Episode 774: Best Organic Traffic Strategies That Help Food Bloggers Grow With Kat Duncan

EBT774 – Kat Duncan

[00:00:00]  Megan Porta 

If building organic traffic feels overwhelming, first of all, I get it. And secondly, this episode will be your roadmap. Kat Duncan of Honeycomb Media joins me to break down exactly how food bloggers can grow their reach through smart keyword SEO research, strategic Pinterest use, news break and MSN placement and consistent output. And yes, organic traffic takes so, so much time. But Kat’s tips will help you stay the course.

[00:00:27] Intro  

Hi, food bloggers, I’m Megan Porta and this is Eat Blog Talk. Your space for support, inspiration, and strategies to grow your blog and your freedom. Whether that’s personal, professional, or financial, you are not alone on this journey.

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[00:01:43]  Megan Porta

Hello, Kat. So excited to chat with you today. How’s it going?

[00:01:46]  Kat Duncan 

Hey, I’m great. Thank you so much for having me. I’m so happy to be here.

[00:01:49]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I am excited to talk about building organic traffic for food bloggers. I think this is a very relevant and important topic in 2025 here. Before we get into that though, do you have a fun fact to share with us?

[00:02:04]  Kat Duncan 

So my fun fact is that I love to read and I love to travel, and often those things kind of combine. So you’ll see Paddington back here. I brought him with me all through my adventures through Europe and he was like my little flat Stanley moment. We took him around everywhere we went and took little pictures. And so he’s here now with me in the background.

[00:02:23]  Megan Porta 

Oh my gosh. Okay, join us on YouTube so you can see and you have some really colorful, fun looking books back there too. What are your favorite books to read? Like, what kinds of books?

[00:02:33]  Kat Duncan 

So it’s like choosing a favorite child, right? I love, I love all types of books. Mostly fiction. I like romance, of course, just to hear a fun story. And then I also like fantasy because I think that it also does mirror our real world so much. So, yeah, I kind of go back and forth between all of that. But then I also do like a, you know, literary fiction that is pertinent to the times. Next great American novel type thing, too, just to remind myself that I have real thoughts.

[00:02:57]  Megan Porta 

Yes, I love that. Amazing. Are you a cookbook reader? Do you enjoy reading cookbooks as well?

[00:03:05]  Kat Duncan 

Yes, I do. I love a cookbook. I actually got the new cookbook. Man, I’m going to forget her. Cassie. Cassie Young. I got her cookbook. It just came out this month. It’s called Bad B in the Kitch.

[00:03:17]  Megan Porta 

Oh, nice.

[00:03:18]  Kat Duncan 

Yeah.

[00:03:18]  Megan Porta 

So we get your drinks. I like that one.

[00:03:20]  Kat Duncan 

Yeah, yeah, sorry. I love it. Yeah. Yes, I’m excited about that one.

[00:03:25]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. Cookbooks, I mean, don’t dismiss cookbooks as a read. Right. Because sometimes they’re really entertaining and just beautiful reads. So. Yeah, yeah.

[00:03:34]  Kat Duncan 

And don’t. And also along those same lines, don’t take the anecdotes out of your cookbooks because I see so much of that and that is. So that is like the heart of a cookbook is the real reason why you’re making. That is why you like these recipes and the stories behind them.

[00:03:49]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, absolutely. So, Kat, you are CEO of Honeycomb Media, correct?

[00:03:55]  Kat Duncan 

Yes, yes, I am.

[00:03:56]  Megan Porta 

Will you tell us a little bit about what Honeycomb Media is and how they serve food bloggers?

[00:04:02]  Kat Duncan 

I would be so happy to. Honeycomb Media is such a joy in my life and it is something that has brought me to so many connections and different people and I absolutely love it. So Honeycomb Media started as a digital marketing, very small business with just Alex. The founder, Alexandria Harrelson, started Honeycomb Media about 12 years ago now and started serving in the digital marketing space.

[00:04:27]   

Since then, we have grown and also shrunk a little bit. So we grew to serving over a hundred clients at one time, which was a lot. And we loved every minute of it, but realized that we weren’t able to be intentional with our clients at that time as much as we wanted to be.

[00:04:43]   

That was really why she built Honeycomb was to be intentional and to serve with real connections and real focus on what people needed and what was going to help them the most. So at around, around, I would say now, three years ago, we downsized quite a bit and that has been our leading focus, was to lead with love and lead with compassion and lead with intentionality.

[00:05:04]   

So that we are actually serving our clients in the way that they actually need. So all of our packages are fully custom. We have a few things that we can, of course, services that we provide across the board. But everything comes out of really our professional opinion and our experience on what each client will serve, that how we can serve them best, and what they actually need for their market and for their brand to grow.

[00:05:27]  Megan Porta 

So if a food blogger of, say, I don’t know, five to 10 years comes to you, what, what are some of the main things that you’re helping them with? Is it organic traffic or is it other things?

[00:05:40]  Kat Duncan 

Yes. So we are going to help them with organic traffic. Most of all. That is really our, no pun intended, our bread and butter, especially for a food blogger. We have served many different brands and industries, but food blogging is, again, our bread and butter. It’s something that we got built off of.

[00:05:56]   

And the majority of our clients are food bloggers as well. So. So yes, we are going to help them increase their brand organic traffic. We’re going to dig into why they might not be receiving as much organic traffic and how we can help with that and where we can expand for them. What, what can we do for them to help all of that really, really spike and grow?

[00:06:16]  Megan Porta 

Okay, so things we’ll be talking about today are things that you typically help food bloggers with.

[00:06:21]  Kat Duncan 

Absolutely. Yes. Yes.

[00:06:23]  Megan Porta 

Give us a little taste of what you. What is involved.

[00:06:26]  Kat Duncan 

Yeah, it’s hard not to talk about. It’s not hard not to bring in the puns. Right. When you’re talking about food blogging. We’re giving them a taste. A little sprinkle.

[00:06:33]  Megan Porta 

Right. A little taste. We’ll see how many puns we can bring in today.

[00:06:38]  Kat Duncan 

With me, it might be a lot.

[00:06:39]  Megan Porta 

That’s funny. Sometimes I do it unintentionally too, and then I am like, oh, gosh, I can’t believe I did that. That was really cheesy. But it’s fun, right? I mean, food puns are the best.

[00:06:48]  Kat Duncan 

They are the best. And then there’s. And it is fun. It’s. It’s all in. All in a day’s work.

[00:06:52]  Megan Porta 

Yes. So what are some things that should be on our radar as far as building organic traffic for food bloggers?

[00:07:01]  Kat Duncan 

Sure. So the number one thing that I’ve been seeing this right now is really email. And email. And in or increasing your organic traffic is such an easy fix. So there are certain things that you can do with your email traffic that can help increase that traffic. But if you don’t have a pop up on your website, you’re doing something wrong.

[00:07:22]   

So you want to have a pop up. And I know that a few years ago, a lot of this comes with trends and a lot of this comes with what is popular at the time. So of course we’re going to talk about how you can increase organic traffic right now in the year 2025, in the month of October, because I feel like things change so, so fast.

[00:07:42]   

A lot of people were talking about how pop ups either hurt or help your website and right now we’re seeing them really only help. So. So for example, we had one client who she just put a pop up on her website and she’s already gained over a thousand subscribers to that pop up so.

[00:07:56]   

Or with that pop up into her email content. That email content is going to be primarily roundups and these roundups are helping significantly because people go back and click so often we are wavering a little bit between either having those mystery links or going directly and clearly stating what the recipe is. We have noticed that a little bit if, if people get a little taste, a little sprinkle of what the recipe is with a mystery link, they like that a little better.

[00:08:24]   

But with user experience, we’re noticing that people just want to know what the recipe is and they’ll click it, they’re interested. So email is such a great place to start for organic content. It’s also pretty, I guess on the, on the broad spectrum, grand scheme, grand scheme of things, pretty low effort if you are kind of going at it on your own.

[00:08:43]   

And that’s what I like to think of when I’m helping any, anybody in the food blogging space because I truly do believe that any food blogger could start out on their own and make it a certain way without any help. And I think that’s kind of the beauty and the romance about food blogging is that you could really do this on your own.

[00:09:01]   

And what can you do on your own before you should probably consider hiring help or bringing on new team members or bringing on different specified tasks for certain people. And email is one of the things that I do believe that you could maybe save a little bit of money on by trying to do yourself. So I always start with email.

[00:09:19]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. And experience level really doesn’t matter. I mean, you could be a brand new blogger with a list of 100 subscribers and start with that, right?

[00:09:29]  Kat Duncan 

Absolutely. And as long as, as long as you’re bringing new people into your, into your website, even through email, that really helps with again, connecting back to Google it helps with that organic content so that Google realizes that people are going to your website. Even if it is the same hundred people, you don’t want to discount that and say, oh, it’s the same people opening every email that’s helping your rankings on Google.

[00:09:51]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:09:52]  Kat Duncan 

So it, yeah, it’s not, it’s not for nothing. So I always. And then of course there are new people coming to your website, seeing that pop up, signing up for your emails. You don’t even have to offer anything in that email pop up. I know a lot of people get drawn to ebooks and lead different lead magnets, but even just saying you’ll get my favorite recipes in your inbox once a week, that’s, that’s enough for most people.

[00:10:15]  Megan Porta 

People get hung up on the whole like automation. I have to have everything perfect and I have to have a big offering and you know, and I think they get so hung up that they don’t start. So I love that. Just come join me with my weekly food offerings, whatever that is.

[00:10:31]  Kat Duncan 

Absolutely, yes. And I, I mean that’s, that’s reminded me of something that I saw a quote somewhere recently that was like, perfect is the enemy of output. You’re. If you are trying to make things perfect, it’s never going to happen.

[00:10:45]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:10:46]  Kat Duncan 

So. And the only, the only people who fail are the people who never start. So don’t let being perfect keep you from putting out an email. It’s, it’s very low stakes. Email is very low stakes.

[00:10:57]  Megan Porta 

That line.

[00:10:58]  Kat Duncan 

People are going to open it or they’re not.

[00:10:59]  Megan Porta 

Yes. Right. And the line you just said, I think is, should be the motto for food bloggers because we can, we can all feel like we’re getting hung up on the little things when we should just put stuff out there and perfection is never going to happen.

[00:11:12]  Kat Duncan 

Yep.

[00:11:13]  Megan Porta 

Love that you started with email. What other things should we focus on for organic traffic?

[00:11:19]  Kat Duncan 

Sure. So definitely social media. I mean it’s a, it’s a blessing and a curse. Sometimes I feel like social media because it has become such a search engine and the search engines are mostly prevalent on things like Pinterest. Pinterest and even TikTok, Instagram right now are serving us as, as search engines and places where people are going to.

[00:11:41]   

Before they go to Google even. Honestly, in this day of day and age of AI, people are going to social media before they’re even going to places like ChatGPT and, or any type of AI model. And the reason for that is they’re looking for the authenticity they’re looking for your favorite content creator or your favorite person, or even just any person who has made and tested this recipe, while AI is growing so quickly.

[00:12:08]   

I think also the reason or the logic that people can. Recognition, I should say the recognition of AI is also developing just as quickly with the human brain. So people are noticing that that recipe is fake, that video is fake. It’s a fake. It’s a fake food video. So we want to really capitalize on real, authentic recipes on places like Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, even we, which is being overrun by fake, fake videos of recipes.

[00:12:41]   

So we want to really put out as many as we can of the real recipes that have been tested and that are, that are true and real. So we use Pinterest quite a bit. That is our. That is what Alex actually started her food blogging models on and has a trademark strategy on how to grow on Pinterest.

[00:12:59]   

Of course, Pinterest has had its own ups and downs, but we have really seen a huge comeback with Pinterest. I mean, a lot of. I have not seen any of our clients really do any decline on Pinterest for the last three or four months. It’s just been upward trends on Pinterest ever since. I feel like Pinterest kind of got, got it together.

[00:13:21]  Megan Porta 

That’s great.

[00:13:21]  Kat Duncan 

Yeah, we, we saw a little bit of a lull with Pinterest for the past two years or so while they kind of went public and they, they did their, their whole trying to get rid of AI and now I really feel like we’re, we’re back. Pinterest is back. That’s great. But we never really left.

[00:13:39]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I feel like I’ve heard so many people say otherwise. My account is doing really well right now with Pinterest, which I’m fully embracing and happy about.

Do you have any little, just quick tidbits about Pinterest? Like anything that you feel is working to help get that traffic?

[00:13:56]  Kat Duncan 

Absolutely. So output, quantity of your output is always going to help on Pinterest. And a lot of people treat Pinterest kind of like Instagram, where they don’t want to post too much per day. But the more you post on Pinterest, of course you don’t want to do too much to avoid any type of spam situation because they do mark, they do mark platforms for spam.

[00:14:15]   

And we’ve seen a really good balance at max, about 30 posts per day. And that sounds like a lot. And it is a lot. And so Pinterest is not the low effort channel that email is. It should be pretty high effort and, or at least high output. But you can use your hero images.

[00:14:33]   

You can use the images directly from your website. I think we, we kind of confuse Pinterest with being this high, high effort model because a lot of people put that graphic content and, and words on Pinterest. But people are now being drawn so much to any content that looks real, is not AI and looks delicious.

[00:14:52]   

So as long as your hero images look good and, and I mean, and when I say good, I just mean authentic to a real recipe, those are going to gain attraction and those are going to gain attention.

[00:15:02]  Megan Porta 

Those. Oh, I get so annoyed by those annoying cheese pull images that are clearly so fake. And I just want to. Oh, no, that’s not.

[00:15:13]  Kat Duncan 

I know. And the ones that look so overly sauced, I feel like they just look. Everything in that bowl looks wet and I’m like, that. That actually looks gross. Yeah, I think that’s fake.

[00:15:24]  Megan Porta 

The cheese pull ones look gross too. My, my real cheese pulls look way better than that. And that’s what people are seeking, I think. Yeah.

[00:15:33]  Kat Duncan 

Yeah. And I. And that’s another thing that we’ve seen kind of come back around is that the genuineness and the authenticity to your recipes. There’s so many of our clients that are actually doing the majority of their photography on their iPhone and getting tons of attention because people are, are seeing that and saying, I have that phone, I have that food, I can do that.

[00:15:53]  Megan Porta 

Right.

[00:15:53]  Kat Duncan 

And I think that’s what most people are, most users are really wanting these days.

[00:15:58]  Megan Porta 

Do. Have you found that videos are working well on Pinterest for that reason?

[00:16:02]  Kat Duncan 

Yes, absolutely. That was what was good. Thank you for bringing me back around to that. Yes. Videos, even videos that you posted years ago, post those on Pinterest. I would say no more than a minute long and those are getting a lot of attention as well.

[00:16:16]  Megan Porta 

Love it.

[00:16:16]  Kat Duncan 

I wouldn’t say though, that, that. I would say maybe three or two or three maybe years ago, video was king. Was such a big thing going into Pinterest. If you don’t, if you don’t have video, you won’t make it. But now I would say videos supplement your main content, but is not necessarily a need on Pinterest. I would say it definitely helps, but if that’s not in your budget or if that’s not in your capabilities, then you wouldn’t. Don’t worry that it won’t hurt you as much as it might have.

[00:16:45]  Megan Porta 

Icing on the cake. There’s another punch. Yeah, there you go, I squeezed another one in love that. Yeah. I think as a food blogger, I’ve always said this. You cannot let Pinterest go. It is such a natural fit for food bloggers with the highly visual, mouthwatering photos and that’s what people crave on there. So do not ignore Pinterest ever. Ever. You’ve got to have some sort of strategy. Even if it’s like just putting up minimal pins. Do that. If that’s all you can do.

[00:17:18]  Kat Duncan 

Yes. So we in Honeycomb, we do have a maintenance plan that we, that we suggest to people who, we who want to abandon Pinterest that became way more popular when Pinterest was really struggling itself. And when people were seeing a lot of decline, we recommended a maintenance plan to them. The reason for that is not just because of the visual strategy of it, but also because Pinterest is a search platform.

[00:17:41]   

It’s a search, it has search history and we, you don’t want to abandon it because all of those pins that you, that you posted three, four or five years ago remain evergreen on the platform. So that pin that you posted three, four, five years ago, that could pop off tomorrow and you want to remain on the platform.Platform just to at least be there and have that search history.

[00:18:02]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I cannot just like Google, I cannot even tell you how many pins have gone crazy months or years after I’ve published them. So yep, just because it’s not going crazy after a week or a month, that doesn’t mean anything. It could go nuts in a year, two years from now.

[00:18:20]  Kat Duncan 

Yes, yes. Pinterest is a marathon. It is not a sprint.

[00:18:23]  Megan Porta 

Yes, yes, yes. Another motto for food bloggers.

[00:18:26]  Kat Duncan 

Yes and yes.

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[00:18:58] Megan Porta   

Anything else about Pinterest or social media in general?

[00:19:00]  Kat Duncan 

Just, I mean, believe in Pinterest. Yeah, I think that that’s, that’s my number one motto for Pinterest is, is just believe in her. She’ll come back. And I, I see it, I see Pinterest rising again. And I mean there’s a reason why Pinterest has kind of remained in the zeitgeist of so many.

[00:19:15]   

You hear it on TV shows now, on, on Netflix and everything. People talk about going to Pinterest for their dinner recipes. So there’s a reason for that and you want to stay there.

[00:19:25]  Megan Porta 

You and I share a love for her for Pinterest. I mean, I’m like the biggest advocate in our space. Everyone’s like, oh, no, I can’t talk bad about Pinterest in front of Megan because she’s gonna say, always. I will always call people out and say, don’t say that. Stop talking bad about her. She is here. She is our friend.

[00:19:44]  Kat Duncan 

Yeah. She’s my friend.

[00:19:45]  Megan Porta 

So I’m glad to have that. Yeah. Hello. Camaraderie.

[00:19:49]  Kat Duncan 

Yes, definitely.

[00:19:50]  Megan Porta 

I’m curious about sites like Newsbreak and MSN. I know for a while those were really lucrative and providing a lot of traction for food bloggers. Are they still.

[00:19:59]  Kat Duncan 

Yes, absolutely. So especially platforms like Newsbreak, they are still bringing on new creators, which is awesome. It does take a while to get approved, so it could take up to 90 days for your. Your request to be a creator to be approved. But wait it out. It’s worth the wait and it is such an easy and good quick win.

[00:20:19]   

All you have to do is upload your post posts just as they are. There’s a little bit of formatting that goes into it. And we’re seeing creators making thousands of dollars a month off of News Break. Again, kind of a medium effort on, on that organic platform because it does require quantity of your output.

[00:20:36]   

Another one much like Pinterest, where the more you post, the more you’ll make, the more you put in, the more you’ll get out. Because also similarly to Pinterest, that could also have a post that goes viral, you know, months later. So it does require more input for you to get that output.

[00:20:53]  Megan Porta 

Okay, and then the application process for both of those, is it pretty minimal?

[00:20:59]  Kat Duncan 

Yes. So the application process for News Break especially is pretty easy. You do need a resume, so you want to show all of your kind of KPIs across your. Your content platforms. MSN right now is not accepting new creators at this moment. But we are waited on hand and foot just like until when that, that application process opens up again.

[00:21:20]   

We are. We’ll be in there. So. So. And also very, very minimal application process for msn, but we’re just kind of waiting for it to open back up.

[00:21:27]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I applied for MSN a couple times, got denied. And then I had heard that they are not accepting applications, but I’m waiting to. I think it would be an avenue worth exploring. I’ve heard content creators making a lot of money monthly from both of those platforms.

[00:21:44]  Kat Duncan 

Yes. MSN is a little bit more content heavy. Those posts. We would recommend doing galleries instead of individual posts because people like seeing a billion or recipes that they can make rather than just one. So again with that, that platform is way more about quantity over. Over anything else. Just as many as you can do a day.

[00:22:06]   

We have one client who’s doing like 15 galleries a day, which is wild. I’m pretty sure that’s the only thing she does at this point.

[00:22:14]  Megan Porta 

Or has a team maybe getting help too. I’ve heard a lot of people getting help with that.

[00:22:19]  Kat Duncan 

Yes, absolutely. So we are, that is one of our services that we provide. We are almost maxed out on MSN because of that quantity per day. So. So yeah, reach out if you would like help with your MSN galleries.

[00:22:31]  Megan Porta 

Okay, amazing. And then how about just like Google Organic traffic.

[00:22:36]  Kat Duncan 

Yes. So Google and organic traffic keywords are going to be so important, but keyword stuffing is. Is out you. The. The relevancy and, and helping your reader is all the way in. So we. You want to make sure that with your keywords you’re not going overboard on. On keywords that are irrelevant. Do your research.

[00:22:57]   

Don’t ask AI for help in this because AI is very unhelpful when it comes to keyword research because they’re kind of getting it wrong. They’re looking at that keyword stuffing from three years ago, five years ago where that was very important to have certain keywords sprinkled in all over your post. But now it’s more about connecting with your reader and that is a side effect of AI.

[00:23:21]   

So you want to be very helpful to your reader. Make it read like a book almost. And make it read like. Like. Almost like the blog. Blog posts of old where people were anecdotal and told a story but still getting to the point of your recipe as well.

[00:23:34]  Megan Porta 

Okay. Anything else about? I feel like there’s so much we could talk about on this topic. Just keyword research, SEO, any other things that are working that stand out or not working in that realm.

[00:23:45]  Kat Duncan 

Interlinking your recipes. So making sure that you are putting recipes that are relevant within the post pretty early on as well because people will say if it’s a, if it’s an apple recipe and here’s my best apple pie. You know, any type of kind of congruent recipe or like the. This is my recipe that will be really good for one thing.

[00:24:08]   

And this other thing as well. Making sure you’re interlinking your recipes is is always good.

[00:24:13]  Megan Porta 

Okay.

[00:24:14]  Kat Duncan 

It always helps with, with SEO as well.

[00:24:16]  Megan Porta 

And then overall with Google Organic, have you seen what have you seen in 2025?

[00:24:22]  Kat Duncan 

Oh man, it’s just overrun with, with opinions and topics about AI. Right. We’re talking so much about noticing AI trends and things like that, but from my side and noticing trends, it’s coming back to connection. It’s coming back to connecting with your audience and making sure their loyalty experience is whole. So you’re interlinking your recipes because you want them to stay.

[00:24:47]   

You’re talking to them like they’re an actual friend because you want them to come back to your website. You’re not putting in too many keywords, but you’re putting in relevant words and those turn into keywords. So you’re putting in just things that would that actually make sense for the post. Instead of a billion keywords about what holiday this is perfect for, it’s really more again about intentionality and making sure that your posts are.

[00:25:13]   

Are for the loyalty experience of your user and not necessarily just so that Google will find them. Because now at this point, Google is going to find them if it’s a good post.

[00:25:24]  Megan Porta 

So intentionality and authenticity are huge factors in a lot of what we’re talking about.

[00:25:30]  Kat Duncan 

Absolutely. That is my. If I could yell it, I would, but I don’t want to hurt anybody’s.

[00:25:37]  Megan Porta 

Yes, no, I love it. And then for the quantity of output, and you’ve talked about that a few times. So platforms like Newsbreak, MSN, you mentioned Pinterest also, do you feel like that applies to social media and Google as well?

[00:25:52]  Kat Duncan 

Yes. So this is where you would want to bring in your team. So for across all social media platforms, it would be really, really hard for one person to do it all. It would be dang near impossible for one person to make a dent in the social media world and in the Google world by just doing it themselves.

[00:26:10]   

I mean, I spoke about the one client who was doing 15 MSN galleries per day that would eat up your entire day and you would not be able to put out that output across the rest of your platforms. So you would really want to bring in a team who is, who, who knows what they’re doing and who is able to.

[00:26:28]   

To prioritize your workday and prioritize your workflow and the output that you really want. So yes, definitely making sure that the output is matching what you are looking for with your goals. So if your goal is visibility and reach and awareness of your brand, you want to put out more. And the reality is you can’t do it on your own.

[00:26:48]   

And, and that’s okay. You know, having connection and having a team that is around you is truly so helpful to mental health and heart and soul. It reminds bloggers and reminds people who love being in this space why they love it and to do more of what they actually love. Because even at Honeycomb Media this is what we love to do.

[00:27:07]   

And it sounds so funny because it’s almost like all of these little tasks that can eat up somebody’s day or that they might find monotonous. We actually love doing that. And, and so it’s, it’s about kind of putting aces in their spaces and, and making sure that people can, can work in their flow.

[00:27:24]  Megan Porta 

I love it. And then we haven’t mentioned YouTube or Facebook. What are your thoughts on both of those platforms?

[00:27:33]  Kat Duncan 

YouTube is a graduation platform. You really have to graduate to YouTube. It’s not something that you can’t, that you have to overlook until that space, until that time that you feel like, oh, I’ve gotten where I, where I want to go and now I’m going to be in YouTube. YouTube Shorts is a great place to start if you’re looking to use your, the videos that you’re posting on Pinterest, if you want to use those elsewhere.

[00:27:53]   

Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts are almost the same thing. And YouTube is, it’s a great place, great way to start your presence on YouTube. Long form content does not have to be your YouTube go to, but it is something that you can consider because it does help a lot with monetization, of course.

[00:28:12]   

So if you’re looking to make a lot of money, YouTube is a great place to graduate to. But man, talk about work and effort. That is I think the pinnacle of the effort that goes into social media. And if you’re willing to do that and if you want to do that, absolutely, we, we definite preach that.

[00:28:30]   

But it is something where maybe a smaller food blogger might not want to throw all their eggs in the YouTube basket. You might want to kind of work up to it and, but of course, if it’s your dream to be a YouTuber, go for it. I would love that for you. And I cheer you on.

[00:28:46]  Megan Porta 

Yes, I’ve seen some of my YouTube shorts actually get picked up on Google for certain keywords. So that is a thought too. Just having that reach and traction that way. It’s something that I didn’t think about because I, I know I had been seeing like TikTok videos get picked up on Google occasionally. And it’s even Instagram, I think. But when I saw a short come up, I was like, oh, that’s exciting. So that might be just, I don’t know, reason to get started with shorts.

[00:29:14]  Kat Duncan 

Social media across the board is really taking over those, those key rankings on Google. It’s so cool. It’s pulling in. And even from years ago, like you said, I mean, there are evergreen posts that, that will, that will rank first. Just because you inadvertently used the right keywords.

[00:29:30]  Megan Porta 

Yep. I have one of those that I accidentally put the magic keywords in apparently because it. This short on YouTube is like 6 years old and it is still going wild and it didn’t happen until a couple years ago. I was like, what? That is the oldest video. But I must have just put the right text on screen and the right text and title.I don’t know. It’s awesome though.

[00:29:55]  Kat Duncan 

And it was relatable and it was authentic.

[00:29:58]  Megan Porta 

Yes, exactly. All those things.

[00:30:00]  Kat Duncan 

All of the things.

[00:30:00]  Megan Porta 

Yep. And then Facebook. What do you think about Facebook?

[00:30:04]  Kat Duncan 

Facebook is a great place for community. I would really encourage people to see Facebook for Facebook groups. Facebook group sharing is, has become very popular on Facebook. So not necessarily starting your own group, but finding the groups where your content can, can, can flourish is a, is a good start for, for Facebook.

[00:30:22]   

And then again just quantity on Facebook putting out posts per day. And don’t give up on it because all of those posts will generate reach and then the reach will generate more, more users, more eyes and more attention. So don’t discount Facebook especially for if your audience and target demographic is older. They are all over Facebook and, and that is their, that’s a go to. A go to platform for a lot of people.

[00:30:47]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. And what about the reels monetization? Has anyone in your world found success with that recently?

[00:30:53]  Kat Duncan 

Absolutely, yes. So reels monetization across Instagram and Facebook has, has popped off. I mean it’s, it’s, it can be a little bit finicky to get going there, but once, once it starts, it’s, it’s pretty good. I would say don’t try and chase it every single month and don’t make that your, your go to for monetization.

[00:31:12]   

It’s more of like a, like the cherry on top your efforts. I think it’s nice. It’s helpful. Thanks. It’s helpful, but it’s, it’s not everything and it’s not reliable either, but it is, it is fun.

[00:31:26]  Megan Porta 

Okay. Yeah. Well, we’ve covered a lot of different platforms. Is there anything we’re missing Kat.

[00:31:32]  Kat Duncan 

Oh, man. I feel like I could talk about this all day. It’s my favorite thing to talk about. So if we. I’m sure we’re missing something, but those are. Those are some good key places to start, I think.

[00:31:42]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, definitely. And a theme that we’ve talked about is. I think you mentioned this with Pinterest, the fact that it is a long game. I think blogging in general is a long game now for sure. So talk about that a little bit. Just. We can’t expect quick traction all the time or ever, maybe.

[00:32:01]  Kat Duncan 

Right, Right. Yeah, I think sometimes. And how fun is that when it just, like, skyrockets, you know? Know, it’s such a fun, quick win when that happens. And that’s what keeps us motivated. Right. Is that maybe this time it will happen for me right away. And that’s so much fun. But I do think that blogging in general is.

[00:32:20]   

It really is just such a marathon. It’s not. None of it is a sprint. And staying consistent, staying true to what you like to do, staying motivated even. Or maybe not even motivated. Just staying consistent in your efforts even when you’re not feeling motivated. That this is just your job now, like, or, you know, to maybe treating it like this is your job now.That these are the things that I have to do today to keep my. My blog afloat. And sometimes it’s not super fun, but it’s. It’ll pay off in the end.

[00:32:48]  Megan Porta 

Yes. Oh, that’s such a great way to end. Well, thank you. This gives us so much to think about. So much food for thought.

[00:32:55]  Kat Duncan 

So much food for thought. Yes.

[00:32:57]  Megan Porta 

How many. How many have we made? Like, at least five. Five or six.

[00:33:00]  Kat Duncan 

Yeah, at least. Like, we gotta get a counter. Yeah, we should.

[00:33:04]  Megan Porta 

On the screen. One, two, three. Yeah, this was great. It even gave me some things that I’m like, ooh, I could look into that. And if people are looking for other avenues to explore as far as getting organic traffic, this is your episode, definitely. So thank you, Kat, for sharing all of your amazing knowledge. We appreciate you.

[00:33:23]  Kat Duncan 

Oh, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. This is so wonderful. What you’re doing is amazing and so helpful for so many people. I’m just. I’m your biggest cheerleader, and so I’m. I’m kind of fangirling, too.

[00:33:34]  Megan Porta 

Oh, thank you. That was so, so sweet. Do you have a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with?

[00:33:40]  Kat Duncan 

So I do have some words of inspiration, which is just do what you love because it comes through. It comes through to your audience it comes through to, across the screen. So make sure that you’re always doing what you love. And if you find yourself not being able to do what you love, whether it’s in blogging, whether it’s in real life, find the people who can come around and support you to make sure that you are able to do what you love.

[00:34:00]   

Because losing sight of that is, is so key to, or not losing sight of that is so key to being able to grow and, and flourish and meet your goals. So always make sure you’re, you’re focused in on what you love.

[00:34:13]  Megan Porta 

Beautiful. Great way to end. Thank you, Kat.

[00:34:16]  Kat Duncan 

Of course. Thank you.

[00:34:17]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, we’ll put together a show notes page for you if anyone wants to go peek at those. You can head to eatblogtalk.com/honeycombmedia and tell people how they can find you if they’re interested in your services or just want to learn a little bit more about what you do. Where can they go?

[00:34:33]  Kat Duncan 

Sure. So if you want to find me embarrassing myself on Instagram reels, you can find us on Instagram at that, it’s Honeycomb Media. And then you can Visit our website, honeycombedia.com and we have some of our packages there. And if you mentioned that you saw me on Eat Blog Talk, you can get 15% off your first service with us.

[00:34:51]  Megan Porta 

Oh, that’s amazing.

[00:34:52]  Kat Duncan 

Which is a great, great deal.

[00:34:53]  Megan Porta 

That is a great deal. Thank you for that offer so much. So everyone go check that out. Thank you again, Kat, so much for being here and thank you for listening food bloggers. I will see you next time. 

[00:35:07]  Outro

If you enjoyed this topic topic, you’ll also love the episode I recommend in the show notes. Click on the episode description to find the link. Thank you. And I will see you next time.