The Food Blogger Pro Podcast

Why texture is important in food photography, how to capture shadows in food photography, and why color theory is important for food photography with Rachel Korinek. ----- Welcome to episode 227 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, we're rewinding back to one of our most popular episodes with food photographer, Rachel Korinek. 5 Tips to Improve Your Food Photography It's time for another FBP Rewind episode, and this one is extra special because we're rewinding back to one of our top five most downloaded episodes, 5 Tips to Improve Your Food Photography with Rachel Korinek. Rachel is such a talented photographer, and this episode will help you fine-tune and tweak your photography to help create a more appealing and yummy visual. It's a great episode, and we hope you can apply some of these tips and skills to your own photography. Let's rewind! In this episode, you'll learn: Why still life photography is difficult What a food stylist does Why it's helpful to work with a team Why textured backgrounds are helpful How to capture shadows What negative fill is and how to work with diffused light Why layering is important in still life photography What color theory is The tools she recommends to have on hand Resources: Rachel's free photography course @bealubas @foodstylingbackgrounds Erickson Surfaces Nikon 85mm f/1.8G lens Everything Food Conference Rachel's masterclasses Two Loves Studio Follow Rachel on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

How to navigate the fall, the importance of play, and protecting the everyday with Melissa Coleman. ----- Welcome to episode 226 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, we're rewinding back to our episode with Melissa Coleman called, "The Year of the Pivot." The Year of the Pivot We're rewinding back to an episode we aired in December 2018 with Melissa Coleman, the blogger, author, and designer behind the blog, The Faux Martha. This episode is still one of our very favorite FBP Podcast episodes, and we think it'll be helpful, especially since we're already a month into the Q4 craziness that we typically face as food bloggers. I think Melissa's experiences will resonate with you as she talks about why it's important to play, how to recover from a "fall" in your business, and how to find what feeds your soul. This is such a great episode, and we're so excited to re-share it with you today! In this episode, you'll learn: What it was like to write a book Why she wanted to find a new direction How she navigated the fall Why it's important to play What it means to protect the everyday Why it's helpful to start with a problem and work to a solution How she's preserving her asset How she approached hiring What's next for her and her blog Resources: Todoist The Faux Martha The Minimalist Kitchen After the Fall The Horse Named Hustle Job Opening: Left Brain The Minimalist Kitchen Course Follow Melissa on Instagram 207: Consciously Uncoupling and Crafting the Ideal Workspace with Melissa Coleman If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

Using your area of expertise to create content, using ads for your website, and the biggest earning potential from blogging. ----- Welcome to episode 225 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork answers some questions from a recent member Live Q&A. Your Questions Answered This is an exciting podcast episode because it will give you a taste of what it's like to be a Food Blogger Pro member! We hold an exclusive Live Q&A with our members every single month, and during those Q&As, members can ask Bjork, Lindsay, and/or our experts any questions they have about blogging. In this episode of the podcast, Bjork takes some of the questions we didn't get to during our most recent Live Q&A and answers them for our FBP Podcast fam. He answers some of our members' questions about video, ads, social media, and monetization today. Live Q&A days are always some of our favorite days of the month, and we're so excited to be able to give you a sneak peek into how these member-only events work. Enjoy! In this episode, you'll learn: What Q&As look like on Food Blogger Pro If photos or videos are more important for a food blog How you can use ads for your website How to schedule your social media posts What can give you the most earning potential as a blogger How to build an audience using your area of expertise Resources: Slickstream Tasty Pins CoSchedule Tailwind Sprout Social 223: Full Potential – Extracting All of the Juice from Your Content with Bjork Ostrom If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

How to filter your emails, why you should create a morning routine, and how to perform quarterly Google Search Console reviews. ----- Welcome to episode 224 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork talks about some of the routines he has implemented to help him stay focused. 5 Routines Routines can help you establish habits in your work and personal lives, and in this episode, Bjork covers some of the routines that have been the most impactful in his life. While you're listening, we encourage you to take a look at your day to see where it might benefit from a routine. Maybe you can establish a new morning routine, or maybe you can find a way to make your inbox more manageable. We hope this episode gets you excited about the wonderful world of routines! In this episode, you'll learn: Why it's helpful to filter your emails How to label your emails Why Bjork likes morning routines How Bjork journals How to do a quarterly bank review When you should review Google Search Console Why it's important to analyze the work you're already doing How to process your inboxes How to evaluate your week Resources: Shoeboxed Things Asana Trello The Five Minute Journal 124: How to Level Up Your Life with UJ Ramdas Google Search Console course 165: Getting Things Done with David Allen If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

What a post log is, how Pinch of Yum uses their blog post log, and how to automate the creation of your post log. ----- Welcome to episode 223 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork talks about the importance of a post log and how you can create one for your own blog. Full Potential As bloggers, we're creating new content all the time. But what about your older content, the unsung heroes of your content catalog? Are you getting all of the "juice" out of them that you possibly can? This episode focuses on juicing your older content for all that its worth, and one of the ways to do that is by having a post log. Pinch of Yum uses their post log to track and document specific post updates, and you'll learn how you can make one for your own blog. In this episode, you'll learn: What a post log is How Pinch of Yum uses their post log How to help automate creating your post log Resources: Pinch of Yum's first post Google Makes Big Change to Nofollow, Introduces 2 New Link Attributes Structured Data Testing Tool Email Bjork if you're interested in a post log tool If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

Why you're the most important part of your business, turning your side gig into your full-time job, and understanding your unfair advantage with Tommy Griffith. ----- Welcome to episode 222 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Tommy Griffith from ClickMinded about his decision to turn his side gig into his full-time job. All-In Today's guest is Tommy Griffith, the man behind ClickMinded, the site that helps businesses learn more about SEO. But that's not the entire focus of today's episode. In fact, it's about leaving his stable full-time job to pursue his side-gig. He talks about the importance of finding your unfair advantage, why you're the most important part of your business, and how to build a successful sales funnel. Tommy has such an interesting story, and we hope you enjoy this episode! In this episode, you'll learn: How he started managing SEO at big companies How he left his full-time job to focus on his side business Why you're the most important part of your business What ClickMinded does How you should be approaching content to optimize for search How ClickMinded started to become profitable How to build a successful sales funnel The tools he likes to use for marketing What it means to have an unfair advantage Resources: 4-Hour Workweek Skin in the Game ClickMinded Udemy KWFinder Teachable ThriveCart Zapier Drip IFTTT RightMessage Burning the Boats on ClickMinded If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

Welcome to episode 221 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork goes live on Instagram to answer your questions about blogging. ----- Welcome to episode 221 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork goes live on Instagram to answer your questions about blogging. Live One of our favorite things about working with a community for food bloggers is connecting with that community. When we were thinking about ways we could connect with our podcast community, we quickly figured out that it's difficult to connect with your podcast listeners. Podcast episodes are typically made up of two distinct "sides" — a recording happening on one side, and then the listening happening on the other. Rarely do those sides meet in the middle. That is, of course, until today. 😉 Bjork went live on Instagram yesterday to connect with our community and answer their blogging questions, and we turned it into today's podcast episode! He answers questions SEO, keywords, podcasting, monetization, and more, and all of the questions you'll hear are sourced from our incredible community. Enjoy! In this episode, you'll learn: What backlinks are and how to get them for your site When you'll see results from your SEO work How many recipes you should have on your blog before you launch it How long it takes to monetize a blog If you try to optimize for long-tail or short-tail keywords How to monetize and grow a podcast Resources: 097: How to Create a Full-Time Income from Blogging Using The Egg Carton Method with Bjork Ostrom 108: From Struggling Podcast to Six-Figure Success with Natalie Eckdahl If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

How to find your super friends, how to optimize your growth on social media, and what tools you should use to track your blog's growth. ----- Welcome to episode 220 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, we're focusing on growth, and you'll learn about tribes, growing your social following, and tracking your growth with different tools. Grow If you have a blog, chances are you're interested in extending your reach and growing your audience. Luckily for you, that's exactly what this episode of the Food Blogger Pro Podcast is all about! First, Lindsay will talk about finding the Pinch of Yum "tribe" and publishing content specifically for that group of people. Finding your tribe is an important part of the growth puzzle because they're the people who are your "super fans" of you and your content. Then, Abby, our Social Media Manager, talks about social media growth. She talks about how your growth strategies can differ from social media platform to social media platform, and she'll walk you through some of the growth strategies that have worked for us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. And last, Bjork talks about tracking your growth and understanding how your content is performing. It's important to understand where you're starting and how far you've come, and these tools make tracking your progress super simple. Excited for you to dive into this episode and implement some of these growth strategies - enjoy! In this episode, you'll learn: What a "tribe" is Why it's important to have a tribe How to find your tribe or super-friends Strategies for growing your Instagram account How engagement works on Instagram How to optimize for repins on Pinterest How to grow your following on Facebook using Facebook Groups What annotations do in Google Analytics How Google Search Console can help you figure out how your posts are performing Resources: Pinch of Yum's Facebook Group Ahrefs SEMrush Google Analytics Google Search Console Ask Bjork Anything! If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

Why there's still a place for your blog, how to choose a good WordPress host, and why we recommend WordPress for food bloggers. ----- Welcome to episode 219 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, we're focusing on things you might believe when you first start your blog, how to choose a solid host, and why we recommend WordPress for food bloggers. Start We're going back to basics today and focusing on starting. If you have an idea for a blog, business, series, post, or product, we hope this episode will help give you a bit of a push to actually start. First, we'll hear from Bjork. He covers three of the most common blogging misconceptions we hear from new bloggers and how you can switch your thought processes around them. Next up: Andrew, our Site Speed Expert here at Food Blogger Pro. In his section, he's talking all about hosting. For instance, did you know he recommends changing hosts every few years?! Last, WP Tasty Lead, Raquel. She's talking all about WordPress and why it's the CMS we recommend for food bloggers. We think you'll have a lot of great takeaways from this episode, regardless of whether your blog is brand new or if you've been blogging for years. Enjoy! In this episode, you'll learn: Why you don't need to have a ton of content to launch Why you have to love the idea AND the work Why there's still a place for your blog What hosting is How to find a good host When you should switch your hosting Why we use and recommend WordPress WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org What it means when a plugin is premium Resources: 1000 True Fans 213: Trends – The Latest in Site Speed, How to Find Timely Content, and Social Media Trends Ask Bjork a question for our AMA podcast episode! WP Engine Siteground BigScoots Cloudways NerdPress WP Tasty WordPress plugin directory Raquel's personal site If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

When you should add display ads to your site, how to find your sponsored content rate, and how to be an effective affiliate. ----- Welcome to episode 218 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, we're focusing on monetization and chatting through display ads, sponsored content, and affiliate marketing. Monetization It's time to tackle one of the most popular topics we get asked about: monetization! We focus on three different ways that you can be monetizing your blog in this episode. First, you'll hear from Bjork as he talks about display ads and how to evaluate their success. He also talks about why it's important to consider your user experience when it comes to ad placement. Then, Danielle! She's here to talk all about sponsored content. She focuses on how to find your rate, how to work with brands, and how to approach brands for future deals. Last, Alexa and Bjork talk about affiliate marketing. While we're in the process of removing affiliate links from Food Blogger Pro, affiliate marketing can still be an effective way to generate income as a blogger. It's a great episode, and we can't wait for you to dive in. Enjoy! In this episode, you'll learn: How ads work When you should consider adding ads to your site What RPM is Why it's important to consider user experience when it comes to ads How to find your sponsored content rate How to understand what a brand wants Why a sponsored content report is important How to approach brands for the upcoming year Why we're removing affiliate links from Food Blogger Pro How to be an effective affiliate How to think strategically about monetization Resources: AdThrive Mediavine Sortable InfluenceKit The Get Your Price Course Businessese 099: Sponsored Content and Getting Paid What Your Work is Worth with Danielle Liss 097: How to Create a Full-Time Income from Blogging Using The Egg Carton Method with Bjork Ostrom Join the Food Blogger Pro Affiliate Program If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

How to store your files in the cloud, the process we use to produce the podcast, and how Pinch of Yum manages their sponsored content. ----- Welcome to episode 217 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, you'll learn how we store large video files, produce the podcast, and manage Pinch of Yum's sponsored content. Processes Today's episode is focused around processes, and while that may not sound all that exciting, processes are essential for our work. We use processes every day at Food Blogger Pro and Pinch of Yum, and you'll learn what we do and how we stick to these processes in this episode, First up is Emily, Pinch of Yum's Video Specialist. Video files are huge, so the processes she follows to compress and store her video files helps keep her computer tidy and her content organized. Next, Alexa talks all about…the podcast! She walks you through the entire podcasting process - from scheduling interviews, to recording episode, to editing, to publishing, and beyond. And last, Pinch of Yum's Communications Manager, Jenna, talks all about the way that Pinch of Yum manages their sponsored content work. From reviewing contracts to evaluating sponsors to getting paid, Jenna will teach you the ins and outs of making sure Pinch of Yum's sponsored content work gets done. While you're listening, we encourage you to think about some of the things you do every day or every week that could benefit from a formalized process. Enjoy! In this episode, you'll learn: Why processes are helpful and important How Emily organizes Pinch of Yum video clips The tool we use for cloud storage Why it's important to compress your files before uploading them to the cloud How we schedule interviews for The Food Blogger Pro Podcast What we use to record the podcast How we host the podcast and generate transcripts What Jenna's role is when it comes to sponsored content on Pinch of Yum How brands reach out to Pinch of Yum How the Pinch of Yum Intake Form works How the Pinch of Yum team reviews contracts How Pinch of Yum issues campaign reports How Pinch of Yum follows up with brands Resources: Things The E Myth and The E Myth Revisited Process.st The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up G Suite Final Cut Pro X Calendly Zoom Screenflow Adobe Audition Convert songs from files in a folder or on a disk Libsyn Rev Pinch of Yum's contact page Pinch of Yum's sponsored content landing page CoSchedule FreshBooks InfluenceKit 168: How to Add More Value to Your Sponsored Content with Mandi Gubler If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

How recipe copyrighting works, important parts of a food photograph, how to find your photography style, and new content on Food Blogger Pro. ----- Welcome to episode 216 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, we talk about whether or not recipes are copyrightable, how to incorporate layers into your food photography, and some of the new resources we have for food bloggers on Food Blogger Pro. Content We'd go so far to say that content is the bread and butter of food blogs. If you look at all the techy stuff, the SEO, the plugins, the monetization…content is at the core of it all. And that's our focus for today! First, you'll hear from Danielle, our incredible Legal Expert here at Food Blogger Pro, and she talks all about recipe copyrighting and how to properly give credit to other content creators. We get asked questions about this all the time in the Food Blogger Pro forums, and Danielle makes it easy to understand and implement. Next up: Lindsay! And because we focus on food and we eat with our eyes, photography is a huge, important part of the content creation equation. She talks about styling, layering, and her approach to photography in this episode. And last: Alexa. You'll hear a quick update about some of the new content we've recently published to Food Blogger Pro for our members. We talk about a recent Q&A, new tools we're using, new courses we're planning, and more. It's a great episode, and our goal is that it helps you streamline your content creation process and helps eliminate some questions you might have around creating content for your food blog. Enjoy! In this episode, you'll learn: What parts of your blog posts are copyrightable What you can do if you find a copy of one of your recipes online What a DMCA takedown notice is The right way to give credit to another recipe when you were "inspired by" it Important parts of a food photograph How layers work in food photography How to find your photography style Some of the new content we've published on Food Blogger Pro Resources: Foodimentary Thug Kitchen Pinch of Yum's Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos Businessese Liss Legal Timeular Slack Google Search Console If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 Instagram Stories for Food Blogger Pro. We use recurring series to engage our followers and constantly deliver value. And last, Bjork talks through what engagement actually is and how you measure it. We're always talking about how important engagement is, and he'll help you understand why that is. In this episode, you'll learn: How pins go viral When you save vs. when you share on Pinterest Common traits of successful pinners How you communicate with pinners What Pinterest finds most important when you're sharing content How to encourage readers to pin your content How to force-pin a specific image How much you should be pinning How Instagram Stories work How we structure Stories for Food Blogger Pro How engagement works How to calculate engagement Resources: Tailwind Tasty Pins Find pins from your site on Pinterest by using https://www.pinterest.com/source/foodbloggerpro.com/ where you replace foodbloggerpro.com with your URL NoPin: How to Tell Pinterest to Not Save an Image MiloTree Pinterest Developers Simple Pin Media The Simple Pin Collective Simple Pin Podcast Food Blogger Pro on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 track and monitor your optimization efforts to make sure that they're having the impact you hoped. It's a simple way to keep tabs on whether or not you're targeting the right posts with the right optimizations. It's a really helpful episode, and we hope you'll be able to apply these tips to your own blogging efforts. Enjoy! In this episode, you'll learn: Who the Father of SEO was How to select old content to optimize and republish What it means to noindex a post If it's okay to delete a post What technical SEO is and how to optimize for it How you can find posts to optimize Why it's important to "connect" your posts Tools you can use to optimize your posts How to build authority How annotations in Google Analytics work Resources: Yoast SEO plugin SEMrush Moz Screaming Frog Broken Link Checker WP Rocket ShortPixel Cloudflare Contact Casey on his website, Media Wyse, and on Facebook Google Search Console MarketMuse Connect with Jeff Google Analytics If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 great episode, and we can't wait for you to dive in. Enjoy! In this episode, you'll learn: Why site speed matters for bloggers How caching works What lazy loading is What the latest image size recommendation is How Lindsay approaches creating "trendy" content How hashtags work on Pinterest What Pinch of Yum uses to share content to Pinterest How we're customizing the Food Blogger Pro Instagram grid Resources: Google Trends WP Rocket a3 Lazy Load ShortPixel 188: Optimizing Your Website's Images with Simon Duduica NerdPress Tailwind Food Blogger Pro Deals Tasty Pins Follow Food Blogger Pro on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 content for Pinch of Yum How a Food Blogger Pro member found success from connecting with others Resources: Food Blogger Pro enrollment is now open! Enroll today Food Blogger Pro Experts Asana Big Magic Food Blogger Pro Deals Hot Rod's Recipes If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 lock-in our lower prices, be sure to join before then. Bjork summarizes all of the exciting events and offerings in this episode of the podcast, and we can't wait to share it with you! In this episode, Bjork shares: Why Instagram is so important for Pinch of Yum How to sign up for the Our Instagram Playbook Event When you can join Food Blogger Pro When our prices are increasing How you can get access to the My Instagram Playbook Master Class How to find testimonials from past and present Food Blogger Pro members Resources: Sign up for the Our Instagram Playbook Event! Learn more about Food Blogger Pro Learn more about the My Instagram Playbook Master Class Check out Food Blogger Pro testimonials If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 originated, what has contributed the most to the Pinch of Yum account's growth, why we believe engagement is the most important, and more. And…be sure to register for our free event next week at foodbloggerpro.com/playbook! In this episode, Lindsay shares: How the Pinch of Yum team uses Instagram How they generate income on Instagram What a playbook is Why it's helpful to have a playbook for something like Instagram Why it's important to keep track of your social media habits The two things that have contributed the most to their Instagram growth Proof that engagement is actually king What social media meetings look like on the Pinch of Yum team How you can sign up for our free, virtual event next week! Resources: Pinch of Yum on Instagram Lindsay on Instagram Sign up for the Instagram Playbook event! If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 listening, we encourage you to note where you can tighten up some of your money-making processes in the pursuit of maximizing your blog income. In this episode, Chelsea shares: What her first step was to starting 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 Resources: Chelsea's Messy Apron Chelsea's eBook Adobe Premiere Pro Mixergy Podcast The sponsored post equation from Wooden Spoons Kitchen: (Time Spent x Hourly Rate) + ( (Page Views/1000) x Advertising rate)= $Price per Post If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 changed since she started When she decided she would take blogging seriously How she formed her niche What the Mediterranean diet is The decisions that helped her blog take off How she sells physical products How she wrote for a magazine Resources: Submit a podcast idea! The Mediterranean Dish WP Tasty Nutrifox 15 Ways to Avoid Blogger Burnout 059: 9 Ways to Avoid Blogger Burnout with Bjork & Lindsay Ostrom Shippo If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Iva from Food by Iva! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

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 important to put some thought your workspace How she builds routines to deal with daily chaos Why you should start with the function of your space Why mood boards are helpful What parameters help you do The indicators that your space might be sub-optimal Tips for refining your design Resources: 181: The Year of the Pivot with Melissa Coleman Melissa on Instagram The Faux Martha Get in touch with The Faux Martha team about their design work The Minimalist Kitchen If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, mak@sgt! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

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 When he realized he could make a career out of YouTube Why you need to fail How he monetizes his channel If it's too late to start on YouTube The characteristics of successful accounts How YouTube prioritizes videos Why YouTube is different from other social media platforms How to deal with haters His advice for creators who want to rely on YouTube for income What UTM parameters are and why they're helpful Resources: 050: The Secret to Engaging Video with Tim Schmoyer Six Sisters Stuff Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money YouTube for Food Influencers course Video Creators Podcast If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, smallfarmbiglife! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

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 Personal Board of Directors Who is a part of his Personal Board of Directors What the future of his Personal Board of Directors could look like Resources: Things Zoom If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 business income from your personal income What an EIN is Why we've separated the financials for each of our businesses How we make sure our books are in order What tools we use to keep track of our purchases and income Resources: QuickBooks Pilot Shoeboxed Leave us a review on iTunes! If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 can increase the earning potential of your business How to make a blog visit more valuable Resources: AdThrive Mediavine Slickstream OneSignal 202: WP Tasty – Our Early Stage Strategy for Building Traffic and Marketing with Bjork Ostrom If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 How WP Tasty is handling content scheduling and planning How WP Tasty uses pixels to retarget customers How to make a "quick start" guide for your content Why a specific opt-in is more helpful than a generic one Resources: WP Tasty WP Tasty's blog Ahrefs 091: Optimizing Recipes for SEO with Joost De Valk from Yoast SEO CoSchedule 201: Email Marketing for Bloggers with Matt Molen Moz Sign up for the Food Blogger Pro waiting list If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 move from full-time employment to self-employment Why content creators should be implementing an email strategy How to get more readers on your list What to send your readers once they're on your list How to solve your readers' problems How to maintain a healthy email list Resources: Personalized Paths Picture the Magic Calendly ConvertKit 140: From $300k in Product Sales to $9m in Software Sales with Nathan Barry Email Jump Start Email on Autopilot Information on Matt's consulting service If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Quackygirl33! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

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 team How the business works How the podcast works Resources: 000: Our Beliefs, Our Hopes, and Our Dreams 195: Some Exciting Updates Coming to Food Blogger Pro with Bjork Ostrom Restrict Content Pro bbPress Stripe PayPal Intercom Nutrifox ActiveCampaign ConvertKit Vimeo ScreenFlow Slack Asana Zoom Loom G Suite Quickbooks Shoeboxed Justworks Slavic401k PeopleKeep Track1099 Heil PR40 USBPre 2 Libsyn If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 tasks done. In this episode, Lindsay shares: What her schedule looks like now What takes away from her efficiency Her tips for recipe development What it's like to work with a shoot assistant How she works with a photography template How she works with a blog post template Resources: Instacart Destination Delish Photo Mechanic Adobe Lightroom Toggl Follow Pinch of Yum and Lindsay on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

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 get up and running with Google Ads Strategies for using ads How ads work on YouTube Resources: Google Ads Paid Search Podcast Check out Chris' website and services If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

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 How he helps makes numbers more accessible What bot traffic is Why you want to remove your own traffic from your analytics How you can make sense of (not provided) information in Google Analytics How you can use goals in Google Analytics How to use Google Data Studio The outcomes of his 90 day content marketing challenge Resources: How to Increase Amazon Affiliate Earnings Jeffalytics MonsterInsights Jetpack Stats Google Tag Assistant How To Identify And Remove Bot Traffic In Google Analytics Google Analytics Opt-out Add-on Keyword Hero Data Driven Marketing Objectives: How To Define, Track, And Achieve Your Marketing Goals Google Data Studio Databox 90 Day Content Marketing Challenge Jeff's resources for Food Blogger Pro Podcast listeners Check out Jeff's courses Follow Jeff on YouTube If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

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 How to start getting paid from sponsors How to measure ROI How to narrow your niche (and if you should) How you can fit into a brand's strategy How to start a long-term relationship with a brand How to change your mindset when you work with brands What brands and influencers are looking for Resources: Notion Sparq Designs Follow Sparq Designs and Nick on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

How we started Food Blogger Pro, why we're switching to WordPress, and how to start something with Bjork Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 195 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork chats about a big and exciting change we're making on Food Blogger Pro. Some Exciting Updates Coming to Food Blogger Pro Something very exciting has been happening behind the scenes here at Food Blogger Pro HQ for the past few months, and we're finally spilling the beans: we're moving to WordPress! That's right! We're migrating Food Blogger Pro from a CMS called ExpressionEngine to our recommended CMS for food bloggers, WordPress. There are many reasons why we're switching over to WordPress, and that's what Bjork is here to talk about today. He'll share how Food Blogger Pro was initially set up, why we think WordPress will be a huge win for our membership site, strategies for starting something big, and more. We're so excited to share this new and improved version of Food Blogger Pro with you. :) In this episode, Bjork shares: The story of how Food Blogger Pro started How Food Blogger Pro is currently set up Why we're moving to WordPress His thoughts about starting something Resources: Kicktastic FortySeven Media Sign up for the Food Blogger Pro waiting list! If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

Finding your photography style, what makes quality content, and the Saveur Blog Awards with Sam Adler. ----- Welcome to episode 194 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Sam Adler from Frosting and Fettuccine about the importance of creating quality content. Making Great Content Sam knows quality content. Whether she's publishing on her blog or on her Saveur Blog Award-winning Instagram account, she's constantly on the quest for creating the highest-quality content she can. That's what she's here to chat about today. You'll learn about her approach to photography and color, her background in cooking, and what it was like to be nominated (and eventually WIN!) a Saveur Blog Award. Enjoy! In this episode, Sam shares: About her experience at Le Cordon Bleu How her understanding of colors helps with her food blog How she found her photography style What it was like to win a Saveur Blog Award Why the quality of your content is so important What makes quality content Resources: Planoly Frosting and Fettuccine Follow Sam on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

The importance of a business plan, helpful tools for SEO, and making the most out of your old content with Nora Schlesinger. ----- Welcome to episode 193 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Nora Schlesinger from A Clean Bake about how she prioritizes her work and runs her blog. Doing Less to Accomplish More Nora had a few other blogs before landing on her current blog, A Clean Bake. Throughout her time running these blogs, she's learned a lot. Most importantly, how to work less and still be able to accomplish everything she wants to. This interview focuses around the ideas of prioritizing your work and working smarter. It's a fantastic interview, and you'll love learning about her favorite tools, the course she took to understand SEO, and how she makes her older posts work for her. In this episode, Nora shares: How she ended up with A Clean Bake What happened when she took her blog full-time How she decided to go back to work Why she wrote a business plan The tools that she uses to run her blog How to make your old content work for you What it means to write for ads Resources: CoSchedule A Clean Bake Ahrefs SEMrush Hashtag Jeff SEO Mastermind Course Google Search Console AnswerThePublic Zapier Follow Nora on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, WisteriaJ7! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

The importance of understanding a business at a whole, starting a brick and mortar business, and hiring help with Jen and Rob Morris. ----- Welcome to episode 192 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Jen and Rob Morris from Cupcakeology about starting and growing their bakery. How Rob and Jen Built a Successful Business Have you ever dreamt of opening up your own bakery or restaurant? Jen and Rob did, too. They opened Cupcakeology in Philadelphia due to a love of desserts and management. Jen and Rob learned a ton about running their own business, and that's what they're here today to chat about. You'll learn about how they overcame the difficulties of starting their own business, how they decided to hire help, and why they eventually started a blog. This is such a fun interview, and we know you'll love learning about their journey. In this episode, Jen and Rob share: How they started baking When they realized they wanted to start a bakery Why it was important to understand both the food and the business The different businesses they started The hard lessons they needed to learn when they first started How they decided to hire help The importance of stories Why they started a blog Resources: Pinterest Strategy Recommendations from the Experts Cupcakeology Lovin' from the Oven Follow Cupcakeology and Lovin' from the Oven on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Wordnerdy! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

Tips for Instagram success, building a product or website, and how to know when you should invest in your business with Ryan Walker. ----- Welcome to episode 191 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Ryan Walker from Link in Profile and Tap Bio. Building a Better Bio If you've spent any time on Instagram, chances are that you've seen the words "Link in Profile" and / or "Tap Bio" before. Link in Profile and Tap Bio are Instagram bio tools that help send your followers to your blog content. Ryan Walker, the founder of these two companies is here today to chat about these tools and how they can help you with your Instagram strategy. He shares his tips for Instagram success, his advice for building a product or website, how to know when you should invest in your business, and so much more. Enjoy! In this episode, Ryan shares: His background in software How to know when you should invest in your business How he decided to start and build Link in Profile How Link in Profile works Tips for Instagram success Why he started Tap Bio The differences between Link in Profile and Tap Bio His advice for building something Resources: Link in Profile Tap.Bio Against All Grain Real or Fake: 5 Instagram Rumors Explained Follow @tap.bio on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Margaret! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

How notifications work, how to create a customer journey strategy, and writing engaging notifications with Josh Wetzel from OneSignal. ----- Welcome to episode 190 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Josh Wetzel from OneSignal about using push notifications on your blog. Push Notifications for Bloggers Chances are that you've seen a prompt on a blog that says something like, "Do you want to opt-in to browser notifications?" Pinch of Yum might be one of them! Those are called push notifications, and OneSignal is a company that helps you create those push notifications to increase user engagement on your site. Josh Wetzel, OneSignal's Chief Revenue Officer, is here today to talk about the benefits of using push notifications on your blog and the results that you may see after enabling them for your website. In this episode, Josh shares: How he started with OneSignal How notifications work How voice notifications work How to create a customer journey strategy The different types of messages you can send with OneSignal How you can monetize notifications How you can write engaging notifications How intelligent delivery works Resources: Diversifying Traffic: How Different Sources Perform Over Time OneSignal In 2018, push alerts featured less yelling and more thinking Follow OneSignal and Josh on Twitter If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Crackersandcabernet! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

Why you should build your processes, how to create a more valuable business, and prioritizing your tasks with Blake Bailey. ----- Welcome to episode 189 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Blake Bailey from Process Street about the importance of documenting your processes. Make Less Work Whether you know it or not, there are a lot of processes that go into creating blog content. Photographing a recipe, publishing a post, sharing that post on social media, reaching out to sponsors, adding ads to your site. Blake from Process Street is here to talk about why you might to document these processes and how to get started documenting these processes. He'll help you save time and work smarter by automating some of your most common to-dos and prioritizing your tasks. In this episode, Blake shares: What an SOP is How you can start creating processes Why you might want to start building processes How you can automate your processes How you can make less work for yourself and your team How to create a more valuable business with processes How you can build your processes and prioritize your tasks How to use Content Lock Resources: Process Street Zapier The Checklist Manifesto Ahrefs MarketMuse Checklists for Bloggers If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Sylvia! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

Retina images, how to start optimizing your site, and the different levels of image optimization with Simon Duduica. ----- Welcome to episode 188 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Simon Duduica about optimizing images on your website. Optimizing Your Website's Images We know that optimization is important when it comes to building a website, so today's interview focuses on optimizing images. Optimizing images on food blogs is especially important. Food blogs are typically heavy-handed with their use of images, and for good reason: people eat with their eyes. That said, it's just as important that your images look good as it is to optimize them for site performance and speed. That's where ShortPixel comes in. They help you optimize your images in a way that doesn't compromise quality or that "drool-worthiness" we all want to see in our images. ShortPixel's Head of Technology, Simon, is here to chat through what optimizing your images means and how you can make sure the images on your site are optimized. In this episode, Simon shares: How they started ShortPixel Why image optimization is important for website owners How images load How you can tell if your images are optimized The difference between optimization levels What retina images are and how you can optimize them How you can start optimizing your website Resources: Register for the Growing Your Food Blog Q&A with Bjork and Lindsay! ShortPixel WP Engine Cloudflare GTmetrix Google PageSpeed Insights If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Brenda from Become Betty! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

What self-publishing is, how much you can expect to spend, and enlisting the help of others with Chelsea Cole. ----- Welcome to episode 187 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Chelsea Cole from A Duck's Oven about the process of self-publishing a cookbook. How to Self-Publish Your Own Cookbook It's time for part 2 of our two-part publishing series! This week, we're chatting with Chelsea Cole, sous vide master, all about the steps she took to self-publish her very own cookbook. Self-publishing is certainly different from traditional publishing, so this episode focuses on the nuances that make self-publishing so accessible and exciting for bloggers. You'll learn how she found her topic, how much you should expect to spend if you're self-publishing a book, and more. Enjoy! In this episode, Chelsea shares: Where her blog name comes from What sous vide is How she decided to focus on sous vide Why she started thinking about writing a cookbook How payments work when you write a cookbook How she managed her cookbook team and timeline How much you should plan on spending if you self-publish a cookbook How she promoted her book What she would do differently next time Resources: Delivering Happiness A Duck's Oven Shoe Dog MacBreak Weekly Sous Vide 5-year trend on Google Trends Well Fed Diane Morgan Asana Amazon's Royalty Calculator 097: How to Create a Full-Time Income from Blogging Using The Egg Carton Method with Bjork Ostrom Everyday Sous Vide: It's All French to Me BONUS! Check out Chelsea's blog post all about her self-publishing process If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Bob! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

Fine-tuning your book idea, book proposals, and understanding your reader with Lindsey Smith. ----- Welcome to episode 186 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week on the podcast, Alexa interviews Lindsey Smith, aka. The Food Mood Girl, about the traditional publishing process. How to Become a Published Author You have an awesome book idea, but you have no idea what to do with it. If this sounds like you, then this episode is for you! Lindsey Smith is a publishing pro; she has gone through the self-publishing process in addition to working with a traditional publishing house. This episode, however, is focused on the latter–getting an agent, going through a publisher, and writing a book proposal. She also talks about how she started her own press and developed a conference for aspiring authors. The publishing process may seem a bit daunting, but you'll learn a ton of helpful tips in this interview like how to set your pitch apart, how your pitches will change based on the type of book you're writing, and how you can fine-tune your book idea and proposal. Enjoy! In this episode, Lindsey shares: How she started publishing her content What a press is The differences between an agent and a publisher How a nonfiction pitch differs from a fiction pitch How to set your pitch apart from others How she fine-tuned her book idea What you can do once you have a book idea Important parts of a book proposal Why it's important to understand that you're ahead of your reader How having a brand can help with the traditional publishing process Resources: Test your mobile site speed with Think with Google One Idea Press Pitch Publish Promote Food Mood Girl Lindsey's books Macmillan Follow Lindsey on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, YumYoga! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

Flash photography, the road to recovery, and building a business with Joanie Simon. ----- Welcome to episode 185 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Joanie Simon about using flash photography and recovering from addiction. Darkness and Light We typically talk about the benefits of shooting food photos with natural light - namely, it's an easy way to make sure your photos look natural. But if you take a quick peek over at Joanie's Instagram profile (@thebiteshot), you'll see that she's getting beautiful, natural-looking photos using flash. That's right! Joanie has figured out a way to make flash photography the foundation of her successful YouTube channel, brand partnerships, and more. But that's not the only reason you'll love this episode. Joanie's journey to food blogging and photography wasn't an easy one, and you'll hear about her road to recovery and her story of how she got to where she is today. In this episode, Joanie shares: How she got into blogging Why a chicken is so important to her story How relationships grew her photography business Why she shoots with flash How flash is different from artificial light The gear she uses for flash photography Resources: Joanie's story "7 Habits of Highly Effective People The Bite Shot on YouTube Joanie's courses Joanie's flash photography gear Follow Joanie on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Betsy from The Dinner Sisters! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

Defining growth, figuring out your definition of success, and learning from those who are paying attention with Paul Jarvis. ----- Welcome to episode 184 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Paul Jarvis about his new book, "Company of One," and building better businesses. Build Better, Not Bigger, Businesses Paul is back on the Food Blogger Pro Podcast to chat about his new book, how to build better businesses, how to define growth, and so much more. Paul understands business in a pretty unique way. His ideologies of starting small, defining growth, and continual learning will help you evaluate your blog or business and challenge you to find your own definition of success. Plus, his new book, "Company of One," will be out next week, so be sure to pre-order if you're interested! In this episode, Paul shares: How you can preorder his book Why you should figure out your definition of success How he keeps simplicity in his work How you can get your Company of One business up and running What defining growth means Why you don't need a massive audience What it means to learn from the people who are paying attention How to protect yourself from the ulcer of the soul Resources: Preorder Paul's book! 181: The Year of the Pivot with Melissa Coleman If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Carolyn from Umami Girl! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

Intentional effort, going by stopping, and finding the good with Bjork Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 183 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week on the podcast, we're rewinding back to a Bjork solo episode where he talks about how to keep going when you're not sure you can continue. How to Keep Going Happy 2019! For today's podcast episode, we're rewinding back to a solo Bjork episode called, "How to Keep Going." This episode was originally published in August 2017, but the strategies, advice, and techniques Bjork shares will help you stay motivated in the new year. It's tough to keep going, keep doing, and keep creating, especially when you're trying to balance it with the other aspects of your life. The tips Bjork shares in this episode will help you get up each and every day to do the work. In this episode, Bjork shares: 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 [email protected].

Narrowing your niche, increasing your traffic, and finding a business coach with Meggan Hill. ----- Welcome to episode 182 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week on the podcast, we're rewinding back to one of our most popular episodes with Meggan Hill from Culinary Hill. How Finding a Niche Transformed a Business Today we're rewinding back to one of our most popular podcast episodes ever with Meggan Hill from the blog Culinary Hill. Meggan has a firm understanding of her brand, her audience, and her niche, and that deep understanding helps drive her content creation and direction. And that's exactly what Meggan talks about in this interview. You'll learn how she defined her niche, how that then increased her traffic, how she just finds the time to do what she does, and so much more. Enjoy this rewind episode! In this episode, Meggan 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: Culinary Hill CookIt Media Jadah Sellner Coaching 5 Minute Journal The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod Insight Timer meditation app Headspace meditation app Follow Meggan on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected].

How to navigate the fall, the importance of play, and protecting the everyday with Melissa Coleman. ----- Welcome to episode 181 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Melissa Coleman from The Faux Martha about the things she learned about herself this year. The Year of the Pivot Melissa Coleman of The Faux Martha had a big year. Not only does she run a successful blog, she also published her first book, The Minimalist Kitchen, this April. But they aren't the only reasons she had a good year: she called this year The Year of the Pivot. She knew something needed to change, and she set out on a journey this year to make it happen. Without revealing too much, she learned quite a bit from this experiential year, and the lessons she learned serve as a powerful message to all bloggers in this episode. In this episode, Melissa shares: What it was like to write a book Why she wanted to find a new direction How she navigated the fall Why it's important to play What it means to protect the everyday Why it's helpful to start with a problem and work to a solution How she's preserving her asset How she approached hiring What's next for her and her blog Resources: Todoist The Faux Martha The Minimalist Kitchen After the Fall The Horse Named Hustle Job Opening: Left Brain The Minimalist Kitchen Course Follow Melissa on Instagram If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

Quality content, becoming a subject matter expert, and finding connections in your content with Jeff Coyle. ----- Welcome to episode 180 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Jeff Coyle from MarketMuse about becoming an expert on your blog. Establishing Your Expertise Jeff helps run MarketMuse, an AI planning and optimizing software, and they focus on optimizing your content to improve your search engine ranking potential. This episode focuses around becoming a subject matter expert on your blog; choosing a topic to go all-in on and really become "the" expert of that topic. You'll learn a lot about why subject matter expertise is valuable as a content creator, what a quality piece of content actually looks like, how you can prove you're an expert, and so much more. Let's dive in! In this episode, Jeff shares: What led him to MarketMuse Why subject matter expertise is valuable What a quality piece of content looks like How you can prove you're an expert How to find connections in your content How narrow your expertise should be Resources: MarketMuse TechTarget Google Adwords Keyword Planner Follow MarketMuse on Twitter If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Rebecca from No Big Bites! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review. We'd like to thank our sponsors, WP Tasty! Check out wptasty.com to learn more about their handcrafted WordPress plugins specifically made for food bloggers.

Why you might want to purchase a website, how to make smart buying decisions, and how to buy a process with Jeff Hunt. ----- Welcome to episode 179 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Jeff Hunt about the process of buying and selling websites. The Art of Buying Websites If you want to secure a place on the internet with a website, you don't always need to start it from scratch. Instead, you can buy a pre-existing website. Why would you want to buy rather than start? Well, that's a good question, and the exact reason why Jeff is here today. He'll talk about his decision to purchase his first website, how you can make smart buying decisions, how to avoid spammy links, and so much more. If you're looking for ways to diversify your income, or perhaps start a new site, I think you're really going to learn a lot from this interview. Let's jump in. In this episode, Jeff shares: Why he moved overseas How he started buying websites Why you'd buy a website How you can be smart when buying a website What a spammy link is What it means to buy a process What it looks like to buy a website Resources: The Website Investor Podcast Flippa Ahrefs Flip Minds If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Dale & Valarie from Unstoppable Foodie! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review.

Consistent quality content, working together, and improving the process with Sonja and Alex Overhiser from A Couple Cooks. ----- Welcome to episode 178 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Sonja and Alex Overhiser about balancing content, working together, and podcasting. Life, Podcasting, Blogging, and Cookbook Writing Sonja and Alex seem to be doing it all: publishing consistent quality blog content, focusing on SEO, sharing their content on social media, publishing a cookbook, and producing a podcast. How do they balance it all? That's a good question. And that's the exact topic of this episode. They cover their typical day-to-day, small changes that helped them find balance, and more. Let's dive in. In this episode, Sonja & Alex share: How they started their blog How they keep improving their process What it was like to transition to working on A Couple Cooks full time What their typical day looks like How they work together as a family and find balance Why they started their podcast Resources: How to Make Sourdough Bread: The Simplified Guide on A Couple Cooks 12 Healthy Freezer Meals on Pinch of Yum Hashtag Jeff SEMrush Asana A Couple Cooks | Small Bites Podcast Pretty Simple Cooking Cookbook If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to [email protected]. Thanks to our Reviewer of the Week, Laine Oliver! If you'd like to be featured, leave a review for us on iTunes and include your name and blog name in the review.