Eat Blog Talk | Megan Porta

In episode 459, Allison Ferraro teaches us the importance of not making excuses when it comes to reaching our goals, and other easy mindset hacks to grow our blogs while keeping a healthy work-life balance. Allison is the recipe developer and food photographer behind the baking blog, Always Eat Dessert. What began as a fun hobby back in 2014 while she pursued a career in advertising became a much-needed creative outlet when she left her job to be a stay at home mom and is now a full-fledged business sharing scratch baking recipes and baking tips. Allison lives in Philadelphia, PA with her husband, Alex, and their two children. In this episode, you’ll learn how to cultivate the right mindset to build a successful blog while staying sane amidst various responsibilities, including goal-setting tips and focusing on a lucrative income stream before you diversify. - Stop making excuses. Don’t wait for the perfect moment to make your dreams come true. - Prioritize your goals and focus on just one at a time. - Go ahe

In this bonus episode, Megan chats to Melissa Erdelac about why advanced food bloggers are falling through the cracks and how to access the info we actually need. In particular, they explain how their new initiative, The Flavor Media Summit, can help. It is a two day workshop-style event taking place May, 2nd and 3rd of 2024 in Denver. Their goal is to ensure that attendees actually walk away with a TON of value information. Given that food blogging has made quite the transformation over the past decade, going from narrative, creative, fun hobby sites to a massive income-driven industry, it’s easy to become overwhelmed, and sometimes stagnant, as you progress along your journey. While content creation can be a solo-preuneuer endeavor, conferences have been the catalyst for countless collaborative connections. Plus, attending an in-person event causes a major trajectory shift in mindset. Inspiration from others’ success unleashes our own personal brands’ potential! However, once Megan and Melissa’s businesses

In episode 458, Megan chats to Laura Scherb about how Substack can be used as a replacement for a blog to monetize our recipes or as an additional tool to drive traffic. Laura is a food photographer, stylist, and writer based in Chicago, IL. Since 2017, she’s been taking pictures of food. Laura has created imagery for food blogs, restaurants, CPG brands, and cookbooks. Laura’s photography and styling have been featured on The FeedFeed, The TODAY Show, Esquire, The Spruce Eats, Eater, and FoodGawker. Aside from food photography, she’s passionate about travel, reading, writing, her cats, natural wine, and her nieces and nephew. Laura also runs a newsletter over on Substack where she enjoys talking about all of those things. In this episode, you’ll learn how to get started on Substack, how much money can you expect to make and who will benefit most from using the platform. - What is the difference between an email list and a Substack? - Share recipes, stories and opinions with your audience without worrying abou

In episode 457, Andrea Mut explains why she sold her bakery to become a food blogger and how to deal with being overwhelmed as we manage Google updates and other unexpected factors that affect our blog’s traffic. Andrea's culinary journey began at age 14 when she worked in her grandparents' three restaurants. She later received formal Chef's training, and later specialized in Baking & Pastry Arts. Throughout her career, Andrea gained experience in various restaurants and bakeries, as well as teaching cooking and baking classes at both recreational and college level. Her most significant achievement was owning a successful bakery in Toronto, which she sold in 2018. In 2019, she launched her blog, My Pocket Kitchen. A few months later Andrea's blog shifted its focus when she embarked on a one-year weight loss journey. Today, Andrea shares her culinary expertise and commitment to a healthier lifestyle, offering easy-to-make, nutritious recipes with a touch of restaurant quality. In this episode, you’ll learn

In episode 456, Megan chats to Nick Minnick about how Chicory’s seamless, contextual shopping experience can help new and veteran bloggers monetize their blogs. As the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Chicory, the leading contextual commerce advertising platform, Nick Minnick strategically builds, fosters, and oversees relationships with key recipe publishers, grocery retailers, and retail media networks. His purview spans 5,200+ recipe sites, including the Food Network, Delish, and Food52, as well as *70+ leading retailers, such as Kroger, Walmart, and Ahold Delhaize. Minnick is hyper-focused on developing partnerships that fuel synergies between Chicory’s audiences and enhance the impact of Chicory’s contextual commerce advertising solutions for retailers and CPG brands. Minnick brings over 20 years of sales and marketing experience in the retail, CPG, shopper marketing and digital advertising sectors to his role at Chicory. Prior to joining Chicory, Nick advised retailers on their digital coupon

In episode 455, Megan chats to Alessandra Macaluso about following our intuition and why she chose her niche of seasonal eating and the impact it has had on her blog and life.  Alessandra Macaluso is the author of What a Good Eater!, Lucy the Bee and the Healing Honey, and The Real-Deal Bridal Bible. She’s also a Qigong and Tai Chi instructor, and overall wellness advocate. Her work has been featured in several anthologies which can all be found on her Amazon author page, and she has contributed to The Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, TODAY Parents, and many other online publications. Alessandra is a northerner-turned-southerner, enjoying the south with her children, Penelope and Ciro, and her husband, Greg. In this episode, you’ll learn more about Alessandra’s niche of seasonal eating and its positive effects on her blog and life as well as tips for finding your own direction, following your intuition and the importance of niching down into yourself. - Find a direction you'd like to take in food blogging (i.e.

In episode 454, Brooke Burks teaches us tangible strategies to manage a full-time job while growing a successful blog. Brooke Burks is the owner and head dishwasher at TheButteredHome.com. She started her blog in 2018 at the urging of a friend. In the last 5 years, she has juggled this HUGE learning curve all while working full time, being a mother to two girls and now a grandmother to a new grandson. She is an expert in consistency and planning for steady growth all while managing another career. In this episode, you’ll learn the most important strategies for growing a blog while managing a full-time job, including how to stay consistent, plan content effectively and schedule time off. - When you just start blogging, Google looks for consistency.  - Commit to a posting schedule that fits in with your full-time job. - Content planning can help you publish consistently. - A plan only works if you stick to it. - Take time off to avoid burn out. - Be ALL IN. If you decide to commit to this, be patient and ask fo

In episode 453, Megan chats to Danielle Wolter about how to recognize and deal with burnout by learning how to manage your time and priorities. Danielle has been a food blogger for almost 7 years at Went Here 8 This. She spent the first 2.5 years struggling not knowing anything about blogging. Then Danielle dove into learning about keyword research and grew her blog to about 175K visitors/month (currently) while starting and growing 2 other businesses and working full-time. The blog focuses on creating internationally inspired recipes as well as a strong focus on sous vide cooking as a niche.  In this episode, Danielle shares how she manages her priorities and time, including the importance of quality business coaching and hiring out, so that she can take care of herself and avoid burnout. - Stop scrambling to try and do everything yourself to "save" money. - Working non-stop with no freedom can lead to burnout. - Learn to prioritize what is working and cut out unnecessary tasks. - Hire out some areas so you

In episode 452, Megan Johnson teaches us about the importance of mindset in the growth and success of our blogs and businesses. Megan took a big leap in 2021 and quit her job to become a full-time food blogger. Megan was super optimistic and excited, but then, in her first year, she failed... hard. Megan realized she had the wrong strategy. On top of that, when she didn't see success, she took that very personally. Megan has made it a priority in 2023 to fix her mindset and start pushing the limits for success with her food blog. In this episode, you’ll learn why business success is not only dependent on your SEO strategy, how you drive traffic to your website or your email marketing campaigns, but also on your outlook on life and business mindset. - Make a list of everything you want to change and how you can make it happen. - Books and podcasts can teach you how to think positively.  - When things don’t go according to plan, give yourself grace. - Be grateful for what you have. - Acknowledge your accomplish

In episode 451, Megan chats to Wan Na Chun about how we can develop more nutrient dense recipes, giving our readers healthier options without specific diet talk. Wan Na Chun is a registered dietitian and personal trainer. Her blog, One Pot Wellness, is focused on prioritizing self-care through nutrition, physical health, and mental health for the busy working professional. In this episode, you’ll learn more about adding nutrient dense ingredients to your recipes as well as other important aspects to consider when developing healthier meals for your blog. - Why is it important to create more nutrient forward recipes? - What to consider when using words such as ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’. - Make recipes more nutrient-dense by using easy swaps, for example coconut sugar or dried fruits for a natural sweetener or oat flour instead of refined flour. - Add cultural recipes (e.g. Mediterranean, Indian, Japanese) that focus on nutrient density such as fiber, olive oil, omega 3s. - Should you claim cultural recipes are

In episode 450, Rebecca Eisenberg teaches us practical and unique ways to repurpose our content on social media and on our blogs, including what to do if our content goes viral. Rebecca is a journalist turned food blogger who built a career at media and tech companies like Buzzfeed, Upworthy, Medium, and Headspace, before launching The Practical Kitchen in 2019. In 2020 she got her pastry certification at Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, graduating as valedictorian of her class. The Practical Kitchen is a food blog geared toward ambitious beginner cooks and bakers, providing lots of in-depth tutorials and tips to give readers the confidence to try new things in the kitchen. The Practical Kitchen is known for unfussy, straightforward recipes, and is particularly well known for the viral mini focaccia recipe as well as other mini bread recipes that use just one cup of flour. In this episode, you’ll learn exactly what Rebecca does to repurpose her content, including how she films her recipes in order to use it

In episode 449, Megan chats to Kayla Burton about the hurdles she had to overcome in order to become a full-time blogger, quitting her corporate 9-5 job, and ways in which we can make our own blogging journeys easier. Kayla founded the baking blog, Broken Oven Baking Company, in May 2020 after a few months of sharing baked treats on Instagram. She didn’t know much about blogging when she started, but she got eager to dive in and learn as much and as fast as she could. At the end of April 2021, Kayla left a corporate job to pursue blogging full-time. A year later, Kayla was excited to be accepted into Mediavine. Today, you’ll find Kayla coaching other food bloggers to help them achieve their business goals.  In this episode, Kayla shares the details of how she transitioned seamlessly from her 9-5 job into a full-time blogging career, including learning how to shift her mindset to overcome fear, what she did before she quit her 9-5, how she dealt with her finances and picking the right website theme and host fr

In episode 448, Michelle Morey teaches us how to avoid getting discouraged while blogging, especially when we experience challenges like slow traffic or seeing other bloggers succeed faster. Born and raised as a Mainer, Michelle is a stay-at-home mom who started blogging right before the pandemic. She’s been working with food since graduating high school in 2004 and has successfully turned her love of food into a passionate business. Today, Michelle and her husband whom she met at the bakers they both worked at share a love of all baked goods and a love to entertain and explore beautiful Maine outdoors. In this episode, you’ll learn how to avoid becoming discouraged when you experience obstacles in your blogging journey, covering topics from finding an inspirational keyword research tool to the importance of time off and not comparing yourself to others. - Find a keyword research tool that takes the load off when it comes to SEO. - Rank IQ is great for planning content - use their keyword library when you jus

In episode 447, Dalia Escobar teaches us the Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR) method to find low-competition keywords that will increase our traffic by helping posts rank quickly. After bidding farewell to an engineering career, Dalia wholeheartedly embraced her blogging dreams and embarked on a new path. Cooking has always been a lifelong passion, which motivated her to open several restaurants, despite not achieving the financial success she had hoped for. However, this setback served as a catalyst for her transition into the world of blogging. Initially, Dalia began with a personal finance blog, dedicating three years to learning and refining her skills until finally, she felt confident enough to pursue her true passion and establish a food blog. In this episode, you'll learn how you can increase your traffic using the Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR) method and how to use it in combination with other keyword research tools. - How does the Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR) work?  - Why does it increase traffic to your blog?

In episode 446, Megan chats to Karin Collins about dealing with a chronic condition while building a food blog and how we can do the same by overcoming our own challenges. Karin started her blog with a severe disability. Even though she has MS, she turned her blog into a success so she knows anyone can do it. Karin is a blogger as well as a social media manager for bloggers with over 2 million followers. She is proud to also run a video business as well that shoots food videos. Karin added the title blog coach to her list of skills and offerings. She does it all from a wheelchair. In this episode, she shares how she was able to overcome her health challenges while growing a successful blog and still being able to spend time with her family and lead a balanced life. - Can you keep up with the food blogging industry while dealing with severe life challenges? - Should you be truthful to your audience about serious health issues? - How do you deal with negative comments? - Make the workload more manageable by out

In episode 445, Megan talks about how you can experience a transformation in your business in 2024 by joining the Eat Blog Talk mastermind experience. Inside the episode you will learn about: The definition of a successful mastermind group. How the EBT mastermind differs from other groups. Information about investment and discounts, including a value analysis. How to determine if you are a good fit for the group. Information about how to get started. Audio testimonials from previous and current members of the Eat Blog Talk mastermind groups. Head to the EBT mastermind page for more information and to read in-depth case studies and to apply to be in the group in 2024!

In episode 444, Jessie-Sierra Ross teaches us how to book TV food segments and why this will help us grow our audience and expand our brand. Jessie-Sierra Ross is a former professional ballerina turned food blogger and home entertaining specialist. A self-taught cook and food stylist from Boston, Jessie is the personality behind her blog, Straight to the Hips, Baby. Known for her step-by-step recipes, easy elegance, and light and bright photography style. Working alongside her photographer husband, Jessie creates food and drink recipes for her blog, and features in magazines, as well as on TV, via cooking segments on NBC, PBS, and BloomTV Network. Jessie-Sierra is currently working on her latest creative project, a floral-inspired cookbook with Schiffer Publishing. In this episode, you’ll learn everything about appearing on TV to share your recipes as a food blogger, including how to find a producer and how to best prepare for your appearance on live TV. - Why is getting on TV important for food bloggers? - T

In episode 443, Megan chats to Michelle Hauck about copywriting for food bloggers, including how to become a copywriter and hiring tips if you’re looking to outsource your copywriting. Michelle is a copywriter for food bloggers so they can focus on their favorite part - creating, testing, and sharing their recipes. Michelle loves what she does because it helps overwhelmed foodies find joy in their business again. Many bloggers aren't aware that they can have someone write SEO packed and engaging blogs for them. That's where Michelle comes in. In this episode, you’ll learn how to start a career in copywriting and if you’re a food blogger looking to outsource, you’ll find out how the process works. - Should I become a copywriter? - What is the difference between copywriting and content writing? - What steps should you take to become a copywriter? - Is SEO important for copywriting? - What do copywriters charge? - If you’re looking to outsource, what should you look for in a copywriter?  - Effective copywriting

In episode 442, Megan chats to Geo Banks-Weston about using social media, specifically Instagram, to springboard the development of a blog and/or podcast. Geo Banks-Weston is a food and culture blogger, influencer, and recipe developer based in Philadelphia. In 2014, he launched his blog, Geo's Table, where he shares recipes rooted in the African diaspora, as well as highlights black-owned businesses, and explores food's connection to Black culture. In 2019, he started his podcast, Table 86 to showcase underrepresented creators transforming the food and beverage industry. His work has been featured in Food52, The Washington Post, The Spruce Eats, and Philadelphia Magazine and he currently serves on the boards of PA Eats and Eat the Culture, combating food insecurity and supporting Black culinary entrepreneurs, respectively. In this episode, you’ll learn how you can transfer the skills you gain by building a social media profile to grow your blog/podcast. - Instagram (and other social media platforms) can insp

In episode 441, Rob Finkelstein teaches us about supplier diversity and its importance in the recipe development/food photography marketplace. Rob is a lawyer, practicing for over 20 years in NYC. In 2017, Rob decided to pursue his passion of baking and went to culinary school for pastry arts. After graduating, not wanting to leave the law, Rob started blogging and found Cinnamon Schtick, which was also his entry into food photography. He worked with a number of brands and came to represent lots of food photographers in connection with their contracts and business set ups. Rob also spent more than 10 years as a volunteer with the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) where he was Chair of Supplier Diversity for New York and also a Co-Chair of the National Legal Industry Council, facilitating opportunities for LGBT owned businesses with majority owned companies. In this episode, you’ll learn what is meant by supplier diversity and why it may be beneficial to your blog and business. - Does supplier diversit