Eat Blog Talk | Megan Porta

Chelsea has been blogging at Mae’s Menu for 3 years. After a year of posting aimlessly and with no regards to SEO, Chelsea took an SEO course and grew her blog traffic over 2000% in the following year and qualified for the Mediavine ad network within 6 months. Chelsea publishes 4-8 recipes per month and believes in working smarter, not harder. In this episode, Chelsea makes a great case for prioritizing SEO over photography, as improving photos is something you can easily learn as you go. Join us in the episode to hear her best tips for learning SEO and accelerating the growth of your blog.  - Take a course, absorb webinars and do whatever you can to learn about effective keyword research strategies and tools. Investing in good SEO information is worthwhile. - Find the content that has SEO potential and put your focus there in order to work smarter. - Add or improve ingredient shots and process shots to give your content an immediate boost in traction. - It is ALL about the user, so always aim to make your co

Brandon Gaille is an entrepreneur who founded multiple 7 figure businesses in his 20s before becoming disabled by a rare disorder for nearly a decade. He eventually regained his health and started a blog. He grew his blog to over 1 million visitors in just 18 months after his first blog post. Today, he gets 5 million monthly visitors from over 100,000 first-page Google rankings. Brandon has taught his SEO growth hacks to over 20,000 bloggers through his podcast, The Blogging Millionaire. This past year he launched RankIQ, an AI-powered SEO toolset tailored for bloggers and small businesses that have a blog. This year RankIQ was ranked #1 out of all 333 SEO tools by G2 for customer satisfaction and ease of use. In this episode, Brandon shares his incredible story that laid the foundation for his wild success as an entrepreneur. He tackles two SEO-themed topics within the episode, covering the importance of keyword research as well as backlinks. - Why all food bloggers should be doing keyword research. - The bi

Kristi is the blogger behind Carrots and Cookies, as well as a Registered Dietitian and busy working mom of three kids, ages seven to fourteen. Her passion for helping parents understand what it means to feed their kids well has grown as she raises her own. Without going crazy, Kristi found a way of developing easy and practical nutrient-dense recipes that she was proud of and kids love but so do parents too! In this episode, Kristi talks through her experience with receiving an SEO audit with under 100 published recipes. Learn from her experience to determine if an early audit is a good fit for your blogging business. - Learn why she decided to receive an audit so early and how this has positively impacted her business. - Kristi shares 5 main takeaways that she carried away from her audit: accessibility, mobile friendliness, general SEO tactics, backlinks and keyword research. - What to expect post-audit.

Dan has been running Joy to the Food for nearly a year now along with his wife Mika. Both have full time jobs and do everything together for the blog in their off hours. Throughout the process of building this brand, together they have learned a lot about each other and the best way to work together. Dan does the numbers, research and styling and Mika creates the content and handles communication. In this episode, Dan shares his strategy for doing keyword research, involving the use of two powerhouse tools: RankIQ and Keysearch. Using the two in tandem has produced positive results for Joy to the Food. Join us inside the episode to learn the ins and outs of each tool, as well as his overall strategy. - Game-changing parts of Keysearch to pay attention to (that will save you a ton of time). - A thorough deep dive into each tool and when to use which. - Deep dive into the robust RankIQ optimizer and how to best utilize it. - Differences between the tools.

Lauren has been a food blogger at Maritime Glutton for a year and a half and a photographer for about 6 months. When she began her food blogging journey, she was partially through earning a business degree. Lauren landed a marketing job for the government because of her  "unofficial" skillset built while food blogging (photography, SEO, marketing, content planning). Building a skillset to support her blog allowed her to monetize from multiple income streams, while becoming an "expert" in these fields. In this episode, Lauren sheds a ton of light on this long game known as food blogging and how to take advantage of the “marathon” by building on unique skills along the ride. - Mindset matters. Work on this first and foremost. - Place a focus on learning the right things (for you). - Do a lot of trial and error! Researching and experimenting is good. - Tap into the massive amount of free resources available to you. - Create boundaries. Schedule time for yourself to do nothing. (Don’t discount this!) - Find speci

Danielle is host of the Entrepreneur Money Stories podcast, a reformed corporate CFO, and co-owner of Kickstart Accounting, Inc. She helps female entrepreneurs increase their profitability and take-home pay. She’s passionate about helping business owners to not think about accounting as the evil tool needed to file taxes but the best tool in your tool belt to help you build the business of your dreams. In this episode, Danielle teaches food bloggers how to build a profitable business. Come learn her secrets! - Dig into your expenses, first and foremost. Your expenses will tell you what your revenue needs to be. - Focus on staying profitable. Know your numbers! Don’t allow them to intimidate you. - Consider outsourcing certain services and tasks vs. wasting your time and money learning about them.  - Rate your feelings and emotions as you move through your work week. - What gets measured gets managed.

Eden Westbrook is a wife, mom, and entrepreneur. Creator of the food blog Sweet Tea + Thyme in 2016, she has built it from an idea to a six-figure business. Eden’s  blog focuses on multicultural family-friendly dishes and date night ideas for the millennial family. You’ll also find her teaching other food bloggers how to build profitable and successful food blogs through her mastermind course The Food Blogging Mastermind. In this episode, Eden shares how important it is to create that perfect one person who all of your content gets created for. You absolutely must know who you are talking to in order grow your blogging business in the way you desire. - Start with what you love. What do you love to create? What are you passionate about? What does the world need? What makes you money? - Think of your blog like it is a store in a mall. What causes people to come into your store? What would make them stay there and buy your products? - Do not be afraid to be exclusive! This is uncomfortable, but so important. - C

Gregory is the recipe creator, cook, photographer and writer behind the food blog Craving The Yum. In 2016, Gregory was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, achieved 4 years of remission, and today he is working on healing a recent cancer development called Nodular Lymphocyte-Predominant Hodgkin Lymphoma.  Inside this episode, Gregory shares how he was able to take his experience with cancer combined with a global pandemic to dive into blogging and explore new creativity, skills and tastes. - Learn how to take life’s lemons and turn them into productive, creative and fulfilling ventures. - Sometimes it is better to be authentic than to stick with the path you initially set out on. - Keep chiseling away. This is a long game. - Come ready to be inspired!

Jenna is the content creator behind The Urben Life, a food and lifestyle blog where she shares allergy-friendly recipes and travel guides. She is an early adopter within the blogging space, staying on top of tools, platforms and trends that are unique to food content creators. Inside the episode, she shares about trends food bloggers should pay attention to in Q2 of 2022 and provides updates on Q1 trends discussed in Eat Blog Talk episode 266. - Where web stories are at, along with a few little new details. - New updates and features are being added to Facebook reels, which is a sure sign that they aren’t going anywhere. - The opportunity and potential that lies within the marriage of TikTok and Whisk. - Don’t toss Pinterest out the window! - Fill in those question gaps by using Google Question Hub. - What’s in store for audio. - Different ways to use Airtable, outside of content management.

Chef Dennis is the food blogger behind Ask Chef Dennis, as well as a chef, social media enthusiast and travel blogger. He has a passion for sharing restaurant-style recipes and he enjoys figuring out how to get the most out of his new and existing blog content. Inside this episode, Dennis shares his favorite secrets and tips that shed light on SEO, help you prioritize your time and ultimately accelerate your growth. - Get on podcasts. The world needs your voice and this is also a great way to get backlinks. - Learn the ins and outs of optimizing your recipe posts and create a template that you can use on repeat. - Dennis’ most coveted secret weapon is Reconalist, a course that will help you automate your traffic strategy in an individualized fashion. - Remember that you have to invest money in order to make money. - Comb through your email list and don’t worry about vanity metrics. You don’t want people on the list who aren’t list-worthy.

Renee is the blogger and podcaster behind Awesome on 20. She blogs about comforting recipes for witches who love junk food and she hosts a podcast about everyday spirituality and wellbeing. A strength that she carries into all aspects of her business and that has helped her to continue creating and delivering great content, is to never give up. Join us in the episode to hear Renee’s encouragement so that you continue moving forward on the path you’ve started on. - It’s ok to put on your blinders and block out the competition when needed. - Find those people who trigger you in a good way! Scroll back through their feed to discover the elements you’re most connecting with. - Follow your creative ideas to keep from getting bored. - Find supportive peers and make intentional time to discuss goals with them regularly. - Everything becomes possible and magical when you believe in yourself. - Remember that you have desires for a reason!

Stephanie is the food blogger behind StephaniesSweets.com. She went from hobby blogger to business woman after being furloughed from her job. After spending a year focusing on improving her photography skills, it only took 4 months to go from 5k to 50k page sessions and to be accepted into a major ad network. Join us in the episode to learn Stephanie’s growth secrets! - People eat with their eyes, so prioritize constantly improving your photography skills. - Show up consistently where it matters most. - Pinterest is not dead! Figure out how to gain traction on the platform for an extra traffic boost. - Optimize your site and your content. - Learn SEO strategies and dig into keyword research. RankIQ and Keysearch are Stephanie’s secret weapons. - Web stories are a great option to explore for extra traction. - Don’t forget that your mindset matters!

Gina is the recipe developer and party planner behind the food blog Intentional Hospitality. Inside this episode, she talks through her 5-year journey with cancer and how this coincided with being an empty nester and discovering her place in the world both inside and outside of being a blogger. Her creative journey has blossomed into a beautiful blog that has grown very quickly in a year’s time. Come learn from Gina and be inspired! - Connecting with your “why” will nudge you to keep going. - Eventually we need to put our learning into action and start doing. - The success trio that moved Gina from 18k to 112k page views in one year: Eat Blog Talk, RankIQ and web stories. - Community plays such a huge role in getting traction, so find your people!

In this episode, Megan talks through her top 10 takeaways after attending her first in-person blogging conference since the pandemic (over 2 years ago!). In-person gatherings are super valuable for entrepreneurs who “go it alone” most of the time. They are imperative for growth, connection and so much more. - Connecting with people in person is EVERYTHING. - Investing in yourself and your business needs to be a priority. - The amount of self-educating we’ve done collectively since the pandemic started is incredible and that was evident at the conference. - Collaboration is way cooler than competition. There’s room for every single person to shine in their unique way. - Doing scary things is scary, yes, but the rewards far outweigh the fears. - Join us in the episode for the remaining 5 takeaways!

Amy Katz is the creator of Veggies Save The Day where she shares easy vegan recipes inspired by a Mediterranean diet. She feels that so many bloggers discount the power of something that is sitting right in the hands of all of us: EMAIL. She has tapped into strategies to use her email subscriber list to grow her blogging business and in this episode, she shares 5 common mistakes food bloggers make with email marketing and how to fix them. - Stop making it hard for people to sign up! - Send those emails! - Find your voice and be consistent with showing up. - Repurpose your content. You have so much of it! - Use that list to generate revenue.

Amanda is the chef, writer and photographer behind Saporito Kitchen. As a mom of 4 kids, she runs her blogging business efficiently and stays organized by batching her content and her work schedule. In this episode, she gives tangible tips so you can accomplish your goals! - Batching is a power and underutilized resource for bloggers. - It may seem daunting, but with just a bit of planning you can tap into the magic of FLOW that comes from batching both your content and your schedule. - This is a process! Strive for progress, not perfection. - Providing consistent, quality content to your audience is the most important thing.

Shinta is the food blogger behind Caramel Tinted Life. In the last 2 years she has managed to make the blog a steady source of income while having a busy personal life. She has applied what she learned in her previous career as a marketing strategy consultant to her blogging business, and has a streamlined approach to getting results with an SEO focus. - There is a lot going on in the world of SEO, but if growing traffic is a goal for you it is worth learning on- and off-page SEO and implementing it on your blog. - It’s all about your user, all the time. - A focus on social media may lead to constant disappointment. - Invest your time and money in learning SEO in order to future-proof your business. - Create a 2x2 matrix for your business for clarity.

Mika and Dan have been running Joy to the Food since early 2020, while also working full-time jobs. In the process of building their brand, they have learned a ton about criticism, awareness and efficiency. In this episode they share what has worked for them to grow their business quickly! - If schedule freedom is an ultimate goal for you, working with a partner is a great way to accelerate your growth. - Content management tips. - Ways to accept criticism and how to critique gently. - Comedic relief should play a role in the process! - Play on one another’s strengths. - Establish processes, systems and always strive to be more efficient.

Casey Markee is the founder of digital consultancy company MediaWyse. He is a well-known SEO professional who helps bloggers take their businesses to the next level through his expertise and website audits. Listen to this episode to hear about the state of SEO in 2022 in the realm of food blogging. - There have never been more food bloggers than there are now and what this means for you. - Upcoming GDPR issues to have on your radar. - Deferred ad loading defaults and how to navigate what is right for your blog. - Casey addresses some recent inaccurate SEO advice given to food bloggers. - So much more gold inside the episode. See you there!

Alison delivers whole-food plant-based recipes on her blog Keeping the Peas. She has streamlined her business and figured out a way to work much more efficiently by using a handful of tools. Inside the episode she shares what has helped her work smarter, so come learn from her so you can work smarter, too! - Keysearch: A robust and affordable comprehensive keyword research tool. - RankIQ: A super powerful keyword research tool, helping you to save time and get a page 1 ranking on Google quickly. - Canva: Optimize your images and graphics most effectively by upgrading to the Pro package. - Convertkit/Convertpro: A powerful email marketing and pop-up creation tool combo.