In episode 696, Megan chats with Barbara Curry about how she launched a wildly successful second food blog that reached 100,000 monthly pageviews within months of starting.

Barbara is the creator of Butter & Baggage and Easy Southern Desserts, where she shares her passion for approachable, home-cooked Southern recipes. She started Butter & Baggage in 2014, bringing decades of experience to help home cooks create delicious meals with confidence. In 2024, she launched Easy Southern Desserts to focus exclusively on indulgent, foolproof sweets inspired by Southern traditions. Through her blogs, she combines tested recipes with practical tips to make baking and cooking both stress-free and enjoyable.

In this episode, you’ll learn what it takes to start and grow a second blog while maintaining momentum with an existing one, including identifying a viable niche, gaining traffic and dividing your focus efficiently.

Key points discussed include:

- Identify a market gap before you begin: Barbara saw an untapped niche in Southern desserts and used her experience to fill it strategically.

- Start with intention and strategy: From day one, she planned content, SEO, and marketing to get traffic fast without cannibalizing her first blog.

- Leverage existing resources: She used her first blog’s audience and email list to kick-start traffic and grow her second blog’s email subscribers.

- Be cautious with cross-linking: Barbara used no-follow links between blogs to stay in line with Google’s link spam guidelines.

- Focus on one platform at a time: She prioritized Pinterest over other social platforms to simplify her promotional efforts and increase traffic.

- Utilize alternative traffic sources: Platforms like MSN, Flipboard, and Kit Creator Profiles brought early traffic boosts before Google rankings picked up.

- Know when to outsource: Hiring help for writing, tech setup, Pinterest, and even cupcake decorating freed her to focus on what she does best.

- Be realistic about the workload: Running two blogs is double the work—Barbara emphasizes the importance of efficiency, batching, and having a plan.

Connect with Barbara Curry

Website | Instagram