Blogging While Working Full-Time, Pitching Brands, and Determining Your Rates with Kyleigh Sage from Barley & Sage ----- Welcome to episode 414 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Kyleigh Sage from Barley & Sage. Combining Brand Work and Ad Revenue to Make $10,000-$15,000 a Month There are lots of different opportunities for food content creators to make money. And one of the most common ways is by partnering with brands! In this interview, Bjork and Kyleigh chat about partnering with brands on sponsored content and freelance work (even when you don’t have a large social media following), including how to effectively pitch to brands and negotiate your contracts. Kyleigh is honest and transparent about her strategies for working with brands and how she navigates pricing her work. It’s clear that she is passionate about helping other food bloggers find success, and you won’t want to miss this interview! In this episode, you’ll learn:  About Kyleigh’s professional background and journey to starting her food blog in 2019. How she strategically approached her first year of blogging while still working full-time. More about how she first started partnering with brands on sponsored content and freelance work. How she combines brand work and ad revenue to make $10,000-$15,000 a month. How an SEO audit transformed how she approached her blog and helped her qualify for Mediavine. How she recommends calculating your rates when working with brands. How to effectively pitch your work to brands and network with PR agencies. What she recommends for maintaining good relationships with brands and PR agencies. What she would repeat, and what she would change from her food blogging journey so far.  Resources:  Barley & Sage Mediavine Media Wyse Substack Pricing Guide for Food Photography Barley & Sage Resources Follow Kyleigh on Instagram Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group  ----- This episode is sponsored by Clariti. Learn how you can organize your blog content for maximum growth by going to clariti.com/food. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership

414: How Kyleigh Sage Combines Brand Work and Ad Revenue to Make $10,000-$15,000 a Month

Welcome to The Food Blogger Pro Podcast, hosted by Bjork Ostrom from Pinch of Yum! Our goal is to help you create a beautiful, functional, and profitable blog.

We interview successful food bloggers and industry experts in an effort to surface strategies that can help you more efficiently grow and monetize your site. You'll learn about recipe SEO, food photography, plugins, monetization, traffic, and more.

New episodes every Tuesday! Learn more at foodbloggerpro.com/podcast

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Developing a photography portfolio, growing a career in photography, and the importance of telling a story through your photographs with Alanna O'Neil. ----- Welcome to episode 461 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Alanna O’Neil. Building a Career as a Photographer and Storytelling Through Visuals Alanna O’Neil has been a photographer for almost as long as she can remember. Despite starting her career in fashion, she took a risk and moved to Hawaii to start a career as a photographer, and hasn’t looked back. In this interview, Alanna shares more about building a career as a freelance photographer, developing your skills as a photographer, building a portfolio, and the importance of storytelling through visuals. She has an incredibly calming and inspiring energy, and this interview will give you a lot to think about as an entrepreneur, creative, and photographer. Don’t miss it! In this episode, you’ll learn:  How Alanna first got into photography (spoiler: it involves a horse barn and a dark room in her childhood home)! How she makes time and space to make big life decisions (like moving to Hawaii and changing careers). How she started her career in food photography. How she built her photography portfolio and why working for free is underrated. More about the program she is developing for new photographers. Her actionable tips within business, mindset, and photography for someone trying to build a photography business. Her recommendations for improving your photography. Why you should think about telling a story with your food photos. How she minimizes comparing herself to other creators.  Resources:  Alanna O’Neil Pinch of Yum Humans of New York Two Huge Chocolate Chip Cookies  The Gap and the Gain Follow Alanna on Instagram Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group  ----- This episode is sponsored by Clariti and Memberful. Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

461: Building a Career as a Photographer and Storytelling Through Visuals with Alanna O'Neil

Getting removed from Mediavine, leaning into social media as a traffic driver, and rebuilding to 85,000 monthly sessions with Yasmin Henley from By the Forkful. ----- Welcome to episode 460 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Yasmin Henley from By the Forkful. How Yasmin Henley Recommitted to Her Blog and Grew to 85,000 Monthly Sessions Yasmin started By the Forkful (her second blog) in 2019 and quickly qualified for Mediavine. But, as often happens, life got in the way when she had her daughter and went back to work full-time. After taking a step back and being removed from Mediavine, Yasmin has worked hard to bring her site back to life. In the last year she has built the traffic on her site back up to 85,000 monthly sessions and is once again part of an ad network! In this interview she shares more about her process for growing site traffic, the role of social media in driving traffic to her site, and how she balances her full-time job, family, and blog. We loved this interview with Yasmin — she’s an open book and her honesty is so refreshing and helpful for anyone building a business! In this episode, you’ll learn:  How she initially qualified for Mediavine after starting her blog in 2019. Why she neglected her site for 1–2 years (hint: sometimes life gets in the way) and was removed from Mediavine. How a viral TikTok video inspired her to reinvest in her blog. How she built the traffic back up on her site (to 85,000 sessions last month!). How she has grown her social media followings at the same time. How she balances her blog with her full-time job and family. Her current strategy on Facebook (which is a major traffic driver for her). Why updating older content is one of the most valuable things she does for her business. What advice she would give to her past self when she was removed from her ad network.  Resources:  By the Forkful Mediavine Y Combinator Follow Yasmin on Instagram and TikTok Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group  ----- This episode is sponsored by Clariti and Raptive. Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

460: How Yasmin Henley Recommitted to Her Blog and Grew to 85,000 Monthly Sessions

Balancing a business and home-schooling 8 children, building a team, and diversifying your business to different platforms with Lisa Bass. ----- Welcome to episode 459 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Lisa Bass from Farmhouse on Boone. How Lisa Bass from Farmhouse on Boone Diversified Her Business and Found Work-Life Balance Lisa Bass first started her site, Farmhouse on Boone, in 2016. Since then, she has diversified her brand to include a podcast, YouTube channel, courses, and more (all while raising 8 children)! In this podcast interview, Bjork and Lisa talk about balancing her business with her family life, and how she has built a team to support her business over the years. Lisa also chats about how each arm of her business ranks in terms of income, and why she continues to prioritize YouTube. Lisa has been one of our most-requested podcast guests and we’re so happy to have her join us! Hope you enjoy the episode. In this episode, you’ll learn:  More about Lisa’s journey from starting her site in 2016 (and growing her site to have multiple millions of monthly pageviews). What she attributes her success to. How she balances her business and home-schooling her 8 (!!!) children. How she has built her team over the years and what the workflow within her business looks like. How her different platforms (blog, social media, podcast, YouTube) fit into her income. Why she continues to prioritize creating content for YouTube. What her strategy around creating YouTube content is (and how she’s improved it over the years). What she would do if she was just starting Farmhouse on Boone today. What tools she uses to run her business.  Resources:  Farmhouse on Boone Simple Farmhouse Life Raptive MrBeast Mark Rober True Native Media Spotify for Podcasters (formerly Anchor) Trello Slack Final Cut Pro Epidemic Sound Teachable EasyWebinar ConvertKit Follow Lisa on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group  ----- This episode is sponsored by Clariti and Memberful. Learn more about our sponsors at foodbloggerpro.com/sponsors. Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

459: How Lisa Bass from Farmhouse on Boone Diversified Her Business and Found Work-Life Balance

Balancing a full-time job in the SEO industry with running a food blog, managing burnout, and applying SEO best practices to your site with Marley Braunlich from Baked Abundance. ----- Welcome to episode 458 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Marley Braunlich from Baked Abundance. SEO Tips from a Food Blogger Who Works Full-time at an SEO Agency Marley Braunlich started working full-time at an SEO agency shortly after launching her food blog, Baked Abundance. In this interview, she shares more about balancing a full-time job and a side hustle (especially when they’re both in the same industry!) and how she manages burnout. Marley also explains what tips and tricks she has learned from her full-time job and how she has worked to optimize her site for search engines and build domain authority. If you want to increase your site traffic (who isn’t?!) without losing the aspects of food blogging that bring you joy, you won’t want to miss this interview! In this episode, you’ll learn:  More about Marley’s full-time job at an SEO agency and how it has impacted her food blog. The tools that Marley learned about through her job and now uses for her site. How she balances a full-time job and blog in the same industry. How she manages burnout and adjusts her content strategy with a full-time job and a side hustle. What she has learned from coaching calls with other food bloggers. The patterns she has noticed amongst blogs that have seen the greatest success at her SEO agency. How she has worked to build her domain authority and increased backlinks.  Resources:  Baked Abundance Semrush  Detailed SEO Extension Detailed Q3: Analysing The SEO Playbook of Digital Goliaths In-Depth, Every Quarter Mediavine Feast Eat More Cake by Candice Broken Oven Baking 100 Days of Real Food Connectively Featuring HARO Follow Marley on Instagram Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group  ----- This episode is sponsored by Clariti and Raptive. Learn more about our sponsors at foodbloggerpro.com/sponsors. Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

458: SEO Tips from a Food Blogger Who Works Full-time at an SEO Agency with Marley Braunlich

Acquiring an existing food blog, navigating traffic drops, and reimagining a site to make it your own with Parker Thornburg from Foodness Gracious. ----- Welcome to episode 457 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Parker Thornburg from Foodness Gracious. How to Acquire and Grow a Food Blog Starting a food blog or business is hard work. It can take months (years!) of determination, practice, and consistency before you start to see results. So what if you just… skipped ahead?! That’s exactly what Parker Thornburg and his business partner did when they acquired the existing food blog, Foodness Gracious. But just because the site was up and running (with thousands of recipes!) doesn’t mean the transition has been an easy or seamless one. In this interview, Parker shares more about the process of acquiring a site, what the transition has been like, how they’ve navigated hiring and traffic drops, and have started to come out the other side. Whether or not you’re thinking about acquiring a site (or selling your own), there are lots of great lessons to be learned for anyone! In this episode, you’ll learn:  More about Parker’s professional background (including time at Yahoo and a start-up). Why Parker decided to acquire an existing food blog. About the process of acquiring a site and using a brokerage site. What factors to consider when acquiring a site (including calculating potential profits). How they hired their team and what the early days of the site looked like after acquisition (including lots of lessons learned). How Parker and his business partner have navigated traffic drops since acquiring their site. The importance of consistency and habits when trying something new. How he balances his full-time job, family life, and growing Foodness Gracious. What he wants the legacy of this site to be.  Resources:  Foodness Gracious  Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game QuietLight Empire Flippers  032: Buying & Selling Websites with Mark Daoust from Quiet Light  159: Different Ways to Create an Income Online with Mark Daoust Mediavine beehiiv Maray  Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones Snackdive Follow Foodness Gracious on Instagram and Facebook Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group  ----- This episode is sponsored by CultivateWP and Memberful. Learn more about our sponsors at foodbloggerpro.com/sponsors. Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

414: How Kyleigh Sage Combines Brand Work and Ad Revenue to Make $10,000-$15,000 a Month

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