Episode 773: Starting a Food Blog Today – What You Actually Need to Succeed With Hannah Holzum

EBT773 – Hannah Holzum

[00:00:00]  Megan Porta 

Are you starting a food blog from scratch in 2025? It is a whole new world out there and Hannah Holzum is navigating it with strategy and heart. From building systems early on to investing in the right help, to focusing on community over traffic, Hannah shares what has worked so far, what has not worked, and how she is growing quickly without the overwhelm. New bloggers, this episode is for you.

[00:00:24]  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.

[00:00:44] Sponsor  

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[00:01:03]  Megan Porta

Hi, Hannah, how are you?

[00:01:05]  Hannah Holzum 

Hey, Megan. I’m good. Thanks for having me. How are you?

[00:01:08]  Megan Porta 

I’m good, too, thank you. I’m so excited to have you here. Today we are going to talk about getting through blogging, navigating this crazy world of ours as a newbie food blogger. So this is a great one for people just starting out or thinking about it or maybe you’ve been in it for just a little while.I think this conversation will really help. But before we get into all of that, what fun fact do you have to share with us?

[00:01:31]  Hannah Holzum 

I feel like this is always a hard question, trying to think of something fun, a fun fact about yourself. So I will share that. I just got back from my bucket list trip that I’ve had for, like, 20 years. So we celebrated my 40th birthday back in May, and my husband surprised me with a trip to Italy. And I couldn’t believe it because he doesn’t like to fly. And so I was shocked that he did it. But we had so much fun. We went to Venice in Rome, and then we did Positano down on the Amalfi coast, and it was incredible.

[00:02:05]  Megan Porta 

Oh, my gosh.

[00:02:07]  Hannah Holzum 

Anyone wants to go to Italy, you definitely should. It was just incredible. And, you know, as a foodie, it was. The food was fantastic.

[00:02:15]  Megan Porta 

I’m sure that’s amazing. I’m glad you got to do that. And happy belated 40th. That’s awesome.

[00:02:21]  Hannah Holzum 

Thank you.

[00:02:21]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, it’s an exciting milestone birthday.

[00:02:24]  Hannah Holzum 

Yeah. Especially when you get to celebrate in Italy. So, yeah, I welcomed it in.

[00:02:28]  Megan Porta 

Oh, absolutely. So cool. Thank you for sharing that. And I love that it ties into the foodie world too. So perfect fun fact. Everyone stresses about the fun fact, but then it’s always like, oh, that’s perfect. Thank you for sharing that. Okay, so we want to hear a little bit about your blog, which is wholesomenutritionco.com so tell us a little bit about it.

[00:02:49]  Hannah Holzum 

Yes. So I came around to blogging. It feels like a very long journey, honestly. So I guess I’ll give you a little background on myself too. I am a registered dietitian, so I started out more in the clinical world. I worked in hospitals, and I’ve worked with everyone from premature NICU babies to teen athletes, older kids, adults, elderly adults.

[00:03:16]   

And I’ve really seen everybody along, you know, along the lifespan. And obviously, nutrition has been a big part of what I do. I love food, I love to cook. And really, when the pandemic hit, I was forced to. I was still working in the hospital, of course, but we were seeing patients in clinics.

[00:03:37]   

And so we were shifting everybody over to zoom to do clinic visits to try to keep everybody safe. And while we were doing that, I thought I could definitely do this on my own. You know, my kids, I’ve got three kids who now are 14, 12, and 9. And. But at the time, you know, they were starting to get into sports, and we were really busy, and I really just thought, you know, I would love a little bit more flexibility in my life as a mom and even as a dietitian, too.

[00:04:04]   

And so I started Wholesome Nutrition Co first started out as nutrition coaching. And I started coaching mostly moms, which really, as a dietitian who had worked with kids, I really knew that it all starts at home. Nutrition for kids starts at home. And a lot of times it starts with the parents and what the parents are eating and how the parents are eating.

[00:04:27]   

So I really felt like I could kill two birds with one stone by teaching parents how to eat well, which would then impact kids. And I really just felt great about what I was doing. Well, while I was doing that, I had a couple moms ask me. They said, this is great. Everything you’re teaching me is great, but can you just tell me what to make for dinner?

[00:04:44]   

Like, I don’t know what to make without having to make separate meals for myself and my picky kids. And I got thinking about it. I was like, sure. So I came up with a meal planning, a dinner planning subscription service. And I really just heard the need from moms on, hey, I’m stressing out about this.

[00:05:02]   

I don’t know what to make. And so I, that’s what I did next along with coaching and people loved it. And so I actually could resonate with Laura, who you had on as a guest not too long ago. She was talking about how she was doing meals, but she wasn’t doing a full blog.

[00:05:20]   

She was just posting these meals on her website without a recipe card and things like that. That’s what I did too. I was like, I don’t know anything about blogging. I’m not going to mess with that. I’m just going to have these meals, just plain and simple ingredients, instructions and that. And so I did that on my website for a while, but it wasn’t front facing again, I wasn’t blogging it.

[00:05:40]   

I was just doing it so I could link to it through the email that I would send for my subscription. And long story short, I did that for a while. Then I turned it into an app. Well, I live in the same city as Rachel and Polly from Thriving Home Blog and we got together one time for coffee just to kind of meet each other, talk.

[00:06:01]   

They wanted to hear more about my app. I wanted to pick their brains a little bit on blogging. And I realized I was really missing the boat on getting my blog and my recipes out to more people by actually doing it in the proper way. And so as I was talking with them about blogging, Rachel said, well, you should go to the Tastemakers conference if you want to learn about blogging.

[00:06:22]   

She goes, it’ll feel like drinking out of a, of a fire hydrant, but you should just come and see. And I said, okay. So I went to the Tastemaker conference back in January in Vegas. And then that’s really when it all shifted and I started changing how I was doing things on my website and really trying to maximize it more for a real blog.

[00:06:44]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Amazing.

[00:06:45]  Hannah Holzum 

Long story short, right?

[00:06:47]  Megan Porta 

No, I love that. I love hearing all the unique journeys. Everyone has such a different flavor and way that they’ve come to blogging. And you are very new. So this January, so 2025 January is when you just, you went, you decided to go to the conference and just really dig in. And then how did you feel after?  Were you like, invigorated? Like, okay, I’m going to crush this.

[00:07:13]  Hannah Holzum 

I had all the feels. I had all the feels. I had everything from while I was there. I mean, I was there googling. What is RPM? What is UTM? I mean, I was Googling all of these things that I was just hearing about, but I learned so much I mean, it was the feeling of overwhelm.

[00:07:30]   

It was the feeling of excitement and seeing some of these bloggers who’d been doing it for so long and just the career that they’d made out of it, the number of people that they’re helping by providing these recipes, it just. It was, if anything, I mean, yes, overwhelming, but super encouraging that, you know what?

[00:07:48]   

Yeah, this is. This is doable. It’s a lot. I have a lot to learn. But, yeah, it was really exciting for me just to get to see that that could be a possibility for me. Yeah.

[00:08:00]  Megan Porta 

So we’re about 10 months into your, like, just determined journey here, so you have some things to impart to other new bloggers who are just starting, or maybe. Maybe they’re listening and they’re just thinking about starting and they’re afraid or wondering what it’s like. So you have very fresh perspective to share, Hannah. So thank you for bringing it to the table. Yes. So what would be the first thing that you would tell people who are new? What is the first piece of advice?

[00:08:31]  Hannah Holzum 

I think my first piece of advice would be, number one, just knowing it’s going to be overwhelming and that you don’t have to do everything all at once. You really just need to start. And I think the best way to do that is to find someone who has been in the game longer than you, learn from them.

[00:08:52]   

So for me, you know, I listen to your podcast, I listen to, you know, different podcasts and things like that to help me learn. And. And yes, it can be overwhelming when you don’t know what people are talking about. But also, I would use that for a learning strategy of, oh, okay, they were saying this.

[00:09:08]   

I would go look it up. Joining the Facebook groups. You know, I’m in the Food Blogger Central group, and so people are asking questions in there all the time. Or you can search it and see if other people have asked questions about it before. When I was at Tastemaker, one thing I was really impressed by was the community.

[00:09:26]   

So many people in the food blogging community were so kind. I don’t know what I was expecting. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be mean when I went, but, yeah, I wasn’t expecting everyone to be kind, so forthcoming with, hey, this is what I’m doing. This is working really well for me. Or it was not like a.

[00:09:42]   

It didn’t seem like a competition. It really truly felt like, hey, let’s help each other out, you know, and things some people would share, other people would say, oh, this is so helpful. Thank you and so it was super encouraging to me. I had a roundtable. So at Tastemaker they do roundtables to put you in different groups.

[00:09:59]   

And I got in a roundtable with Molly Thompson from What Molly Made, which she was fantastic. I learned so much from her. But I think it was Erica from the Pancake Princess, I think that was the one who said we went around the circle and everybody was asking, you know, what is, what is something that you need help with?

[00:10:16]   

And then everyone would kind of chime in on what they needed help with. So it gets around to me. And everyone else is asking legit food blogging questions. It gets around to me and I said, I’m just needing to get started. And I, I have recipes. I am so confident in nutrition. I don’t know the logistics of.

[00:10:33]   

And the tech of starting a blog. Like, what would you recommend? And I think it was Erica who said, you need to check out the Food Blogger Pro course. And you know, that’s really great at teaching you how to start a blog. And I’d listened to the podcast, but I didn’t realize or I hadn’t really thought about the course.

[00:10:48]   

And so I joined that and that was really helpful just for learning how you actually go on and make a WordPress site and how you make a post, you know, those are the things that as a newbie I didn’t know, you know. And so just finding help and getting connected with people and really learning from people was for me that was the first step.

[00:11:09]   

And of course Rachel and Paulie from Thriving Home, I would be messaging them and asking them questions and they were super helpful. So I think just finding community of other food bloggers who have been doing it longer who are willing to, you know, help you or put you in the right touch with.And in touch with the right person. Yeah, it’s a really great place to start.

[00:11:26]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. And those in person events are so helpful because I mean, it’s great being online. And you mentioned Facebook groups, that’s great too. But there’s something about being able to talk to somebody face to face space and they, you can’t, they can’t move like they’re in front of you and they have to answer you.

[00:11:44]   

So it’s like, okay, where do I start with this? So the in person events are so key. I’ve always said that, I will probably will always say that. Try to make it work. If you have the budget for it, definitely do them.

[00:11:58]  Hannah Holzum 

And it’s an investment, but it’s such an important investment for your growth.

[00:12:02]  Megan Porta 

It is it is.

[00:12:03]  Hannah Holzum 

I mean, had I not gone, I don’t even know that I would have gotten started into it, and I definitely would not have started into it the right way, you know?

[00:12:11]  Megan Porta 

Right. Yeah. They’re imperative, and they’re scary to acknowledge that, too. Walking into a huge group of people who you don’t know. You don’t know much about the industry yet.

[00:12:21]  Hannah Holzum 

That’s.

[00:12:22]  Megan Porta 

That’s scary. That’s really intimidating.

[00:12:24]  Hannah Holzum 

It is. Yeah, it is.

[00:12:26]  Megan Porta 

But it’s worth it. Just having that little bit of courage to go in.

[00:12:30]  Hannah Holzum 

Yeah, for sure. Okay.

[00:12:31]  Megan Porta 

What else would you tell people just getting started, Hannah?

[00:12:35]  Hannah Holzum 

So I also, I will tell you. I’ll tell you this because it might make other people feel good. I actually was debating, after a while, I was debating about doing an SEO audit, and I felt really silly about this because I thought, you know, when I had had my website, when I was doing nutrition coaching, I was blogging at the time.

[00:12:55]   

I just didn’t know what I was doing. I was blogging because someone had told me I should blog. So I was blogging about nutrition topics, and then I would blog a recipe, but I didn’t have the recipe card in there. So I had blog posts, posts on my website, and some of them were getting some traffic.Like, I would have some randomly getting traffic, even though I wasn’t.

[00:13:15]  Megan Porta 

That’s great.

[00:13:15]  Hannah Holzum 

Doing everything I could be doing for SEO. I had some older ones that would, you know, something on quick and easy, healthy breakfasts and things that would just were kind of going. And so I was learning from people online, seeing people doing audits and things like that and getting help. And my traffic did better after I got audits.

[00:13:34]   

And I had thought about doing one, but I thought, I don’t know, will they laugh at me? Will they think, this is ridiculous? You’re just starting. I mean, you know, you have those thoughts as a newbie, like, is this. I don’t know, is this something I should even be doing yet? Should I wait until I have hundreds of blog posts?

[00:13:52]   

And. But you know what? I thought, okay, well, what’s the worst that could happen? They’ll just say no, come back to me later. And so I reached out to Casey Markee about an SEO audit. I said, hey, I’m a very fresh newbie food blogger. But I also, you know, I think as a dietitian, I know the value of investing clients that would come work with me and invest in working with me would be the ones that would have the sustainable results. They’re the ones who, sure, someone can go and lose weight really quickly by something they saw online and get those quick wins, but they’re not going to have the lasting, sustainable results that someone who works with a professional who knows what they’re talking about, who can give them strategy to keep that going long term.

[00:14:31]   

Like there, no doubt about it. So I think for me, that helped me be confident at least in thinking I’m going to seek out a professional who knows what they’re talking about, who can help me so that I can have this and build upon this. And so I reached out to Casey. Hey, I’m a fresh new newbie food blogger.

[00:14:47]   

I’m interested in an SEO audit. Is this something you even do for something with someone, a blog of my, my size? He said, sure. Like, I think I hit the bare minimum of how many posts I had to have. And so, yes, he did. And that was as overwhelming as it was. That was one of the best things, in my opinion, that I did because there were so many technical things that I had no clue that probably would have kept me from ever getting traffic.

[00:15:12]   

No matter how great of a blog post I could have had, I would have never ranked, I would have never gotten any traffic because my photo sizes weren’t right, because my, you know, things were out of order, because things behind the scenes weren’t right. You know, all of these things that I had no idea.

[00:15:28]   

And so I actually did an audit with Casey in September and I’m still working through some of those things, but I learned so much. And. Yeah. So I think that that was kind of my next step in. And I had the basics of the blog, but really starting to fine tune some of those things so that hopefully those posts will eventually grow. And I’ve already seen improvement in traffic just by making some of those changes already, which is really encouraging, especially in today’s times.

[00:15:54]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. Oh, that’s great. Yeah. You don’t know. What is the term? You don’t know what you don’t know. Like there are things that you just don’t know, should be on your radar until somebody who has the knowledge is, hey, you should be thinking about this. Yeah. Especially when you’re brand new. You’ve never created a website before, you’ve never blogged before.It’s a good idea to get some tech help for sure.

[00:16:17]  Hannah Holzum 

Yes. And he was, you know, very, just very straightforward on things like, hey, look, you know, you’re, you’re small, you have a small site. It’s going to take a while to build some of this stuff up. But here are some things you can start doing now, and implementing that will instantly help you, but then we’ll continue to help you for the long term.

[00:16:34]   

And he was very much like, this is great. You’re doing this early on. So all those thoughts I had in my head about, he’s gonna laugh, he’s gonna think, why are you reaching out to me? You’re such a small sight. You know, like, all these things you tell yourself as someone who is new and maybe not quite as confident yet in it.He was very encouraging on. On that. So, yeah, that was a great.

[00:16:54]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I’m noticing some mindset already just with going to a conference and, you know, the overwhelm of that, but then doing the audit and kind of talking yourself through, like, okay, am I. Am I worthy of the audit? Am I going to be embarrassed? So, yeah, getting over those mental hurdles.

[00:17:16]  Hannah Holzum 

Yes.

[00:17:17]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, it’s huge. Okay. What else would you say to someone considering or a new blogger just starting?

[00:17:23]  Hannah Holzum 

I would say thinking through, not getting too caught up too in numbers. And I think as you’re learning some of these things and as you’re in some of these Facebook groups and, you know, you hear people all along the spectrum, people who’ve been doing this a long time, you hear about traffic, you hear about all these things, and it can be really easy when you’re starting off to chase something, right?

[00:17:48]   

It’s like squirrel moments or, oh, okay, now I need to be watching my traffic. And obviously that’s important for a blogger, right? Like, this is our job. It’s important. But also, as you’re trying not to let yourself get too overwhelmed by all the things to remember why you’re doing it in the first place.

[00:18:06]   

And for me, even though that looks a little bit different, you know, recipe creation looks a little bit different than nutrition coaching, it ultimately still for me is getting healthy foods into people’s bodies. It’s trying to, you know, almost like rather than going through all the coaching, it’s like just giving the people what they need.

[00:18:30]   

Like, here’s a healthy, well balanced meal for your family. And so for me, I think coming back to that and focusing, if I’m getting a little overwhelmed by all of the things that I need to be fixing or all the, you know, traffic is down or whatever. Coming back to that, okay, think about why you’re doing this and when you can really put your passion into doing what you’re doing, it really can.

[00:18:52]   

I think it really can shine through then in some of your posts into your audience and focusing on that community Community of your audience and, and helping them rather than, oh, man, I need to get this out on Pinterest. Oh, I should be doing this. You know, I think, I think that can really keep you a little bit more focused and keep the joy in it a little bit more for you.

[00:19:14]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. And, yeah, and everyone has a why everyone has a purpose. It might not be the same as yours, but every single blogger I talk to about why they started their blog has a reason. Maybe it’s a food allergy that prompted you start blogging about a certain type of diet. Or maybe it’s just, for me it’s just like easy dinners, you know, comfort food dinners that you want to make for the holidays and otherwise.So how do you recommend people stay in tune with that? Because over time it can get, I think, diluted a little bit. Like you just get in the weeds. Like you said, I have to create benders, pins and you just get so caught up that you can kind of lose sight of it.So how do you recommend just keeping it on our radar?

[00:20:01]  Hannah Holzum 

Yeah, for me, I actually come back, I always went and sometimes I think of my blogging and I always go back to my nutrition coaching too, because I would always tell clients, you know, you always need to do check ins with yourself. Like every week you need to be coming back to it.

[00:20:14]   

Am I doing what I said I was gonna do? Am I, you know, all these things. For me, I will actually come back to it each week. I’ll come back to it and say, am I providing what the kind of like content In a way, recipes in a way help in a way that I want to be providing to truly help people.

[00:20:32]   

Because that’s, that’s, you know, that’s kind of my why with recipes, it’s like I truly want to help people. I want to give them recipes that aren’t overly complicated but that are nutritionally balanced so that if they don’t want to take the time to have to learn nutrition and stuff, here are some recipes from a dietitian that are balanced and you don’t have to think about, you know, and so for me, I’ll come back to that each week as I’m doing just, just overall business check ins and things like that.

[00:20:55]   

Like, am I still providing my audience with good healthy recipes or nutrition tips within the recipes and things like that that I want to be doing. And so I think it’s so easy to get lost in all that. I know for me especially, I’ve been thinking about, you know, all these changes I need to make for my audit.

[00:21:10]   

And I was just like on my computer last week. I was on my computer all week long just, you know, typing and trying to get through all these things. And then I just one day stopped and I was like, I need to just get back in the kitchen. This is not, it’s not fuelling me.

[00:21:25]   

Number one, I, I always feel better. The best content comes when I’m just in the kitchen cooking and messing with stuff. And I don’t, I’m not giving my, I’m not giving my audience what they’re necessarily looking for either. If I’m just sitting here and just hammering out all these things. And so I think coming back each week, that’s what I do.

[00:21:40]   

At least come back to it each week and, and really talk through those things. Is my community, is my email list? Are my people getting what they would like to be getting for me too? Am I providing some helpful things to them? And whatever, like you said, whatever it is that your. Why, whether that’s, you know, easy meals for families or yummy baked goods that people can make with their kids or anything like that.So yeah, that’s, that’s what I like to do.

[00:22:02]  Megan Porta 

I love that. So just maybe like a weekly check in, putting it on your calendar and setting aside 30 minutes, an hour, whatever, and just making sure you’re recentering after the audit list or whatever it is you’re working on that week. Yeah.

[00:22:16]  Hannah Holzum 

Yes, for sure.

[00:22:18]  Megan Porta 

That’s a great recommendation. 

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[00:23:28] Megan Porta  

All right. What else would you say to a new blogger who’s like, Hannah, please help me.

[00:23:32]  Hannah Holzum 

Oh, let’s see. So not to. I think the other thing I would think of would be also coming up with kind of like we talked about with the check in, coming up with a way to keep things streamlined for yourself as well. Because it is. And I’m just speaking from experience, maybe for, for most seasoned food bloggers are gonna be like, yeah, I’ve been doing this.

[00:23:56]   

But I. Keeping myself in check, like keeping myself with a strategy, like thinking through, okay, these are the things that I would like to do here are, you know, Thanksgiving is coming up. I would like to focus on these things and having a strategy and having systems in place to make sure that you’re getting those things done.

[00:24:17]   

Because I think it’s really easy to follow the shiny object and have so many things on your plate. I think that’s one of the most challenging things for me right now is I’m like, ooh, I need to fix Pinterest. My Pinterest isn’t great. I don’t. But reminding myself like, I’m a one man show right now.

[00:24:34]   

I’m not big enough to hire help yet. Hopefully that will come one day. But I’m doing my email list, I’m doing my Pinterest, I’m doing my posts, all these things. So for other newbie food bloggers to just think, really breaking it down into a few things and knowing you probably can’t do it all, at least not to maybe what you other bloggers who’ve been at it a while can be doing or maybe who have a team of people.

[00:24:57]   

And so really I think when you’re alone, you have to put some, some good strategy in place and have some good like streamlined projects, I guess, if that makes sense so that you can keep yourself on task and not be distracted by, oh, I heard so and so say that they’re doing this now too and I should be doing that or I should be making a course.

[00:25:14]   

It’s like, no, you shouldn’t. You gotta do one thing at a time, you know. And so I would say I would recommend that to anyone that’s newer or old. Coming back is just getting back into the basics and really trying to keep yourself in check with that. And so sometimes time blocking for me helps writing things out and time blocking to keep myself on task so I’m not tempted to, you know, go do something else.

[00:25:38]   

Yeah, is really helpful.

[00:25:40]  Megan Porta 

I Think that is great advice because especially just getting into the world of blogging, it’s so much, there’s so many platforms, there’s so many courses, there’s so many everything that you can get just distracted by so many things. So I think this piece of advice is maybe the best just to not feel like you have to do it all because you can’t. You, you will not survive, you will not be a long term blogger if you try to do it all.

[00:26:11]  Hannah Holzum 

Yeah. And you dilute, you end up diluting everything. When you’re trying to do everything all at once, you don’t have as much time to devote to each individual thing and then you’re starting to get some diluted results. And that’s something personally for me that I struggle with because I do want to do all the things.

[00:26:26]   

And then I remind myself, you have three kids, they are all in sports. You have so many hours in the day, you cannot do all these things on your own. And so I’ve really had to focus in on that, you know, doing my new blog posts and fixing up old blog posts and doing kind of the, you know, keeping my email list going, but knowing that, okay, I can’t do a lot with Pinterest if I can do a couple pins each week, that’s where I’m starting.

[00:26:49]   

And once I get going and once my audit is done and once, you know, I can start growing that out a little bit more, once my business continues to grow, I can hire someone for that. And so, you know, having to be okay with it, but be real with yourself that there are only so many hours and let’s think about where your time is the best well spent.

[00:27:06]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. And do you find that you learn like what you can and cannot do from week to week? I find that as time goes on, you just kind of get better at it. Right. So it’s a matter of just living, living life and continuing your business. Do you find that too?

[00:27:24]  Hannah Holzum 

Yes, yes, for sure. And it changes. It’s like seasons change. I mean, even within the year. Every season fall for us. Yep. Every scene is different. Fall for us is so busy because the kids are all in sports at the same time and we might have three games on one night, but there’s two of us parents, you know, I mean, it’s just like thinking through life things too and trying to work through it.

[00:27:42]   

So finding that good balance and, and like I said, coming up with a good strategy to, to get it done and know that you can’t do all the things. So you gotta pick the few things that you want to focus in your time and your energy on is so important.

[00:27:54]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I love that. Great advice. You feel like a wise, mature blogger already, Hannah, with all this, you have to impart.

[00:28:04]  Hannah Holzum 

That’s the goal. One day.

[00:28:06]  Megan Porta 

Well, you’re doing well. I’m only 10 months in. I’m very impressed with your wise advice. What else do you have for newer bloggers?

[00:28:14]  Hannah Holzum 

One other thing for new bloggers. So for me personally, something to keep in mind is that, yes, this is a passion, right? But it’s also our job. And I think for me, that was a really hard thing coming from nutrition coaching where I was making money, right? People, I coach them, they pay me.

[00:28:31]   

It’s instant, it’s done. It’s like a, you know, that that’s, that was my income. And now moving into the blogging world, I think it is really important to talk about that because blogging isn’t instantaneous. Money when you’re first starting out, like, it is definitely that, a slow go until you can get ad revenue, until you can get that on a much more regular basis.

[00:28:53]   

And even still, you know, like, you’re not going to know from month to month exactly what you’re going to make. And so for me, I have found other ways too to supplement income while my blog is growing. And so still for me, I’m doing some nutrition coaching, but not as much or, you know, working with some different brands and some things like that and making some UGC videos just to try to supplement that a little bit.

[00:29:18]   

And so I also wanted to say that because I think as someone who is thinking about blogging, as I would listen to blogging podcasts, I would think, well, that’s great, but I have to make money, you know, like, if I start a blog, I’m not going to make money right away and what am I going to do?

[00:29:33]   

And so I think sharing that with other people, other, if there’s other new, newer bloggers or who are thinking like, hey man, this has been so slow and I’m not getting much on ads yet and things like that, I think also thinking through other things that you can do that might go along with that.

[00:29:48]   

So if there are certain brands that you like to cook with or do you know, whether that’s cookware or products, reaching out to them and trying to do some UGC work or some collabs and things like that, a lot of times, more times than not, they’ll say no or they won’t get back to you or they’ll say no.

[00:30:05]   

We’re not looking for anyone now, but you do get some yeses. And so I think using that as a strategy too, and thinking about supplementing your income. I know some newer bloggers are still maybe working too, like doing other jobs that they’re wanting to eventually, you know, work for themselves and do their blog.

[00:30:22]   

But there are some other strategic ways you can think about supplementing income while you’re trying to grow your blog too. So just wanted to mention that as well. But again, it can be those squirrel moments of, okay, but my goal is to get my blog. I don’t want to put too much of my time into that, but there are ways for those who are just kind of worried about how they’re going to do it, to supplement while you’re, you know, waiting for your, your traffic to continue to grow.

[00:30:47]  Megan Porta 

Right. And not to do it all. Like you said, don’t be the shiny object. Like, oh, I’m going to do everything to make money, but strategically thinking through what aligns with my passions and my skill sets and yeah, maybe trying one thing out at a time. I know freelancing is a great way, like if, if photography is your thing or if videography is your thing or writing is your thing, then maybe just start there and offer that to other bloggers or there are so many bloggers looking for all of those services.

[00:31:14]   

I think that is such a great way to supplement while you’re waiting to get, you know, the ad revenue pumped.

[00:31:20]  Hannah Holzum 

Up a little bit for sure. And you can just set aside five hours a week or two hours a week to, okay, take this time.

[00:31:26]  Megan Porta 

Super. Reach out. Yeah.

[00:31:27]  Hannah Holzum 

Okay, now create some content for this. But no, like this is just supplemental to help me, you know, until my traffic goes up or until ad revenue goes up and, and things like that too.

[00:31:37]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. So speaking of traffic, I know that that can be a super hyper focus for a lot of most food bloggers.

[00:31:45]  Hannah Holzum 

Yeah.

[00:31:46]  Megan Porta 

How do you feel about kind of, I don’t want to say it, like diverting your attention or like not being so laser focused by focusing on what actually matters, which is the users coming to your site and the community that you’re building.

[00:32:00]  Hannah Holzum 

Yeah. So it’s been interesting coming into blogging at this current time because it’s all new to me, you know, learning it. It’s all new to me. And so a lot of bloggers are now having to learn now with all the AI and just all the changes. And so I kind of feel like I’m coming into it.

[00:32:19]   

Like, like, well, I don’t really Know otherwise, you know, but obviously I’m looking at my traffic. Obviously, as I’ve been doing these audit changes, I’ve been watching my traffic and sometimes it’s exciting and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes you think, well, I was going up, why is it down? And I realized early on that while that’s an important thing to check, what really works the best for me is when I hone in more on what my audience is looking for.

[00:32:44]   

And I, you know, social media engagement for me this year at least I think for a lot of people has not been great this year. Year. And. But you do still have a community that still likes to be there with you either through your email list or on social media. And so getting on there and picking people’s brains, hey, what do you want to see?

[00:33:02]   

Hey, I was thinking about making this high protein snack. What, which one sounds good? You know, and letting them help you decide what you’re going to put out there. Number one, it’s way more fun for you because you’re like, you want to bring people what they want to see. So seeing what people are interested in.

[00:33:19]   

For me, that has done better in helping me with traffic. When I can ask people on my email list or social media, hey, which recipe sounds better? They’re more engaged in it. Then I get better traffic to those types of recipes. Right now as a newer blogger who’s waiting for Google traffic to pick up.

[00:33:36]   

Right. And so I think it’s just, it makes it much more enjoyable for me to keep going and keep creating when I have people that I know are interested and want to see it. And so I think that focusing in more on community again and that the why of why you’re even blogging in the first place is great.

[00:33:55]   

I learned a lot about that too from Molly at the Tastemaker conference. She had talked about email list building and how she pulls her audience and, and all of these things and it really just felt good. You know, she showed us examples of what she would ask and, and you know, to me I’m like, yes, as a reader, that’s what I want.

[00:34:16]   

I want someone to ask me what I want to see, you know, and so I think focusing in more on your community and seeing what they’re looking to, obviously bringing in things that you’re interested in as well. But when you’re hitting that moment of oh, my traffic or my engagement, I think when you can get in there and, and build those relationships with your people, whether you have a Facebook group or again, an email list or social media, it can really feel a lot better.And then often I have found the traffic kind of follows that a little bit better.

[00:34:46]  Megan Porta 

That is. That’s gold right there. I am such a believer in if you are too hyper focused on something that. But it’s just not gonna work. It’s like trying to control something that you can’t always control. So loosening your grip a little bit and focusing on what matters is, number one, good. But two, a really good distraction. A healthy distraction, which might inevitably just grow everything that you want to grow.

[00:35:12]  Hannah Holzum 

Yes.

[00:35:13]  Megan Porta 

You know, without the tight grip on it.

[00:35:15]  Hannah Holzum 

Yeah. And for sure it’s more enjoyable than sitting and looking at stats and numbers and things. Yes. Yes.

[00:35:21]  Megan Porta 

I’ve been through. Through so many times in my blogging journey when, like, for months at a time I would just sit on my couch and look at my numbers and I’m looking back, I’m like, what was I doing that was so crazy? I was like a crazy person just sitting there wondering if things would change and thinking I would.I don’t know. Yeah, it’s weird.

[00:35:39]  Hannah Holzum 

Yeah. It’s like important. Yes. Be aware of your numbers.

[00:35:42]  Megan Porta 

That’s important.

[00:35:43]  Hannah Holzum 

What’s working, what’s helping. Things like that. But in the same breath, it’s like, okay, well, you can only look at Google Analytics so long and then don’t.

[00:35:49]  Megan Porta 

Do what I did. Please don’t do it. That’s part of the reason I started this podcast, just to teach people, don’t do that. I did a lot of things really poorly in the beginning.

[00:35:58]  Hannah Holzum 

So, yeah, it’s tempting though. You know, you feel like, oh, I gotta be doing this. And it’s so easy to want to. I know that. But it takes. It sucks the fun right out of it. I know.

[00:36:08]  Megan Porta 

I have a question for you as a newer blogger, and I think other newer bloggers listening might be able to conjure up their own answers to this. What is missing in this space? Is there anything that you’re like, gosh, I wish there was this. Like, whether it’s a group or support in a certain area or. Yeah, I would just be really curious about that.

[00:36:30]  Hannah Holzum 

Oh, that’s a good question. Well, you know, initially I would have said just focus. Like for newer. For newer bloggers, like, knowing the steps. Like, a lot of people have questions as they’ll ask on the Facebook group that will get answered. But I really think maybe even. And maybe there’s some out there that I just don’t know about yet.

[00:36:50]   

Yet. Maybe even meetups or something out there where newer bloggers can get to know each other. A lot of people that I met at Tastemaker had been in it for a while and they were fantastic. I, like, couldn’t believe I was having dinner with some of the people I was having dinner with.

[00:37:06]   

I was just like, you people are amazing. But I didn’t meet a lot of newer bloggers while I was there. Like, and I don’t know, I don’t know if newer, if there were or maybe if it just wasn’t. It was more seasoned people who had been in it a little bit longer, but maybe even more focused focus groups or meetups or something. And again, I don’t know, maybe there are already those out there. Those are just, I haven’t seen those, those kinds of things out there. So maybe something like that.

[00:37:33]  Megan Porta 

Okay. We are doing MiniMinds in for Eat Blog Talk in 2026. It’s our last year to do them. So it’s, oh my gosh, newer bloggers, like years zero through four. It’s. Yeah, it’s exactly what you’re saying. But it’s all virtual. We don’t do any in person meetups. But I, as you were saying that, I was like, oh my gosh, I host these retreats for food bloggers a couple times a year. But that’s kind of a mix of newer bloggers and more advanced bloggers. But I wonder if I should do something more newer blogger focused, like just a retreat for people who are maybe in years one and two or something.

[00:38:12]  Hannah Holzum 

Yeah, that’s true.

[00:38:13]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:38:13]  Hannah Holzum 

Okay.

[00:38:14]  Megan Porta 

Well, I, always like, I know I always like to deliver what people need, so I’m glad I asked you that.

[00:38:21]  Hannah Holzum 

Yeah.

[00:38:21]  Megan Porta 

Okay. Is there anything else that you want to impart to other new bloggers that you’ve learned so far, Hannah?

[00:38:28]  Hannah Holzum 

I can’t think of anything extra. I think if anything, just, you know, knowing that we all start from somewhere. I think it can feel again, kind of like you’d mentioned, I’m like, when you’re like, yeah, so kind of mindset like. Yes, I think it’s really easy to get into your head when you are new into anything that you’re doing.

[00:38:47]   

It’s really easy to get into your head. Or it’s really easy to go down the rabbit hole of like, what’s this person doing? Oh, what’s this person doing? And just knowing like you, you really have to get a good foundation to begin with. I think that is the most important part. So finding help.

[00:39:02]   

And for me, I didn’t mention this earlier, but for me, I went to Tastemaker And I came home and I was like, okay, I’m signing up with Big Scoots because I talked with them at the conference and they are legit and they know what to do when I don’t. They have been so helpful, like, blows my mind how fast they can be in helping you with that.

[00:39:17]   

Things, things that I wouldn’t know how to do. I, you know, when I. I had to totally redesign my site because my site was not set up well for a blog. And so I had Lauren from Restored 316 help me with that and just knowing to get help and, yeah, like, some of those things, it costs money.

[00:39:34]   

Right. But making investments in the right people who can help you and knowing that you’re not. You might not be a design specialist. I’m like, I went to school to be a dietitian. You asked me about vitamin deficiencies. I’m your girl. But you asked me to design a site. I. I have no idea.

[00:39:48]   

And so just knowing that you’re not going to be an expert in all the stages and it’s going to take some time to learn. And so finding the right people and building those solid foundations early on, you really can. In my opinion, that’s really the most important thing. And knowing it’s going to take time.

[00:40:04]   

But just building, you know, those early years can be some of the tougher years in anything that you do. But then you learn, and it’s funny how quickly you figure it out. I was just. I laugh to myself sometimes as I’m doing blogs. I’m like, oh, I remember when I didn’t even know how to put an image.

[00:40:17]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:40:17]  Hannah Holzum 

You know, and now look at you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I think that I would definitely just. That would be my biggest recommendation.

[00:40:25]  Megan Porta 

I love it. That is such great advice. And I think this conversation is going to be super helpful for people just starting out. So thank you for just bringing all of this to the table. We just appreciate all of this value. Thanks, Hannah.

[00:40:37]  Hannah Holzum 

Yes, you’re welcome. Thank you. Yeah.

[00:40:39]  Megan Porta 

Do you have either a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with?

[00:40:44]  Hannah Holzum 

Yes. It kind of goes hand in hand. So one of my favorite quotes is the old Wayne Gretzky. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Or some people might say Michael Jordan or the Office fans might say Michael Scott. Because if you’ve seen that episode. Yes. But it’s really true. You know, you can have these thoughts, maybe I should do this or I should try this.

[00:41:04]   

And if you don’t ask, my mom always used to say, if you don’t ask, it’s always a no. Right? And it kind of goes along with that. And I’m a firm believer of that. You know, had I sat back and thought, well, I don’t really know how to blog, so I’m not gonna do it.

[00:41:17]   

But no, I was like, I’m sure I’ll go to Tastemaker and see what it’s all about. And, you know, it totally changed the trajectory of my business or reaching out to Casey, you know, I was like, oh my gosh, he’s gonna think I’ve never done a blog so small, you know. But no, he was very happy to help.

[00:41:32]   

And so I. That would be. That’s one of my favorite quotes. But also the best kind of encouragement is just, you know, it’s always gonna be a no or you’re always gonna miss if you don’t at least try and go for it. So just, you know, if you’re thinking about it or maybe you’re already starting off, but you’re kind of debating whether you’re going to keep doing it, just go for it, you know, I love it.

[00:41:51]  Megan Porta 

Yes. Such great advice and perfect for this conversation. So we will put together a show notes page for you, Hannah. If you want to go peek at those, you can head to eatblogtalk.com/wholesomenutritionco tell everyone where they can find you.

[00:42:06]  Hannah Holzum 

Yes, so you can find me on my site, wholesomenutritionco.com I am probably the most active on my blog and Instagram and I’m at Wholesome Nutrition Co on Instagram. I also have a nutrition podcast too that I. Yes, Wholesome Nutrition with Hannah is the name of my podcast. I can send you the link if you want to put that on there too. But yeah, just to share some helpful nutrition tips along with dinner tips and things like that as well.

[00:42:33]  Megan Porta 

Everyone go check out all that goody good stuff. Thank you so much for Hannah for being here and thank you for listening, food blogger. I will see you next time. 

[00:42:44]  Outro

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. Please share this episode with a friend who would benefit from tuning in.I will see you next time.