Eat Blog Talk | Megan Porta

In episode 489, Megan chats to Shannon Peel about how we can craft our business brand story in a unique and engaging way to resonate with the right people at the right time. Shannon Peel has over 30 years experience in marketing, sales, advertising, and storytelling. Due to her insatiable curiosity and desire to learn new things, Shannon has a unique skill set enabling her to see how all the pieces of a brand story come together to guide an audience from brand awareness to brand advocacy. She recently published her interactive, multimedia digital book called BrandAPeel: Brand Storytelling in the Digital Age filled with videos, podcast episodes, and downloadable workbooks to help small businesses define their brands and create content to tell their stories. In this episode, you’ll learn about various aspects of effective business brand storytelling, including finding your core values, determining your voice, mapping out a digital footprint, and so much more. - Define Your Core Values: Identify five core values

In episode 488, Erin Harding guides us through the essential steps for food bloggers looking to leverage Pinterest ads successfully. Erin is the Director of Pinterest Ads Management at Simple Pin Media. For 8 years she has been bringing the power of Pinterest to brands and businesses, large and small. While she started out developing & managing organic strategies, she is now managing hundreds of thousands of dollars in ad spend for brands on Pinterest. In this episode, you’ll learn about the requirements you need in order to advertise on Pinterest, whether it is right for you and three key points to create successful ad campaigns on Pinterest. - Prepare Your Offer: Ensure your product or lead magnet is ready for advertising, and consider its circulation and success on other platforms. - Understand the Pinterest Mindset: Recognize that Pinterest is a visual search platform, not social media. Meet users at every stage of their journey, from inspiration to decision-making. - Run Ads For A Period of Time: Pin

In today’s Mindset & Self-care episode, Megan shares how five of her favorite books changed her life, delving into topics such as thinking yourself to wealth, habits that shape success, the importance of gratitude and living in the present. Books have the potential to reshape your mindset and enhance your self-care practices. Megan emphasizes this through anecdotes from her own life, touching on the contents of each book and how it can change your life. - Thinking Yourself to Wealth and Happiness: Explore the timeless wisdom of "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, a classic that unravels the secrets of building wealth and attracting positive influences into your life. - Habits That Shape Success:"Atomic Habits" by James Clear, a book that simplifies the process of developing good habits and how small changes can lead to significant improvements in your life. - Living in the Present Moment: "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle is a transformative guide that emphasizes the importance of living in the pres

In episode 486, Megan chats to Janessa Heck about 10 ways to manage health issues and diet restrictions while food blogging. As an avid cook, baker and food blog reader, Janessa long dreamed of starting her own food blog and finally took the plunge in December 2020. Janessa focuses on easy, healthier recipes made mostly with whole food ingredients as well as oat flour baking. After a year of plugging away at it as a hobby, she decided she wanted to treat it as a business and started to learn about SEO in January of 2022. The Nessy Kitchen grew from less than 1000 visitors in February 2022 to over 100 000 monthly visitors 18 months later. Janessa lives in Alberta, Canada and in her free time you can find her enjoying yoga, reading or in the Rocky Mountains skiing in the winter and paddleboarding or hiking in the summer. In this episode, you’ll learn how you can carry on blogging throughout health obstacles including selecting a group of trusted taste testers, exploring non-recipe content and selecting recipes

In episode 485, Hanelore Dumitrache teaches us how to use AI to improve our workflows and how to write prompts to get personalized blog posts. Hanelore is a London-based architect turned recipe developer and food blogger. In 2020, she won the international Netflix show 'Crazy Delicious', which opened new doors into blogging as a career. Since 2022, you will find Hanelore focusing entirely on growing her blog SugarYums.com, where she shares delicious Asian desserts, drinks, and street food. A tech geek at heart, she is fully immersed in all things AI and is constantly on the lookout for new tools that can streamline her work. In this episode, you’ll learn how to incorporate AI into your workflow, speeding up blog post writing using tools, like ChatGPT, and teaching AI how to mimic your writing style. - AI tools like ChatGPT can PREDICT and replicate patterns in HUMAN SPEECH. - AI can TAKE PRESSURE OFF when it comes to the most time-consuming tasks. - How can you PERSONALIZE what AI writes? - Apply the concept

In episode 484, Megan teaches us why our energy is a precious resource and five effective ways to safeguard it. In this episode, you’ll learn the significance of understanding that our energy isn't limitless. We explore five practical ways to protect and replenish our energy, essential for maintaining overall well-being and thriving in our personal and professional lives. Megan covers the following key points: - Analyze Historical Data: Reflect on past experiences to identify patterns and triggers affecting your energy. Learn from the past to make informed decisions for the future. - Evaluate Your People: Recognize relationships that may drain your energy. You can manage interactions to preserve your emotional well-being. - Manage Inputs and Outputs: Discover strategies to control the information you consume and how you respond to it. Establish boundaries to prevent energy depletion from external sources. - Make a Plan: Plan your year, month and week ahead of time to reduce stress and efficiently use your ene

In episode 483, Megan chats to Nosheen Babar about finding our purpose, knowing exactly why we create content and who the content is for. As a first-generation immigrant from Pakistan, Nosheen is a self-trained home cook turned recipe developer, food photographer, and content creator. Nosheen started her blog 3 years ago to create a reference tool for people interested in exploring authentic Pakistani cooking. She is using her 30+ years of cooking experience to create recipes that are accessible, foolproof, and adaptable for her audience. Her goal is to take you on a culinary journey through Pakistan and showcase its cuisine along with its rich history and cultural influences. In this episode, you’ll learn why having a clear purpose can be a game-changer for your blog,   even if it takes time to grow, and how to use your WHY to guide you in the right direction and set achievable goals. - WHY did you start your blog and WHAT do you hope to achieve? - A WRITTEN PURPOSE combined with a CONTENT AUDIT will help yo

In episode 482, Rae Aflatooni teaches us her best tips on how to get through hard times and why she focuses on success and learning instead of failure. Rae Aflatooni, the voice behind Raepublic, has an MS in Nutrition and Functional Medicine. She enjoys creating content with the aim to assist people who have experienced trauma to live a more holistic, well-balanced life. Through nutrition, plant-based eating, sustainable living, mindfulness, and movement. In this episode, you’ll learn how to keep going with your blogging business when you feel like you’re failing, other tangible things you can do to grow your business and how to make sure your mindset and self-care is on the right track. - Be okay with changes when life happens - sometimes you have to take a BREAK. - Should you start a new social media account if you’re STRUGGLING TO GROW an old account? - Use online resources to REGAIN FOCUS. - Learn how SEO tools like RankIQ can really improve your site traffic. - ITEMIZE, PRIORITIZE, and EVALUATE what you

In episode 481, Megan shares 5 phrases we can use to take back control and reprogram our subconscious so that we can fulfil our aspirations. Subconscious beliefs and behaviour often control the trajectory of our lives and businesses. In this episode, you’ll learn why ‘unconscious programming’ stunt the potential of our businesses, how to identify the triggers of misguided beliefs and how a simple, repeated phrase can change what we think and do. Megan explores these topics: - How can you get RID OF FEAR? (e.g. fear of failure, fear of the unknown, comparison…) - Invite more GOOD THINGS into your life by acknowledging your gratitude. - Why is it detrimental to ignore the SMALL DETAILS in your life that need ATTENTION? - How can you reprogram your subconscious to ATTRACT MORE MONEY into your life? - REPEAT “I live a life of EASE” or fill in the quality or asset you most want for your life. Get in touch with Megan if there is a specific mindset and self-care topic you'd like her to cover. Website | Instagram

In episode 480, Liz Wilcox teaches us simple, yet effective email marketing strategies, including how we can streamline the writing process and make our emails relatable. The Fresh Princess of Email Marketing, Liz Wilcox is an Email Strategist and Keynote Speaker. She shows small businesses how to build online relationships, package up their “magic” and turn it into emails that people want to read and, most importantly, purchase from. Liz is best known for her 3500+ users membership, 20 Minute Newsletter technique, and the Email Staircase framework she’s taught to tens of thousands of creatives, freelancers, ecommerce shop owners, and small businesses across the globe. In this episode, you’ll learn the different components of a welcome series, simple ways to structure newsletters and how to reframe the way you think about email. - Email marketing is a MONEYMAKING activity. - You're converting FOLLOWERS into FRIENDS into customers. - Use a well-structured WELCOME SERIES to convert a follower into a friend. - A

In episode 479, Megan chats to Lynn Polito about whether we should still be making Web Stories and how they can help us bulk up our blog traffic. Lynn has been a food blogger for a little over 2.5 years. Her niche is creating recipes using 10 ingredients or less. She also focuses on almost all of the ingredients being pantry staples. In this episode, you’ll learn how to create web stories, what animations to use and other logistics to make them go viral and boost your site traffic. - Use web stories to BOOST TRAFFIC to your blog without having to post new content frequently. - It can help your post appear in GOOGLE DISCOVER. - Choose SEASONAL RECIPES for web stories. - What should you put in a web story in terms of SLIDES AND ANIMATIONS? - Post web stories CONSISTENLY and track results. - You can SCHEDULE web stories in advance. - What should you change when DUPLICATING a web story? - The new Google algorithm is not pushing web stories as much, but it's still a good SOURCE OF TRAFFIC and WORTH

Welcome to the first ever Mindset and Self-Care episode here on Eat Blog Talk! Every Wednesday, Megan will pop in for a few minutes to talk about key topics concerning mindset and how to look after ourselves as entrepreneurs. In this episode, she shares 5 ways in which we can pull ourselves out of a slump and rediscover our mojo for life and blogging! Knowledge and blogging hacks won’t get you very far if you don’t have the right mindset and self-care strategies to help prevent burnout and build resilience for when the going gets tough. In episode 478, you’ll learn 5 easy strategies that you can do every day to help reinvigorate you and get you back on track towards achieving your blogging goals.  - How can you create daily quiet time so that you actually feel calmer (and why is it life-changing)? - Learn how to make small upgrades to your life daily. - Improvements to your life can be fun and easy - go for a haircut, get your nails done, declutter a drawer! - Don’t underestimate the power of extending love t

In episode 477, Andrea Liebross teaches us an easy, 5-step process to think big, do big things and take big leaps in our life and business this year. Andrea Liebross is a business and life coach specializing in working with unapologetically ambitious women entrepreneurs from a variety of industries. A speaker and host of the Time to Level Up podcast, Andrea guides her clients to combine Big Thinking with solid systems that work together to unleash their success and find the freedom of time, money, and energy they crave. She is excited about the release of her book She Thinks Big: The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Guide to Moving Past the Messy Middle and into the Extraordinary in the fall. In this episode, you’ll learn the method Andrea developed around the acronym TRUST to help you be a bigger thinker and push yourself beyond your comfort zone to get closer to your true potential. - What ACTIONS would the Future You take today to bring you CLOSER to your GOAL? - Analyse your THOUGHT OPTIONS and adjust your thinkin

Are you ready for 2024? In this episode, Megan Porta explains how we can make 2024 our best year ever, including planning strategies, mindset and self-care and how to deal with uncertainty. In this episode, you’ll learn Megan’s planning strategy, how to make the most of everything Eat Blog Talk has to offer, other helpful resources and why mindset and self-care are essential to remain motivated and healthy as an entrepreneur. - Block off 2-4 hours in your calendar to PLAN THE YEAR ahead. - Create a few simple lists - one for YOUR WINS from 2023 and one for YOUR CHALLENGES. - Based off of your lists, what should you DO MORE of and what should you AVOID in 2024? - Make another list for small improvements or UPGRADES you can make to your life. - Write a letter to your FUTURE SELF of everything you want to ACCOMPLISH this year. - Surround yourself by POSITIVE people who inspire OPTIMISM. - How can you be PROACTIVE about MINDSET and SELF-CARE? - What should your FOCUS be for 2024? - Throughout any uncertainty, kee

In episode 475, Megan chats to Jacqui Wormington about how our community’s purpose and core values should form the foundation of our actions. Jacqui started food blogging around 3 years ago as a hobby and got more serious last year. At first, it was to hold herself accountable for being vegan and sharing the food she loves to create with people. Jacqui has always loved online communities. She has enjoyed creating a safe space for people to learn about the vegan lifestyle, while also connecting with like-minded people to share more about each other than just food. In this episode, you’ll learn how to identify the values and purpose of your community so that you can choose the right platform, create valuable, relatable content and build personal relationships with your readers. - Select the social media channel that best SUITS your TARGET AUDIENCE and content type. - Regularly share CONTENT that aligns with your community's INTERESTS and VALUES. - How can you PARTICIPATE in conversations within your COMMUNITY t

In episode 474, Kathleen Phillips teaches us 10 unique ways to grow our network and create valuable opportunities for our blogs. Kathleen Phillips is a cookbook author and professional food stylist. She is the creator and digital publisher of her food blog GritsAndGouda.com. Drawing upon years of experience as a test kitchen director (Oxmoor House-former cookbook publisher for Southern Living/Cooking Light/and more), she takes traditional Southern recipes and makes them with a shortcut so you can enjoy them faster. She likes to say she’s “Short and Southern, just like her recipes”. She incorporates fresh ingredients from her own garden as well as local, seasonal ingredients. Her love for local farmers led to her becoming one of the first Sweet Grown Alabama ambassadors. In this episode, you’ll learn different ways to make long-term connections that will help you grow your center of influence and reach your goals quicker. - Networking is most valuable when you have a clear goal in mind. - You cannot predict wh

In episode 473, Megan chats to Aimee Pruett about the benefits of food blog audits and common mistakes bloggers make when they audit their sites. Aimee is the creator of the Food Banjo blog. She has almost 20 years experience in marketing and over 7 years running a food blog. As part of her marketing job, Aimee performed over 100 website audits throughout her career, so she decided to bring her marketing know-how and food blogging love together to do food blog audits. In this episode, you’ll learn how to do a a food blog audit, how it differs from an SEO audit and how it can impact your blog’s growth. - Do regular food blog audits to get perspective on your blog’s progress. - Blog audits look at branding, promotions, site experience and other elements. - It does not look at SEO in-depth (only a high-level analysis). - Do a professional audit when you hit a wall and you don’t know what to do next. - Find out if you're on the right track and uncover opportunities that you may be missing. - How often should you

In episode 472, Cliff Ravenscraft teaches us his 10-step formula for how to achieve any goal. Cliff Ravenscraft a Master Business Coach, Mentor & Speaker. His focus is to help you break free from any beliefs and/or behaviors that are holding you back from living the life of your dreams and doing the work you feel most called to do in this world.  In this episode, you’ll learn why goal-setting is important for food bloggers and how to overcome limiting beliefs that are holding you back from achieving your dreams. - Be very specific about what you want. - Filter all your goals into the top 3 and prioritize them. - Believe that it’s possible - otherwise you won’t put time and effort into it. - How do you eliminate any doubt around the goal you want to achieve? - You are more likely to achieve your goal if you write it down. - Vision boards are powerful reminders of our goals - get an object that represents your dream. - Tell others about your goal - they might have the missing elements to achieving it. - Cre

In episode 471, Megan chats to Liz Douglas about her short-form video strategy that helped her grow her Instagram account to over 200k followers. Elizabeth is a food buyer and product developer turned plant-based foodie influencer at Glow Diaries. Elizabeth chose the vegan path in 2019 and it sparked a love of exploratory cooking. She then started an Instagram page not long after but didn't see much growth until she began consistently posting reels in late 2021. Elizabeth’s account grew from 12k followers in early 2022 to 202k followers in just over a year, with most growth happening in spurts of 40k followers in one month. Once she started directing traffic to her blog, she qualified for Raptive within a few months thanks to viral reels. She loves to create easy wholesome plant-based recipe ideas, help other content creators and she also hosts her own podcast, Thrive Diaries, which is all about lifestyle, wellness and personal development. In this episode, you’ll learn how to use your iPhone to film, the rig

In episode 470, Anja Eckert teaches us how to keep going despite setbacks caused by major changes in the blogging industry or in our personal lives. Anja’s been a food and lifestyle blogger since 2018. What first started as a pet project, turned into an almost full-time job after a severe knee injury that prevented her from continuing on as Yoga teacher. In March 2020, Anja was at almost 25k sessions when MediaVine raised their requirement to 50k. It took her another setback and 3 years to finally reach the 50k. Refusing to give up, continually learning and upgrading, and remembering her “why”, were the qualities that got her to the goal. In this episode, you’ll learn how to persevere through blogging challenges especially by understanding your ‘why’ and nurturing a strong mindset around it. - Define your ‘why’ and visualize it. - When you feel like giving up, think of your ‘why’. - How to deal with potential setbacks from Google Updates and other changes. - Diversify your income so that you don’t rely only o