Building Traffic and Growing Your Audience Archives

444: Overcoming Fear, Judgment, Imposter Syndrome, and Perfection as an Entrepreneur with Sally Zimney

by Emily @ FBP on Jan 16, 2024 in Building Traffic and Growing Your Audience

Welcome to episode 444 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Sally Zimney.

Have you ever felt a sense of fear, judgment, imposter syndrome, or a need for perfection as a food creator? Assuming this is a rhetorical question because… who hasn’t?! That’s why we asked Sally Zimney to join us on the podcast — she’s a professional speaker with a Master’s Degree in Persuasion (!!).

In this interview, Bjork and Sally talk about the power of speaking and why it’s so important as an entrepreneur. Sally explains how to overcome the mental barriers that might be holding you back from trying something new.

It’s a really inspiring and thought-provoking interview — we hope you enjoy it!

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436: How to Find Success on Pinterest in 2024 with Kate Ahl

by Emily @ FBP on Nov 21, 2023 in Building Traffic and Growing Your Audience

Welcome to episode 436 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Kate Ahl from Simple Pin Media.

This is Kate’s sixth (!!!) episode on The Food Blogger Pro Podcast because she is our go-to resource when it comes to all things Pinterest. And there have been a lot of changes to Pinterest in recent years!

Kate is here to explain those changes (sunsetting Idea Pins, evolving algorithms, and the rise of video) and more in this interview. She also shares more about how her team at Simple Pin Media manages Pinterest accounts for food creators (including Pinch of Yum) and what success looks like on Pinterest.

If you’re confused about Pinterest strategy (who isn’t?!) and/or need some motivation to get back into posting on the platform, this is the interview for you!

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434: Navigating Google Algorithm Updates, Leaning into Email Marketing, and Running Three Food Blogs with Taryn Scarfone from Joy Filled Eats

by Emily @ FBP on Nov 7, 2023 in Building Traffic and Growing Your Audience

Welcome to episode 434 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Taryn Scarfone from Joy Filled Eats.

Taryn started Joy Filled Eats eight years ago and has recently started two additional food blogs, one with her 14-year-old daughter and one with her husband. With each new blog, her approach has become more intentional and strategic — and has seen more rapid success as a result.

In this interview, Taryn shares more about how she manages the responsibilities of three food blogs. She also speaks to the effects of recent Google Algorithm updates and why she has prioritized email marketing for Joy Filled Eats.

Taryn has also hosted a mastermind group for food bloggers, as well as an in-person retreat with fellow food creators. She explains the process of organizing both, in case you feel inspired to do the same!

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430: Grow Your Email List with ConvertKit’s Creator Network with Nathan Barry

by Emily @ FBP on Oct 10, 2023 in Building Traffic and Growing Your Audience

Welcome to episode 430 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Nathan Barry from ConvertKit.

Nathan Barry is back on the podcast this week to chat about all things email marketing and strategic business growth. ConvertKit recently started the Creator Network and Nathan is here to explain what it is, as well as how food creators can use it to grow their email lists.

Nathan walks listeners through how to get started with the Creator Network and shares compelling case studies about how creators have strategically utilized the Creator Network as part of their business models.

This is a great episode for anyone looking to diversify their income streams in a new way. We think you’ll leave this episode feeling inspired to try something new and with a fresh perspective on sharing your content.

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427: Why Diversifying Your Website Traffic Matters with Arman Liew from The Big Man’s World

by Emily @ FBP on Sep 19, 2023 in Building Traffic and Growing Your Audience

Welcome to episode 427 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Arman Liew from The Big Man’s World.

Arman has been blogging for almost ten years now and has a really fresh perspective on everything from sponsored content to social media.

He is really honest about some of the struggles he’s faced with blogging over the years (fickle algorithms, anyone?) and how those have led to a very strategic and intentional approach to his site nowadays.

Arman also shares more about what it’s like to be a food blogger in Australia, and why he’s chosen to prioritize an American audience with his content. It’s a really entertaining and thought-provoking interview — don’t miss it!

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426: Social Media Deep Dive: Threads, X, and AI with Andrea Balogun

by Emily @ FBP on Sep 12, 2023 in Building Traffic and Growing Your Audience

Welcome to episode 426 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Andrea Balogun from Balogun Strategy & Design.

Social media is constantly changing — new algorithms, new platforms, new trends. It’s hard to keep up and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But luckily we have Andrea Balogun to help walk us through it all!

Andrea’s back on the podcast to talk about the hot topics in social media right now. She explains more about the Threads app and why food creators might consider adding it to their social media strategy. Andrea also imparts her wisdom around crafting a social media strategy and being intentional about how you create content for social media to avoid burnout.

Andrea and Bjork also chat about new tools and AI in the social media space and how to incorporate them into your workflow. If you’re on social media as a content creator, this is a must-listen!

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425: Thriving within a Niche and Creating Your Dream Job with Amy Palanjian from Yummy Toddler Food

by Emily @ FBP on Sep 5, 2023 in Building Traffic and Growing Your Audience, Food Writing

Welcome to episode 425 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Amy Palanjian.

Amy Palanjian first started her blog, Yummy Toddler Food, in 2014. Since then, she has been incredibly intentional about every aspect of her business, from her content strategy and becoming an authority in her niche, to diversifying income streams and email marketing.

In this interview, Bjork and Amy chat about all of these aspects of her business, and how she has worked to create a role for herself at Yummy Toddler Food that looks as close as possible to her dream job.

It’s a must-listen episode for anyone thinking about picking a niche, and how to grow your business within that niche.

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423: How Liz and Lauren Allen Built a Food Blog with 11 Million Monthly Pageviews

by Emily @ FBP on Aug 22, 2023 in Building Traffic and Growing Your Audience, Running an Online Business

Welcome to episode 423 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Lauren and Liz Allen from Tastes Better from Scratch.

Twin sisters Liz and Lauren Allen started Tastes Better from Scratch in 2009 and have been working together on the blog ever since. They are incredibly strategic about every aspect of their business, from hiring and content creation to data privacy and goal setting.

In this interview, Bjork chats with Liz and Lauren about how they’ve expanded their business over the years and worked to maintain the huge growth they saw in 2020 that skyrocketed their pageviews from 5 to 11 million per month.

They are also open and honest about their plans for the future of Tastes Better from Scratch in a world with AI and changing data privacy laws. If you’re looking for new ways to think about growing your business while leaning into your strengths, you won’t want to miss this episode!

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422: Why Success as a Food Blogger Isn’t Linear with Liz and Paul Madsen from Zardyplants

by Emily @ FBP on Aug 15, 2023 in Building Traffic and Growing Your Audience, Food Blogger Stories

Welcome to episode 422 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Liz and Paul Madsen from Zardyplants.

Liz and Paul Madsen started Zardyplants in 2018 as a way to share their favorite plant-based comfort food recipes with readers. Over the last five years, they’ve worked together to grow the site (and Paul now works full-time for their business)!

Liz and Paul share more about the early days of Zardyplants, and how their processes and business have changed over the years. They have really practical advice about the importance of reinvesting in your business, being strategic around the types of recipes you create, and what to prioritize as a beginner blogger.

This is a particularly valuable episode for beginner bloggers but is also a great listen for any content creator trying to define what success looks like for you and your brand.

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417: Why Ann Baum Built a Recipe-Sharing App to Drive Traffic to Food Blogs

by Emily @ FBP on Jul 11, 2023 in Building Traffic and Growing Your Audience

Welcome to episode 417 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Ann Baum from Spillt.

Food creators are no strangers to recipe-sharing sites and social media apps; many of us have love-hate relationships with some of them! Sisters Ann and Maddie Baum knew that there was a better way to save and share online recipes — so they built it!

Over the past several years, Ann and Maddie created Spillt, an app and WordPress plugin that allows users to save online recipes and share them with friends on the app, all while driving traffic and star ratings back to the food bloggers themselves!

Bjork and Ann talk about Ann’s career journey from working at Facebook to building the app, and take a peak behind-the-scenes at the creation of Spillt. Ann shares more about working with food bloggers to create the app, and why they wanted to prioritize food bloggers in the functionality of the app. It’s a really informative episode and one you won’t want to miss!

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