today Steve is here to share some of his knowledge with us. In this episode, Steve shares: What two businesses he and his wife run Why one business wasn’t as profit

Welcome to episode 69 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Jocelyn Delk Adams from Grandbaby Cakes about growing her audience and building her brand by way of National TV. If you’ve ever dreamed of being a TV star, starting a food blog probably wasn’t your first idea for how to get there. However, for Jocelyn Delk Adams of the popular blog Grandbaby Cakes, her food blog was just the ticket she needed. Jocelyn started her TV career with her local TV channels, then slowly moved up to the big networks. She’s now been seen on National shows such as Rachel Ray and the Today Show. She loves where her experiences have taken her and attributes much of her blog’s success to her effort to get her blog in front of new faces via TV appearances. In this episode, Jocelyn shares: How she transitioned from running her blog as a side-gig to a full-time thing How she secured a contract with Pillsbury after just 5 months of blogging Why she thinks of her business as a brand, not a blog Whether people ar

Welcome to episode 68 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Nick Loper, founder of Side Hustle Nation, about making money with your projects on the side. The majority of bloggers aren’t doing it full time. In fact, many bloggers fit blogging in between their hectic schedules that includes a full-time job, kids, and hobbies. However, the dream of earning an income from blogging still persists, but many wonder if it’s possible to do when it’s just a side gig. Nick Loper, founder of Side Hustle Nation, says it’s totally possible. He has successfully run a number of side hustles that contributed to his monthly income, all while having a full-time job. He’s been so successful at it, in fact, that he created his own full time job just showing people how to create an income from their own side hustles, and today he’s here to give us some tips. In this episode, Nick shares: What a side hustle really is What his first side hustle taught him Where Nick makes money from his website How you can ma

Welcome to episode 67 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork talks with Amy Roskelley from Super Healthy Kids about scaling her small business into a thriving brand by building a team. So many bloggers dream of building a team to help them run their blog. However, it often gets put off in the name of waiting to find success. Unfortunately, putting off on growing a team can hamper your ability to find “success,” while choosing to grow your team can really propel your forward. Amy from Super Healthy Kids plodded along quite well with her blog for many years before starting to build a team. However, after she joined a partnership with her now-co-owner Natalie, she found herself free to pursue more of the things that she was really good at. Each subsequent hire has allowed Amy to fine-tune her skillset in certain areas while letting others do the work she wasn’t as passionate about, but they were. Since building a team, Super Healthy Kids has grown in amazing ways, and today Amy is here to tell u

Welcome to episode 66 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork talks with Alana Woolley and Lindsay Ostrom about creating awesome recipe videos for Pinch of Yum. We’ve all heard it: video is the new thing. If you want to grow an audience quickly, if you want to be extremely helpful to your readers, if you want to take advantage of sponsored content opportunities galore… get into video. But.. how?? It can seem so daunting to get started with. There’s all the equipment you (think you) need, the amount of time it takes, the pressure to make perfect videos… So many things! Fortunately, our guests today have a lot of experience creating recipe videos, and they’re here to make it a bit easier for you. Please welcome: Alana Woolley & Lindsay Ostrom from Pinch of Yum! In this episode, Alana & Lindsay share: How much engagement their videos get as compared to photos What Alana’s goals are for each video What the video creation process involves What gear they use to create the videos If solo blo

Welcome to episode 65 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork talks with Michelle Tam from Nom Nom Paleo about building a brand across many channels. If you’ve been blogging for a while, or even a short time, you might have found that it’s really difficult to establish your blog on a variety of different channels and mediums. There’s only so much you can do! Some bloggers excel at it, though, despite the constraints of work, family, and life. Michelle Tam from Nom Nom Paleo is one such blogger. She’s managed to secure a brand presence not only on all the big social networks, but also in the form of her own iPhone app and her own cookbook. She’s a branding queen, and today she’s here to tell us all about it. In this episode, Michelle shares: How she got started with Nom Nom Paleo Why they started with Tumblr instead of WordPress What her partner’s role in the business is Why she decided to publish a cookbook in print How she kept creative control while still working with a publisher How she de

Welcome to episode 64 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork interviews Dan Miller from 48 Days about finding work that you love through understanding yourself. Most of us have been there before: working a job that just isn’t right for us. Maybe it doesn’t pay enough, or the passion isn’t there, or it doesn’t work with your lifestyle. Whatever the reason, being in this position is just lame. At some point, you might have realized that you want to do something else - you saw a friend or a coworker or an internet role model find success, and you want to do what they did. You would love job! The problem is that it can be really difficult to know if you actually will love that job. Dan Miller, author of 48 Days to the Work You Love, has seen this scenario play out many times. Through his books, speaking, and personal coaching, he’s mentored thousands of people to help them find the work they’ll love, and today he talks with Bjork about this common conundrum. In this episode, Dan shares: How to k

Welcome to episode 63 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork talks with Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents about making sound decisions about your finances for your business and your personal life. If you’re serious about this blogging stuff, you’ve may have already created a business for your blog - or at minimum, you’ve thought about it. However, registering as a business isn’t the only decision you need to make. Running a business means dealing with your money properly to secure for both your business and your personal financial future. Jeff Rose is both a certified financial planner and a blogger, and he does both in support of his business. He’s made his living by helping others manage theirs, and his wealth of information will help you plan for a secure financial future. In this episode, Jeff talks about: How to financially transition into working for yourself How to organize your time for business success The first thing you need to do to prepare for working for yourself What your sa

Welcome to episode 62 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork interviews Mike Morrison about launching and running a successful membership site. While most food bloggers set their monetization sights on generating income through ads or sponsored content, there might be another good avenue to look toward. Mike Morrison cofounded The Membership Guys, a website and podcast dedicated to helping people learn how to run successful membership sites. He has found that, when done properly, having a membership site can be a lucrative and reliable business. When membership sites are the last thing on the minds of most bloggers, it may very well be a fantastic way for you and your website to stand out in the crowd. In this episode, Mike talks about: What a membership site exactly is What the important metrics are for a membership site Whether you should launch without a following How large your audience needs to be to be successful Where to find your audience How to validate your idea What WordPress plug

Welcome to episode 61 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! We have a special episode today - our first ever community podcast! In this episode, we hear from members of the Food Blogger Pro community talk about what’s working for them right now. The only bummer about the FBP Podcast is that we just can’t interview everyone. There are so many bloggers out there who we would love to hear from, though! So, the idea for a community podcast episode was born. Listeners from all over the globe called in to share their tips, tricks, and techniques that are working for them to grow their blog. Ranging from tips to help manage social media to techniques for staying on top of things, this episode has a little bit of everything. Enjoy! In this episode, FBP listeners share tips on: Finding your own voice Being useful Creating a business directory Increasing engagement by being engaged Running group giveaways Being part of an accountability group Building an editorial calendar Using your blog to find clients and so much more!

Welcome to episode 60 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork finishes off the solo trio with some fantastic advice on SEO for food bloggers.   SEO can seem mysterious and scary for bloggers. There’s so much information on it out there, but it can be confusing and difficult to read. Moz, an popular and well-regarded SEO site, published once upon a time a blog post called the Beginner’s Guide to SEO. Bjork read through this whole post (it’s so long it has chapters!) and pulled out a bunch of things he learned from the post. In today’s podcast, Bjork talks about these things and relates them specifically to food blogging. He talks about what the purpose of SEO is and how people use it, as well as how you can improve the SEO of your website. In this episode, Bjork discusses: What it is that SEO is meant to influence Why people use search engines - and why it matters to you What keywords you should be trying to rank for Whether or not your site design matters for SEO How search engines can track

Welcome to episode 59 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork and Lindsay talk about 9 ways to avoid blogger burnout.   It’s August and summer is in full swing. As happy as that generally makes us, summer can often be a difficult time for bloggers - it even has its own moniker, the summer slump. During the summer slump, traffic goes down, ad income falls, and worst of all, bloggers can get totally burned out. Bjork and Lindsay are no strangers to burnout. They’ve both experienced it many times with their businesses. However, they’ve also been intentional about learning how to deal with burnout when it happens and what steps they can take in the future to keep it at bay. In this episode, Bjork and Lindsay share 9 tips (plus 1 bonus tip!) that you can use to avoid blogger burnout. In this episode, Bjork & Lindsay talk about: The importance of taking time fully off Why you should pass up good opportunities Getting an office for your work How to separate yourself from negative comments Why it

Welcome to episode 58 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork goes solo and talks about overcoming “the resistance.” One of the hardest things about doing a creative endeavor is simply doing it. Not getting distracted. Not doing other less important things. Not putting it off endlessly because the idea of actually doing it is scary. This is called the Resistance. The Resistance is what keeps us from moving forward, from trying new things, and from making progress. And we all have it somewhere inside, and it usually shows up much more often then you would like to imagine. But once you are aware of the resistance and what it looks like, you’ll see it everywhere. In this episode, Bjork gives 5 tips that help you overcome the Resistance when it rears it’s ugly head. In this episode, Bjork talks about: What the resistance is and how is presents itself How “building your castle” can help you find motivation to create content How rewarding yourself for the Work can help you move forward Why taking t

Welcome to episode 57 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork interviews Kickoff Labs founder Josh Ledgard about finding the right idea and growing your audience. Josh Ledgard started his entrepreneurial journey while still working at Microsoft - he would start projects, bring them in, and then gain support for the project from his superiors. He then slowly and methodically planned to start his own business, saving up money for a year and dreaming up big ideas. The business he and his cofounder eventually started was not one of their original ideas. Instead, they “happened upon” a product that people really wanted to use, and they ran with it. Learn more about Josh, his awesome story, and their amazing marketing product, Kickoff Labs, in this enlightening interview. In this episode, Josh shares: How he was an “internal entrepreneur” at Microsoft before he started his own business How he transitioned from a corporate employee to self-employed When he hires work out instead of doing it himself