Monetization Strategies for Food Bloggers
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Blog Title: Cooking With Karli
Social Media:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/cookingwithkarli/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/cookingwithkarli
About Karli: I am a stay at home mom that managed to turn my brand new blog into a full-time gig in the first 8 months of blogging! I have a deep passion for bringing women in this world together, making sure each one feels valued and loved. I use that to fuel all of my posts across social media and my blog. This unique perspective, as well as smart business moves, have helped me to create a recognizable brand and thriving business.
Notes from Episode #025: Grow your food blog quickly!
- Fun fact: Karli lives in a very small town where there is no traffic. She has a horse, sheep, 3 cows and a lamb. Her children named the cows: they are called Belty, Minnie and Mouse.
- Karli began food blogging as a way to do something for herself. Her husband encouraged her to start the blog – to invest in something and put effort in and reap the benefits of that effort.
- Karli was in the Digital Photography Club in high school so she knew she could do that portion of the blog but wasn’t sure of the rest.
- The blog has been helpful for her for helping with her anxiety, channeling her energy.
The Instant Pot, how I got traffic flowing
- Karli’s mom gifted an Instant Pot to her. She didn’t know how to use it and there wasn’t a lot out there on Pinterest either. She destroyed a lot of food at first but then figured it out how to cook with it. She joined groups on Facebook and sharing her highs and lows in these groups and realized she was getting a lot of traction from them. For 4-5 months she religiously spent time posting daily.
- Karli asked herself: what is my value? She knew she believed this: In being kind, and making sure everyone’s Included. Karli wants everyone to feel better about themselves when they leave her blog or socials. She wants to give people the opportunity to feel good about themselves. She likes to give them suggestions to help them make a contribution to help others too – to influence for good and share happiness.
Instagram tips
- Karli really enjoys Instagram because you can connect with people.
- Try and put a story up every single day. Something simple. This is how your followers get to know you, through stories. It can be a great way to share yourself with your followers through who you are and not just your cooking. You’ll get to know them too.
- Create a schedule for your Instagram posts. Always be sure to provide value in your news feed. Make sure your timing for posts is on point too. Find when your audience is on and interacting. Ask your readers and followers what they want! Do fun polls.
Facebook tips
- Facebook groups have worked the best for gaining traffic. Connect with people in groups.
SEO tips
- SEO tips – be keyword rich. Fill out your alt tags on your images. Interlinking is important. Use different key words for the same recipe so that you rank for the same post by switching it up. Don’t always say Cherry Cheesecake – find other descriptive words.
- Write up questions and answer them for your readers within your blog post. Use H2 tags when writing the question out and then answer in normal text.
Answerthepublic.com
Thehoff – don’t sign up, it’s free. You can check your SEO rankings too
Google Search Console
- Google takes at last 6 months to recognize you and your work, if you are utilizing SEO well. She focused on it from the get go so once she was given that recognition, traffic took off. Consistency is important as well as quality.
Motivation tips
Find good blog friends! They are invaluable. Because blogging is weird and you need to talk to someone who gets it. Talking about facebook strategy and SEO is only good when its someone who gets it. It’s great to be able to get that out of your system and release from your mind all of the things that you think about 24/7.
Blogging friends are great for accountability too. Just like a brick and mortar job with co-workers, bloggers need to connect with blogging friends. It’s good since blogging can be lonely too.
Karli believes in community over competition all day long.
Going to conferences is great for seeing people you know from online and getting to know them personally.
Nobody is below anyone else so when you fangirl someone from the food blogging industry, you put them on a pedestal, and you automatically believe you are below everyone else. But that is not true.
If it’s important, you’ll have time for it.
Try this: Quit social media for a week and see how much extra time you have to devote to something you want to pursue.
If you can’t add anything more to your plate or there’s an area you could use help in that you don’t love to do, hire a VA. Decide how valuable your time is and then get some help.
In the beginning, Karli’s self-care was her blog. She was filled up by posting and sharing her work. If that’s still true, find your balance and keep filling yourself. Or find other self-care so you can do your blog and keep yourself in a good place.
Helpful references from the episode:
