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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!

New Course: Artificial Lighting for Food Photography

Lindsay
by Lindsay on Jan 26, 2015 in

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!

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Food Blogger Pro is Hiring!

Bjork
by Bjork on Jan 12, 2015 in ,

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.

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Overcoming the Resistance

Bjork
by Bjork on Jan 3, 2015 in

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…”

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How to Backup Google Apps with Backupify

Bjork
by Bjork on Dec 18, 2014 in

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.

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How to have an organized desktop

Bjork
by Bjork on Nov 14, 2014 in , ,

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:

  1. People would almost always have a random array of files and folders on their desktop.
  2. People would almost always say something along the lines of "please don't judge my messy desktop."

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:

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How to Keep your Gmail Inbox Neat Using Boomerang

Bjork
by Bjork on Nov 5, 2014 in

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.

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3 Quick Tips for using Final Cut Pro to Edit YouTube Videos

Bjork
by Bjork on Oct 16, 2014 in ,

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. 🙂

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Zen Accounting for Bloggers

Bjork
by Bjork on Sep 9, 2014 in ,
Graphic of man meditating that reads 'Zen Accounting for Bloggers'

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:

  1. Juggling porcupines
  2. Taste testing cardboard
  3. Listening to Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini on repeat.

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.

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The Definitive List of Takedown Notice Forms

Bjork
by Bjork on Aug 20, 2014 in

Are you looking for a certain company's takedown notice form?

You’ve come to the right place.

Does my word not convince you? I bet this ninja karate chopping a computer will.

Convinced now?

Good.

🙂

Before we look through the list I want to talk about what a takedown notice is and when I think you should use them.

Quick tip: Want to watch a video instead of read the post? You can scroll to the bottom of this post to check out the "video recap" from our YouTube channel.

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