Eat Blog Talk | Megan Porta

In episode 370, Jenna Gibbons teaches us techniques to take care of our wellbeing, our family and improve our productivity while turning a passion project into a business. Jenna is a stay-at-home mom and founder of the Whole Mama business and non-profit, Hickory Hill Farm. In 2016, living on a small farm in Nashville, Jenna decided to devote her time to her boys and started the Whole Mama business after feeling frustrated with the dynamics of public education. The Whole Mama business and international podcast began in 2020 to help mamas break free from the chaos in education and bravely start homeschooling with the tools and confidence they need to raise happy, healthy, and well-rounded kiddos. In this episode, you’ll learn how to turn a passion project into a business, especially when you’re a full-time, homeschooling parent, including strategies to keep yourself motivated and productive. - How should you start off your day in order to feel energized? - Who you choose to hang out with makes a huge difference

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

In episode 368, Meredith Kruse teaches us 10 strategies for sustainable side-hustling and why we don’t have to quit our full-time job to be successful food bloggers. Meredith is the photographer, recipe developer, and voice behind the blog, Our Love Language is Food. She also works full-time in the commercial construction industry in addition to her food and photography business. Many of her favorite memories were made around a big table sharing food that everyone helped to prepare in her tight-knit family. She started Our Love Language is Food to help aspiring cooks and bakers feel confident in the kitchen so they can bring these types of experiences into their home too. In 2022, Meredith turned her passion for food and photography into a thriving side hustle, booking client work equal to nearly half the value of her day-job salary by mid-year in 2022. In this episode, she shares what she does differently to achieve success in food blogging and photography while  maintaining a healthy work-life balance with

In episode 367, Megan chats to Jessica Fisher about rising grocery prices and how to do food shopping for your blog in an economical way without sacrificing quality or taste. Jessica Fisher is a cookbook author and food writer at Good Cheap Eats. She enjoys helping people who want to save time and money so they can enjoy stress-free meals. In the last recession, she and her husband made a decision to live more economically and manage their finances more wisely in order to pay off a 60K debt and have more financial freedom, all while keeping their six kids fed and clothed. In this episode, she shares the Good Cheap Eats system as a way to deal with rising grocery prices, giving us tips to eat great and make enjoyable recipes without breaking the bank. - The Good Cheap Eats system has 7 steps to save money when buying groceries. - Use inventories for the contents in freezers and fridges. - How can you do your future self a favour? - If you want to prepare a frugal meal, don’t make a trip to the grocery store, c

In episode 366, Kate Ahl teaches us strategies to use Pinterest effectively and grow our reach as food bloggers. Kate Ahl is the founder of Simple Pin Media. She has been helping businesses discover, learn and master Pinterest marketing for over 7 years. She combines the data learned from working with clients, education from Pinterest, and her knowledge of the platform to help people expand the reach of their business using Pinterest. Her mantra is to keep it simple, be authentic, and Pin with purpose. She also hosts her own show, Simple Pin podcast. In this episode, you’ll find out how to adapt to Pinterest’s updates as we wrap up Q4. Kate dives into getting maximum exposure for your content, repurposing and incorporating video on Pinterest and effective ways to use new features like Idea Pins. - Q4 is the time to get max exposure for your content depending on your niche. - Look at your traffic patterns to predict what content will do well when. - Select strategies based on your expectations of Pinterest. -

In episode 365, Megan chats to Kristen Bousquet about how food bloggers can successfully work with brands, negotiate win-win contracts and build long-term relationships with their dream company. Kristen Bousquet is social media expert, a Charlotte-based content creator and influencer coach at Your Soulcialmate with a goal of educating entrepreneurial creators on how to turn their online influence into a profitable, self-sustaining business through her podcast, community FB group, and coaching programs. She wants creators to learn how to be successful digital business owners while keeping the "soul" in "soulcial media”. In this episode, she shares invaluable information about how to approach brands for sponsored work, the importance of building an organic relationship and what to look out for when negotiating contracts. - Essential steps to take before you consider approaching a brand. - Warm up the brand by engaging with them on social media. - Pick the time to pitch a brand wisely: are you at a peak with you

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

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

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

In episode 361, Megan chats to Taran Conwell about hiring a mother’s helper so that you can carve out more time for blogging. Taran is the host of the podcast the Undomestic Mom, which forms part of her mission to dismantle the watered-down version of self-care in today’s motherhood. She coaches millennial moms and takes them from survival mode to thriving mode by helping them create and implement their own self-care routines and find fulfillment outside of motherhood. Taran became passionate about helping mothers live fulfilling, balanced lives after experiencing mom burnout. In this episode, she explains the ROI of hiring a mother’s helper, including saving money, having more time to focus on your blog and feeling more refreshed during family time. - Why is hiring a mother’s helper more economical than hiring a VA? - It can be more beneficial, especially if you’re a new blogger. - Will it help you be more intentional and get more work done in a shorter amount of time? - How do you find a mother’s helper? -

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

In episode 359, Megan chats to Sally Aleckson about why being a part-time food blogger can help cultivate your passion. Sally started food blogging in 2014 and since then has gone through a rebrand and a complete overhaul of her site to what you can see today on Eight Forest Lane. Despite not having the same financial success and traffic as others who have been doing it for less time, she keeps going because she loves it. In this episode, she shares her journey and why she decided to blog as a hobby instead of making it a full-time job. Learn about the advantages of being a part-time blogger and why this will cultivate your passion and why knowing that your bills are paid can allow you to create more freely. - Is your blogging journey resonating with your personality? - Learn from others but follow your own unique path. - What do you have to spend your time on versus what you want to spend your time on? - Why do we lose joy when we make our passion a full-time job?  - Use your blog to learn new skills and tra

In episode 358, Megan chats to Lauren Klein about how to pursue blogging as a hobby while still making money. Lauren is a professional dietician, who started her food blog, Piece of Lulu, mainly as a hobby and shares original recipes as well as a wealth of wellness and nutrition content. She found the process of developing her blog and helping her readers understand how to live healthier lives, extremely rewarding. In this episode, find out how to also have a rewarding experience and develop a successful food blog, while still making money yet not having the pressure of earning a full-time income. - How much time should you put into a hobby blog to make it lucrative? - Which areas are most important to focus on with limited time? - Write from inspiration and not obligation. - Break up tasks into small, easily doable steps. - Balance SEO relevant posts with what you’re passionate about. - Build a community on a social media platform of your choice. Connect with Lauren Klein Website | Instagram

In episode 357, Olivia Parsons teaches us how to fit video into our food blogging workflow, cutting down on production time while seeing the same gains as everyone else. Olivia Parsons is gluten-free foodie and the creator behind Liv Gluten-Free food blog. She believes anyone with a dietary requirement should be able to enjoy good food. Sharing a variety of sweet and savory gluten-free recipes, Olivia dived head first into the food blogging world at the beginning of the pandemic. From the start, she focused on efficient workflows, adapting to trends and creating quality recipes, photography and video content. In this episode, find out how to incorporate different video styles into your workflow to grow on social media.  - Best way to streamline the process with video and photos. - What are the different ways of videoing a recipe? - Keep it quick, these are more likely to go viral. - Use behind the scenes videos for maximum effect (engagement and interest) - Entertain, inspire and educate your audience on TikT

In episode 356, Megan chats to Bita and Beata about leveraging your blog for new opportunities using podcasts. Bita Arabian and Beata Nazem Kelley are two food bloggers who co-host the podcast, Modern Persian Food. Bita / Beata means ‘unique’ and in the podcast the duo share their unique approach to cooking and eating Persian food and how to incorporate the rich flavors and fresh ingredients into today’s modern lifestyle. Both started out working on their individual blogs and then teamed up to launch their podcast with which they’ve been nominated for awards and reached amazing milestones. In this episode, they discuss how they’ve used their blog niche to create a unique podcast with great potential to grow their business and to stay connected to their audience. - Podcasts is an extension of your blog.  - It offers a different way to stay connected. - What kind of opportunities can you expect by starting a podcast? - Audio is about inspiring others and being inspired. - Using audio, you can share a combinatio

In episode 355, Megan chats to Jodi Danen about pivoting away from focusing on clients to working for yourself. She delves into the advantages of dedicating all your time to your own blog and some of the drawbacks of making that shift. Jodi is a registered dietician and founder of Create Kids Club, a food blog for easy gluten-free kids meals and family meals. She is also the author of Super Simple Cooking for Kids. In this episode, Jodi talks about knowing when to pivot away from focusing on client work to focusing on reaching your own goals. While clients are a good way to start earning an income, eventually if you want to grow your blog, you need to decide which way you want to go. Find out when is the right time and what are the main considerations when you make this shift. - It is important to decide: What is your goal? - Financially, is it viable to shift away from client work? - Burn out is possible when balancing client work and your own blog. - You can always keep some clients for additional income. -

In episode 354, Megan chats to Kay Ratford about the benefits of SEO tools and how to use them to build organic traffic quickly. Kay runs the UK-based food blog Flawless Food with her partner Luke. They started over 2 years ago and, using SEO strategically, they’ve grown their blog to over 600k page views a month, of which 365k is organic traffic. Kay and Luke started off with doing brand work but soon discovered that it was possible to make money by posting your own recipes. The key was: Understand SEO and do keyword research. Kay unravels her SEO journey, explaining which tools she uses, which keyword statistics she pays attention to and other SEO tips to grow your traffic within a short timespan. - If you want to make a recipe, is it being searched for? - In which region should you try to rank for? - Could you rank for something that you shouldn’t be ranking for? - If you add additional key words, your chances of ranking increase. - Batch cook recipes according to keywords for a food category. - You don’t

In episode 353, Megan chats to Melinda Keckler about how to establish a strong brand identity and why building brand affinity with our audience is so important in order to have a successful blog.  Melinda is the founder and photographer behind the blog Crinkled Cookbook and has been blogging since 2019 while juggling a full-time marketing job. She is applying her vast experience working in marketing and brand strategy to help grow her food blog. Eager to share her expertise, she explains what is meant by brand identity and marketing, busting common false beliefs around both topics. She then lays out easy steps to build a strong brand identity using marketing effectively so we become a recognised, trusted and loved authority in the food blogging space. - Be ready to play the long game to build brand identity and affinity (your Google analytics won’t change overnight). - How much do logos and fonts define your brand identity? - Brand lives in the experience our readers have - why will they remember your blog? -

In episode 352, Lauren LeBlanc teaches us how to make money doing SEO-focused ghostwriting for other food bloggers. Lauren is the creator of the blog, Lauren from Scratch, where she focuses on how to make savory recipes from scratch using high-quality ingredients and teaches readers how to make restaurant-worthy dishes in their kitchens. Working as a physician assistant by day and food blogger by night, Lauren realized that initially while she was growing her blog, she could make money by doing SEO-focused ghostwriting for other food bloggers. In this episode, she walks us through the process in five steps to get started and flourish, earning additional income. - Understand what are reasonable blogging rates. - Increase your level of professionalism using templates and checklists. - What is the key to retain clients and grow your client base? - Tips to organize information for your clients for seamless interaction. - Balance your client’s voice and keywords for SEO . - What are SOPs and why can this make all

In episode 351, Megan chats to Jessica Burgess about how to focus more on doing what is working and select blogging strategies that help us grow. Jessica is a lifestyle blogger whose mission is to add simplicity to our busy lives. She focuses on easy recipes for people on the go and, having started in 2011, she shares her passion for blogging and knowledge of the field by helping other bloggers grow too. In this episode, Jessica explains how to avoid getting caught in trying too many blogging strategies and how to focus on the ones that work, using analytics and other indicators as guide posts. - Be selective about trends. - Use real-time traffic to find out what works. - Which statistics should you pay attention to? - Be flexible to change when necessary. - Invest time in the social media platforms that work for you. - How to interpret blogging RPM (revenue per mile) - The impact of tracking your income - what’s coming in and out? Connect with Jessica Burgess Website | Instagram