Food Blogger Summit Presentation

Breaking All The RulesGrowing Your Blog Without Being Pushing or “Salesy”

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Copyright - 2013 - WellnessMama.com

Who Am I?

Wife & Mom of 5

Background in nutrition, real food crusader, health/wellness blogger, amateur chef

Scuba diver, lover of books, coffee aficionado, kettlebell junkie, doula and soon to be author

The Big WHY...Define your mission for your blog

Decide who your primary audience is

Detail the ways that you want to connect with and help your audience

Realize that blogging is about THEM, not YOU

You have to be passionate about your topic- The “Julia Child Factor”

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Define Your Mission:

The mission of WellnessMama.com is to promote healthy eating and real-food nutrition by supporting moms and families with education and practical resources. My vision is to create a movement of readers and fellow bloggers to encourage healthy, sustainable and natural options with recipes, natural living ideas, fitness help and health information geared toward families.

Your Avatar:

Figure out who you are writing to. Even if you are just publishing recipes, figure out who is most likely to want your specific recipes and write to that person.

Get as specific as possible so you can identify with that person and think of them as you write.

Write like you’re having coffee with a friend.

Part One - Great ContentStart by outlining the core content you want to post.

Work on these posts first before you even start promoting.

During this time, make it a point to comment on other blogs, contribute in forums and be helpful on social media without promoting yourself.

Write like you are having coffee with your best friend. The “Ree” Factor:

The “Ree” Factor

ThePioneerWoman.com

Part Two - Making Friends

Offer to guest post for bloggers in your niche.

Offer to let others guest post on your site.

Give more than you get in forums and on other blogs.

Start engaging with your audience on social media but make it about them!

Give away a lot of free content.

Make it about them:

Grow OrganicallyWhat worked for me:

No pop-up email boxes

No bribes, giveaways or contests

No ads, banners or distractions on my site: “The front-lawn factor”

Be genuine, vulnerable and transparent.

Growth won’t be as fast, but you will have a stronger bond with your readers.

Don’t buy your friends...

Think of your readers as friends, your blog as your house and your social media platforms as your front yard.

Don’t pay for friends.

Take care of your friends before your advertisers.

Your house isn’t a billboard.

Your yard isn’t a sign.

Playing Nice with Google

Write for people but optimize for search engines

The goal: get Google to like you (G+ helps)

What I use: Scribe, Wordpress SEO plugin, G+

Find out what people are searching for and write about it!

Make sure titles are clear and searchable

Social MediaSend traffic to your site, not vise versa.

Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Instagram, Pinterest

Know your audience

Google + is important!

Share with at least a 4:1 ratio of theirs:yours

Create a two-way conversation

Social Metrics Pro plugin helps track stats

Social Media TrackingFind what your readers like and provide more content in that area:

Know YourselfAs things start to grow, stay true to yourself and your goals.

If you wouldn’t do it for free, don’t do it for money.

Keep giving away insanely helpful content for free.

Pay it forward.

Keep it about helping others!

Make $ Without “Selling”

I’m not a sales person - The “Big-box store factor”

Treat them like you’d treat your sister

Build it and they will come

Give MUCH more than you get.

In-post affiliate links, information or digital products.

Be real...

Building the friendship:

Get their “number”=email

Connect on social media

Share recipes or helpful info

If they ask, tell them where you got your resources

Occasionally, if you find (or create) a great resource, tell them about it!

The Long Term RelationshipKeep providing quality free content all the time

Keep a low ratio of free products to sales products

Make sure any products you sell are also very valuable

Helpful Resources

For the Search Engines...

Scribe

Wordpress SEO plugin

Google+

Google Analytics

For Social MediaUse text on pictures to make them more appealing on social media. This is especially important on Pinterest since your image is your only window to your site.

Facebook:Ask a question or make engagement about them, since Facebook shows posts to more readers if it gets more engagement:

Just Google It:Everything you post should be on Google+ and you should have Google Authorship markup connecting G+ and your site. This helps you rank for search engine terms:

More Info:

http://WellnessMama.com/Food-Blogger-Summit