Align and Expand

Mind Over Blog Moments are quick episodes that are 10 minutes or less where Loren shares lessons or quick stories to keep you motivated throughout your week. Getting a closer look into what Loren experiences in her day to day on a more personal level and learn from her lessons and life!

In today’s episode Loren is sharing a super vulnerable episode about a recent experience and death of a neighbor, and how to use it as a reminder of what is truly important in life. 

Loren talks about how short life truly is and how the impact a death of someone can propel and motivate us to seize the day. 

This message is meant to inspire you to move past whatever it is you are stuck on, to remind you that you are here for big things. That you are special, and meant to make a big impact. 

You are put on this earth as a creative being and creating a life you love, desire and dream of is what you are meant to do. Yet, we let the seeds of doubt stop us from going after what we truly want. 

Your tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. Today is the only day that counts and if you want to make a difference or an impact today is the freaking day to do it. 

Resources:
Connect with Loren on Instagram |  Facebook | Blog

Today's episode is a very special story that Kimberly Espinel shares with us. Kimberly is the author of an Amazon best-selling book Creative Food Photography: How to Capture Exceptional Images of Food, the food photographer, stylist and blogger behind The Little Plantation and the Host of Eat Capture Share Podcast.

Kimberly shares what it is like to have an overwhelming feeling of being called to do something and hitting roadblocks. Last year, Kimberly felt called to write a photography book but stumbled up obstacles she didn't anticipate. She openly shares how she overcame the rejection of pitching her book idea to 30 publishers that all told her no.

This conversation is going to empower you to never settle on your biggest dreams and to always go after that big goal, even when other's don't believe in you.

Here is what else you can expect to hear in this episode:

• How Kimberly's blogging journey has morphed from wannabe nutrition coach, to a wildly successful photography career, best selling author and photography mentor. 
• The importance of listening to what you truly want for yourself versus what others are striving for
• Finding your "why" to push you thru when things feel really hard
• Comparison-itis and ways to go introspective and mute the noise of others so you can focus on creating with passion and purpose. 
• Learning that how we think something is going to happen, is never as good as how the Universe actually delivers it. 

So much good stuff friends!

Don't forget to share this episode and tag me @mindoverblog and Kimberly @thelittleplantation and let us know what you loved the most!

Get ready to feel empowered and inspired to go after what is calling you!

Loren
Show Notes: https://sweetrusticbakes.com/category/podcast/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mindoverblog
https://instagram.com/sweetrusticbakes

Kimberly Espinel
Website:  https://thelittleplantation.co.uk/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thelittleplantation

In episode six, we are breaking down self talk and how self talk affects your blog and business.

In this episode expect to learn:

• About how the quality of your success of your blog is directly related to the quality of your thoughts about your blog and business. 
• What "vibration" means in terms of what you are attracting into your life
• Why we can't control all of the thoughts in our head but we can control what thoughts we give meaning, and a story to.
• 4 steps to awaken to the self talk you have and how to change it today!

This quick episode is perfect for learning about self talk 101. Use it as gauge and check in to see if maybe the things you have been telling yourself are stopping you from attracting what you really want in life. 

Loren
Show Notes: https://sweetrusticbakes.com/category/podcast/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mindoverblog
https://instagram.com/sweetrusticbakes

In this episode Loren talks with The Blogging Millionaire, Brandon Gaille. Brandon's blogs receive over 5 million visitors a month and is known for having the top blogger podcast on Apple "The Blogging Millionaire". 

Brandon is also the founder of Rank IQ a brand new keyword research tool. RankIQ  performed a food blog study at the beginning of 2021 diving into the secrets of successful  food bloggers that get more than 50K sessions a month. 

Episode 5 is dedicated to bloggers with a domain authority of less than 30 (hint, that is most likely you if you have been blogging less than 2 years). So if your blog hasn't hit that glorious 50K a month goal, you need to listen. 

Today we dive into SEO secrets and talk about how bloggers will not see success without doing keyword research and doing it with a plan.

Here are just a few of the hot food blogger topics we get into:

• How to balance creating posts for recipes that will rank versus what you like to make
• What three things low DA bloggers are doing to succeed and get 50K visitors a month
• Importance of tail end modifiers for keywords for low DA bloggers 
• How to build backlinks
• The role domain authority plays on where you will rank 
• Why your goal should be getting on the first page of Google 
• Brandon’s opinion on the layout of your posts including word count 
• Q&A posts 
• SEO hacks

Loren
Show Notes: https://sweetrusticbakes.com/category/podcast/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mindoverblog
https://instagram.com/sweetrusticbakes

Brandon Gaille
Website:  https://brandongaille.com/
Rank IQ: https://www.rankiq.com/

This episode is jam packed with information that is geared towards bloggers who are new, small or still working on those big traffic goal dreams and are looking for amazing SEO tips that you can implement right away.

In this episode SEO expert Casey Markee dives deep into the herd mentality problems in the food blog world. He gives detailed takeaways of what you can do instead and where you should be getting your information for the best most up to date SEO practices.

Other topics include:

• Image SEO- Process shots, Alt text and labeled ingredient shots
• Internal linking- how, where and when to use internal linking and one thing you should NEVER do
• How a small blog grows to be competitive in today's food blog market- Casey directs us on exactly what should be implemented first.
• Treat your blog like it is a business
• What analytics you should be paying attention when checking the health of your site for Google and how to prepare them for the Core Web Vitals Update in May
  • first input delay
  • LCP
  • CLS
• Casey's preference for the best theme, hosts and why you should ONLY use wordress.org not wordpress.com or places like Squarespace etc. 
• Mistakes he has seen in audits from bloggers copying other bloggers

Loren
Show Notes: https://sweetrusticbakes.com/category/podcast/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mindoverblog
https://instagram.com/sweetrusticbakes

Casey Markee
Website: https://www.mediawyse.com/

How often do you catch yourself saying "I never have enough time for (insert the one billion things you do a day)" or "I always take on more than I can handle".  If so, it is time to learn the REAL reason you feel like there is never enough time...hint...it's not about time at all.

It is about the story and self talk you are telling yourself when it comes to the amount of time you have in a day. 

If you are ready to get serious with learning a new story to change your mindset when it comes to finding time for you business and food blog, press play now!

Loren

Blog: https://sweetrusticbakes.com/category/podcast/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/mindoverblog

https://instagram.com/sweetrusticbakes

It is time to ditch the content creation overwhelm food blogger friends! In this episode we talk to  simplicity focused, time management strategist  Amanda Warfield where she gets real with solopreneurs just like you that are sick and tired of being in constant creation overload.

Learn why we all tend to feel this overwhelm, what being in constant creation mode does to us, and ways to simplify content creation. 

We dive into content batching for food bloggers from recipe testing to blog writing and how you can figure out where you should focus first.

Loren
Blog: https://sweetrusticbakes.com/category/podcast/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mindoverblog
https://instagram.com/sweetrusticbakes

Amanda Warfield
Website: https://amandawarfield.com/
Podcast: Chasing Simple
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrsamandawarfield/

If you have ever wondered what it takes for a food blogger new to the blogging scene to make it to Mediavine quickly this is the episode for you!

Today I am chatting with Nicolette from Home-Cooked Roots! Nicolette was able to reach the big milestone of obtaining Mediavine for her vegan food blog Home-Cooked Roots in only one year.

In this episode we talk about what Nicolette did to right over the last year that led to her success. From themes and keyword research to nailing your niche, Nicolette shares so many insightful tips to get you headed in the same direction of Mediavine.

Loren
Blog/ Show Notes: https://sweetrusticbakes.com/category/podcast
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mindoverblog

Nicolette
Blog: https://homecookedroots.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/homecookedroots
Google Web Story How To for Food Bloggers: https://homecookedroots.com/google-web-stories-guide/