491: How to Write Authentic Newsletters to Grow Engaged Email Subscribers & Increase Your Open Rate with Jacqueline Debono

In episode 507, Megan chats to Sally Cameron about the process of recipe development, including thorough testing, catering for your readers’ needs, food safety and building trust through recipes that succeed time and time again.

Sally is a professionally trained chef, recipe developer, online content creator, speaker, and certified health and nutrition coach. She created all of the recipes for Dr. Mark Hyman’s NYT best seller Eat Fat Get Thin, the NYT million copy bestseller “The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life” companion cookbook, and Sony Five Essentials video series. She’s been blogging at A Foodcentric Life longer than she’d like to admit. Changing her diet by going gluten-free and focusing on whole fresh foods, lots of plants, nuts, seeds, healthy fats and quality proteins helped her lose weight, get healthy, detox from heavy metals, and recover from Lyme, mold, and gut issues. With all of that, it’s no surprise that special diets are her forte, because healthy is a lifestyle.

Fun Fact: Sally's fun fact is they did a two week expedition to Antarctica because they like to shoot landscape photography too. It was utterly amazing.

In this episode, you’ll learn the different steps of developing great recipes and why this is a crucial element to a successful, revenue-generating blog. Sally provides practical tips about recipe writing and revision, including keyword consideration and making the most of flavor profiles.

- Definition and Purpose: What is the purpose of the recipe? Is it for your blog or for a sponsored post or a client?

- Find Inspiration: Keep notes about flavors, ingredients, beautiful photos and restaurant meals and other recipes that inspire you.

- Find the Right Keyword: Before putting effort into recipe testing, research keywords and brainstorm ideas around your recipe (e.g. does your recipe fit within your niche, how is it different?).

- Be Creative: Find ways to make it easier, faster and more fun for readers or ways to cater for specific dietary needs.

- Recipe Testing and Revision: Test, revise, and make adjustments to your recipes to ensure your readers are able to reproduce it.

- Equipment Considerations: Consider readers' kitchen equipment and provide alternative methods for those with limited tools.

- Food Safety and Testing: Do a thorough test for food safety, including cooling and storage trials and check verified online resources for food safety information.

- Consistency in Recipe Writing: Be consistent in recipe writing, including clear instructions, accurate measurements, and detailed notes for successful replication.

Connect with Sally Cameron

Website | Instagram

In episode 506, Jillian Leslie teaches us strategies for how to get our mindset in the right place for 2024 and stay positive, while navigating the ever-changing landscape of online business.

 Jillian Leslie loves building businesses on the internet with her husband, David. In 2009, they started Catch My Party, one of the largest party ideas sites on the web. In 2016, Jillian and David built MiloTree, a smart pop-up app to help bloggers and creators grow their social media followers and email lists. And in 2021, they built MiloTreeCart, the easiest tool for bloggers and creators to sell digital products. It's built for non-techies.

For the past 4 years, Jillian has been hosting her weekly podcast called The Blogger Genius Podcast. She interviews successful bloggers, entrepreneurs, and industry experts to break down what's working now in online business.

In this episode, you’ll learn about the power of staying open-minded and flexible in the face of changing circumstances, the significance of surrounding yourself with positive and supportive individuals and how to leverage tools like MiloTree Cart to streamline online business endeavors and monetization efforts.

- Flexibility and Adaptation – Due to the dynamic nature of business, be open to change and experimentation in business strategies.

- Community Support – It’s important to surround yourself with positive and supportive peers who understand the challenges and opportunities

- Embrace Authenticity - Be authentic and vulnerable, even if it means being perceived as imperfect or "cringey," fostering genuine connections with audiences.

- Be Proactive - Take initiative and seize opportunities for growth rather than waiting passively for success to happen.

- Continuous Learning and Evolution - Embrace continuous learning, adaptation, and a willingness to pivot strategies based on feedback and changing trends.

- Optimism and Resilience - Foster a mindset of optimism, resilience, and belief in your ability to overcome challenges and achieve success in the blogging and online business journey.

Connect with Jillian Leslie

Website | Instagram

Megan explores 5 ways to celebrate wins in our business and life so that we can cultivate happiness every day.

We tend to overlook our wins while constantly striving for the next best thing or goal. This way we never truly feel happy in the present moment. Megan therefore highlights the significance of pausing to appreciate our journey and accomplishments because by reflecting on our progress and successes, we can boost our happiness and mindset.

She covers the following key points:

1. Acknowledge Your Present Wins: Consider how often you appreciate your current circumstances and reflect on your journey over the past months or years.

2. Celebrate Your Achievements: Celebrating wins sends a powerful message of gratitude. Whether through quiet moments of acknowledgment or indulgent treats, celebrating reinforces the value of our accomplishments.

3. Five Wins to Celebrate Now: Track Blog Statistics, Completed Projects, Physical and Mindset Progress, Goals and Dreams realised and Financial Gains.

4. Cultivate a Habit of Celebration: Scheduled regular moments in your week/month to celebrate wins, fostering a positive outlook and reinforcing achievements.

Get in touch with Megan if there is a specific mindset and self-care topic you'd like her to cover.

Website | Instagram

In episode 504, Megan chats to Erin and Ben Clarke about running a business as a couple, including the importance of setting boundaries and dividing responsibilities.

Erin Clarke is the creator of the tremendously popular recipe blog Well Plated and the author of the best selling Well Plated Cookbook and forthcoming book, Well Plated Every Day. She's fearlessly dedicated to making healthy cooking easy, affordable, and of course: delicious! She specializes in lightened-up comfort foods, easy weeknight meal ideas, and wholesome versions of your favorite treats. Erin lives in Milwaukee with her husband Ben and their lazy, loveable beagle mix Teddy.

In this episode, you'll learn about the challenges and rewards of running a business as a couple and the importance of over-communication, mutual understanding, and adapting responsibilities to suit each partner's interests and strengths.

- Over-communication is Key: Clear and frequent communication helps navigate challenges and expectations effectively.

- Recognize Individual Interests: Acknowledge and leverage each partner's interests and strengths within the business to create a more fulfilling work environment.

- Balance Work and Personal Life: Understand that work and personal life are interconnected, and strive to maintain a healthy balance between the two.

- Be Open to Adjustments: Be willing to adjust roles and responsibilities based on individual preferences and skills to optimize productivity and happiness.

- Value Shared Successes: Celebrate and share the successes and challenges of the business together, fostering a sense of teamwork and mutual support.

- Embrace Fluidity: Embrace the fluidity of roles and responsibilities, understanding that flexibility is essential in adapting to the evolving needs of the business and personal life.

- Find Joy in Shared Endeavors: Find joy and fulfillment in working together toward common goals, appreciating the unique contributions each partner brings to the table.

Connect with Erin and Ben Clarke

Website | Instagram

In episode 503, Jenny Meier teaches us 3 ways to build a community on Substack and how to use the platform to network and increase our blog's reach.

Jenny founded Kitchen Skip in 2019 as a place to share easy dinner recipes with busy parents like herself. Almost 20 years earlier, Jenny had attended culinary school and spent years working in restaurants, cheese shops and wine stores before she started developing recipes for food and wellness websites in 2009. Finally, in 2019 Jenny started her own food blog. She monetized with MediaVine at the end of 2021 and started her Substack newsletter in June of 2022.

In this episode, you'll learn about how to get started on Substack and why it's a great platform to build community and expand your reach and knowledge, and how embracing new writing platforms can enhance your skills and open doors to collaboration opportunities.

- Alternative to Email Newsletters: Substack makes it easy to send out newsletters to subscribers, helping you build a community around exclusive content.

- Getting Started with Substack: It is simple to get started on Substack. Read other people's newsletters to get an idea of how it works.

- Discover Communities: Substack provides a platform for connecting with other writers and bloggers, fostering a sense of community and collaboration.

- Benefits of Substack: Substack can help you improve your writing, marketing skills, and connect with like-minded individuals.

- Networking Opportunities: Substack offers various networking avenues such as recommendations, discussion threads, and the Notes Feed for writers to promote their content and collaborate with others.

- Additional Revenue Stream: By offering a paid subscription, you can generate extra income through your newsletters.

- Start Simple, Learn by Doing: Starting with small steps and learning through experience is key to success on Substack and in any endeavor.

Guest Details

Connect with Jenny Meier

Website | Substack

Megan discusses the importance of decluttering our life, its impact on mental health and productivity and 5 ways in which we can get started.

Decluttering your life is an easy, practical way to open up space for good things to come into your life. Megan shares strategies for decluttering physical spaces, electronics, calendars, relationships, and your mind. She also provides actionable insights to help you enhance your well-being and productivity by creating space for positive change through decluttering.

She covers the following key points:

1. Declutter a Physical Space: Decluttering spaces like closets, cars, desks, and pantries, can be broken up in bite-sized tasks and will affect the way you feel.

2. Declutter Electronics: Tips include organizing phone apps, deleting unnecessary files, and managing email subscriptions.

3. Declutter Your Calendar: Evaluate commitments and redistribute tasks to prevent burnout.

4. Declutter Relationships: Assess and adjust relationships for mental well-being.

5. Declutter Your Mind: Strategies include scheduling appointments, journaling, practicing mindfulness, and limiting screen time.

Get in touch with Megan if there is a specific mindset and self-care topic you'd like her to cover.

Website | Instagram

In episode 501, Amanda Polick teaches us how to embrace rejection so that it becomes a catalyst for personal growth and resilience.

Amanda Polick is a cookbook and food memoir coach. Her work has been featured by Cooking Light, Time, Southern Living, and Food & Wine. She’s a proud member of Cherry Bombe, Les Dames d'Escoffier International, and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Amanda lives in Nashville, Tennessee now, but a piece of her will be in California forever.

In this episode, you'll learn about handling rejection gracefully by staying true to your purpose and the value of embracing feedback, and supporting fellow creators amidst challenges and uncertainties.

- Remember Your Identity: When you get rejected, remember your identity and purpose to help you maintain self-assurance and direction.

- Embrace Rejection as Growth: Rejection is a catalyst for learning and personal development, essential for building resilience and determination.

- Boldness and Authenticity: Uniqueness attracts attention and fosters connection so make bold choices and embrace authenticity.

- Support Others: It’s important to support fellow creators, whether through feedback, reviews, or messages of encouragement, fostering a sense of community.

- Resilience through Feedback: Discern between constructive criticism and tactless feedback, but either way be open to critique while maintaining confidence in one's abilities.

- Find Your Niche: Discover your unique voice and space within a competitive landscape, while staying true to yourself.

- Acknowledge the Reality of Rejection: Rejection is inevitable in creative pursuits; perceive it as a stepping stone rather than a setback.

- Cultivate Persistence: In order to succeed and find unexpected opportunities and growth, you need to be persistent and have self-belief in the face of uncertainty.

Connect with Amanda Polick

Website | Instagram

In episode 500, Megan chats to 3 SEO experts: Ty Kilgore, Samantha Blake and Steve Wiideman, about what SEO strategies will help food bloggers grow most in 2024.

Ty Kilgore has been geeking out on SEO and Digital Marketing for over 14 years. He founded Everything Digital Marketing in order to share his passion and to clearly instruct, guide, and help influencers overcome the frustrations related to SEO and Digital Marketing.

Samantha Blake began a web design and SEO business after food blogging didn’t go as planned. While she still enjoys cooking and baking as a hobby, she learned she truly had a love for web design and SEO pieces when it comes to business. Sam particularly loves designing and developing websites and coming up with SEO strategies for food bloggers - it's the best of both worlds! 

Steve Wiideman is the Orange County, California based strategic planning specialist, founder of The Wiideman Consulting Group, and renowned as “SEO Steve” for the extraordinary breakthroughs he helped achieve for Fortune 500 companies and local small startups alike.

In this episode, you’ll learn what you need to do in 2024 to rank on Google and grow your blog, including which SEO strategies are outdated, how to get ahead of competitors and how to use AI to improve your SEO.

- Unique Perspective is Key: It’s important to offer a unique perspective in content creation to stand out in search results. With AI becoming more integrated into search engines, bloggers must focus on providing content that goes beyond generic answers and offers a distinct viewpoint.

- Strategic Optimization: Analyze existing content and strategically optimize it for better SEO performance. Find a balance between creating new content and optimizing existing posts.

- Don't Obsess Over Technical SEO: While technical SEO is important, bloggers should focus on creating high-quality content and trust in the main technical aspects provided by their hosting, theme, and plugins.

- Adaptability in Food Blogging: You have to be flexible and responsive to changes in the food blogging realm.

- Create High-Quality Content: Focus on providing comprehensive and valuable content to users. This includes detailed instructions, variations, and supplementary resources such as videos to cater to diverse preferences and enhance user experience.

- Backlinks and Shareable Content: Create shareable content and acquire backlinks to improve visibility and engagement.

- Use AI Tools Carefully: AI tools can enhance your content but be aware of the pitfalls of using it in a way that generates generic or inaccurate content.

- Regularly Monitor Competitors' Activities: Stay informed about competitors' strategies and content gaps by frequently scanning their XML sitemaps to identify areas for improvement and new content opportunities.

- Identify Primary Competitors Based on Business Goals: Determine key competitors aligned with your business objectives, focusing on top search results in Google for relevant topics to benchmark against and monitor their strategies.

- Diversify Marketing Efforts Across Platforms: Expand marketing efforts beyond Google by prioritizing video content creation and distribution across various platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, enhancing brand visibility and engagement.

Connect with Ty Kilgore Website

Connect with Samantha Blake Website

Connect with Steve Wiideman Website

In this episode, Megan outlines 5 steps to help us craft a morning routine that fosters energy, productivity, and overall well-being.

Whether you spend 10 minutes on a morning routine or 3 hours, these rituals can enhance our consistency in business endeavors and our personal lives. Megan explains the multitude of benefits of morning routines, including increased productivity, improved mood, mental and physical health, and the cultivation of gratitude and inspiration.

She covers the following key points:

- Design Your Dream Morning Routine: Envision an ideal morning routine without time constraints, considering activities that ignite energy and align with personal goals.

- Develop a Baseline Morning Routine: Determine the time available for your morning routine and prioritize activities accordingly. Even short routines can yield significant benefits.

- Prepare in Advance: Visualize the morning routine before bedtime to set intentions and align the mind with upcoming activities. Use strategies like going to bed earlier, removing distractions like phones, and finding an accountability partner to keep you on track.

- Set It in Motion: Initiate your morning routine without delay; you’ll be surprised at how empowering it feels to take action. Start immediately rather than procrastinating for the "perfect" moment.

- Refine and Repeat: Do your routine consistently but remain flexible and adapt it when necessary, this will make it sustainable in the long run.

Get in touch with Megan if there is a specific mindset and self-care topic you'd like her to cover.

Website | Instagram

In episode 498, Megan chats to Brittany Roche about mindset shifts and practical strategies for successful brand collaboration while staying true to ourselves.

Brittany Roche founded Plant Power Couple with her partner Terrence in 2015, eager to share their innovative take on vegan cooking with other plant-curious people. Brittany started working with brands in 2020. She had just made it into MediaVine when the pandemic hit and she saw her RPMs drop drastically. She had been learning about working with brands for 3 years prior to this, but when she knew she had to diversify her income, she decided to really go for it! Now, she's formed genuine relationships with dozens of brands and has created a system that ensures a consistent stream of brand work that feels natural.

In this episode, you'll learn about the importance of building genuine relationships with brands, strategies for resilience in the face of rejection, and effective follow-up techniques to maximize collaboration opportunities.

- Build Genuine Relationships: It is important to establish authentic connections with brands to create meaningful collaborations.

- Resilience in the Face of Rejection: Maintain a positive mindset and separate your self-worth from the outcome of pitches; you’ll need perseverance.

- Effective Follow-up Strategies: Pitch with a timeline in mind and implement follow-up sequences to maintain engagement with brands.

- Setting Deadlines and Themes: Set deadlines and create themed series to structure pitches and provide a clear framework for collaboration opportunities.

- Recognize the Emotional Toll: Don’t underestimate the emotional challenges of pitching - continue self-care practices and self-compassion throughout the process.

- Apply Mindset Shifts Beyond Pitching: The mindset shifts discussed can be applied not only in pitching to brands but also in various aspects of entrepreneurship and personal growth.

- Celebrating Progress and Resilience: Celebrate small victories and recognize the courage and resilience required to pursue entrepreneurial endeavours.

Connect with Brittany Roche

Website | Instagram