Whether you're brand new to food blogging or a seasoned pro, we're here to help you with proven tips and strategies for growing your blog. Here on the Food Blogger Pro blog, you'll learn about building traffic, food blog SEO, social media tips, and more. Keep an eye out for a new post every week!
This post is about Little Things.
In staying true to its theme, it’s a little post.
Building a successful blog (or business or non-profit) doesn’t happen by doing Big Things. It happens by doing hundreds of Little Things that lead to Big Results.
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Fun post!
Lindsay and I would like to introduce you to Beth Hornback, Food Blogger Pro’s brand new Community Happiness Specialist.
Many Food Blogger Pro members probably already know Beth from her active presence on the community forum. She’s been a member of Food Blogger Pro for over one year now and has already contributed over 400 posts to the community forum.
As a matter of fact, Beth was the first Food Blogger Pro member to reach the (honorable but strangely named) “Fellow” status on the community forum after posting more than 250 times.
For as long as I’ve been taking pictures of food, I’ve believed that beautiful food photography requires natural light.
But here’s the question – does it really?
What I’m finding is that even as a full-time blogger who has access to natural light all day long, the quality of natural light is always unpredictable. We live in Minnesota (don’t even get me started on the whys), and the natural light in the winter months is… well, I’m looking out the window right now and everything is just sort of a murky grey.
Over the last few years I’ve felt like there had to be a better way than waiting around all day for those three minutes of perfect natural light.
And I have good news – there is a better way!
Update (2.24.15): This position has been filled. Congratulations Beth!
Over the past two years, Food Blogger Pro has grown to over 800 members. As the community continues to grow, we want to make sure that members receive the highest level of service, which is why we’re hiring a Community Happiness Specialist.
It’s a unique position that requires a unique personality.
The primary role of this person? You guessed it: community happiness.
I’m convinced that the #1 issue that people face with building a blog (or any creative endeavor, really) is The Resistance.
It’s not a lack of time, it’s not a lack of knowledge, and it’s not a lack of skill.
It’s The Resistance.
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Here’s how Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art, describes it:
Resistance comes as a voice in our heads. The voice tells us not to work today and it gives us a reason. Our daughter’s dance recital starts at seven; this headache is killing us; the boss wants us to organize the Penske file.
Sound familiar? I know it does for me. I’m fighting that voice right now.
“You’re in Chicago, Bjork. You can write the post when you get back home…”
“It’s New Year’s Eve…”
“You’re heading out in an hour. It’s not worth it to start now. You’ll have a good chunk of time on the car ride home, you can do it then…”
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:
This blog post is part of a new series we’re doing on Food Blogger Pro called Keep it Neat. The series will cover simple tips to help you keep your blogging life neat and tidy.
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Easier said than done, eh? 🙂
Today I’m sharing a tip for keeping your Gmail inbox neat.
My personal goal is to "do email" once a day. When I login to my email account I try and work all the way through my inbox until it’s completely empty.
This process works great until I find an email that I can’t respond to. Maybe I don’t have the information I need, maybe I don’t have enough time, or maybe it would make more sent to respond to someone a little bit later on in the week.
Regardless of the reason, an email that’s left in the inbox results in a disappointing scenario: an almost empty inbox. I’m not sure about you, but I hate that feeling.
I'm not a YouTube or video expert, but I'm a big believer in expert enough and want to live out that belief on this blog. Hence the reason for blog posts like this one (or five things I learned in my first month using YouTube or the gear we use for recipe videos) where we share "real-time" tips and tricks.
Today I'm sharing three simple tips I use to improve our YouTube videos using Final Cut Pro X. The easiest way to learn the tips is by watching the video below, but I'll also provide some basic screenshots after the video as well. You can choose your own adventure. 🙂
Have you heard the phrase you don’t know how much you miss it until it’s gone?
That’s how I felt about Amazon’s affiliate program, Amazon Associates.
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Up until June of 2013 we had been using Amazon affiliate links in different places throughout Pinch of Yum and earning a consistent (but never significant) amount of money from it.
Then, on June 18th 2013, we received an email from Amazon that said this:
We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account will be closed and your Amazon Services LLC Associates Program Operating Agreement will be terminated effective June 30, 2013. This is a direct result of the unconstitutional Minnesota state tax collection legislation passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Dayton on May 23, 2013, with an effective date of July 1, 2013. As a result, we will no longer pay any advertising fees for customers referred to an Amazon Site after June 30 nor will we accept new applications for the Associates Program from Minnesota residents.