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Episode 205: Surrendering to the Journey – How One Blogger Overcame Massive Overnight Traffic Loss with Danielle Fahrenkrug

In episode 205, we chat with Danielle Fahrenkrug about how unexpected losses and changes can impact your blog and if you take the challenge, can help you become a more focused, successful blogger.

We cover information about trying not to resist the stream, find projects to work on when you experience dips in traffic that are business building and always keep your eyes looking forward.

Listen on the player below or on iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast player. Or scroll down to read a full transcript.

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Guest Details

Connect with Delightful Mom Food
Website | Facebook | Instagram

Bio Danielle has been a food blogger since 2012 and first started writing about healthy recipes, crafts, and DIY projects. She shut that site down and restarted in 2015 focusing only in a niche of gluten-free healthy recipes that are family friendly. Three years later Danielle was offered a cookbook deal and since then has written 3 cookbooks.

Takeaways

  • As you work towards fulfilling a dream, know you will run into road bumps and you will get thwarted, but keep moving forward.
  • Keep feeding that drive and encouraging yourself with good tips about being an entrepreneur.
  • Know your purpose and your why so you have that focus to keep moving despite things that can impact your blog outside your control.
  • Whether you’re working full time or are a full time momma with young kids at home, you’ll have to work hard, find the time to dig in and know that you’re why is worth the investment of time.
  • It’s important to take a step back and evaluate what you can learn and take from any issue that gets in the way of your blog growing. Be open to seeking external help or check in with your audience to be sure your niche is where it should be.
  • Make the effort to be proud of the blog, what the audience sees and what’s behind the scenes.
  • When you hit road bumps, take time work on projects that you can invest in that you might not have had the time for before but will also build your blog – ebooks, cookbooks and free lead magnets are just a few ideas.
  • Your journey shows you where you should go.
  • When you experience ups and downs while blogging, always just step back and really analyze what’s going on. Be prepared to take a different direction if you need, tweak things a little bit.

Resources Mentioned

* Food Bloggers Pro Podcast
* Success With Soul Podcast – by Kate Kordsmeier
* Rachel Hollis Podcast
* The Goal Digger Podcast – by Jenna Kutcher
* Simple Pin Podcast
* Be You, Unapologetically Podcast
* The Millionaire Mind – by Thomas J. Stanley
* Think and Grow Rich – by Napoleon Hill
* The Miracle Morning
* The Success Principles – by Jack Canfield
* The 5 Lessons A Millionaire Taught Me
My mantra:
“Just Keep Swimming”

Another Episode on Mindset

Get ready to take on all you have to do today while you listen to Megan talk about Mental Blocks: The Silent Success Killers in episode 160.

Transcript

Click for full text.

Intro:

Welcome to Eat Blog Talk, where food bloggers come to get their fill of the latest tips, tricks, and insights into the world of food blogging. If you feel that hunger for information, we’ll provide you with the tools you need to add value to your blog. And we’ll also ensure you’re taking care of yourself, because food blogging is a demanding job. Now, please welcome your host, Megan Porta.

Megan Porta:

Hey awesome food bloggers. Do you struggle with knowing exactly what you should be doing to move the needle forward in your business? Do you struggle with knowing what to focus on next? If so, if this sounds like you, I have two solutions for you. Number one is mastermind groups. There is so much power in getting people together and helping to solve each other’s problems. At Eat Blog Talk, we have put together our own mastermind groups and we are hosting these weekly. You can join at any time. You can try it out for a month or you can sign up for a quarter or you can go all in and sign up for an entire year. Come join us. See if it’s a great fit for you, and this will really help you to solve those problems you’re having in your business and give you clarity about what you should be doing next to move your business forward.

The next solution is the eat blog talk membership. I have spent all of 2021 so far putting so much value inside of the membership. It is such a supportive and wonderful place to be for food bloggers. We are learning so much from each other. We are joining together in monthly intensive calls, where we focus on very specific parts of food blogging in order to grow our businesses in massive ways. We also have guest experts come in and join us very regularly to talk about really specific parts of food blogging. We get one-on-one access to these experts, such as Matt Molen from email crush, Casey Markee from Media Wyse. So many great people are joining us in the sessions and they are super valuable. There are so many reasons why you should be in the membership. I could not even start touching on all of it.

If you’re tired of wandering around aimlessly in your business and not knowing what to focus on, give the membership a try for free for two weeks. Go to eatblogtalk.com. You can sign up for the masterminds there, and you can also start the process of getting into the membership for two weeks, just to check it out. The rest of us can’t wait to see you inside .

What’s up, food bloggers. Welcome to Eat Blog Talk. This podcast is for you, food bloggers, wanting value and clarity to help you find greater success in your business. I am super excited. I have Danielle Fahrenkrug with me today. She is from delightfulmomfood.com. We are going to dive into surrendering to the journey and we’re going to hear all about how Danielle rose from losing half of her traffic and income overnight. Danielle has been a food blogger since 2012, and first started writing about healthy recipes, crafts, and DIY projects. She shut that site down and restarted in 2015, focusing only in a niche of gluten-free healthy recipes that are also family friendly. Three years later, Danielle was offered a cookbook deal and since then has written three cookbooks. Ooh I’m excited to hear about that too. Danielle, we want to hear your fun fact. So why don’t you share that with us first?

Danielle Fahrenkrug:

Okay. Well, first of all, thank you so much, Megan, for having me and the beautiful, warm welcome. A fun fact about me is I’m a pretty good artist. It’s my therapy aside from cooking and being creative in the kitchen. I especially enjoy painting landscapes, painting rocks with my kids, but I like doing landscapes stuff a lot more, acrylics and drawing and, and yeah, anything art.

Megan:

Oh, that’s cool. I think creative outlets like that are so important, especially for creative jobs and creative individuals, like most food bloggers are. So I’m really happy to hear that you take time for that and you do it with your kids too. The rocks, my mom does the rock painting. Those are so fun.

Danielle:

We’re just trying to get into it now that my kids are at an age where the paint’s not smearing all over the walls and the floors.

Megan:

Oh, I know there’s that age, just that stretch of age where everything is a mess, no matter what you do with your kids and then it gets to a point where you’re like, Oh, I’m not cleaning up everything all the time anymore. And it’s so nice.

Danielle:

Can you please help me. It’s a great age.

Megan:

I know, exactly.

Danielle:

We’re in a sweet spot.

Megan:

Yes. That time when you can actually say, Oh, look, you left everything out, go clean it up. And they’re like, okay. And you’re like, Whoa, they actually did it. That’s so cool. Well, I’m super excited to talk about your journey because we were chatting a little bit before we pressed record about how we’ve had similar journeys and we both have experienced those really devastating overnight traffic losses. Oh, I remember, details about when that happened to me and how sad I was and confused and really not knowing how to move forward. So you’ve had quite the journey Danielle. And one that has taught you to surrender. You worked really hard to start your food blog and build your traffic and gain knowledge about all the things you’re supposed to be gaining knowledge about. So why don’t you just start by kind of talking through that?

Danielle:

Yes. I had a passion for my blog and I wanted it to work out so well. I remember in the beginning my husband would be like, are you sure you want to spend your time doing this? I believed with my whole heart and gut that it can be something, it can turn into something. I really wanted to get my healthy recipes out there and help other families the way it was helping me with young kids. Getting them to eat fruits and veggies, which is very challenging sometimes. I worked really hard at it and it crushed me the first time I saw an algorithm change. I just felt like I was finally moving forward and getting somewhere. Then I had to take 20 steps backwards. I’m like, is this a sign I should stop? What am I doing? So then I just kept trying to figure it out. So I wanted to share that journey because I think so many bloggers go through this. It’s really important just to keep your tunnel vision and look ahead at your end game.

Megan:

So true. I am with you so many times, Danielle, I have been, what is blocking me? You just stop and self-evaluate. There is something massive blocking me and I don’t know what it is. Now looking back, I kinda can see what was going on, but I think we all get to that point. Some of us really believe in what we’re doing. You and I are the same in that way. My husband too was like, this is a lot of work. You’re putting a lot of work and energy into this. Are you sure you want to be doing this? So that’s really funny that you said that your husband said the same.

Danielle:

And now he’s my business partner. He runs the whole back end of the show. It’s so cute.

Megan:

That’s so awesome. We had the heart to carry through and say, yes, this is worth it. That one step forward and 20 steps back, it’s worth it because we could see the end.

Danielle:

That’s the same thing that can help you keep going, is you have to have that vision. You have to have that gut wrenching drive. You know your purpose and you know that this is in the end gonna be so worth it and you will get there.

Megan:

Oh, I love that. We were both on the same page there. Did you have a why? Because I always tell people about my why, my boys, and I really wanted to be home with them. That drove me for so, I mean, it still drives me. I want that freedom to be able to spend time with them in the summers. Did you have something that drove you specifically?

Danielle:

My why was exactly that. I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart. I always knew when I had kids, I wanted to be a stay at home mom, but I always wanted a career where I could be with them. When I started seeing what some bloggers, what income people were pulling in, I’m like, Oh my gosh, they’re making a full-time income. Getting to hang out with their kids all day. For me, that’s what it felt like writing cookbooks. I wrote them with my kids. I get to do this whole journey with them. That was my, why is yes, exactly that like, I want to be at home with them. I want to be able to help support my family. I want to get my recipes out into the world and help other families have success in their kitchen, the way we have found an ease. Definitely having that why is what will push you.

Megan:

Yes, for sure. I love that.

Danielle:

I wanted freedom. It’s definitely the freedom of just having the ability to work from home and be flexible. I’m always, I’ve always been a stay at home mom doing this with my kids. Back in the beginning, I’d be nursing my babies at 4:30 in the morning, and I’d be doing Pinterest until the next nap time where I could take a nap. Then it would just keep going like that. But again, it was knowing the end goal. No, I want this to succeed and this is what it’s going to take. I’ve got to get up at 4:30 in the morning and work while I’m nursing and work every weekend when my husband was home. So you kind of figure out your own balance too, along the journey.

Megan:

Yeah. We see things that others can’t see. I remember telling a friend early on about what I was doing. At that point it took me like a million hours to get a blog post out. I remember exactly where we were sitting. We were on my front porch at our old house. She was like, so how long does it take you to get one post done? I told her, I don’t remember. It was like eight or 10 hours. I don’t know. It was something ridiculous. She just looked at me and I will never forget the look on her face. She looked at me like, you are insane. Then she was like, Oh, cool and shook her head. I’m like, Oh, wow. She thinks I’m crazy. Okay. But I could see it. I could feel it. I knew that there was something there just like you, Danielle. 100%, there was not a single morsel in my body that was like, Hmm, maybe this isn’t going to work. I knew. It sounds like you have had that same exact knowing and drive. So I love this. You have this approach to life like the 80/20 rule. Will you talk to us about that?

Danielle:

Well, one of the things with life and with blogging is usually 20% brings in most of the traffic. For me, I noticed when I first started my blog in 2012, I was doing DIY crafts and recipes that were healthy and the 20% that was pulling in the most interest, was healthy recipes. That’s when I shut down my entire site. I started from scratch and I did one of the Blogher to WordPress transfers. I think I completely screwed up a lot of technical stuff doing it that way, which I learned later down the years.

That was one of my first road bumps in the road of blogging. So I switched everything over and I realized I found my niche. I found what I wanted to really focus on. Then I started creating stuff geared towards that. And 20% of some blog posts we’re pulling in a lot of traffic and it was amazing and it was great. I felt like I’m doing it right. I’m doing it. It’s working. This is fantastic. I love it. It would give me the drive to keep going. Then in 2017, I had my first fall. I lost most of that traffic. Over half of my keywords that I had spent already two years trying to just get, and that was devastating. As you said to Megan, when you first experienced it, you just feel as a new blogger, you feel so heartbroken. All this hard work and time, what am I doing? It took me eight hours to write every post. So long. So I found an SEO strategist to help identify the technical problems that were affected by that algorithm change. He helped me get back on track and my keywords started coming back. So that was really helpful to find that help and not let that determine or hinder me in any way.

Megan:

Yeah. I just counted that for so many years. I can figure this out. I can do it on my own. I didn’t actually know that I was probably hurting myself on the backend. So I think seeking that support from people who actually know what they’re doing is really great advice for bloggers who have not yet done that. Especially if you’ve been doing it for awhile because, Oh my gosh, I moved from Squarespace, not blogher, but Squarespace to WordPress. I made so many mistakes in that whole process. I had no idea. I was like, this looks good. It looks like it’s working to me.

Danielle:

I did the same. I had the wrong URL links, with too many words and it was screwed up. I’ve gone back and forth and done a lot of repairs over the years and it’s panned out and then it finally got it going again. So then I got that drive and that motivation to keep going. Okay, we can do this again. Let’s keep going. That’s why, I want to make this work.

Megan:

So getting that technical help really gave you the confidence to get past the mental part of it, because it’s such a big mental piece. You lose confidence when an algorithm strikes and out of the blue, and you’re like, what just happened? That can make you feel defeated and just attack your competence. For me, the mental part of it through all of my losses has been the biggest piece. Why have I been doing this? Should I stop? Was my friend, right, who looked at me like I was crazy. You just start wondering and doubting, what in the world did I do all this work for?

Danielle:

I remember I was spending more money than I was making. So I was in the red the whole first couple of years of blogging. That’s where my husband’s like, are you sure about this? I’m like, don’t mess up my vision, honey. I know what’s gonna happen.

Megan:

Exactly. I know we basically paid to work for years. Isn’t that crazy?

Danielle:

When you finally get over those humps and you’re like, wow, this is beautiful. This is fun. This is amazing. It’s definitely a lot of work, but it’s really fun when you can get past those hurdles.

Megan:

Oh my gosh. Yes. But getting there, getting there is the key. Then when you’re past, it feels so good. So talk to us about when your cookbook deals started coming in when, and how did that all unfold for you?

Danielle:

So in 2019, and I remember standing in the kitchen with my husband and I never really had a desire to write a cookbook until that year. I was getting feedback on some posts and recipes that I was trying to put out and seeing what people were needing and what people were gravitating to and navigating my blog based on surrendering to the journey. Please just tell me what I need to be doing. I just listened. My husband has always been so supportive after he started seeing, wow, this is really cool. I remember standing in the kitchen telling him, kind of screaming at the universe at the top of my lungs. I was just like, I really, really want to write a cookbook. I was like, I really want to publish a cookbook.

I want my healthy recipes, a physical copy in the homes of families. Literally the next month, my mom was visiting. I’m sitting in the kitchen, she was out playing with my kids. I was just checking my email. I had a cookbook offer come in and I just started crying. I’ll get teary. I just started bawling my eyes out, going that was what I was wanting, but I didn’t know how you even get a deal, how these things work. So that was definitely a blessing and a dream come true. It made me feel I’m so glad I never quit. I’m so happy to have just kept going.

Megan:

That’s so cool. So you put it out there and it came to you. Sometimes that happens where you don’t desperately put it out and you’re not like I want this. Where is it? Come on. Where are you? But you put it out there in a gentle way. This is what I would like and it actually happens. That’s so cool.

Danielle:

And you have to work hard because they wouldn’t have found me if I hadn’t busted my butt for years, everyday posting to Pinterest, posting to social media, posting blog posts.

Megan:

How did the process of writing your cookbook go? Was that pretty easy? Did you enjoy it?

Danielle:

I really enjoyed it. It was definitely a major test because I really, really got to be a pro with gluten-free baking and gluten-free cooking and working with dairy-free, just because of so much practice and trial and error with it. It really forced me to just practice and practice and practice so many different recipes. I really appreciated that. I had to do it in a short time. So I worked my butt off. I mean, I would literally work 12 hour or 24 hours on a weekend. Just 12 hours of baking and cooking all day, just to test and test and test for the book. So the process, it was really great. I got to educate readers on gluten and dairy and the differences. So that’s the intro of the cookbooks and then offer solutions and different flours and options for people that have celiac or gluten intolerance and how they can still eat delicious food still. Then it went into the recipes. So it was really fun to create. I loved it. We ate really well that month, a couple months. Yes, it was fun.

Megan:

So a good experience for you, which is great because some people come out of cookbooks and they’re like, Ugh. I mean, it is a lot of work. It’s so much work.

Danielle:

It’s a lot of work. I told a friend who also did a cookbook. I said, well, I’m actually going to do two more. This is later down the line. She’s like, what? I was like, well, the last one is a cookbook for kids. I really, really wanted my kids to be a part of it. I wanted to pass that down and have them be a part of helping other children in the world and feeling that empowerment. So that one was a stretch and a very tiring one, but it was for a purpose.

Megan:

Absolutely. Every cookbook I feel like has a different purpose. You can make one completely for yourself, kind of a cathartic thing, or you can do what you did and do it for other people. So I love that you have different messages for each. So after your cookbook, things were kind of moving along and then you had another algorithm change hit you, right?

Danielle:

Yes. That was that big algorithm change in fall of 2019. There were some bloggers that got hit and nobody knew what it was. It was the secret of, what happened?! So I got hit really hard and that was when my blog was at a good peak and it was going well. I was just launching, I think I was just about to launch the first book and that happened. It was definitely devastating. What is going on? I thought I fixed a lot of those technical things. It was the 20% of my highest traffic pages that had dropped and then the 80% was not doing much better. So with that, I had to shift gears and try to find my why. This time I could afford to dive a little deeper into why my site was doing this again.

I had a website audit, which I highly suggest to everybody because it really dives into the structure and the backend of your website and what Google’s looking for and bots are looking for, that can help build on your traffic and also what readers are looking for. So you can build out a strategy to help your site just basically navigate better. So I waited six months for my audit and at 8 months, I just sat there watching my keywords drop along with traffic and income until I could figure out how to repair it. Because I had no idea. I’m like, I guess I’ll just keep moving forward and keep going and keep posting and keep blogging. I finally got the audit done and there were so many things that I didn’t even know I was doing wrong, such as needing to add sponsored and no follow to affiliate links, re categorizing all my categories.

They were really jumbled up. So I feel like on my end it was a good thing all this happened because I’ve gotten it all fixed in a way that I love how it looks and feels now, and it’s easier to navigate and do breadcrumbs and stuff. So during all this, I also, that was the time that I was provided. This is where I say, like the journey I was offered two more cookbook deals. I did those and it was really fun to just focus on those during that waiting period of the eight months. Sometimes I’m like, I believe everything happens for a reason and I feel like maybe that was so I can just step away for a little bit. Just focus on this other right now and not worry about it because I have this time before, and I know the audit is going to help figure out this structure and what was going on.

So as I finished writing the books, I analyzed my site based on the audit and what was working. I just sat back with that bird’s view of, all right, what is going on? What do my readers want? I just started creating more content gears towards what my readers want. I didn’t do that before. It was always kind of, Hey, here’s about my day. I made this for my kids because they loved it and it was great. We went to the park, kind of how all of us bloggers did back in the day. It’s not about me. It’s about Googling a recipe or you’re looking for something and you need it for a purpose. So I now have changed and shifted gears to not so much write about my day, but just help other people with what they’re looking for.

Google has gotten a lot better and smarter and stricter on user-friendliness. So I think part of my keyword drop was all those little technical things, categories. So I’m glad it kind of happened in a sense that I was then able to fix it and get everything kind of organized the way I feel really proud about how the site feels and looks and the direction it’s going. So I then just analyze the kind of different keywords that were doing well on my site. After I got everything corrected and I looked at the stream, it was taking me and I just didn’t resist it. I try really hard to just make recipes that are geared towards my niche and where my readers are guiding me. So if something’s starting to become really popular, say, Oh, this chicken recipe or this kind of spaghetti squash casserole or something, I’ll just start creating more content around that. I think it’s important for bloggers to look at those things because ultimately your journey kind of tells you where you’re supposed to go. So if you can dial in some of those things that are speaking to you and showing you what’s working, I think it’s really important to just go down that stream and go follow that.

Megan:

That was so well said. I loved everything you were saying. First of all, I want to comment on what you were saying about how you like the look and feel of your blog now that you’ve gone through all of that and you’ve received an audit and you’ve cleaned up a lot of things on your site. I think that’s such an important point because yeah, you can like how your site looks, but it’s really important to feel good about your site, right? That feeling of just having clutter and not really knowing what’s going on and hoping it’s okay, but not really knowing. I’ve had that so much. Most of my blogging journey feels cluttered. So having things kind of uncovered and fixed just feels better. It’s like having a cluttered home and then when you clean it out, I know. Rhen when it’s clean, it’s just like something is wiped off of your mental slate. It’s so hard to explain that, but I know exactly what you’re saying with that. Then also I wanted to touch on the fact that you focused on something else during that stretch when you had to wait for your audit. I think that was key because you could have sat around and you could have been hyper-focused on, well, when is it going to come? I’m just so worried. I need this audit and it’s going to help me, but you know, you had your cookbooks and that helped distract you and take your focus off of the blog so that you could actually not be super anxious and worried about it.

Danielle:

Yes, yes. Even if it happens to other bloggers, these kinds of like ups and downs, and if you don’t have a cookbook, I feel like it’s really important though, to just step back always and really analyze what’s going on and maybe take a different direction if you need or tweak things a little bit.

Megan:

I’ve even had to do this in the past too, because I’ve been hit hard like you have Danielle, by algorithm changes and Google updates, whatever. Stop looking at the analytics. I had to force myself to stop because I would look at them and I’d be like, this is bad. This is really bad. This makes me really sad. I was like, okay, this is, all this is doing is making me feel bad and sad and frustrated. So I can’t do this anymore. I just have to do what you did. Just focus on what people want and need from me right now and do that and stop looking at the numbers. I had to be really strict with myself because it’s tempting. You want to go back and figure it out. Wait a second. What happened? You know? Our logical brains want to sort through it and figure it out. But sometimes you just need to step away, whatever that means. Maybe you don’t have a cookbook deal like Danielle did, but you can find another project. You could create an ebook. There are a million things you can do as a blogger to distract you. Figure out what your audience needs from you and do something entirely different to distract yourself from your blog, because this is going to happen. This happens to almost every blogger that’s in the game long enough. You will get to a point where you’re like, Oh, what just happened to my traffic. Because even after you had things kind of rolling and you had your cookbook deal, it happened again. You didn’t expect that. That big change.

Danielle:

I felt like, Oh, good. I fixed it. I think I got it. Then it was like, blow in the face. Nope. Gotcha again. Let’s fix it again. We’re not there yet. It’s like, okay.

Megan:

Oh my gosh. That was a big one. That was October, November of 2019?

Danielle:

Yeah, it was 2019 that fall. It was October that it hit and it just kept diving down till it was not until June that year that I did my audit and the following year did my audit and got it. You know, going in the right direction again.

Megan:

Yeah. That’s a long time to wait too.

Danielle:

But that is a great point, Megan, when you said writing eBooks. So my first algorithm dip in 2017, I actually spent a lot of time. I wrote five eBooks. I put those together and I just put them out there and I gave a lot of them for free for my email list. I give a few of them out now for free. So I highly recommend that if you need to switch gears, I highly recommend doing eBooks with some great free content that you can give to your readers and subscribers.

Megan:

Lead magnets are great. All food bloggers, I think, could use some really good free content to give out for email lists or whatever. That’s a great one to have in your back pocket. You also said Danielle, you didn’t resist the stream. I love that. It puts such a perfect picture in my mind of just when you’re in a stream or a river and you start fighting it and you’re trying to go upstream, it’s horrible. You’re stepping on rocks and tripping and falling and trying to grasp for the edge of the river. That’s not fun. But even if you don’t like it, even if the stream isn’t something you really want to be in, it’s so much better if you just sit your butt on a raft and let it carry you.

Danielle:

You’re so right, Megan. I think of finding Nemo, that picture with the turtles swimming and the little guys, just chit chattin a way, just going with the river.

Megan:

Oh my gosh. Yes. That’s true.

Danielle:

My mom and I have sea turtles as our thing. I’ve always had a love for sea turtles. When I first moved to Santa Barbara, we found a beautiful painting of one. So I always have had it up in my office just as a memoir of that same thing. Just keep going. Every time I’ve had a rough time, my mom has always sent me a card or something. The most recent one that she had sent when I was, you know, feeling that frustration, I was like, all right, what’s next? What are we moving towards now? She sent me one with a sea turtle that said, just keep swimming. So that has just become my mantra every time I feel frustrated. It’s nope, don’t stop, just keep swimming. Then you just put on that tunnel vision and you look at the end and it’s just the whole don’t give up mentality.

Megan:

Oh, I love that you guys have that and that you share that and that she encourages you in that way too. It helps to motivate you because this is not an easy journey, right Danielle? This is not a cakewalk. You don’t get into food blogging and have nothing but wild success and ease. It’s just not like that. So if you are listening and you’re just starting, know that. This is going to get tough. The seas are going to get rough for you. So what encouragement do you have or suggestions do you have for food bloggers who might just be starting out and who are like, Ooh, I don’t know. This sounds crazy. What would you say to them?

Danielle:

I love it. So I have a few how to keep swimming on your journey, tips for success. I think right now for food bloggers, what I would suggest is just finding what your readers really love coming to you for and just create content built around that. Just think of them always first and put your energy towards what their needs are and then create routine and time management through time-Blocking. One of the best ways that I’ve been able to keep going through any of the tough times is just time-blocking and having a plan. So for example, when I was younger, I knew it can be really hard to do a lot of that for new bloggers or moms with really young kids. Like I said before, I would get up at 4:30 in the morning and work while I was nursing.

Just any time I could squeeze in work, I would do it. I used to do recipe testing on the weekends, make my food, and then my writing would get done an hour or two during the week. I used to put my kids at the YMCA for two hours a day, when they were really young and I would just work out for an hour and then I would just work for an hour every day. So I’m like, okay, I got five hours of writing this week. So I think just having that game plan for your day and to help keep the balance going and to help have a schedule can really help keep your focus no matter what’s going on. Another quote that I really love and like to share with you guys, is hope and fear cannot occupy the same space, invite one to stay.

So don’t be afraid of anything. Don’t be afraid to start a blog if that’s your dream. Don’t be afraid to fail. Invite hope, joy, and your own success. Just keeps swimming with the current and surrendering to the journey. I do have one more point that I was thinking just kind of a whole take away from it is just stop fighting what you think you should do and look at what is presented for you to do. Sometimes it’s best to stop and just look at things from a 30,000 feet bird view or bird’s eye view and see what needs to be done to move forward. So when you get upset or there’s a road bump, or there’s an algorithm change or something didn’t go your way, or you worked so hard to do this great post. Then you’re like crickets, nobody came. It’s like step back and be like, well, how do I tweak it? What do I change? Is there a different stream I should take? Where is this telling me and navigating me? Then just be like a sea turtle and go ahead and swim with the current where it’s meant to be, because it just might guide you to where you didn’t even know you should be.

Megan:

Oh, that is so well said. That’s the greatest advice ever for any food blogger, because like we were saying earlier, it’s just, it can get rough and it can get discouraging. I think we all need to hear that. Just don’t fight it, go with the stream, be a sea turtle. What is being presented to you? I also love Danielle that you said, if you take a different route or a different stream that something else might be waiting for you. I love that thought and that idea actually keeps me going sometimes when I’m like, Oh, I thought that was the path I was supposed to take, but okay, I’m going to take this path because it’s here in front of me and maybe there’s something really cool on this path. So that hope gives me inspiration when I am on a scary path or an uncertain one. So I think this is all really great. Thank you so much.

Danielle:

Or if you just feel stuck. I know a lot of food bloggers, you just get stuck. I don’t know what to create. I don’t know what to do. You don’t see any feedback. So it’s that part can get rough too, where this can help just give you a different perspective or something positive to look at like a forward movement. The end of the tunnel.

Megan:

An analogy has always helped me. If I think of that river analogy, I said earlier, walking upstream is horrific. The thought of it makes me just cringe. You want to sit down and just cry. So thinking about things like that, like, wouldn’t it be easier if I just went with it? So whatever you have to do to get into that mindset of no more fighting, no more resisting, because nothing good ever comes from resisting a situation, even if it’s a bad situation. So give it a big old hug, embrace it and know that it’s eventually going to take you somewhere enjoyable and good. If there was one thing from everything we’ve talked about today that you would just like to highlight for food bloggers, what would that one thing be? If they could walk away from this conversation, just having one thing in their mind.

Danielle:

I think it’s just whenever the tough gets going, just sit here, stop, close your eyes and just keep swimming. Know your purpose and your why? Why did you start this journey? Because you will get there. Just keep moving along and find your pivot, but just keep swimming.

Megan:

I love it. Thank you so much for being here today, Danielle. This was a very fun chat for me and it’s going to be very valuable for food bloggers. So thank you so much.

Danielle:

Thank you so much for having me, Megan. It’s been great.

Megan:

We are going to put a show notes page together for you, Danielle. So if anyone wants to go peek at that, you can go to eatblogtalk.com/delightfulmomfood. Danielle, tell everyone where they can find you online.

Danielle:

You can find me online at delightfulmomfood.com and on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter at delightfulmomfood.

Megan:

Awesome. Everyone go check Danielle out. Well, thank you again, Danielle for being here and thank you so much for listening today, food bloggers. I will see you next time.

Outro:

We’re glad you could join us on this episode of Eat Blog Talk. For more resources based on today’s discussion, as well as show notes and an opportunity to be on a future episode of the show, be sure to head to eatblogtalk.com. If you feel that hunger for information, we’ll be here to feed you on Eat Blog Talk.


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Megan
Megan

Megan started her food blog Pip and Ebby in 2010 and food blogging has been her full-time career since 2013. Her passion for blogging has grown into an intense desire to help fellow food bloggers find the information, insight, and community they need in order to find success.

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