The Vine Podcast: Recent Episodes
Madison Wetherill
The Vine Podcast is a show designed for food bloggers who want to spend more time creating content for their audience and less time feeling overwhelmed on how to make their brand and website work for them. Each episode is designed to give you strategies and tools to build your brand and website and get back to why you started a food blog in the first place. Join host Madison Wetherill as we explore how to build a food blog that serves you and your audience.
You've built a successful food blog, you're monetized, you're seeing great traffic, and you know this business is worth investing in. But is your website reflecting the level you're operating at?
This week, I'm sharing everything about our custom web design package—the full experience for established food bloggers who are ready to take their entire business to the next level. I'll walk you through what's included, who it's for, and the game-changing addition we're making for 2026.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Who custom web design is really for (and how it's different from our Crafted package)
- What makes custom different: full collaboration, custom strategy, and everything designed in mockups first
- The complete breakdown of what's included—from branding foundations to custom blocks
- What's NEW for 2026: Our strategic category audit (and why this matters SO much for SEO)
- Why categories are such a big deal and how we're taking this burden off your plate
- The key difference between "done with you" and "done for you"
- The full process, timeline, and what to expect when working with us
If you've been wondering whether it's time to invest in a fully custom brand and website—or you're curious about the difference between semi-custom and custom—this episode is for you.
Every single custom client tells us they wish they hadn't waited. If you're an established blogger ready for your website to match the authority you've already built, this could be the year to make it happen.
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
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Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2026:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
If your website feels like a carbon copy of every other food blog out there—or worse, you're embarrassed to share it because it doesn't match the quality of your content—this episode is for you.
I'm pulling back the curtain on our Crafted package, our semi-custom web design solution that gets you a professional, unique website without the custom price tag or timeline. I'll walk you through exactly what's included, who it's for, and how it solves the most common website problems food bloggers face.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why your pre-made theme might be holding you back from growth
- What makes Crafted different from templates and fully custom designs
- The exact pages and features included in the package
- Our 4-5 week process from start to finish
- The truth about what happens to your traffic and RPMs when you switch themes (spoiler: it's not scary!)
- Who Crafted is perfect for (and who should wait)
If you've been band-aiding your website together with random plugins and workarounds, spending hours trying to make simple changes, or feeling stuck between "this is working" and "this could be so much better"—this episode will show you there's a better way.
Ready to stop wasting time on your website and start showcasing your content the way it deserves? Let's dive in!
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2026:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
If you've felt burned by brand partnerships in the past or believe your blog isn't "big enough" for sponsorships, this episode will challenge everything you think you know about working with brands. Justin Moore has facilitated over $5 million in brand partnerships and he shares why direct brand relationships can be more profitable than working through networks alone. He also reveals his framework for turning one-off deals into recurring partnerships and shares why your audience size matters less than you think when positioning yourself to work with brands.
About Justin:
Justin Moore is a Sponsorship Coach, author, and the founder of Creator Wizard, a school & community that teaches you how to find & negotiate your dream brand partnerships so that you stop leaving thousands on the table. His latest book, "Sponsor Magnet," offers a succinct distillation of his ideas and frameworks for securing successful brand collaborations. Along with his wife April, he has been a full-time creator since 2014 and has personally made over $5M working with brands. He also ran an influencer marketing agency for 7 years that helped other creators earn millions more. Justin brings a very unique perspective because not only has he been a creator in the trenches doing sponsorships for years but by running an agency, he has insider knowledge behind how big brands choose which influencers to partner with and why they pass on others. Justin's mission is to enable creators big and small to land 1 million paid brand partnerships by 2032. Key points from this episode:
- Why Your Past Brand Partnership Experiences Might Have Sucked (And Why That Doesn't Matter)
- The Mindset Shift: You're Not Just a Creator, You're a Consultant
- Should You Work With Brands That Have Never Done Influencer Marketing?
- From One-Off Deal to Recurring Partnership: The Strategy
- The Pricing Question: What Should You Actually Charge?
- Creative Deal Structures That Turn Into Long-Term Partnerships
- Why You Need to Follow Up (Even When It Feels Awkward)
- The Bottom Line
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
If you've been treating your welcome email sequence like an afterthought—something you'll "get to eventually"—I have news for you: you're missing out on the single best opportunity to build real connection with your subscribers.
In a world where AI-generated content is everywhere and food bloggers are competing for attention like never before, your welcome sequence isn't just nice to have. It's your brand hub, your first impression, and quite possibly the most important automated piece of your email marketing strategy.
Email marketing strategist Allea Grummert recently broke down exactly why welcome sequences matter so much right now, and how to create one that actually differentiates you from every other food blogger out there. Here's what you need to know.
About Allea: Owner of Duett, Allea Grummert is an email marketing strategist, copywriter and tech expert who helps bloggers and content creators make a lasting first impression through automated welcome & nurture sequences. She helps her clients build intentional email strategies that engage readers, build brand loyalty and optimize conversions for sales and site traffic. Allea is the host of the Happy Subscribers podcast, holds the coveted spot as the email marketing industry expert for the Food Blogger Pro membership community, is a Recommended Expert through NerdPress, a trusted Mediavine Partner and recognized as a Kit Approved Expert. Key points we discuss in this episode:
- The Wake-Up Call: Your Subscribers Don't Know You
- What Makes a Welcome Sequence Your "Brand Hub"
- How Welcome Sequences Combat AI and Information Overload
- What Actually Goes in a Welcome Sequence?
- The One Thing That Changes Everything: A Welcome Video
- Handling Transactional Subscribers (Print Pass, Creator Network, Save This Recipe)
- Your List Size Doesn't Matter (Your Engagement Does)
- The Bottom Line: Your Welcome Sequence Matters More Than You Think
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
AI tools have revolutionized content creation workflows, but many bloggers still struggle with how to implement them effectively without losing their authentic voice. Aleka, creator of Learn with Aleka, shares her five-stage framework for using AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to streamline everything from keyword research to content repurposing. She explains how AI has helped her break free from the monotonous blog post structures that were making all food content sound the same, while cutting her writing time in half. You'll discover specific prompts for generating SEO-optimized outlines, uncovering content gaps your competitors are missing, and turning one blog post into multiple pieces of content across different channels. About Aleka: Aleka Shunk is an educator, course creator, and former middle school teacher who specializes in helping bloggers master keyword research to increase traffic and revenue. She is the founder of 'Learn With Aleka', Formally 'Keywords With Aleka', which is a suite of SEO-focused courses that provide clear, actionable strategies for ranking higher on Google, tracking keywords and using AI to blog smarter. Drawing on over a decade of experience in education and content creation, Aleka has taught thousands of bloggers how to identify high-value keywords, optimize existing content, and create posts that consistently attract the right audience. When she’s not teaching or creating content, Aleka enjoys cooking, entertaining, and spending time with her husband and two sons in Florida. Key points we discuss in this episode:
- The Pre-AI Content Creation Struggle
- A 5-Stage Framework for AI-Powered Content Creation
- The Real-World Impact: From 3 Hours to 90 Minutes
- Smart Prompting Strategies That Actually Work
- Starting Small: Where to Begin
- Beyond Content Creation: Other AI Applications
- The Voice Mode Game-Changer
- Maintaining Your Authentic Voice
- The Future of Content Creation
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Q4 is about to bring you the biggest influx of new visitors all year. These aren't your regular readers - they're people discovering you for the first time through holiday recipe searches. This is your chance to turn one-time visitors into loyal followers, but only if your personal brand is ready to shine. Today we're talking about how to make sure your personality comes through when it matters most. Key points I'll cover in this episode:
- The Q4 Traffic Surge: Your Biggest Opportunity of the Year
- The Personality Gap That's Killing Your Conversions
- Your Brand Voice: The Bridge Between Platforms
- Strategic Ways to Infuse Your Brand Into Q4 Content
- The Q4 Content Audit: Your Action Plan
- Small Changes, Big Impact
- Making This Quarter Count
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Ever feel like you're spending way too much time styling and editing your food photos, only to end up with images you aren't thrilled with? Today I'm talking with Melodee Fiske from Pretty Focused, and she's completely changing the game when it comes to food photography for bloggers. You'll learn if you're spending too much time editing photos, overthinking your styling and she'll teach you how to shift your mindset from stressful photoshoots to streamlined. If you've been overthinking your food photography or feeling stuck in a rut, this conversation is going to be so helpful for you. Key points I'll cover in this episode:
- The Recipe is Always the Hero
- Simplify Your Styling Approach
- Master the "Oven to Served" Method
- Lighting and Composition Trump Styling
- The Tutorial-Based Photography Mindset
- Streamline Your Photo Shoot Process
- Common Angles and When to Use Them
- The Value is in the Variety
Melodee Fiske is a food photography educator and founder of Pretty Focused, where she has helped thousands turn their passion into profitable, work-from-home businesses. As a former teacher and full-time photographer, she built her own dream career and now teaches others how to do the same. They have recently launched a brand-new edition of Pretty Focused and this time, its built specifically for food bloggers. It’s designed to help bloggers take better photos of their own recipes using the camera they already have. Whether they just getting started or have been blogging for years, they are going to love hearing how this new program can help them save time, build confidence, and elevate their content.
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
If you feel like you're doing everything right, you're posting consistently, you're optimizing your blog posts for SEO, you're engaging on social media and building your email list, but you're not seeing your brand grow, this episode is for you.
The real difference between staying stuck and growth is actually more about your personal brand than it is about your fonts or your colors that you choose.
Today we're tackling 3 branding mistakes that are blocking the connections you need to grow.
The 3 Mistakes we'll cover in this episode are:
- Thinking Your Logo IS Your Brand
- Showing Up Differently on Social Media VS Your Website
- Hiding Behind Your Blog Instead of Building a Personal Brand
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Here’s the truth nobody talks about: a beautiful website doesn’t automatically equal a successful food blog. In fact, some of the best looking websites I see are making critical mistakes that could be hurting their traffic. Today we’re diving into 3 design mistakes that look harmless but are actually costing you readers and traffic over time.
The 3 Mistakes we'll cover in this episode are:
- Your Homepage Fails the 3-Second Test
- Your Categories Are Confusing Google (And Your Readers)
- Your Homepage Is Just a Blog Feed
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
When was the last time you actually looked at your recipe index page? If you're like most food bloggers, it's probably been a while – and there's a good chance it's not doing what you think it should be doing.
Your recipe index might be one of the most misunderstood pages on your entire website. Many food bloggers treat it like a traditional recipe box, trying to catalog every single recipe they've ever created. But here's the thing: that approach is actually working against you, both for your readers and for Google.
If your recipe index feels overwhelming, confusing, or just plain ineffective, you're not alone. Today we're going to break down exactly what your recipe index should be doing and give you three simple changes that will make this page work harder for your blog.
Key Points in this episode:
- The truth about recipe indexes (it's not what you think!)
- Focus on categories, not individual recipes
- Make it easy for users to actually find what they want
- Putting it all together: Your Recipe Index Action Plan
- The Bottom Line: Simple wins
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
If you have ever felt stuck on the hamster wheel of content creation and struggled to grow your business, you're definitely not alone! Today Bjork Ostrom from Food Blogger Pro and Pinch of Yum joins me to talk about the transition we all face of going from maker to manager. He shares a delegation framework, how to identify which tasks to never outsource and his approach to getting 1% better every day.
Bjork is the chief tech consultant / business advisor / taste tester at Pinch of Yum, the food blog created by his wife, Lindsay. Day-to-day, you’ll mostly see him around Food Blogger Pro, the membership site and podcast they created to share what they've learned with other food bloggers. Bjork and Lindsay live in Minnesota with their daughters Solvi and Lena, and dog Sage. He can usually be found with a coffee in hand and is a terrible chef.
Key Points in this episode:
- The Great Transition: From Maker to Manager
- Starting your delegation journey
- Advanced Delegation: The Art of Intentional Ignorance
- The philosophy that changes everything
- Practical tips for daily improvement
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Have you ever looked back at your blogging journey and thought, "If only I knew then what I know now"? If you've been blogging for more than a year, you've probably had that exact moment of reflection. The food blogging industry has transformed dramatically over the past decade, and what worked five years ago might not be the best strategy today.
Whether you're just starting out or you've been blogging for years, these nine strategies can help you build a more sustainable, profitable, and engaging food blog that truly connects with your audience.
Listen along as I share my honest take on what I'd do differently if I were starting a food blog from scratch today!
The 9 points I discuss:
- Start on self-hosted WordPress from day one
- Build your audience with strategic opt-ins
- Email your list consistently and more often
- Focus on video content
- Connect with your audience and understand their pain points
- Create a system for maintaining content updates
- Hire out writing sooner
- Build multiple revenue streams from the beginning
- Build authority through podcasting or YouTube
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
If you've thought about creating digital products to diversify your revenue streams, you're going to love this week's episode. I'm chatting with Emily Baksa, a food copywriter and content strategist, about creating digital products that diversify your revenue and reconnect you with the creative joy of food blogging.
She unpacks a three-part framework that can transform your digital product launches — from creating offers your audience actually wants and building engaged email audiences to implementing marketing that connects rather than sells.
Vine Podcast Exclusive! Get your FREE Digital Product Income Calculator from Emily today!
Key Points:
- Why digital products matter for food bloggers now
- What are we talking about when we say "digital products"?
- The 3 reasons your digital product launch didn't succeed
- Digital products as an evolution, not a one-time effort
- Be bold and try again
Related Episodes:
EP 175: Exact Steps to Create a Digital Product ASAP
EP 190: Monetizing Your Expertise Through Digital Products with Jillian Leslie
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Your personal brand is the only thing truly setting you apart from countless others in your niche. Yet so many food bloggers hide behind their websites, creating a disconnect between who they really are and what their audience experiences online. Today, I'm sharing how to stop hiding and start authentically aligning your website with your personal brand.
Today we're talking about how your website should support your personal brand - the element that truly sets you apart in a crowded niche of food bloggers.
Key Points:
- What is your personal brand (and why does it matter)?
- The About Page: Your brand's foundation
- Bridging the Gap: Aligning your website with your social media persona
- Weaving your story throughout your content
- The power of consistency & regular audits
- Your Challenge: Conduct a personal brand audit
Related Episodes:
EP 199: Risk Proof Your Business Through Personal Branding
Related content:
See how we can help you refine your personal brand!
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Are you tired of chasing SEO trends and algorithm updates without seeing sustainable growth? As food bloggers, we often get caught up in technical SEO tweaks and site speed optimizations, but what if there's a more holistic approach that could lead to long-term success?
In this insightful conversation with SEO expert Jeff Hawley, we explore why the most successful food bloggers are shifting from purely technical SEO tactics to a more comprehensive content strategy focused on building topical authority and creating a memorable brand. Let's dive into how this approach can transform your blog from just another recipe site to a trusted authority in your niche!
Key Points:
- Why traditional SEO advice falls short for food bloggers
- Building a long-term brand strategy (not just content)
- The 75/25 Rule for Content Planning
- Building topical authority through strategic content
- Balancing new content vs. updating existing posts
- Practical tools for implementing this approach
- Moving Forward: A Balanced Approach to SEO
Related Episodes:
EP 154: 5 Ways to Boost Your SEO This Year
EP 207: SEO Still Matters in 2025 with Carl Ross
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Have you ever made an emotional decision that impacted your food blog? It can be so easy to chase the next big thing for your business, but you could find yourself frustrated with the lack of results. In today's episode I'll share how you can shift away from emotion based decision making and focus on making data based decisions that will serve your business and help it grow! If you're tired of feeling like you are spinning your wheels, this episode will help you determine and focus on the things that move the needle forward for your food blog. Key Points:
- The Emotional Decision Trap
- Data points you should be tracking
- Creating a framework for data-based decisions
- Combining emotion and data for smart decisions
- When to hire help
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Is your Instagram strategy draining your creative energy? When today's guest, Kimberly Espinel realized almost all her content had become promotional, she took a bold step back - and discovered a better way forward. We're exploring what actually works on Instagram in 2025, from finding the right mix of content types to maintaining authenticity while growing your audience. If you're tired of feeling like every post needs to drive traffic or sales, you'll learn how to create content that not only performs well but keeps you creatively energized. Key Points:
- The Wake-Up Call
- The power of personal connection
- Creating a sustainable content strategy
- Instagram trends for 2025 and beyond
- The path forward
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
If you've been wondering whether AI could help or hurt your food blog, this episode will transform how you think about AI as a business tool. Join me for a great conversation with Hanelore Dumitrache as we dive into practical ways AI can streamline your workflow—from cutting blog post writing time by 75%, to uncovering hidden patterns in your analytics. Plus, you'll discover how to use this technology in a way that actually strengthens your brand, without sacrificing what makes your content unique. Key Points:
- Ethical AI implementation for food bloggers
- Streamlining content creation with AI
- Leveraging AI for analytics and growth
- Additional AI applications for food bloggers
- Embracing the future of food blogging
Exclusive Offer!
Receive 50% OFF Hanelore's ebook "AI for Food Bloggers!" Click the link below and enter discount code VINEPODCAST at checkout!
AI for Food Bloggers Deal
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
What happens when you commit to posting Instagram Reels every day for 90 straight days? Today I’m chatting to a blogger who came up with the challenge to create and share daily recipe videos without batching content in advance. You’ll hear what she experienced instead of massive follower growth like you might expect! Whether you’re feeling disconnected from your audience or stuck in a content rut, you’ll learn practical strategies for how to break through those challenges without burning out. Key Points:
- The Challenge: Going all in
- Breaking free from perfectionism
- Unexpected results
- Building authentic connections
- Content creation tips
- The power of consistency
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Wondering if SEO still matters for food blogs in 2025? Despite what you might have heard, Google remains the largest source of traffic on the internet, and food blogs are still ranking prominently in search results. Today, I sit down with Carl Ross from Uku Digital for a discussion all about what's really working right now, from smart content strategy to the technical elements that can make or break your site's performance!
Key Points:
- Core web vitals deep dive
- Common technical issues
- Advanced technical SEO
- Future-proofing your site
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Are you wondering if Pinterest is still worth your time in 2025? Here's the truth - Pinterest isn't just another social media platform, it's a powerful search engine that can drive consistent traffic to your site for months or even years. In today's episode, I sit down for a really insightful conversation with Kate Ahl from Simple Pin Media about breaking down what actually matters for success on Pinterest, which metrics to track and how to turn traffic into email subscribers.
Key Points:
- The evolution of Pinterest
- Current strategy deep dive
- Future-proofing your Pinterest strategy
Related content:
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
If the past year has felt like a roller coaster in the blogging world, you are certainly not alone! It seems like every week there was a new threat to the industry and the stability of this career we love so much. With a new year it is a fresh start and the chance to navigate the waters a bit differently this year. In today's episode, I'll share some reflections over the past year and some action steps you can take to navigate the food blogging industry this year! Key Points:
- Time tracking & time blocking
- Embracing a CEO mindset
- Protecting the asset in your business
- Taking time to experiment
Related content:
Sign up for my Blogger Playbook course today!
Get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2025:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Over the last two years we started offering a new way to redesign your website with us called Crafted. These are semi-custom websites that allow bloggers like you to get a one of a kind look without the hefty price tag of a custom website. But if you’ve ever wondered what exactly semi-custom means and whether it’s right for you, this episode is for you. I’ll share exactly what we mean by semi-custom, how our approach differs from others in the industry and ultimately whether it’s a good fit for you or it isn’t. Let’s jump in. Key Points:
- What does semi-custom mean?
- What about our approach is sem-custom?
- Which parts of your project are custom?
Related content:
The Crafted Website Experience
Sign up to get podcast updates sent directly to you!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Have you ever gone to a food blog and been super frustrated by the experience you had on their website? Creating a solid user experience is something I think we all want for our readers, but what do we need to do to make sure that happens? Today we’re diving into some best practices, both things to do and not to do for better user experience. I’ll share 6 key best practices of how to make sure your readers have a quality experience on your website and want to come back for more of your content. Key Points:
- Limiting intrusions and distractions
- Having a Table of Contents for Long Form Posts
- Making your content readable
- Having multiples of the same thing
- Checking your website on mobile
- Adding helpful and unique pieces of content
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Sign up to receive my FREE Blogger Playbook guide today!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Are you a food blogger feeling stuck in the cycle of relying solely on ad revenue? You pour your heart into creating new recipes and improving your food photography, but your bank account may not be reflecting the hard work you put in.
In today's episode, I’ll be sharing over 10 ways you can monetize your food blog outside of traditional ad revenue. These income streams are a great way to increase your income as a blogger without having to rely solely on increasing traffic to increase your ad revenue. By the end of this episode, I’m sure you will have at least one or two new ideas to diversify your revenue streams and increase your income streams as a food blogger.
Key Points:
- Creating digital & physical products
- Monetizing your expertise
- Affiliate marketing & brand deals
Related Episodes:
Episode 190: Monetizing Your Expertise Through Digital Products with Jillian Leslie
My Interview on Food Blogger Pro
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Do you ever feel like there are not enough hours in the day to get everything you need to get done? Maybe you decide to hire an assistant, thinking that will solve all of your problems! But now you have a bigger problem. Now you have to give your assistants tasks and feedback and now you have more on your plate.
If you have ever found yourself in this position, you have been the bottleneck in your business.
Today I’m going to unpack a few ways to untangle this web and help create a more seamless experience for you and your team.
Key Points:
- Give ownership not delegation
- Create systems around your bottlenecks
- Rely on task management systems
- Streamline your plan and goals
- Utilize other team members
- DO LESS
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Sign up for my Blogger Playbook freebie today!
Related Episodes:
Episode 101: The Standard and Systems Your Food Blog Needs With Jillian Dolberry
Episode 147: How to Create More Content
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
What is social proof? Essentially it’s the trust that a reader has in your blog or recipe because they’ve seen other people like it.
Social proof is really important these days because of how much other social proof is out there already between Amazon reviews, restaurant reviews, etc.
If you’ve been wondering the best way to showcase social proof on your blog, listen in for these creative ways you can share your readers feedback and engagement on your blog!
Key Points:
- Add recipe rating stars to your header
- Optimize Commenting
- Showcase a reader comment in blog post
- Add social sharing plugin and display total number of shares
- Encourage people to share when they make your recipes
Related Episodes:
Episode 194: 3 Quick Wins for E-E-A-T
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
If you want to be successful as a food blogger you cannot afford to blend in. Personal branding is the way that you can stand out as a food blogger and it’s incredibly important that you focus on that more than ever. In this episode you’ll hear why personal branding is an essential part of risk proofing your food blog.
Key Points:
- The importance of establishing a unique niche beyond just "food blogging"
- Crafting and sharing your personal story to build authority and trust
- Choosing authentic ways to connect with your audience across various platforms
Actionable Tips: * Define your specific niche using a three-layer approach * Showcase your expertise and experience on your About page and homepage * Incorporate your brand message into CTAs and recipe card blocks * Update your social media bios and create pinned content highlighting your story * Consider starting a podcast or email sequence to share your brand's origin
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Personal Brand Checklist
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
If you feel like this year has flown by at record pace, you are not alone. This year feels especially chaotic with everything going on in both our industry and the world. After the mid-point in the year, checking in and adjusting your goals is a great way to get back on track and make the most of the remainder of the year. Whether you set goals back in January and need to review and adjust them or you need a process for setting some goals for the rest of the year, tune into this episode!
In this episode, we'll discuss:
Finding and reviewing your goals
- Whether you have them digitally in a task management tool like Asana or you wrote them down on a piece of paper, gather them so you can analyze them.
Analyzing your goals
- What status are your goals? For the goals that are not completed, analyze why.
Deleting or Resetting
- Now that you know what your previous goals were, you can choose to let them go (or delete) them or to reset them to be more realistic and achievable.
Adding new goals
- If you set goals during another quarter or month, they may not be relevant for the upcoming season. Add in any new, relevant goals that you need for this season.
Related Episodes:
- Setting SMART Goals for Your Blog
- Setting Quarterly and Monthly Goals
- Setting Weekly Goals
- Summer & Beyond: Prioritizing and Surviving
Resources mentioned in this episode:
30 Different Things You Can Do To Prepare Your Blog For Q4!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Do you feel like you’re just treading water keeping up with your business over the summer? There can be multiple times throughout the year where it just all feels like too much. When those seasons come up, there are a few ways you can prioritize, set boundaries and ultimately feel on top of your workload despite the chaos of the season. Listen in for how you can prioritize and get the most important things done in a crazy season!
In this episode, I'll share about:
Setting aside intentional work time
- I'll share from my own experience of setting aside protected work days as a working mom to insure that I spend designated time on my business each week
Reviewing and resetting goals * I’m going to be sharing a whole process on the next episode, but for now, I’ll say that it’s incredibly important to revisit your goals often but especially at mid-year or before each quarter. Try setting goals for one season at a time to help you stay on top of your tasks and priorities!
Setting better boundaries
- The nature of our businesses being online means we have about a million things to distract us at all times. When we have less time to work in the summer, it’s incredibly important to be diligent with your boundaries!
"Taking care of the crying baby"
- When you are prioritizing what to do, you take care of the baby that is crying first. When you have limited time, you have to prioritize and triage your tasks for what is the most important.
Planning ahead
- By taking a step back to analyze and categorize content on your site, you will be able to laser focus on the direction of your blog, and therefore the type of content you need to start creating, to further fill out those categories.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Subscribe to my Blogger Playbook today!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Let’s talk about categories! One of the conversations I always seem to have with my clients is around how to properly use categories to organize their blog. Listen along as we discuss the importance of categories, how many you should have, and what to do if you’ve never considered your categories before.
In this episode:
Categories VS Tags
- I'll hash out the difference between a category and a tag, and how to properly utilize both of them
How to organize your categories * Start with thinking about your niche, make sure you have this nailed down and stick with it! With your niche in mind, you can start to choose which categories make the most sense for your blog. The next step is to look at how your website is organized. Thinking about your user experience can really help you to start to wrap your head around what categories you might need.
How many categories do you need?
- First look at how many blog posts you have in the first place. Feast Design Co has a guideline of a 1:10 ratio of categories to posts as a guideline. So that means if you have 200 posts, it would be okay to have upwards of 20 categories. Ultimately, it's about drilling down specifics as many levels down as possible, so that it is easier for visitors to find what they are looking for.
Fully fill out your category pages
- It’s a good idea to have an outlook on the number and types of categories you think you will want to fill out eventually. You want your categories to be as filled out as possible and you don't want to have categories with one or two posts unless you plan to be building those posts out in the next few months.
How to fix old categories
- By taking a step back to analyze and categorize content on your site, you will be able to laser focus on the direction of your blog, and therefore the type of content you need to start creating, to further fill out those categories.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
EP 18: Figuring Out Your Niche as a Food Blogger
EP 27: What Should Be On the Homepage of Your Food Blog
EP 30: How to Customize Your Recipe Index
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
If you have been blogging for a handful of years it's likely you have hundreds or thousands of blog posts in your archives. If you have ever wondered if you should delete old content or revise and update them, this process of deciding and taking action will help!
In this episode:
- Review the traffic
- Research keywords
- Think about your audience
- Choose what to do
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
Most creators have heard of E-E-A-T, but have you thought about how it could benefit your blog? Use these 3 tips to start using E-E-A-T to set you apart!
In this episode:
- E-E-A-T prime real estate: your About Page
- Prove you are a real person
- Share your expertise and authority
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
In the very crowded sea that is Google results, it's so important to have a strategy to make your blog posts stand out. Today I cover five ways in which you can do this!
In this episode:
- Styled Gutenberg blocks
- Recipe at a glance
- Design your recipe card to stand out
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
No matter how long you have been running your blog, you're bound to have a lot of old content you want to improve. Performing a content audit on your blog posts can help you deep dive into all the content you have ever produced.
Listen along to learn how gathering this crucial SEO data can give a better idea of where you want to take your blog and what actions you need to take to boost your SEO and make a better experience for your readers.
In this episode:
- What is a content audit
- What you can learn from a content audit
- How to perform a content audit
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
As a food blogger, you want to continue to grow to reach more people with your blog. But have you ever considered if your blog is ready for growth?
Listen in to hear the things you might not have considered that you can prepare for before your blog's growth feels out of control.
In this episode:
- Being ready for comments & email increase
- Being proactive about site speed & hosting
- Making your website easy to navigate
- Having an easy-to-find email opt-in
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.
In this episode:
- Getting past the fear of selling
- The best digital product ideas for bloggers
- The mentality you need to adopt for success in digital products
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Connect With Jillian
Instagram | Website | MiloTree Cart
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Design Services for Food Bloggers
- Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more and get a quote here.
In this episode:
- Setting your goals
- Content and category audits
- Creating content
- Researching other sites
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- The latest What's Working In Food Blogging tip! Submit yours now!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Want to know about Crafted? Learn more and get a quote here!
In this episode:
- Financial To-Do's
- How to review your metrics
- Goal setting, planning or executing
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- The latest What's Working In Food Blogging tip! Submit yours now!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Want to know about Crafted? Learn more and get a quote here!
In this episode:
- Repurposing your content
- Using popular content for more ideas
- Turning your popular content into resources
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- The latest What's Working In Food Blogging tip! Submit yours now!
Connect With Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Want to know about Crafted? Learn more and get a quote here!
In this episode:
- Why you should include descriptions and links to relevant content
- When to use subcategories and built-in taxonomy pages
- Why you should not use tags
- Our first What's Working in Food Blogging tip!
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Subscribe to my E-Course Playbook today!
- Learn more about ConvertKit!
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Want to know about Crafted? Learn more and get a quote here!
In this episode:
- Who are seasoned bloggers?
- What is different now vs 5 years ago in blogging
- How mindset impacts your blog growth
- How networking and community can support you
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Subscribe to my E-Course Playbook today!
- DIY Website Audit
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Want to know about Crafted? Learn more and get a quote here!
In this episode:
- Why you need a planning block
- What to do during your planning block
Related Episodes:
Episode 140: Creating An Ideal Week
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Subscribe to my E-Course Playbook today!
- DIY Website Audit
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Want to know about Crafted? Learn more and get a quote here!
In this episode:
- Reflecting back on the last year
- How I've shown up as the CEO of my blog in the last year
- How YOU can show up as the CEO of your food blog this year
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Subscribe to my E-Course Playbook today!
- DIY Website Audit
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
In this episode:
- Always be looking ahead with your content
- Improve efficiency with task batching
- Reusing parts and pieces
- There is always a bottleneck
- Creating rhythms to stay on top of tasks
Related Episodes:
EP 180: What I Learned from Publishing 175 Blog Posts This Year
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Subscribe to my E-Course Playbook today!
- DIY Website Audit
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
In this episode:
- Spending time to reflect on this past year of your business
- Doing a review of your capacity & content calendary
- Setting up a system to plan out your blog posts
- Re-evaluating your marketing focus
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Subscribe to my E-Course Playbook today!
- DIY Website Audit
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
In this episode:
- Why I decided to increase content published
- What I did to revamp my post strategy
- What I learned through the whole process
Related episode:
Episode 146: My Blog Growth Plan for 2023
Episode 147: How to Create More Content
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Subscribe to my E-Course Playbook today!
- DIY Website Audit
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
In this episode:
- Content creation and promotion
- How and why you should spend time on keyword research
- Setting up systems for the administrative and tech side of your blog
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Subscribe to my E-Course Playbook today!
- DIY Website Audit
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
In this episode:
- The four things to focus on when reviving a stale blog
- How to check up on your blog's health
- The push to start publishing content
- The thing that can push your blog to the next level
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Subscribe to my E-Course Playbook today!
- DIY Website Audit
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
In this episode:
- Ways that you can focus on building your brand
- Tips for focusing on building your email list
- How you can focus on creating excellent content (and updating it!)
Related episode: Episode 39: All About Running Ads
Episode 170: Thinking Beyond Ads: Ways to Diversify Revenue
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Subscribe to my E-Course Playbook today!
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
In this episode:
- A brief overview of my hiring process
- The key part of the hiring process
- How this element has impacted recent hires
Related episode: Episode 147: How to Create More Content
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
In this episode:
- Decide what your new product could be
- Ask your audience for feedback
- Set a deadline and create the product
- How to launch and promote your product
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2024:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
Today we are talking about the essential team roles to boost your blog’s success and support you as your blog grows. From the roles that are going to support you as the CEO to the roles that help you to execute content, I go over the key players that you need to build a team for your food blog.
In this episode:
- Tips for hiring and building a team
- Blog manager
- Writers/photographer
- Virtual assistant
- SEO/keyword research
- Website and design team
Related episodes:
- 5 SOPs Your Blog Needs ASAP
- How to Manage Your Blog Projects in Asana
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine: Services for Food Bloggers Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
There are over 6,000 food blogs using the same theme. That means that it is tough to stand out in this crowded world of food blogging. Not only that but our users have less and less attention and time spent on our websites. Keep listening if you want to know how you can make your website stand out from the crowd.
In this episode:
- Add a custom pattern or branded graphics
- Customize your recipe card
- Use styled reusable block patterns to teach your readers to pay attention
- Weave your brand throughout your website
Related episode:
- 7 Ways to Improve Engagment on Your Website
- 3 Ways to Showcase Your Brand in Blog Posts
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
Quarter 4 is the busiest season for food bloggers as we juggle even more things than normal, with the holidays, creating content and juggling opportunities for our blogs. Sometimes we forget to think ahead to all of the possibilities of marketing that Q4 holds. So today I’m chatting about how to tackle your Q4 marketing plans.
In this episode:
- Sustainable planning
- Collaborating with others
- Email Marketing
- Do a website audit
Related episodes:
- 3 Things to Help You Write Posts Faster
- How to Create More Content
- Nurturing Your Email List with Allea Grummert
- DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
If you want to retain new users to your website, it’s important to optimize your website for engagement. When readers stay on your website longer, they are more likely to actually read your content, understand your niche and take action. In this episode I’m sharing 7 ways to improve engagement on your website.
In this episode:
- Return New Users
- Optimize Your Website
- Encourage User Action
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Grow.me
Related episodes:
Best Recipe Card Plugins for Food Bloggers
How to Customize Your Recipe Index
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- Services for Food Bloggers
- Curious about our new offer? Email us for more info!
It seems like the gold standard for a food blog is qualifying for an ad network. Of course, you want to monetize your hard work and continue generating revenue from your past content. But, there are many other ways to monetize a blog!
Whether you are looking for ways to earn money before qualifying for ads or you are looking to diversify your income streams with ads, these ideas will help open your mind to the possibilities.
In this episode:
- Think beyond ads
- Brand partnerships
- Affiliate marketing
- Digital & physical products
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Summit in a Box
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
- Food Blogger Support Package
We all want to create content more effortlessly but sometimes writing your posts for your food blog can be the most draining part of the process. There are a few things you can do to make your writing process less intense and hopefully help you to write your blog posts faster!
In this episode:
- Start with an Outline
- Reuse Parts of Content
- Isolate Your Writing Tasks
Related Episodes:
- How to Create More Content
- AI For Food Bloggers
- How to Manage Your Blog Projects in Asana
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
- Food Blogger Support Package
If you are looking to supercharge your productivity and get more done with less effort, this episode is for you! Task batching is the idea of doing similar tasks together to increase your efficiency. I'm sharing 3 tasks you can do in bulk as a food blogger to boost your blogging workflow.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Recipe Development and Testing
- Content Creation and Photography
- Social Media and Engagement
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Resources:
3 Things to Make More Time
How to Create More Content
Time Management: How to Save Time with Batching Tasks
Does it ever feel like there just isn't enough time in the day to get all of the things done? As food bloggers, we wear lots of hats, but there are some ways to get more time in your day and maximize your results. Today I'm sharing three powerful time management tips to boost your productivity and create more time in your day.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Stay focused
- Streamline your process
- Outsource
>> Wait List for Food Blogger Template Shop <<
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you started your Q4 plan yet? I know it's only summer, but quarter 4 always sneaks up on us. In this episode, we'll chat about getting started on your Q4 plan and creating amazing content for the end of the year. It's never too early to start planning and preparing for the holiday season, so let's dive in!
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Why You Need a Q4 Plan
- Mini Audit of Holiday Content
- Finding Low Hanging Fruit
- Creating Content to Fill Your Gaps
- Get Started ASAP
Resources:
How to Create More Content
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
It is always so exciting when you see a blog post that is increasing in ranking and starting to drive more traffic. Ever wondered how you could boost a post even further? Try these strategies to boost the rankings even higher!
In this episode:
- How to Find the Posts
- Creative Ways to Boost A Post’s Rankings
- Creating a System to Repeat
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
We are halfway through the year, which means it’s time to check in on your goals for the year! Today’s episode is a check in on my own blog growth plan and the biggest lessons I’ve learned so far this year.
In this episode I'll share lessons learned including:
- Does more blog content lead to more traffic?
- The importance of systems
- Hiring and building your team
- Other lessons
Other episodes and resources mentioned:
- My 2023 Blog Growth Plan
- Using Asana to Manage Your Blog Posts
- The Systems and Standards Your Food Blog Needs
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you want to work with brands and make money through brand partnerships with your food blog, then your work with me page is a must have. But what should go on that page and how can you put your best foot forward through it? On this episode we'll chat about 3 things your work with me page should have.
In this episode:
- Your 3 Brand W’s: who, what, why
- Types of Work You Accept (and examples)
- Contact Information
Other episodes mentioned:
- 3 Things For Your Homepage
- 3 Things for Your Recipe Index
- 3 Things For Your About Page
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
Your recipe index can be an amazing tool for your audience but can sometimes be confusing to organize! Here are 3 things to consider, update, or check on to make the most out of your recipe index.
In this episode:
- Building your recipe index for SEO
- What you should focus on
- What to add to improve user experience
Resources mentioned:
- Other recipe index episodes
- Organize Your Blog Categories
Your about page is one of the most important pages of your food blog to make a connection with your audience. In today’s episode, I’ll be diving into 3 things to do to refresh your about page and provide you with some tips and tricks to make it stand out and connect with your audience.
In this episode:
- Your expertise
- Your favorite posts
- Call to action
Episodes mentioned:
- 3 Things for Your Homepage
Resources:
- Search Engine Land Article by SEO Casey Markee
- Writing an About Page
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
A few quick tweaks to your homepage can take it from dull to fantastic!
Today I'll be discussing three effective ways to update the homepage of your food blog and enhance its overall appearance and functionality. Whether you're a seasoned food blogger or just starting out, these tips are sure to help you attract more readers and keep them coming back for more delicious recipes!
In this episode:
- Optimize for EEAT
- Brand Message
- Seasonal Content
Episodes mentioned:
- How Often Should You Update Your Homepage
- What Should Be on the Homepage of Your Food Blog
- Tools to TRULY Know Your Audience
Resources:
- Custom Website Design
- Branding Intensive
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
Everyone is talking about AI and ChatGPT. The big question on everyone’s mind is, “Will AI make blogging obsolete?” Today we’re talking about how AI can be a useful tool for food bloggers, what the future might look like, and how to leverage AI in your business right now.
In this episode:
- Why bloggers are worried about AI
- AI for writing blog posts
- AI for SEO
- AI for Social Media
- AI for Writing
- AI for Graphic Design
- Risks of AI
Resources mentioned:
- Cupcake Photo
- The Pope in a puffer jacket
- AI Engine
- Ghostwriter
- Pingenerator
- Google on Using AI Content
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
Does the idea of deleting your old content make you a little nervous? I totally get it - for a lot of us, the idea of parting with our old content is tough. In today's episode I'll share a quick process for how you can easily decide whether to keep an old blog post or to let it go.
In this episode:
- Review the traffic
- Research keywords
- Think about your audience
- Delete, archive or update
Resources mentioned: Clariti (affiliate)
Related episode: How to Audit Your Content
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
- Food Blogger Support Package
A content audit is a careful, extensive review of every post you have ever published. Why bother with this? Well, it arms you with SEO data and will help you identify posts you would like to improve, delete or leave just as they are. It may sound like a big project — and it is — but at the end of it, you'll have a better idea of where you want to take your blog and what actions you need to take to boost your SEO, and make a better experience for your readers.
In this episode:
- What is a content audit?
- What can you learn from a content audit?
- Gathering your content
- Performing the audit
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- WP All Export
- Airtable (affiliate)
- Clariti (affiliate)
Related episode: How to Be More Efficient Through Task Batching
Related episode: How to Increase Your Traffic Through Keyword Research with Ty Kilgore
Related episode: How to Set SMART Goals
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
- Food Blogger Support Package
When was the last time you thought about the transformation your readers go through because of your website content? It’s easy to think you are just creating recipes, but the truth is you’re providing solutions to some of your reader’s biggest challenges. In today’s episode I’m interviewing a food blogger who will share about their own discovery of her audience’s journey and how that shaped her website redesign.
In this episode:
- Steph’s blogging journey
- The website redesign process of creating a resource center on her website
- Knowing her audience before and after working on her website
- The challenges in a redesign
- The changes to her business that came after her redesign
Connect with Stephanie Instagram | Website Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
- Food Blogger Support Package
If “get better at SEO” is on your to-do list, you need a plan. In this episode, we are going over 5 things you can do right now to increase your knowledge of search, create a better experience for your users and make better-informed decisions for your blog and the content you produce.
In this episode:
- Speed things up.
- Update old content.
- Invest in a keyword tool
- Implement a linking strategy.
- Audit your categories.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- 6 Quick Wins for Site Speed
- Increase Your Traffic Through Keyword Research with Ty Kilgore
- RankIQ
- Linking best practices from Google
- Organizing your categories
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
- Food Blogger Support Package
Curious how you can go from “good” photos to impactful photos? In our episode today, Dyutima Jha shares how a great food photography process creates impactful photos to grow your food blog! This is one you don't want to miss.
In this episode:
- The phases of your food photography process
- Impactful photos vs good photos
- Preparing for the pre-production phase
- Time wasters in the food photography process
- Energy efficiency during your photoshoots
- Photo misses that could be hurting their page views
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Dyutima's 10 Step Photoshoot Guide
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Connect with Dyutima
Instagram | My Food Lens Podcast
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dyutima_myfoodlens/?hl=en Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/myfoodlens Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/dyutima_myfoodlens/
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
- Food Blogger Support Package
Prioritizing CEO time is the key to being more intentional about the time you spend working on your business instead of staying stuck in the day to day work of developing recipes and writing blog posts. In today’s episode I’m sharing 5 ways you should spend your CEO time.
In this episode:
- Pause and check in
- Financial To Do’s
- Metrics
- Goal Setting, Planning or Executing
- Education
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- 3 Things to Do For CEO Time
- How to Schedule More CEO Time
- Setting SMART Goals for Your Blog
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
- Food Blogger Support Package
At some point as your blog grows, you will likely run out of capacity to do all the things. Even if you have the time to do them, it's unrealistic to do everything that is needed for running a food blog. Learn the unique ways you could grow a team to support you!
In this episode we'll cover different "departments" of growing a team:
- Operations
- Content
- Project Based
- Personal/Other
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Lessons from Managing a Team and Two Food Blogs with Christine Pittman
- Knowing Your Audience and Outsourcing as Your Business Grows with Liz Marino
- Building Your Website Team with Andrew Wilder
- Which Position to Hire First with Emily Perron
- Unusual Ways to Outsource Parts of Your Blog
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
- Food Blogger Support Package
Whether you are considering DIYing a website redesign or you plan to work with a web designer, these key things can be helpful to do before you begin that process!
In this episode we'll cover:
- Setting goals for your business
- Content Audit
- Category Audit
- Creating Content
- Research Features on Other Blogs/Websites
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Setting SMART Goals
- My Blog Growth Plan 2023
- Organizing Your Blog Categories
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
- Food Blogger Support Package
Learn how to set SMART goals so you can maximize the results you are getting to grow your food blog.
In this episode we'll cover:
- Why Goal Setting is Important
- The SMART acronym
- Make sure your goals are specific
- Measurable goals
- Make your goal achievable and realistic
- Add a relevant action to your goal
- Add time to the goal
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Setting Quarterly and Monthly Goals
- Setting Weekly Goals
- Setting Daily Priorities
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Work with Grace + Vine in 2023:
- All Design Services
- Web Design for Food Bloggers
- Food Blogger Support Package
Getting caught up in the day-to-day tasks of running a food blog can distract you from spending time deliberately working ON your business. That time on your business, or CEO time, can be the key to long term success and growth.
In this episode we discuss:
- How to schedule in time regularly
- Creating a plan for your time
- Habit stacking
- Finding smaller pockets of time
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Blogger to CEO Content
- 3 Things Food Bloggers Need to Do On Every CEO Day
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Food Blogger Support Package
If you want to learn how to create more high quality content for your food blog, without losing your sanity and burning out in the process, this episode is for you! With more high quality content on your website, you have higher chances of ranking on Google and reaching more of your ideal readers.
In This Episode I Cover:
- Updating old content
- Work through backlog
- Looking for hidden treasures
- Batch working
- Turn off distractions
- Reuse parts of the whole
- Outsourcing
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Unusual Ways to Outsource Parts of Your Food Blog
- Building Your Website Team
- How to Save Time with Batching Tasks
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Food Blogger Support Package
With the beginning of the year right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about your blog growth plan for the new year. When setting goals, having a clear action plan to reach those is so important. Today I’m pulling back the curtain to share a behind the scenes look at my own blog growth plan for next year and tips on how you can create yours!
In This Episode:
- Optimizing Content
- Creating Content
- Hiring Team Members
- Blog Promotion
- Tips for creating your own plan
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- How to Manage Your Blog Post Projects with Asana
- 5 SOPs Your Blog Needs ASAP
- Goal Setting for Food Bloggers
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Food Blogger Support Package
If you’re looking for a tool that can help you streamline your blog and help you support your team as you grow it, then SOPs are that tool. SOPs are standard operating procedures that help you to do things the same way each time. In today’s episode we’ll discuss why those SOPs are super useful whether you have a team or not, how to document them and the top 5 SOPs to get started.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- What is an SOP?
- How do you document one?
- 5 SOPs bloggers should start with
Resources:
The Standards and Systems Your Food Blog Needs
Blogger to CEO episodes of The Vine Podcast
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
It can be overwhelming to even try to tackle all of the things you need to do as a food blogger. One of the best ways you can withstand the workload is by managing your time and energy. In today’s episode I’m sharing some practical tips for how you can make sure you are managing these without burnout.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Setting your goals
- Determining your priorities
- Reduce your time on social media
- Invest in yourself and your team
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
As a food blogger, you want to continue to grow to reach more people with your blog. But have you ever considered if your blog is ready for growth? Keep listening to learn how you can make sure your blog is ready for an increase in traffic and for growth.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Be ready for comments and email increases
- Be proactive about site speed and hosting
- Make your website easy to navigate
- Have an easy to find email opt in
Resources:
How to Double Your Pageviews with User Experience
Quick Email Opt In Ideas for Q4
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you've ever taken a break or a vacation from your business then you know that it can be incredibly overwhelming to come back and try to get back into the swing of things. In today's episode I'm going to share how you can come back from a break to your business or your blog without overwhelm.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Plan your content
- Plan your projects
- Decide on your priorities
- Redefine your ideal week
Resources:
How to Plan for Time Away from Your Business (and How I Prepared for My Maternity Leave)
Creating Your Ideal Week
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
User experience is incredibly important as a food blogger. If you want the people who are coming to your website randomly from Google, to pay attention, then user experience is how you do that. Today I am sharing how user experience helps you to attract your ideal audience and how you can increase your traffic by focusing on your website user experience.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- What does user experience mean?
- What are three things that can be done to improve user experience?
- How can improving user experience increase your traffic?
Connect with Christina & Corinne
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
One of my favorite productivity tips is all about planning ahead for success and creating your ideal week. I’m not going to lie, I’m nerding out a little bit out having this conversation around creating your ideal week. Creating an ideal week for my business has been probably the reason that I have been able to juggle so many things in my personal and business life.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- What is an ideal week?
- How to know when to reevaluate
- Getting back on track
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Being strategic when it comes to content creation often means working smarter not harder. That’s exactly what you can do when you use these tips to get more out of your popular content! By using content that has already performed well you can double down on what’s already working. Stay tuned to hear how you can get more out of your popular content.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Repurposing your content
- Using popular content for more ideas
- Turning your popular content into resources
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Let’s talk about categories! One of the conversations I always seem to have with my clients is around how to properly use categories to organize their blog. In this episode, we discuss the importance of categories, how many you should have, and what to do if you’ve never considered your categories before.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- How to organize your categories
- How many categories do you need?
- Fully fill out your category pages
- How to fix old categories
Resources
Figuring Out Your Niche as a Food Blogger
What Should Be on the Homepage of Your Food Blog
How to Customize Your Recipe Index
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
We completed our website redesign a few weeks ago and in today’s episode I’m sharing what I learned throughout the process. I hope this episode is a unique behind the scenes look at what it’s like to redesign your website, even when you are someone who knows what they are doing throughout this process!
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Strategy is the core of the redesign process
- Having others involved in the process makes the results better
- There is value in the process - not just rhe results
- There is always more work to do than you realize when redesigning
- You probably need a redesign sooner than you think you do
Resources:
Episode 94 - What is the ROI of a new website
Episode 110 - Our Web Design Process
Episode 117 - Questions you should ask before hiring a web designer
Episode 134 - Is it time to rebrand?
You can also check out some of the podcast interviews where we have interviewed past clients and they have shared their experiences of redesigning!
Episode 108 with Kate Ramos
Episode 130 with Liz Marino
Episode 135 with Allie Doran
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
One of the exciting parts about Quarter 4 as a food blogger is the increase in your traffic which means a new audience you can draw in! The best way to do this is by having a clear and strategic freebie to capture that audience. I’m sharing some quick to put together opt in ideas for you to utilize this Q4 and capture more of that new audience!
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Why you need an email opt in for Q4
- Capturing your ideal audience
- 10 examples of freebies for food bloggers
- What to do after Q4
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
It can sometimes feel like having a niche could put you in a box or limit your creativity as a food blogger. But what if it was the key to opening up a flood of ideas and opportunities for your business? Today I’m chatting with a food blogger who accidentally fell into a niche that has led to selling thousands of cookbooks and led to millions of people making her very specialized recipes.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Discovering your niche
- Niching down further
- Investing in a custom website
Connect with Allie
Website | Instagram | Pinterest | TikTok
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Sizzling Summer Camp - Q4 Challenge
Have you ever wondered if it’s the right time to rebrand? If your logo has felt stale or it’s been a while since you’ve worked with a designer to create your branding, it may be time to consider a rebrand! Today I’ll share some of the reasons our clients reach out to us to rebrand and redesign their branding for their food blog. If some of these resonate with you, it may be time to consider a rebrand!
In this episode, I'll cover:
- If your logo feels stale or outdated
- If you've never gone through a brand strategy process
- If you're feeling disconnected from your audience
- If your branding is inconsistent across platforms
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Sizzling Summer Camp - Q4 Challenge
Can you believe quarter 4 is just a few weeks away? Whether you’ve been thinking about Q4 plans already or you haven’t started, this episode will walk you through a few things you should be doing right away to prep your food blog for Q4.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Plan your content
- Optimize your website for audience conversion
- Check your website for major issues
- Maximize your RPM
- Schedule website work to be done
- Schedule your time off
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Sizzling Summer Camp - Q4 Challenge
If you’ve ever wondered how to get your food blog to stand out in the crowded landscape of food blogging today, the answer is simple: user experience! Creating a great user experience for your website visitors is the key to helping your blog to stand out, getting new users to your website and retaining them as future raving fans.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Two essential pages on a food blog
- How to make your blog stand out in a saturated market
- Top tips to drive traffic to your blog
- The biggest mistakes food bloggers make and how to avoid them
- Emerging trends in food blogging
Resources:
5 Ways to Make Your Blog Post Stand Out
Connect with Kimberly
Website | Podcast | Instagram | Book
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Sizzling Summer Camp - Q4 Challenge
If you’ve ever wondered how to get your food blog to stand out in the crowded landscape of food blogging today, the answer is simple: user experience! Creating a great user experience for your website visitors is the key to helping your blog to stand out, getting new users to your website and retaining them as future raving fans.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Two essential pages on a food blog
- How to make your blog stand out in a saturated market
- Top tips to drive traffic to your blog
- The biggest mistakes food bloggers make and how to avoid them
- Emerging trends in food blogging
Resources:
5 Ways to Make Your Blog Post Stand Out
Connect with Kimberly
Website | Podcast | Instagram | Book
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Sizzling Summer Camp - Q4 Challenge
Planning for time away from your blog can be intimidating! Whether it’s taking time away after a new baby, a big move, or a family vacation, keeping your blog running while you’re away IS possible, with a little preparation. In this episode I’m sharing how you can plan for time away from your business and specifically how I prepared my businesses and personal life for that time away.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Planning financially
- Planning for client work
- Planning your content for a break
- Preparing the team for projects
- Preparing personally
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Sizzling Summer Camp - Q4 Challenge
One of the key ingredients to growing your food blog is understanding your audience. The second part though, is being able to make strategic decisions with your audience - even if they are not what you might have chosen for yourself. I often say that your blog is not about you, it’s about your audience! In today’s episode I am interviewing a food blogger about her journey of getting to know her audience and building a business around what they need.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Tune into your audience and what they want
- Outsourcing and how that will shift over the years
- The biggest mindset shift when it comes to outsourcing
Resources:
Getting Started with Email Marketing for Food Bloggers
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Sizzling Summer Camp - Q4 Challenge
Connect with Liz
Instagram | Website
If you’ve ever had that feeling of getting to the end of the week and not sure what you accomplished, you’re not alone! Time management as a work from home food blogger can be tricky. In today’s episode I’m sharing 4 things you might be doing that could be totally wrecking your productivity. Keep listening to learn how you can improve your time management with just a few tricks.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Not planning your week
- Avoiding CEO time
- Doing all the things
- Experimenting too often
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Sizzling Summer Camp - Q4 Challenge
Site structure is how you organize your website content. It can be a huge defining factor for not only your readers to understand your website, but also for Google to understand how all of the pages and posts on your website work together. Strengthening your site structure is something you can always be improving on. Today, I’m sharing 3 ways you can strengthen your site structure.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- What is site structure & why is it important?
- Using internal linking
- Navigation menu
- Utilize breadcrumbs
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Sizzling Summer Camp - Q4 Challenge
Have you ever considered what would happen to your business if you weren’t available to run it for a few weeks or ever again? It isn’t easy to think about a catastrophe happening but it’s a reality we need to face as business owners! Whether that is because of a short term emergency or a death, protecting your business and setting up a plan for those types of situations can make your family’s lives much easier dealing with an unexpected event. Keep listening to today’s episode to learn about how you can protect your business.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- When you need to think about preparing for your business
- The first step in planning for business
- What you need to do routinely to keep up with this
- A tool to help with this
The Smart Influencer Legacy Organizer
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Sizzling Summer Camp - Q4 Challenge
Connect with Christina & Corinne
Website | Facebook | Instagram
The longer you have your food blog, the more your business will evolve and grow. This can be tricky sometimes as you start to have to pivot and adjust how you are running your food blog to connect with these changes. In today’s episode I’m interviewing a food blogger who redesigned her website as a result of her brand evolving over the years and feeling like it was time to create a resource for her readers.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- How did your blog evolve over the last few years?
- How did you decide it was the right time to redesign your blog?
- How did the branding process and your redesign help set your blog up as a resource for your audience?
- What was the biggest challenge in the redesign process?
- What was your favorite part of the process?
- What advice would you give to someone whose business has evolved?
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Sizzling Summer Camp - Q4 Challenge
Connect with Kelly
Instagram | Website | YouTube
Have you wondered if a recipe index is necessary to have on your food blog? If you have, today’s episode is for you! I’ll be answering this frequently asked question about whether or not a recipe index is relevant for food blogs today.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- What is a recipe index?
- Homepage vs. recipe index vs. category pages
- Which categories should you include?
- Tips for your recipe index
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Your website and specifically the homepage of your food blog should highlight the best content for someone who is brand new to you. The more defined this content can be, the easier it will be for someone to go from a cold organic search to eventually becoming a raving fan. In today’s episode I’m sharing how to use web design to highlight your best content.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Best content
- Popular content
- Resources
- Freebies/products/services
- Best real estate spots on your website
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you ever wondered how to utilize Instagram for your blog? With so many changes to the platform it is hard to keep up with how to really use it to best connect with your audience. In today’s episode we’re talking all things Instagram, from how each type of content is supposed to work on the platform, to how often you should post as a food blogger, you’ll walk away with tons of tips to confidently use instagram to connect with your audience.
In this episode we cover:
- Using Instagram in 2022
- The purpose of the Instagram grid
- Grow your Instagram audience
- How often to post
- Using stories & reels (even out of your comfort zone)
Connect with Kimberly
Website | Podcast | Instagram | Book
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Knowing the action you want your audience to take after visiting a blog post is one of the keys to whether they will stick around to browse more of your website or they will bounce back to Google and forget about your site. Defining that next best step takes understanding both the search intent of your readers and defining your ideal audience. Stay tuned to learn more about how you can strategically define this next best step for your organic search audience.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Understanding search intent
- Define your ideal audience
- The next best step
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
How confident do you feel when it comes to your audience? Do you have a surface level knowledge of them like demographics or could you give two or three REAL struggles that your audience faces? There is always more information you can find out about your audience so today I’m sharing a handful of tools you can use to truly get to know your audience.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Different tools you can use to gather information
- What kinds of questions you should ask
- What to do with this information
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Do you think of your food blog as a resource for your readers? People often share with us that they would like their website to be a resource not just another blog. In today’s episode you’ll learn strategies to uplevel your food blog from just a blog to a true resource to help your readers!
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Food blog vs. resource
- Go from mixed content to niche resource
- Provide solutions, not just recipes
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
In order to stand out these days in the food blogging world, you have to get specific with your niche. That’s exactly why there has been a trend in the last year or so to start a second niched website and a lot of bloggers have seen success! In today’s episode we’re interviewing a food blogger who started a niched sourdough website and went from 0 to 1 million pageviews in just 4 months. In this episode, I'll cover:
- how Amy decided to start a second blog
- how to overcome the saturated industry
- getting to know your audience and solving problems
- the secret to Amy's site's success
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Connect with Amy
Instagram | Website | Pinterest
Optimizing your blog post images is essential to maintaining your food blog’s site speed and keeping your site running smoothly. In today’s episode I’ll share some strategies for making sure you are properly optimizing your blog images! In this episode, I'll cover:
- Optimize your images before uploading
- What size should your food blog images be?
- What should you name your food blog images?
- Optimizing in WordPress
- SEO Optimization
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Maybe you have considered redesigning your food blog but you aren’t quite sure how to find a reliable designer or what questions to ask. In today’s episode I’m sharing questions you should always ask before hiring a web designer to redesign your food blog.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Questions about time
- Questions about communication & process
- Questions about tech
- Red flags to watch out for
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Your blog post is the bread and butter of your food blog. It’s what readers are searching for and the type of page that gets the most traffic. But in a very crowded sea of Google search results, how can you make sure your blog post stands out when someone visits it for the first or even tenth time? In today’s episode I’m sharing 5 ways you can make your blog post stand out to hopefully leave an impression with your new or loyal readers.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Styled Gutenberg blocks
- Recipe at a glance
- Design your recipe card to stand out
- Give readers a clear call to action
- Use pop ups/sign up forms strategically
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Goal setting and strategic thinking can be a tricky thing to do for your food blog. But before you can make any major decisions for your blog it’s so important to have that vision for your business. In today’s episode we’ll talk about how to set strategic goals for your blog that will help make future decisions more effortless. In this episode, I'll cover:
- What are your goals?
- What is your WHY?
- Dig Deep
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Does the idea of working less on your blog but making more money make your head spin a little? The idea of setting boundaries and working less to make more might sound crazy, but our guest in today’s episode breaks down how this can be possible to avoid burnout and still keep growing your blog and your income! In this episode, we'll cover:
- How to define productivity
- Setting boundaries and defining self care
- A process for deciding what to eliminate and what to keep
- How more boundaries and working LESS can lead to more money and time
- Outsourcing versus not doing something at all
- How to begin setting boundaries
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Connect with Megan
Instagram | Website
Are you using Gutenberg blocks yet? If not, you’re going to want to listen to this episode to hear some ideas for blocks you can start using right away! These blocks will help the important sections of your content stand out against the common image, text, ad pattern many blogs have. These reusable sections of content contain important information but are often overlooked when they simply blend in to the rest of your blog post.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Affiliate links
- Related category
- Related posts
- Tips/Suggestions
- Brand related
Resources:
5 Gutenberg Blocks for Food Bloggers
How to Make Blog Posts Longer
What You Need to Know About Gutenberg
Simplify with Gutenberg
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
When was the last time you updated your homepage? In the last few years, you may have noticed the homepage of your food blog starting to show up in your top pages through your analytics. The homepage is also a huge part of the user experience of your website as it helps new readers to understand what to expect on your blog. So in today’s episode I’m going to answer the common question: how often should you update your homepage?
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Your homepage creates a dynamic user experience
- How often should you update your homepage?
- Watch areas for updating content
Resources:
What Should Be on the Homepage of Your Food Blog?
DIY Website Audit
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
One of the best ways to treat your food blog more like a business is to outsource the things that take you too much time or are not your biggest strengths! But outsourcing can often seem daunting or expensive. In this episode, I’m sharing some unusual ways you can outsource different parts of your food blog to free up more time to work on the parts you love and to spend more time as the CEO of your business.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Ways to outsource photography
- Ways to outsource marketing
- Ways to outsource at home
- Other creative ways to outsource for a food blog
Resources:
Building Your Website Team with Andrew Wilder
Start Thinking Like the CEO of Your Food Blog
Which Position to Hire First with Emily Perron
Lessons from Managing a Team and Two Food Blogs with Christine Pittman
Get More Traffic from Pinterest with Kate Ahl
Increase Your Traffic Through Keyword Research with Ty Kilgore
Instagram | Website
Show Notes | Podcast Updates
Web Design for Food Bloggers
We have worked really hard on our web design process and refining the experience our clients have when they work with us over the last year. But until you are a client, the process may be a little bit of a mystery. So we decided to pull back the curtain today and give you a behind the scenes look at what it's like to redesign your website with us. Jillian Dolberry is our process expert around here (and the Grace + Vine online business manager), so I thought it would be really fun for her to ask me some questions about the process! In this episode, I'll cover:
- How clients prepare for their project
- What kind of support we offer after launch
- Some client wins after redesign
- Our favorite parts of the design process
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Batching like tasks can be a huge time saver AND can also increase your productivity by up to 40%! As bloggers, it may seem like batching tasks isn’t something that would naturally be easy to do, but there are actually many repetitive tasks food bloggers can learn to batch together to be more efficient and manage their time better. In today’s episode, I’m sharing what batch working is and how you can apply it to your food blog.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- What is batch working?
- Time track to figure out what tasks you do often
- Start batching together 1-2 sets of tasks per week
Resources:
Time Management for Food Bloggers: Save Time with Time Tracking
Time Management: Creating the Ideal Week
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
In today’s episode I’m so excited to interview one of our clients about her blog and her experiences writing a cookbook and redesigning her website. Kate Ramos is the chef behind ¡Hola! Jalapeño, a Mexican-Inspired Food Blog. Kate shares openly in this episode about her blogging journey, how she plans her content with her audience and SEO in mind, what it was like writing a cookbook in 6 months and what her experience was like redesigning her website with Grace + Vine Studios. In this episode we discuss:
- changes to her business over the years
- Kate's process for creating content
- writing and launching a cookbook
- her website redesign experience
Connect with Kate
Website | Book | Instagram | Pinterest
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
User experience is an incredibly important part of your website. Even with the best content in the world, a poor user experience will lead readers away from your website and can have negative effects on your blog’s growth. Today I’m sharing 5 things your food blog needs to make sure your readers have a great user experience on your website.
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Have an easy to find search bar
- Have organized navigation
- Limit website interruptions
- Have organized content
- Provide a natural reader experience path
Resources:
What Should Be on the Homepage of Your Food Blog?
Simplify with Gutenberg
5 Gutenberg Blocks for Food Bloggers
The Reader Journey Through Your Food Blog
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
We’ve been talking a lot about time management and goal setting on the podcast and today we’re going to talk about setting bigger goals for the quarter and the month. I’ll share how to decide on your goals and then how to break them down into actionable steps so you can see progress each week! In this episode, I'll cover:
- Start with the bigger picture
- Decide your quarterly goal
- Break it down into weekly tasks
Resources:
Time Management: Setting Weekly Goals
Time Management: Setting Daily Priorities
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a premade theme and a custom theme, today’s episode is perfect for you! The truth is there are times when a premade theme is perfect for a food blogger and times when a custom theme might be a better option. So I am excited to break down the pros and cons to both of these types of themes and ultimately how you can decide what is best for your blog in this season!
In this episode, I'll cover:
- Pros and cons of a premade theme
- Pros and cons of a custom theme
- Deciding which is right for you
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
The start of a new year often brings lots of ideas of ways that you want this year to be different than the last. By this point in the year though, resolutions may have faded, or old habits may have resurfaced. Today, I want to talk about eight habits you might want to consider implementing this year to make small improvements to your business and to your personal life. In this episode, I'll cover: * Set Work Hours * Set Daily and Weekly Priorities * Get Ahead on Creating Content * Outsource * Read More * Spend More Time Outside * Meal Plan + Grocery Pickup * Take care of yourself
Resources:
Time Management: Setting Weekly Goals
Time Management: Setting Daily Priorities
Building Your Website Team with Andrew Wilder
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you ever wondered if it’s the right time to rebrand? If your logo has felt stale or it’s been a while since you’ve worked with a designer to create your branding, it may be time to consider a rebrand! I’ll share some of the reasons our clients reach out to us to rebrand and redesign their branding for their food blog. If some of these resonate with you, it may be time to consider a rebrand of your logo! In this episode, I'll cover: * If your logo feels stale or outdated * If you've never gone through a brand strategy process * If you feel a disconnect from your audience or brand * If your branding is inconsistent across platforms
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If it ever seems like there is always too much on your to do list, this episode is going to help you start to set priorities every day so you can achieve the most important things in your business. Setting daily priorities will help you to stay on track to achieve the weekly or monthly goals you’ve set and it will also help you be realistic about what can be achieved in a day. In this episode, I'll cover:
- Why you should set daily priorities
- How to set daily priorities
- How to follow through on your priorities
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
As your food blog grows and you begin to scale, it is so important to set aside time to document your systems and processes. Whether you have never spent a lot of time thinking about systems or you aren’t sure what an SOP even stands for, you’re in the right place. I’m joined by my Online Business Manager who is going to break this all down for us and help you make a plan for the standards and systems your food blog needs. In this episode, I'll cover:
- What are SOPs and why are they important?
- SOPs for food bloggers
- Creating a process for writing a blog post
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Connect with Jillian
Instagram | Website
As a web designer, I spend a lot of time imagining and studying how users behave on websites. User experience and how a user moves through a website is so important to understand as a food blogger. So in today’s 100th episode, we are going to talk about your reader’s journey through your food blog. In this episode, I'll cover:
- Understand how people get to your site
- Understand what people do next
- What is happening as people move deeper into your website
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Today we chat about building your website team and what you need to know when you are building that team to manage your website. We talk about building a team for your website and thinking like a CEO. Join us for this fun and casual conversation! In this episode, I'll cover:
- The biggest struggles with managing a website
- The ideal website team for food bloggers
- Things to look for when hiring someone
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Connect with Andrew
NerdPress
Have you ever wondered which part of your brand strategy is the most important? Is it the main font in your logo? Or your color palette? Is it your website design? Today I’m sharing the key ingredient to your brand strategy! In this episode, I'll cover:
- The key ingredient is your audience
- Discovering your audience
- Connecting with your audience
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Resources:
How to Connect More with Your Audience
Three Days to Discover Who Your Audience is
Two Questions to Ask to Understand Your Audience
Strategies to Connect with Your Audience
Do you ever get to the end of the week and wonder what you even accomplished? In today’s time management episode we’re going to chat about why setting weekly goals is so important and how you can get started setting weekly goals and managing your time, so that you can be more productive and reach those bigger goals you have in mind for your food blog. In this episode, I'll cover:
- Why you should set weekly goals
- How to set weekly goals
- Break the goal down into smaller pieces
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Resources:
Time Management for Food Bloggers: Save Time with Time Tracking
Time Management: Creating Your Ideal Week
If you have ever wondered how some food bloggers manage to run not one but two food blogs at once, and what all this requires behind the scenes, you are not going to want to miss today’s episode. I sat down with Christine Pittman, of Cook the Story and The Cookful, to discuss lessons learned from running two blogs, the team behind this, and her journey on this incredible feat. Plus, Christine tells us about her experience working with us on website design for her two very unique blogs. In this episode, I'll cover:
- Why she started a second blog
- Ideas for having contributors
- How a podcast can support your blog
- Hiring full time employees vs contractors
- What it was like redesigning her websites
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Connect with Christine
Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest | TMI Podcast
Cook the Story | The Cookful
Around here we talk a LOT about how much strategy impacts your branding. But have you ever wondered why it matters? In this episode I’m digging into why strategy is an essential part of our branding process! In this episode, I'll cover:
- Strategy creates direction for your brand
- Strategy helps your audience connect
- Strategy creates timeless design
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
When you are considering a big investment in your business, like redesigning your website, you might ask yourself what you’re going to get out of this experience. For some investments, there is a financial ROI that you will see directly as a result of something you do in your business. For others, the results may be more intangible. Let’s talk about what to expect in terms of ROI with a new website. In this episode, I'll cover:
- Every website is different
- Finite vs. intangible results
- What are some results you can expect from a website redesign?
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
It is super easy to get shiny object syndrome when it comes to investing in your blog. At the stage you are at in your business, it’s not surprising that you have probably made big investments before in your business over the years. When one comes up, it’s helpful to have a system around how you can decide if it is the right choice to make right now. In this episode, I'll cover:
- Analyze your business
- Where do you want to go next?
- Do you have the capacity for it right now?
- Can you afford the investment?
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
One of my favorite productivity tips is all about planning ahead for success. If I had to attribute one productivity tool for the reason that I have been able to handle juggling so many things in my personal and business life, it is definitely the concept of planning your ideal week. Today’s episode will help you to figure out what anchors you need to have every week in order to make real progress on your goals. In this episode, I'll cover:
- What's an ideal week?
- When to reevaluate
- Get back on track
Resources:
Time Management for Food Bloggers: Save Time with Time Tracking
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Are you carving out time regularly to work ON your business instead of in it? This is what I refer to as a CEO day and in todays episode I’ll share 3 things every food blogger needs to be doing on every CEO day. In this episode, I'll cover:
- Review your goals
- Plan for income
- Invest in the form of education
Resources:
Why You Need a CEO Date
Start Thinking Like the CEO of Your Food Blog
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
As an ambitious food blogger, I know you have big dreams and goals for your business. Sometimes it’s hard to know how exactly to take your blog to that next level so today that’s exactly what we are talking about. In this episode, I'll cover:
- Know where you want to go
- Analyze what holds you back
- Invest in what you need
Resources:
Sign up for the Food Blogger Summit! <<
Why you need a CEO Date
Start Thinking Like the CEO of Your Food Blog
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Every year when I was focused on my food blog, I would see an increase in traffic and email subscribers toward the end of the year, followed by a huge drop in January. While some of this is normal, there is a lesson to be learned here. How can you turn your Q4 visitors from random pageviews to raving fans? Today I share a few ways to make this happen. In this episode, I'll cover:
- Add a jump to recipe button
- Where to add related content
- Create a strategic freebie
- Create an awesome welcome sequence
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
As a food blogger, content planning is the most important part of your Q4 strategy. Today, you're going to learn in four easy steps how you can prepare your content to maximize the results for your food blog in Q4. Whether this is your third or fifth or 10th Q4 as a food blogger, you can always be more strategic every year. In this episode, I'll cover:
- Review what did well last year
- Gauge your capacity for creating content
- Plan ideas
- Figure out where you need support
Resources:
How to Strategically Plan Your Content
5 Tips for Easier Content Planning
Interview with Ty Kilgore: SEO Keyword Research
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Today’s episode is going to help get you caught up to speed and ready for the biggest quarter of the year for most food bloggers. I’m chatting about 4 ways you can prep your website to get ready for quarter 4! In this episode, I'll cover:
- Check your navigation links
- Display your popular content
- Display seasonal content
- Review top seasonal content
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
As you up level your food blog it’s important to start thinking more like a CEO and less like “just a blogger”. Today we’re talking about how you can start thinking like a CEO to truly take your blog to the next level. In this episode, I'll cover:
- What does a CEO of a food blog do?
- Stop winging it
- Start delegating and eliminating
- Start making strategic decisions for your business
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Today we’re talking about time management and specifically how you can potentially save hours of time working on your food blog by conducting a time tracking experiment. This is one of the things I love to do often to reset where my time is going and make sure I’m making the most of the limited work time I have. In this episode, I'll cover:
- Save time with time tracking
- How long should you time track for?
- How to analyze your results
- Tools for time tracking
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Today's episode is the first of hopefully many, where I take feedback from you as a listener, and answer specific questions that you requested I answer. Get ready to cover several fun topics and learn a lot! In this episode, I'll cover:
- Programs/Plugins
- Social Media
- Time Management
- Actionable Steps/Goal Conversion
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Resources:
Top Word Press Plugins for Food Bloggers
Recipe Card Plugins
Organize Your Blog Categories
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Have you ever wanted to make a killer first impression with your email subscribers with a welcome and nurture sequence that helps to build brand loyalty and optimize traffic to your food blog? Today, I interview Allie Grummert, an Email Marketing Strategist and Conversion Copywriter, who shares how to grow your food blog subscriber list with a welcome and nurture sequence that will translate into more traffic to your blog. In this episode, I'll cover:
- What is an opt-in?
- Welcome your subscribers
- Building a nurture sequence
Connect with Allea
Duett | Instagram
Connect with Madison
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
There are a lot of things to consider when redesigning your website, but the very first thing is, is it the right time? I’m breaking down the most common reasons clients come to us to redesign their website and the surefire ways to know it’s time to redesign. In this episode, I'll cover:
- Not being able to make changes to your site
- Not being able to tell bandaid fixes from the original design
- Having hundreds of blog posts buried in archives
- Wanting your site to stand out from the crowd
Episode 40: How to Know It's Time for a New Website Design
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Schedule a Call
If you have been a blogger for a while, you know how important Search Engine Optimization is to be able to grow your blog (and business!). Today, we talk with Ty Kilgore, founder and CEO of Everything Digital Marketing, to cover all things SEO, and beyond! In this episode, I'll cover:
- What is keyword research?
- How to level up your SEO
- Creating content that is worth your time
Connect with Ty:
Everything Digital Marketing on IG | Everything Digital Marketing
Connect with Madison:
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If the idea of planning your content is daunting, this episode is going to share some ideas for how you can create a content planning system that works for you and will help you to plan your content for the next month or quarter! In this episode, I'll cover:
- How often do you want to publish content
- Review or create a list of content ideas
- Review your popular posts
- Create your content calendar
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you ever wondered how you can keep visitors on your website longer? Maybe you have heard that this should be a goal you have, but do not fully understand the reasons behind it. Join me for this discussion that you do not want to miss! In this episode, I'll cover:
- Why it's important to keep people on your website
- Three ways to keep visitors on your website longer
- A tool that makes this even easier
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you’ve ever wondered how to describe your blog to someone or wanted to help others spread the word for you, discovering your brand messaging is essential. Brand messaging is the language you use and communicate to your readers that helps them get it
If you aren’t feeling super clear about your brand messaging or how to convey the heart behind your blog, this episode is for you.
In this episode we'll cover:
- What is brand messaging?
- Figure out your ideal reader
- Figure out your messaging
- How to be consistent
- Where to use your brand messaging
Download the free branding foundations workbook! Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you have been trying to gain traction on Pinterest but haven’t been getting the pin discovery you’ve been after, you have come to the right place! In today’s episode, Kate Ahl of Simple Pin Media, joins me for a conversation around the top Pinterest mistakes you might be making and how you can fix them. In this episode, I'll cover: * What's changed about Pinterest * How to start using story pins * Three mistakes you are making on Pinterest * Building a fabulous team
Connect with Kate:
Simple Pin Media | Simple Pin Media on Instagram | KateAhl.com
Connect with Madison:
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Let’s talk about categories! One of the conversations I always seem to have with my clients is around how to properly use categories to organize their blog. In this episode, we discuss the importance of categories, how many you should have, and what to do if you’ve never considered your categories before. In this episode, I'll cover:
- When to use a category versus a tag
- What categories to get rid of/keep
- Redirecting from old category links to new ones
- Setting up amazing category pages for SEO
Resources:
- Episode 30: How to Customize Your Recipe Index
- Episode 27: What should be on your homepage
- Feast Design Co: How to Use Categories
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
As a food blogger, I can almost guarantee one of your goals is to increase your traffic. Often we think about getting NEW users to your site. But what about the ones that are already visiting?
In this episode, I'll cover how to:
-
Get into the head of your reader
-
Make it easy to see related posts and/or links
-
Make sure the structure of your website is set up properly
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
In today's episode, I'm going to be talking about a subject that makes a lot of people really uncomfortable, which is money. More importantly, I'm going to be talking about how you can pay yourself as a food blogger and how you can really make this a priority going forward.
As you are structuring your business and really looking forward at what you want your food blog to do for you and your family and how ultimately you can start paying yourself or start paying yourself more.
In this episode, we'll cover:
- Why does paying yourself matter?
- Figure out where you’re at now
- Set goals for yourself
- Review and increase pay!
Other Resources:
- Legacy Journey by Dave Ramsey
- Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
- Give Yourself a Raise
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Reviewing your goals for your blog is so important to making sure that the hard work you’re putting into your blog is working. Setting aside some time to do this every quarter is a great way to make sure you’re routinely auditing your efforts. In this episode I’ll share what you should be reviewing on a quarterly basis to make sure your blog is staying on track!
In this episode we'll cover:
- Review analytics and finances monthly
- Review any goals or projects you set for the past quarter
- Reflect on the past quarter
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
In today's episode I'm sharing how important your homepage is for your food blog and how you can strategically plan what should go on it. The homepage of a food blog is often overlooked but it can be a huge key to turning random page views into raving fans!
In this episode, we'll cover:
- What should your homepage do?
- What elements should your homepage have?
- What content should be on your homepage?
Resources mention:
- 003: Clear & Strategic Messaging for Your Blog
- 019: How to Get Clear on Your Blog's Tagline
- 026: How to Strategically Set Goals for Your Food Blog
- 011: How to Design a Freebie for Your Blog
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you started using the Gutenberg editor on WordPress yet? If you haven’t or you have no idea what it is, today’s episode will help! I’m sharing what you need to know about Gutenberg, when you need to switch, and how it’s revolutionizing the way people are blogging.
In this episode we'll cover:
- Classic Editor Plugin no longer supported after 2021
- Benefits of using Gutenberg
- How to make the switch
- Simplify with Gutenberg is opening 3/1!
Simplify With Gutenberg Course Waitlist
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Sometimes getting started with a blog post is the hardest part! Often bloggers are trying to reinvent the wheel every time they sit down to write a post, instead of having a basic outline they follow every time. In today’s episode, I’m sharing 5 helpful tips you can include in your blog posts to provide more value for your reader and showcase your expertise.
In this episode we'll cover:
- Specialty ingredients / Tools
- What makes this recipe unique
- Storing tips
- Alternate cooking methods
- Diet/allergy alternatives
Simplify With Gutenberg Course Waitlist
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you ever struggled with making your blog posts longer, without just adding fluff to them? In today’s episode, I’ll share some easy ways you can make your blog posts longer to make them more engaging and help your readers stick around longer!
In this episode we'll cover:
- Word Count and SEO
- What type of content to include in your blog posts?
- Style tips for longer blog posts
- Link to related posts
Simplify With Gutenberg Course Wailist
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Having the right call to action can be the key to growing your email list, increasing your page views, and pretty much every other goal you may have for your blog! First, you need to understand how a call to action should work on your blog and then can experiment with these 11 ideas for calls to action on your blog!
In this episode we'll cover:
- What is the purpose of a call to action?
- Thinking about the reader’s journey
- Internal call to action
- External Call to Action Ideas
- Where should your calls to action go?
- How do you make them stand out?
Simplify With Gutenberg Course Wailist
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Do you feel constantly pulled back onto your phone for work but want to distance yourself from more screen time? It can feel like a never ending cycle to try to reduce your screen time, without reducing your engagement on social platforms that require you to be active on them. Let’s chat about how you can realistically reduce your screen time and focus more on creating content, rather than consuming it.
In this episode we'll cover:
- Be more intentional about your screen time
- Practical ways to lower screen time
- Create boundaries around your screen time
- Figure out your triggers
- How to create more content
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Podcasting is one of the fastest-growing platforms for content and isn’t slowing down. You may have wondered if starting a podcast could be a good move for your blog. In today’s episode, I’ll share a few things you need to know before starting a podcast and a few tips on getting started with podcasting!
In this episode we'll cover:
- Questions to ask before podcasting
- What you need to get started
- Tips for launching a podcast
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Do you have a vision for your blog in the next year, five years or even ten years? For a lot of online business owners, we can get so caught up in the day to day work that we can forget to look towards the future and where we are going. In today’s episode, we’ll talk about how to create a vision for your blog so that you can be more intentional with the tasks you are doing today to grow your blog.
In this episode we'll cover:
- Know where you are and where you are going
- What you want your blog to be
- How to set realistic goals for your blog
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Are you feeling unmotivated or unproductive when it comes to your blog? Maybe you’re feeling out of shape when it comes to creating content and publishing new recipes on your blog. Whatever reason your blog has fallen stale, in this episode, I’ll be sharing a few ways that you can revive a blog that feels stale!
In this episode we'll cover:
- Why a blog could have become stale
- Steps to take to revive your blog
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If the idea of planning your content is daunting, this episode is going to share some ideas for how you can create a content planning system that works for you and will help you to plan your content for the next month or quarter!
In this episode we'll cover:
- How to review or create a list of content ideas
- How to do keyword research on your ideas
- How to create your content calendar
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you’ve ever wondered how you can create meaningful connections with your audience, you’re not alone! No matter what level of traffic you have, you have probably felt like you’re speaking to no one when you aren’t hearing anything in response to your new content.
Today we’re going to talk about strategies you can use to connect more with your audience and start building those relationships!
In this episode we'll cover:
- Strategies to connect with your audience
- Spending time in the right places
- How to get more engagement
- How to share your unique voice
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
As a content creator, it can sometimes be difficult to find the time to create MORE content. In today’s episode, I’m going to share some really practical tips for finding more time and posting more content!
In this episode we'll cover:
- Ways to get MORE time
- Setting goals to make progress
- Creating more content
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
At the end of every year, I find myself naturally analyzing the year as a whole and starting to make a plan for the next one. Whether you typically review your year or this is your first time, this episode will guide you through the different areas to look at to do an end of year review for your business.
In this episode we'll cover:
- What to review at the end of the year
- Reflecting on what went well and what didn’t
- Setting goals for 2021
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Do you find it difficult to spend time working ON your business, instead of in it? If you find yourself spending all of your work time working on things like writing blog posts, developing recipes, or posting on social media, keep listening to hear how a CEO day can benefit your business.
In this episode we'll cover:
- My experience with CEO time
- Why you need CEO time
- What CEO time entails
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Every holiday season provides a time to reset and be with family, but for food bloggers, it’s also a time where your blog may see a big increase in traffic! In today’s episode, we’ll chat about how to make sure your blog is ready for the holidays!
In this episode we'll cover:
- Getting your content ready for the holidays
- Getting your website ready for the holidays
- Getting your business ready for the holidays
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you are someone who loves to listen to podcasts, take courses or read books, but struggle with following through and implementing what you are learning, this is an episode you won’t want to miss! I’ll share some strategies you can use to make sure you are not just consuming content, but taking action on it and getting results.
In this episode we'll cover:
- Evaluate what you are consuming
- Consider when you are learning
- Track what you are learning
- Set an action step or two
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you constantly feel like your wheels are spinning and you’re not moving your business forward, you are not going to want to miss this episode. I’m talking about why leaving room in your schedule is SO important for building a sustainable business. You’ll learn why margin is a key element to growing a successful blog.
In this episode we'll cover:
- Why margin is important
- How to add more margin to your business
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Are you spending all of your energy worrying about growing your traffic? Here’s the thing… getting more traffic is always a good idea, but what if you could get MORE out of the traffic you already have on your website? Let’s talk about how you can improve the experience on your website and stretch the traffic you already have coming to your website!
In this episode we'll cover:
- How to improve your user experience on your website
- Make sure that your website is not intrusive and overwhelming
- Make sure your site is loading quickly
- Know where you want your audience to go
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
In today’s episode, I’m interviewing Emily Perron, a hiring specialist for food bloggers, about what you should know before hiring your first or next freelancer. She is an upcoming speaker in The Food Blogger Summit and I can’t wait for you to hear her wealth of knowledge about hiring!
In this episode we'll cover:
- How to know when it's time to hire a team member
- The rules of hiring your first team member
- How to know what to hire someone for
- The first steps of hiring a team member
- Sneak peek of Emily’s workshop for the Food Blogger Summit - Grab your free ticket here!
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Do you ever wish you could just get all of the food blogging experts in one space to just learn their top tips and tricks for growing your food blog? Well, I'm so excited to share this episode with you today because I have gathered some of the top food blogging experts to share their number one tip for growing your food blog.
These food blogging experts also have something else in common. They are all speakers in the upcoming Food Blogger Summit. This virtual event will be from October 26-29, 2020.
Grab your free ticket here!
Have you ever had someone assume your blog was “just a hobby”? Maybe sometimes you walk the line between it being a hobby and a business. In today’s episode, I’m sharing some things you have to do in order to take your hobby blog and turn it into a business!
In this episode we'll cover:
- How to take your blog seriously
- How to get others to take it seriously
- How to experiment and audit what isn’t working
- How to set a plan for monetization
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
There are endless strategies out there for growing your blog. But in today’s episode, I’m sharing the four key types of strategies that you should have to really build a business that you love. Let’s dive in!
In this episode we'll cover:
- Content Strategy
- Marketing Strategy
- Growth Strategy
- Brand Strategy
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Do you ever wonder what your blog would be like if you knew back when you started what you know now? There have been a lot of lessons learned in the last 5 years of being in the food blogging world and today I’m sharing what I would do differently if I started a blog today.
In this episode we'll cover:
- Start on WordPress
- Branding Foundations
- Set Smart Goals
- Invest ASAP
- Learn SEO
- Hire Out Pinterest
- Prioritize
- Pave my own way
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you've been trying to juggle working from home with your kids over the last year, you've probably noticed that it isn't always easy to juggle everything. In today's episode, I'm interviewing Ashley Freehan, the founder of the purpose gathering and the efficient mompreneur course, all about how you can balance work and having your kids at home.
In this episode I'll cover:
- The biggest struggles with balancing work and parenting
- Advice for how to start setting those boundaries with your family
- Ashley’s tips for working at home
- How to really prepare your work so that when you do have those moments or those, you know, mini blocks of time, you're ready to go and take action in those moments.
Resources mentioned:
- Brainstorm guide
- Facebook community
- Follow on Instagram
- The Efficient Mompreneur Course
- The Purpose Gathering Podcast
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you have been in the digital marketing space for more than 5 minutes you probably have heard that you need a freebie in order to grow your email list. But where people often stop short is in marketing that freebie! In today’s episode, I’m sharing strategies to help you market the freebie you worked hard to create so that it can actually help you grow your email list and business!
In this episode I'll cover:
- How to market your freebie
- On your blog
- On your social media
- How to optimize on search engines
- About the upcoming ebook workshop
Resources mentioned:
- Sign up for the live workshop to design your first or next freebie! Workshop will be 9/14 with limited seats available. Sign up today!
- How to Design a Freebie
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Is your branding consistent across all of the different platforms and elements of your brand? Unless you have invested thousands of dollars to have every single element of your brand created by a designer, there is a good chance that you may have some inconsistencies. In this episode, I’ll share why consistent branding is so important and a process you can follow to start making your branding more cohesive and professional.
In this episode I'll cover:
- Why it's important to have a consistent brand
- How to make your brand more consistent
- Step One: Start by evaluating your branding
- Step Two: Take stock of what you already have
- Step Three: Get your branding out of your head
- Step Four: Create Templates
Resources mentioned:
- Branding Foundations Workbook
- Canva
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Choosing the right recipe card can be a tough decision! In this episode, I’ll share what you need to know about recipe card plugins and which ones I recommend to my clients.
In this episode I'll cover:
- The top recipe cards for food bloggers
- What to consider when choosing a recipe card plugin
- Benefits to using a recipe card
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
As a food blogger, the quality of your recipes can make or break your blog’s credibility. This quick episode will walk you through 6 ways to write better recipes and make sure you’re producing high quality content!
In this episode, we'll cover:
- how many times to test a recipe
- how to list ingredients
- proper formating and punctuation
Resources mentioned:
- Recipe Writer's Handbook (affiliate link)
Ever wonder if you could make some small changes to make a bigger impact with your website? In today’s episode I’m sharing the most common mistakes I see food bloggers making on their website, plus a look at how you can easily fix them!
In this episode, we'll cover:
- Mistake #1: Not Updating Plugins
- Mistake #2: No Backups for Your Blog
- Mistake #3: Not Using Self-Hosted WordPress
- Mistake #4: Using a recipe card that is tied to your theme
- Mistake #5: Not Using a Good Recipe Card
- Mistake #6: Using Multiple Recipe Cards
- Mistake #7: Not Having a Clear Call To Action
- Mistake #8: Not Linking to Important Pages
- Mistake #9: Not Optimizing Your Category Pages
- Mistake #10: Not Designing Your Website with Your Audience in Mind
Resources mentioned:
- Top WordPress Plugins for Bloggers
- 042: Ways to Start Preparing for Q4 Now
- 011: How to Design a Freebie for Your Food Blog
- 030: How to Customize Your Recipe Index
- 043: Writing An About Page
- 10 Questions to Ask Your Audience in a Survey
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Do you have an about page you are actually proud of? I hear it all the time that writing your about page is a huge struggle. In today’s episode I’ll share some tips on writing an about page that will help you actually connect with your audience and convert more people into loyal followers and subscribers!
In this episode, we'll cover:
- The About Page
- Connection
- Brand Messaging
- Conversions
- How to Write Your About Page
- Where should you link to your about page?
Resources mentioned:
- Do Six Figures: How to Write an About Page for a Blog
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Every year it seems like Q4 approaches and we are often scrambling to come up with a plan. So this year, I wanted to share a few ways that you can start preparing now for Q4. These tips will be helpful no matter which quarter you’re listening in, because Q4 is something to be preparing for all year long.
In this episode, we'll cover:
- Let’s talk about Q4
- Higher Traffic
- Higher Ad Spend
- More sponsored content opportunities
- How to prepare for Q4
- Content Planning
- Looking at new content
- Website Audit
- Monetization
- How to capitalize on your traffic
Resources mentioned
- Mediavine: What is Q4
- Mediavine: Ad Revenue Seasons
- 013: How to Strategically Plan Your Content
- Mediavine RPM Challenge
- Free DIY Website Audit Checklist
- 011: How to Design a Freebie for Your Blog
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you ever wondered how to get started with email marketing for your food blog? Maybe you’ve wondered what you should say or how to grow your list. In today’s episode, I’m interviewing Liz Falcigno from The Clean Eating Couple and we’re diving into email marketing and how you can get started with it.
In this episode, we'll cover:
- Liz's journey of starting her blog
- What email marketing is and how bloggers can use it
- Results Liz has seen from using email marketing
- When food bloggers should get started with email marketing
- The first step you should take to get started with email marketing
- What is a freebie and what makes a good one
Resources Mentioned:
- How Liz Quit Her Job
- Sign up for Liz's email list
- Start and Grow Your Email List Challenge
- How to Design a Freebie for Your Blog
- ConvertKit (affiliate link)
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
How do you know if it's the right time to invest in a new website design? Have you ever considered investing in branding or website design, but you aren't sure if your blog is ready? In this episode, I'm going to share a few signs that it might be time to invest in a new website designed for your blog and how you can get started in that process.
In this episode, we'll cover:
- Lack of brand consistency
- Need advanced features or customizations
- Want a well-thought out reader journey through their website
- What is a reader journey?
- Need a better user experience
- Want to improve site speed
- Looking to increase traffic
- If you have the time to commit to a redesign
Resources Mentioned:
- WP Rocket
- Yoast
- My Design Services
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
One of the easiest and most popular ways to monetize your site is through display ads. In today’s episode, I’ll talk about what you need to know before you start running display ads as well as some things to remember if you are already running them!
In this episode, we'll cover:
- What is an ad network?
- What to look before choosing an ad network
- What are RPMs?
- Cautions of running ads
- Ad networks to research
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
One of the most common conversations I have with my branding and blog design clients is about figuring out more information about your audience. In this episode I’ll share two questions that will help you understand your audience on a deeper level than just demographics.
In this episode, we'll cover:
- How does your ideal reader spend their day right now?
- How do they wish they spent their day?
Resources mentioned:
- Design Packages
- Schedule A Call
- 034: Three Ways to Discover Your Audience
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you ever needed new headshots and didn’t know where to start? Even as a food blogger, having brand photos is so important and will give you tons of resources to share with your audience. I’m sharing a behind the scenes look at my most recent brand photoshoot and some tips on how to plan for a brand photoshoot, whether it’s with a photographer or doing on on your own at home!
In this episode, we'll cover:
- Why you should have brand photos (even as a food blogger)
- How to plan for a brand photoshoot
- Tips on if you are hiring a photographer
- Tips for doing a DIY at home brand photoshoot
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Your branding is much more than just the logo file that goes on the top of your theme. This episode will break down why you need to be sure that your blog has more than just a logo.
Resources Mentioned:
- Clear + Strategic Messaging for Your Blog
- Defining Your Ideal Reader: Your Blog Isn't About You
- Figuring Out Your Niche as a Food Blogger
- How to Get Clear on Your Blog's Tagline
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
In today’s episode I’m breaking down my process for creating a strategic brand. This is the process I walk my custom branding and web design clients through, and I hope that it will show you how important it is to balance creativity and strategy when you are working on designing your brand!
In this episode, we'll cover:
- Step One: Pinterest board for inspiration
- Step Two: Strategy questionnaire
- Step Three: Strategy call
- Step Four: Inspiration board
- Step Five: Branding/logo
Resources:
- Defining your ideal reader
- Defining your niche as a food blogger
- Clear & strategic messaging for your blog
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you ever wondered who the people are who are coming to your blog? There can sometimes be a difference between your ideal avatar or reader and the people actually landing on your website. Here are three ways you can connect with your audience and figure out who they are!
In this episode, we cover:
- Why does knowing your audience matter?
- Send an email survey to your list
- Use social media to learn about your audience
- Get on the phone to interview your audience
Resources mentioned:
- 029: 5 Emails You Can Send to Your List Right Now
- Free Download: 10 Questions to Ask Your Audience in a Survey
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
One of the things I get requests for ALL of the time is to go through someone’s plugins and tell them which ones they need to keep and which ones they can get rid of. This is actually a really easy process that anyone can do! I’m going to walk you through how you can do this.
In this episode, we'll cover:
- How do you know if removing a plugin will break your site?
- What makes a plugin worth keeping?
- A few more FAQs:
- What are some must-have plugins
- When should you use a plugin versus coding
- How can you tell if a plugin is secure
- Do you need to keep the paid and free version of a plugin?
Resources mentioned:
- My favorite plugins for food bloggers
- Create
- Tasty
- WP Recipe Maker
- Grow
- Yoast
- Short Pixel
- Akismet
- Antispam Bee
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
We are taking a step back to talk about 6 things you can work on when you have limited time to work on your food blog. No matter what the reason is that your time is limited, this post will give you direction and help you to see the big picture and mundane tasks you can focus on when your schedule ebbs and flows.
In this episode we're covering:
- Systems & Processes
- Learning a New Skill
- Something you love
- The tech side of blogging
- Connecting with your audience
- Updating old posts
Resources mentioned:
- DIY Website Audit
- 031: 5 Gutenberg Blocks for Food Bloggers
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
In today’s episode, we are talking about the most recent WordPress editor called Gutenberg. Whether you haven’t switched to using this editor yet or you have and you want to learn some new tricks, you will definitely learn some useful ways to utilize this editor in this episode!
In this episode, we'll cover:
- What is Gutenberg?
- Benefits of using Gutenberg
- Flexibility
- Resuable Blocks
- More design control
- Think about the common pieces of all of your blog posts
- Do you have to use Gutenberg?
- What happens when you remove the Classic Editor?
- Don’t be afraid to try it
- A client example
- 5 ways food bloggers can use Gutenberg blocks
- Affiliate Disclosures
- Substitutions
- Pro Tips
- You May Also Like
- Group blocks you always use together
Resources Mentioned:
- Atomic Blocks
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
As a food blogger, this page can be a super valuable resource for your audience. I’ll break down what a recipe index and what it should have. Then I’ll be sharing 4 different ways you can customize a recipe index to fit your audience AND finally how you can promote your recipe index so people actually see it!
In this episode, we'll cover:
- What is a recipe index?
- How does a recipe index differ from your homepage?
- 4 Different Ways to Customize Your Recipe Index
-
- All recipes with category buttons
-
- Recipe index template that’s part of your theme
-
- Page with category images/buttons to link to category pages
-
- Advanced recipe index with filtering
-
- Promoting Your Recipe Index Ways to promote your recipe index:
- Navigation
- Link to it from your homepage
- Put it after your blog posts
- Add it to your sidebar
- Highlight it in your emails
- Talk about it on social media
- Take Action
Resources mentioned:
- 027: What Should Be on the Homepage of Your Food Blog
- 029: 5 Emails You Can Send to Your List Right Now
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
I'm going to break down five different types of emails that you can send to your list right now that are really going to make an impact, build your authority, and ultimately help you build deeper connections with your audience.
In this episode, we cover:
- Email Marketing Tips
- Don’t be afraid to increase the frequency of your emails
- Give value and promote within your emails
- Think about why people are looking for your content
- 5 emails you can send to your list right now
- Substitution email
- Connection or your story of overcoming
- A roundup of recipes, tips, or resources
- A Challenge
- The help me, help you email
Resources mentioned:
10 Questions to Ask Your Audience in a Survey
Get Started with Convertkit for free (affiliate link)
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
How much time have you put into thinking about the elements that go on your blog sidebar, a well-designed sidebar can really increase engagement on your site and create a great user experience for your readers. In this episode, we'll dive into what elements should be part of your sidebar so that you can make the most out of this space on your blog.
In this episode we'll cover:
- What is the purpose of your sidebar?
- How to use your sidebar strategically
- The above the fold section of your sidebar
- Search Bar
- Image + Your Bio
- Social Media Links
- Call To Action
- The bottom half of your sidebar
- Relevant Content
Resources mentioned:
- 026: How to Strategically Set Goals for Your Food Blog
- 027: What Should Be on the Homepage of Your Food Blog
Growing your food blog? Grab the free guide: 3 Reasons Your Food Blog Isn't Growing
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
In today’s episode I’m going over what should be on the homepage of your food blog. This page is a huge part of your website and one that is often overlooked. Even though only a small percentage of your traffic may go to your homepage, it’s a critical part of your website and one that can help turn random site visitors into your loyal fans.
In this episode, we'll cover:
- What should your homepage do?
- Should your homepage have a sidebar?
- What elements should your homepage have?
- What content should be on your homepage?
Resources mention:
- 003: Clear & Strategic Messaging for Your Blog
- 019: How to Get Clear on Your Blog's Tagline
- 026: How to Strategically Set Goals for Your Food Blog
- 011: How to Design a Freebie for Your Blog
Growing your food blog? Grab the free guide: 3 Reasons Your Food Blog Isn't Growing
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Can you see into the future at where your blog is headed? Does goal setting for your blog seem mysterious or impossible? Let’s break down how to set strategic goals for your food blog in today’s episode.
In this episode we'll cover:
- What are your goals for your blog?
- What do you want to do with your blog?
Growing your food blog? Grab the free guide: 3 Reasons Your Food Blog Isn't Growing
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you're using a premade theme for your blog and looking for inspiration and the how to on making it feel more custom and less out of the box, this post is for you! I'll share the steps you need to start customizing your premade theme so it feels less cookie-cutter and more like your own unique blog!
In this episode, we'll cover:
- Know Your Brand
- Customize your colors, branding and fonts
- Utilizing Widget Areas
- Changing Your Site Icon and Footer Text
-
Customizing Your Pages
The Brand Strategy Workshop
- Live, hands-on workshop
- March 31, 2020 12 PM EST
- Only 15 spots available.
Get $50 off the Branding Workshop with promo code thevinepodcast.
Get the full details of the workshop here.
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you ever wondered if your theme is holding you back? Maybe you aren’t sure if you should use a free theme or a premium one or how to update your theme. In this episode I’m going to break down what you should know about premade themes before choosing one, help you understand some of the tech behind themes and hopefully give you confidence in the theme you’re using or choosing your next theme!
In this episode we will cover:
- Why a good theme matters
- Common theme problems
- Framework vs theme vs plugin
- How to know if it's time for a new theme
- Where to look
Resources mentioned:
- How to Choose a WordPress Theme
- Theme Installation Services
Does it feel like you're hearing crickets whenever you try to engage with your audience? If you are craving connection with your audience, you will definitely want to stick around!
In this episode we will cover:
- Mistake #1: sharing the same exact content in all of the places
- Mistake #2: Not knowing where your audience hangs out
- Mistake #3 is giving up on a platform or a method of connecting with your audience too quickly.
- Mistake #4: only following what you see other people doing
- How can you connect more with your audience?
- Know Your Audience
- Make your content about your audience
- Go where your audience is
- Be a regular person and be yourself.
- Test out strategies
Resources mentioned:
- Defining Your Ideal Reader
- The Food Blogger Summit
- How to Treat Your Blog More Like a Business
- Clear & Strategic Messaging for Your Blog
Growing your food blog? Grab the free guide: 3 Reasons Your Food Blog Isn't Growing
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
What if I told you that you didn’t have to hustle more in order to grow your food blog?
What if you could get clarity on how you can connect with your ideal audience and make a bigger impact with your blog?
What if you could work less, but make a bigger impact and grow your blog more effortlessly?
What if I told you that you could hear from 20 food blogging experts on topics ranging from improving site speed, to strategically planning content, to creating your own unique video style, to how to design a website that connects with your audience… ALL from the comfort of your living room? Or your desk, or your car, or your backyard sitting in your hammock?
Learn more about this FREE event in this episode or head right over to grab your free ticket!
In this episode you’ll hear me talk about how important it is to define your unique voice AND use it on your blog. We can make Google happy by optimizing our websites and blog content, without losing our brand's personality in the process.
There is a dangerous trend that’s happening where food bloggers (in general) follow what others are doing, using the same layouts and themes and SEO steps to satisfy Google and food blogs are all starting to look the same. So it’s so important to remember what your brand messaging is to not get lost in a sea of bloggers.
You can also grab the freebie I mention in this episode right here. This is the step by step framework I walk my web design and branding clients through to help them get clarity on their brand identity!
Instagram | Website
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Today I'm interviewing Jenny Melrose, who you may all know from her podcast Influencer Entrepreneurs. In this episode we chat about what holds bloggers back from treating their blog like a business and the steps they can take to start thinking more strategically about their business growth. We also chat about how to connect to your audience and why that is a crucial part of treating your blog like a business.
In this episode, we will cover:
- The one thing keeping bloggers from viewing their blog as a business
- How you can take your blog more seriously - even before it's profitable
- How to handle hearing crickets when you create new content
- Jenny's advice on how to connect more with your audience
- Balancing looking like a real person and a professional expert
Grab the free guide:DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Does your food blog have a tagline? It should! This episode is perfect for you if you’re unsure whether your tagline is clear enough or you don’t have one at all. Stay tuned to learn my quick steps to choosing a strategic tagline for your blog!
In this episode, we will cover:
- Do you need a tagline for your blog?
- General tips for writing a tagline
Resources mentioned:
- Episode 2
- Episode 18
- Episode 3
Grab the free guide: DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
In today’s episode we are talking about your niche! A niche does SO much more than just put you in a box and tells you what recipes you can or can’t share. We’re going to define your niche and then I’ll show you how to put it into action.
In this episode we'll cover:
- What is a niche?
- The three step process to defining your niche
- Using your niche to write your mission statement
- Thinking about your brand messaging
Resources mentioned:
- Get my Brand Identity Guide for FREE
- Taking the Kitchen article on number of food blogs
- Define your ideal reader
- Define your brand messaging
- My interview with Eat Blog Talk
Grab the free guide: DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Let this be the year of working smarter not harder! These 5 tips will show you how to make the most impact when working on your blog.
Links mentioned in this episode:
How to Time Batch
Design Support for Your Blog
Grab the free guide:DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Hear from 6 food bloggers who are each on their own unique journey on what worked in 2019 and what they are focusing on in 2020!
Each of these bloggers have such a unique perspective and we can all learn a lesson from two from each other!
Special thanks to the bloggers who joined in for this episode:
- Liz Falcigno from The Clean Eating Couple
- Lindsay Moe from The Live-In Kitchen
- Meghan Yager from Cake N Knife
- Bita Arabian from Oven Hug
- Erin Parker from The Speckled Palate
- Kelly Anthony from The Anthony Kitchen
Grab the free guide: DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you’ve been feeling a tug to let something go as the year comes to a close, today’s episode will encourage you to let it go and free up space for something better!
In this episode we will cover:
- Analyzing What’s Not Working
- Ask Yourself Why
- Replace what you’re letting go
- Your Permission to Let It Go
Grab the free guide: DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Reflecting back on this past year, I realized this year accidentally became my best year. As I’ve looked back, I’ve been able to find a few key things that I think directly correlated to this year being my most successful and my most joyful year in business.
In this episode we will cover: - Cutting back my hours - Investing in coaching - Leaned into my niche - Started using my team - I stopped making excuses
Grab the free guide: DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you ever wondered how to find the BEST ideas for new blog posts? In this post, you'll learn how to strategically plan your content so that you can find the posts that will connect with your audience and perform well and bring in more traffic.
In this episode we will cover how to strategically plan your content including:
- Starting with your ideas
- Reviewing your previous year's content
- Reviewing your brand messaging and niche
- Three questions to ask about every idea
- Asking your audience
- Why you should make your brand messaging a priority
Grab the free guide: DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
This is the time of year that we naturally start to wind down from working and it is the perfect time to reflect on your last year in business. Learn how to review the past year for your blog so you can strategize for your next best year ever! You'll review everything that worked and discover what didn't work, too.
In this episode we will cover:
- Your Goals
- General Review of what you’re doing
- Content Review
- Review the numbers (analytics and finances)
- Emotion Review
Grab the free guide: DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Have you heard that you should have a freebie, or lead magnet, for capturing new email subscribers? Whether you already have one or you’re looking to create one, this episode will help you decide what your freebie should be and then I will share my tips for designing a freebie for your blog!
In this episode we will cover:
- 10 examples of freebies for food bloggers
- Tips for creating a freebie for your blog
- Your audience's journey
- Design tips for an email freebie
- You have a freebie, now what do you do with it?
10 Examples of Freebies for Food Bloggers:
- Checklist
- Hack
- Shopping List
- Meal Plan
- Recipe ebook
- Swap list
- Cuisine guide
- Timeline
- Holiday menu
- Printable
Resources:
Convertkit (affiliate link)
Grab the free guide: DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
Instagram | Website | Show Notes Web Design for Food Bloggers
Creating stunning Pinterest graphics for your blog doesn't have to be difficult! Find out how to design Pinterest graphics for your blog including what you should and shouldn't do for fonts, colors and which images to choose.
In this episode we will cover:
- General layout and size for your Pinterest Graphics
- How to choose images for your graphics
- Putting text on your Pinterest graphics
- Colors and the balance of colors
- How on brand should your graphics be
- Tips for designing Pinterest graphics
Resources mentioned:
- Episode 8: How to simplify design work for your blog
- My Design Support services
Growing your food blog? Grab the free guide: 3 Reasons Your Food Blog Isn't Growing
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you want to make money with your blog, the very first step is creating a media kit. This post breaks down what a media kit is, what should be included and how you can design one for your blog!
In this episode we will cover:
- What is a media kit
- Why do you need one
- When should you create a media kit
- What needs to be in one
- How to design your media kit
Resources mentioned:
- My Design Services
- Episode Two: Defining Your Ideal Reader
- Episode Seven: How to Be Consistent with Your Branding
- Episode Eight: How to Simplify Design Work for Your Blog
- My Template Shop
Growing your food blog? Grab the free guide: 3 Reasons Your Food Blog Isn't Growing
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Did anyone tell you that being a food blogger meant wearing all the hats, including the hat of a graphic designer? In today's episode, we're covering how you can simplify design work for your blog. Whether it's your Pinterest graphics, eBooks, or simply creating blog graphics that feel cohesive but don't drain hours from your workday, you're sure to learn something new in today's episode.
In this episode we will cover:
- Making sure you're starting with consistent branding
- Using programs that you're familiar with
- Creating templates out of your designs
- Purchasing templates
- Outsourcing your design work
Resources:
- Canva
- My Template Shop
- Design Support
Growing your food blog? Grab the free guide: 3 Reasons Your Food Blog Isn't Growing
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
Today we're continuing the conversation about all things branding. I'm shifting, specifically, into how to be consistent with your brand. With these tips you can take any branding you have, whether you did it yourself, paid $5 or $5,000 and use it consistently.
In this episode we will cover:
- Why it's hard to be consistent with your brand
- Why it's important for your branding to be consistent
- How to keep your branding consistent
- How to be consistent on Instagram
Brand Board
Grab the free guide: DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
The biggest misconception I hear about branding is that a logo and branding are the same. Most bloggers understand their need for a logo, but a logo is not a complete brand.
In this episode we will cover:
- What branding is
- Why you need it
- Specifics on what food bloggers need to have for their branding
Resources mentioned:
- Clear & Strategic Messaging for Your Blog
- Defining Your Ideal Reader
Growing your food blog? Grab the free guide: 3 Reasons Your Food Blog Isn't Growing
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
If you’re a food blogger, you know that traffic spikes happen throughout different parts of the year. When you know a seasonal traffic spike is coming soon or as soon as one begins, there are a few things that you can do to get the most out of that traffic! Learn how to capitalize on that traffic with these tactics.
In this episode, we will cover:
- Updating individual posts for seasonal traffic
- Preparing your website for traffic spikes
- What to do when a blog post starts picking up traffic
- Sharing about promotions when your posts are getting traffic
Resources mentioned:
- DIY website audit for your food blog
- Mediavine RPM Challenge
- Pinterest's Seasonal Content Guide
Growing your food blog? Grab the free guide: 3 Reasons Your Food Blog Isn't Growing
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers
When was the last time you went to your website only to realize that something was broken? I’m breaking down how to conduct your own website audit to make sure that your blog is running smoothly and you can make the most of the website you already have.
Grab the download for this episode to follow along: DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers
In this episode, we'll walk through a self website audit that will ensure that the following things are running smoothly.
This episode covers:
- How to prioritize website fixes
- Above the fold real estate on your blog
- Branding and visuals
- Navigation Menu
- Search bars
- Newsletter sign ups
- Recipe cards
- Plugins
- Broken Links
- Contact Page
Resources Mentioned:
- DIY Website Audit for Food Bloggers Checklist
- My Favorite Plugins for Food Bloggers
- Broken Link Checker Plugin
- WP Support
Growing your food blog? Grab the free guide: 3 Reasons Your Food Blog Isn't Growing
Instagram | Website | Show Notes
Web Design for Food Bloggers