As food bloggers and food content creators, we spend a lot of the time on the photographs, recipes, blog posts, and videos we produce.
So what can we do to protect that content that we create?
You’ve probably heard terms like “Privacy Policy,” “Terms of Service,” “Disclaimers,” and “DMCAs” before, but do you understand their purposes and if / why you need them for your own content?
We have a bit of a different blog post for you today! And it’s all about how we made our very first $100 from food blogging.
Who is this “we,” you ask? The Food Blogger Pro community and the team here behind Food Blogger Pro and our sister companies.
We say it a lot, but every food blogging journey is different, and it’s really hard to compare one blogger’s story to another.
We all have different responsibilities in addition to trying to grow our food blogs. Some of us have full-time jobs. Others have kids or pets or other family obligations. We live in different countries where we rent or own our own houses. Some bloggers work on their blogs on the weekends, while others can spend a bit more time producing content.
That’s why it’s impossible to compare the growth of one blog to another; there is so much happening behind-the-scenes that impacts the way and the speed at which a blog grows.
So why are we talking about how we’ve made our first $100 today? To show you just some of the ways that bloggers have made it work.
Your first $100 is a huge milestone, and there are so many different ways you can achieve it. Here are just a few ideas:
If you’ve started your blog from scratch, you’re a CEO. Did you know that?
It’s one of those things that’s kind of obvious, but we don’t think about it much because it’s… intimidating? Scary? Official? All of the above?
But it’s true. And you’ve probably spent countless hours, days, weekends, and years DIYing it all, creating content, photographing recipes, searching for keywords, responding to comments, and sharing your recipes on social media.
And if you’re making money, working with sponsors, running ads, selling products, and/or joining affiliate programs, your blog is a business.
So let me ask you this: are you treating it that way?
To achieve serious blog growth (both in traffic and in income), you should be.
If you’ve been blogging for longer than two days you’ve probably noticed something:
Things change.
This thing works, then it doesn’t. That thing paid really well now pays pennies. This thing doesn’t send you much traffic, then it does.
It’s overwhelming to keep up with it all. I know from experience.
I also know that overwhelm is almost always a negative emotion that breeds inaction, either through giving up (“I’ll do it tomorrow”) or diving head-first into learning but never actually implementing (“I’ll move forward once I understand it a little bit better”).
It can feel like the sky is falling when you build momentum in a certain direction only to have that momentum squashed by a change in the advertising industry (I’m looking at you, banner ads), a change in your ability to connect with fans (I’m looking at you, Facebook), or a change in an algorithm (I’m looking at you, Google).
But it’s also really important to remember that there are things that will always stay the same with blogging or building a presence online.
Oh, sweet – it’s a NEW COURSE DAY.
Because I’m happeeeeeee….
Today we are superexcited to be releasing a new course on natural light for food photography which includes 9 lessons about how to use natural light to make the most of your food photos.
We’re calling this course Natural Lighting for Food Photography and you can find it in the Food Photography module.
This course was really fun to record because I did some things that I’ve never officially done before to test the quality of our natural light in our house.
What are you giving away for free on your blog?
It’s an important question, because giving things away for free is one the best ways to increase the income you’re earning from your blog.
Giving things away for free in order to increase your income?
Seems a bit backwards, doesn’t it?
Let me explain.
There are many things I love in this world.
For example, I love…
I’d love to talk about all of these things in this post, but I understand that you’re probably here to learn about those last two items: Google Apps and backup plans.
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This post is a sequel to the 4 ways you should be backing up your computer and blog that I wrote back in May. If you haven’t read that post yet I’d encourage you to check it out after you’re done reading this.
So let’s talk about those last two items in my list of loves. First, Google Apps.
I worked for four years as "the I.T. guy" at a local non-profit, which means that I saw lots of different computer desktops.
Call me crazy, but I found it really interesting.
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There were two things I noticed when working on computers:
So, while people usually didn't have an organized desktop, they realized that they probably should.
The good news is that it's not that hard! Here's how:
There aren’t many things I’d rather be doing than accounting.
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Okay, well… actually…
…now that I think of it there are quite a few things I’d rather be doing than accounting.
Things like:
Are you with me or are you with me?
Here’s the deal though: if you’re working to build your blog into a business then you need to treat it like one. That means doing a good job with your accounting.
While I don’t like spending time in Excel or QuickBooks, I do like knowing that our books are in order and that we’re keeping track of our income and expenses.
So how do anti-spreadsheet people like Lindsay and I manage to keep our books in order?
We do it by using a system I call Zen Accounting for Bloggers.
It's a simple system that we developed over the past few years. This system allows us to keep really clean books while spending less than 30 minutes a week on taxes/accounting/bookkeeping.
And today I’d like to share that simple system with you.