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How to Stop Relying on Traffic and Start Building a Business with Emily Baksa

Welcome to episode 577 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Emily Baksa from Craveworthy Copy.

Most food bloggers think about monetization in terms of ads, sponsored content, and affiliate marketing. But what if your content could do something more — actively nurturing readers into buyers and building a business that doesn’t depend entirely on traffic?

In this episode Emily and Bjork dig into the full picture of how to build a content ecosystem that converts — from the copy on your homepage to your email opt-ins to the products and experiences you sell. They talk about why your email list is the single most powerful connection-building tool you have and why you should focus on solving problems and offering solutions for your audience.

Bjork also shares how Pinch of Yum made the leap into selling meal plans and got comfortable with selling — and why starting simpler than you think you need to is almost always the right move.

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How Rebecca Blackwell Turned Food Blogging into a Six-Figure Digital Business from an RV

Welcome to episode 576 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Rebecca Blackwell. 

Rebecca started out as a food blogger, but somewhere along the way, she traded a stable paycheck for a life on the road, running her digital business full-time from an RV! In this episode, she opens up about what that transition actually looked like: the risks she took by leaving a steady job, how the RV lifestyle reshaped her thinking about work and creative freedom, and why she made the strategic decision to manage multiple websites rather than rely on a single income stream.

The conversation also gets into the community side of Rebecca’s business. Specifically, how she’s used Substack to build genuine connections with a growing audience of food writers. She shares practical advice on growing a newsletter, engaging readers, and landing sponsorships that feel like a natural fit. You’ll also hear her talk about how she’s navigating the challenges of AI and shifting search algorithms, why leaning into personal storytelling has been her biggest differentiator, and what she’s learned from building community through mastermind groups and in-person retreats.

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How Mika Kinney Turned Her 480,000 Instagram Followers into Site Traffic and Revenue

Welcome to episode 574 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week, Bjork is back with part two of our GRO mini-series — this time chatting with Mika Kinney from Joy to the Food.

Two years ago, Mika Kinney had 1,000 Instagram followers. Today she has 480,000 — and both she and her husband work full-time on Joy to the Food. That kind of growth doesn’t happen by accident, and in this episode Mika breaks down exactly how she did it.

Mika started her site in 2021, left her job in September 2023, and went all in on Instagram in January 2024. What followed was a masterclass in understanding what social media can do for a food business — not just as a vanity metric, but as a genuine traffic and revenue source.

In this episode, Bjork and Mika dig into the super intentional content strategy behind her growth, how she uses GRO to capture the value of her Instagram audience and drive traffic back to her site, how she (easily!) increased her affiliate income, and why she and her husband recently launched a membership program — all without dramatically increasing their workload.

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What’s Actually Working for Food Creators Right Now with Ben Jabbawy from GRO

Welcome to episode 573 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Ben Jabbawy from GRO (formerly known as Grocers List).

If you’ve been looking for a smarter way to turn your social media followers into website visitors, email subscribers, and paying members — this episode is for you. Ben Jabbawy and his team at GRO have sent over 100 million DMs across Instagram and Facebook on behalf of their food creator customers. That kind of scale gives Ben a uniquely data-driven lens into what’s actually working for food creators right now — and in this episode, he shares it with us!

Bjork and Ben chat about recent changes in the social media landscape, dig into the strategies of successful food creators, and discuss why Facebook is suddenly driving a major surge in traffic for food bloggers. They also get into the email side of things and how GRO’s new membership program lets food bloggers offer an ad-free experience or exclusive recipes directly on their site — no coding required.

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How Jenn Lueke Grew to 1.7 Million Followers with Budget Meal Planning Content

Welcome to episode 570 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Jenn Lueke from Jenn Eats Goood.

Jenn Lueke started Jenn Eats Goood in 2018 as a college student — no strategy, no monetization plan, just a hobby Instagram account she loved running. For five years, growth was slow, but she remained consistent. Then in 2023, something clicked. She leaned into meal planning and budget grocery content, and everything changed. Within a year, she went from stalling in the thousands to crossing one million followers.

In this episode, Jenn and Bjork chat about all of it — what finally worked, how she prioritizes data in her content strategy, which platforms she’s focusing on right now, and why she now considers her Substack newsletter her number one priority.

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Food Blogging News Roundtable: Debunking SEO Myths, AI Frankenstein Recipes, and Paid Newsletters

Welcome to episode 559 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork is sitting down to chat with Emily Walker from the Food Blogger Pro team!

Welcome back to another Food Blogging News Roundtable! In this episode, we’re diving into the biggest stories impacting food creators right now.

Bjork and Emily discuss everything from the “SEO is dead” panic to AI-generated Frankenstein recipes, smarter email automations, paid newsletters, and what’s actually working on Pinterest in 2026.

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Inside Crowded Kitchen’s Strategy for Growing to 2.4 Million Followers on Facebook

Welcome to episode 547 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Lexi Harrison from Crowded Kitchen.

Lexi Harrison and her mom first started sharing food content on Instagram back in 2015 — and what began as a fun creative outlet has now turned into a thriving, multi-platform business with over 5 million followers across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

In this episode, Lexi shares how they strategically grew their audience, refined their content approach, and learned to make social media work for their business. You’ll hear how they navigated major shifts in priorities, why they overhauled their content strategy, and what happened when they decided to take Facebook seriously.

If you’ve ever wondered how to build momentum on social media — or how to balance growth and monetization — you won’t want to miss this one!

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The Journey to $100k as a Content Creator with Johnny Brunet

Welcome to episode 539 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Johnny Brunet. 

Johnny Brunet’s story is proof that a pandemic pivot can lead to major success! He went from stand-up comedy to mastering the Blackstone griddle, finding his sweet spot by creating content specifically for beginner cooks. He shares the secret sauce of his content empire: how he strategically focused on one niche tool to stand out and why targeting the starting-out crowd was the perfect gap in the market for massive growth.

Beyond the cooking, Johnny gets real about the business, breaking down his successful revenue mix of YouTube AdSense, eBooks, and affiliate marketing. You’ll get his best advice on keeping your sales funnel incredibly simple and the importance of smart content marketing to drive product sales. This episode will give you the blueprint for turning a niche idea into a full-time income without spreading yourself thin.

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How Jessica Robinson Built a Profitable Food Brand Without SEO

Welcome to episode 538 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Jessica Robinson from A Farmgirl’s Kitchen.

From publishing her first two cookbooks to launching her site, Jessica walks us through the early days of her journey as a food creator and the strategies she used to help her gain momentum — fast! She talks about why she chose to focus on Pinterest and Facebook instead of traditional SEO and how those choices paid off, allowing her to monetize her business within just a few months.

Jessica shares her tips for growing her audience on social media, monetizing through the Facebook Content Monetization program and Amazon affiliate links, and how her short-form videos not only drive traffic but also boost her SEO. With over 430k followers on Facebook and a rapidly expanding presence across platforms, Jessica emphasizes the importance of diversifying income streams and traffic sources and connecting with her audience through relatable, authentic content and storytelling.

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Mastering Digital Products and Meta Ads with Tammy Overhoff

Welcome to episode 531 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Tammy Overhoff.

Tammy started food blogging in 2011 and has reinvented her business many times over the last 14 years. After taking her food blog full-time in 2014 and being hit hard by one-too-many Google algorithm updates, Tammy knew she needed to make a change to her business so that she was no longer working from a place of desperation. In 2022, she took a step back from SEO and diversified her business by leaning into digital product sales.

In this interview, Tammy explains her exact process (including numbers!) for selling digital products, including her Meta Ads strategy. For any creator, it can feel daunting to spend money to reach an audience when social media and organic traffic are free. But Tammy makes a really compelling case for investing in Meta Ads as a different opportunity for discoverability to allow you to think beyond organic traffic for growing your business online. If you’re looking to diversify your traffic (hello, who isn’t!?) or dive into digital product sales, you won’t want to miss this interview.

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