209: FBP Rewind: How to Make $40K in the First Year of Blogging with Chelsea Lords from Chelsea’s Messy Apron

In this episode, we rewind back to one of our most popular episodes with Chelsea from Chelsea's Messy Apron about how she made $40,000 in her first year of blogging. Hello, hello, hello, lovely listener. You are listening to the Food Blogger Pro podcast. Thanks for making this episode a part of your day today. We are so thrilled to share FBP Rewind episode with you today. And that is a previously published episode of the Food Blogger Pro podcast republished for you today. This episode with Chelsea Lords from Chelsea's Messy Apron was published all the way back in 2017, but the advice and tips that she shares are just as prevalent today as they were back then. This is the story of how Chelsea made a whopping $40,000 in her first year of blogging. If you're already monetizing your blog, or if you have a goal, start monetizing your blog sometime soon. You'll love hearing about the decisions that Chelsea made in order to turn her blog into a profitable business. As you're listening, we encourage you to note where you can maybe tighten up some of your money making processes in the pursuit of maximizing your blog income. So, without any further ado, let's rewind Chelsea.

Welcome to the podcast.

Hey, Bjork.

Hi. How are you?

Good. How are you doing?

Good. Hey, super pumped to talk to you today. We have been connected over a couple years. We've traded some emails back and forth. You've come to a Pinch of Yum workshop before, but never have we been able to connect. So I'm really excited to talk to you today. Thanks for coming on the podcast.

Well, thanks for having me. I'm super excited to be here.

Yeah. So I want to talk a little bit about your blog. Believe it or not, that's kind of what we do on this podcast. And one of the things I always love to start with is to hear how people started. And your story's a little bit different than some of the people that we interview on this podcast, because for some people, they get started as a hobby and they kind of enjoy doing it and then realize, oh, I'm getting some traffic and sponsors are reaching out. Maybe I can create something from this. But your story's a little bit different. When you started your blog, in some ways, you knew that you wanted to build it into a business and create income from it. Is that right?

Right. Totally. From the start, I wanted to make sure if I'm investing all this time, while I wanted it to kind of be something fun for me, I wanted to make sure my time would Pay off in some kind of income.

Yeah. So one of the things I thought was so interesting as I was reading through, you had created an ebook. And in the E book, the ebook is called how I made 40,000 my first year of Blogging. And I think that's a great title and such a great number because for so many people, that's a salary. Right. Like, that's. That's what it looks like to have a normal job somewhere else. And so. And you did that within your first year of blogging. So I'd love to talk about that in a little bit. But one of the things you said in this ebook is that you created a business plan. And I thought that was such a cool thing and something that we've never done before and probably should, but I would love to hear what that was like and your reason for creating a business plan.

Right. So my husband is actually in, or he used to be in business consulting. And everything they do kind of starts with this overview of plans. You know, what. What they want to do for a company, how they want to increase profits or whatever the problem is. And so he said, you know, if you think you need to invest money in a blog and your time, you should write a business plan. And he kind of gave me some things to think about. And so I started writing it up, like, what I thought my blog would be about, kind of my mission statement, my theme, what I wanted my blog to look like, what I wanted to post on it, and even to what I thought the expenses would be, how I thought I could make an income from it, and how long I thought that might take. So I kind of went in as in depth as possible to try and impress him and tell him, like, I can do this. I can make this work.

When you created that, when you look back at that now with some of those, like you had said, estimates, I created these estimates in terms of what the total cost would be going into it, potentially what it would look like to create an income from it. Were those accurate? When you look back on that now.

They are not accurate at all.

And what wasn't accurate and what was. I'm curious to hear a little bit more about the specifics.

Yeah. So I thought it would cost me more to get started than it did. I kind of went way over thinking for a blog domain and a designer and just kind of props to get started. I way overestimated that and way underestimated what I'd actually make. So my goal, my ultimate goal and what I wrote in my plan was to Be able to make $1,000 in one month by the end of the year.

Go ahead. No, go ahead.

So by the end of my 12th month of blogging, I'd made over 7,000. So it was a huge difference from what I thought I could make.

And you include some graphs and they're really helpful in that ebook where you outline exactly where that was coming from. So you talk about advert, you talk about freelance work, sponsored posts, free products, so you know the amount that you'd get from that product exchange. When you look back at what you had projected and what actually happened in terms of the growth, where do you feel like was the thing that you underestimated what could be possible? Was it advertising? Was it doing some of that freelance work or sponsored posts? I'm curious to know where you feel like you. Or was it traffic? What was that when you look back on it?

So it was actually freelance work and sponsored posts. I didn't even know what a sponsored post was. I'd seen them kind of pop up a little. I think they're a lot more common now, but when I started about four years ago, they weren't super common. So I didn't even know. I didn't even think I'd ever get a sponsored post. Back when I started. I didn't really know what they were. So it was mainly my estimate was on the ads. And I guess I maybe thought a little bit freelance, like maybe I could do some articles, but I didn't know too much about the freelance part back then.

Yep, yep. And that makes sense, especially if it's a category where you're not even familiar with what it is. You wouldn't be able to build that into the business plan. But then learning about sponsored posts and saying, oh, actually there's a decent amount that I could get from this if I get to get connected with some brands or PR agencies or things like that.

Right.

At what point did you have your first sponsored post and how did that come about?

Oh, gosh, I'm trying to remember. I think it was about six months after I started blogging and someone actually reached out to me just with an email and offered me a free product in exchange for a post. And I remember thinking, oh, like, this is pretty cool, but I don't think I think they're willing to pay. You know, I'd been reading, researching enough, and I was like, I'm going to go back and ask for money for this post in addition to the product that they were going to send me. And I was so nervous And I did it. And they came back and they're like, okay, great, we can pay you that. And that, to me, was just huge. It kind of changed everything. I'm like, oh, my gosh, that was a lot of money for me. I kind of laugh at the rate now, but it was a lot when I was starting and wasn't making a ton. And so I was so excited. I think I reshot the post like three times. I was so nervous for it, but that kind of changed everything. I recognize companies are willing to pay. They know that I have an influence that they're willing to pay for. And that's when I really started researching more and trying to learn more about sponsored posts and what I could charge.

How did you formulate that at first and what did that look like? Because that's a huge question that we get from people a lot of times is when you're working with a brand, when you're working with PR agencies, how do you formulate exactly what you will ask for sponsored posts? What did that look like then? And then how have you changed that as your blog has grown?

Oh, that's a great question. So then I was kind of. I was still pretty naive. I remember just trying to research it, and that's been pretty much the story of my blog. I spent a lot of time researching and learning what works for other people and adapting that for what works for me. So I did run across an article and I still. I'm trying to remember whose site it was on, but she. She breaks it down. What you should be able to charge for sponsored posts based on your page views. And it was just kind of like a formula I found. So I did that back then. I think I was getting like 200,000 page views. And so I did that based off. I think it's like $100 per. 100,000 or something like that was the. So I charged $200 for that first sponsor.

Yeah. And it looks like it was a wooden spoon kitchen. So Melissa, Faux Martha and then Aaron at Naturallyella and the equation that they had was. And we can include this in the show notes for this. The actual post isn't there anymore, but it was Time Spent Times hourly rate plus. And this is hard to. It's hard to explain a math equation over a podcast, but I'll do my best. Time Spent Times hourly rate plus page views divided by a thousand times advertising rate. So we can put that in the. You can see what that looks like in the show notes. If you go to foodbloggerpro.com blog. There'll be the show notes for this for those that are listening. But it's nice to have some type of equation at least to start with, and so you can come back to people and feel relatively confident saying, well, I would love to do this, but here's the reality. You know, I there. There's time that's involved with it and, you know, I have influence as well. And all of those things add up to value for the brand. So feeling confident saying that and then giving them what your price would be. So how has that changed over time for you? As you've continued to build your blog, do you still use kind of an equation like that, or do you have. And you don't have to share numbers specifically, but do you have kind of a set price? And you say, hey, I know supply and demand. I only want to do one sponsored post a week, so I can ask this much. How do you, how do you formulate that now?

Yeah, and you explained that equation a lot better, so thank you. It's really changed over the years, and I have continually changed and really studied and thought about what I want to put on my blog and what I want to charge with that. So I'd say lately it's been a supply and demand. I don't want every post to be sponsored. You know, I have two kids and I don't. I want to write what I love. And not that I don't love doing the sponsored posts, but it feels like more of a job than writing a article, just that I want to write. And so I've really done. I've really jacked up my prices and not to anything I don't think is fair, but to the point that only so many posts will, or so many companies will align with that rate. So I'm not posting a ton of sponsored posts.

Right. And we've heard some from some other people that we've interviewed on the podcast that kind of take that same approach where they say, we don't, we don't, we don't want to be doing a ton of this. So we're going to be really intentional to say either a brand really, really aligns with what I'm doing and then I'll be more flexible with that, or I kind of have this high price point where it helps to filter out. So I'm not having to do that as much because like you said, it is a lot of work and a lot goes into it. One of the things you said that I'm curious to hear you talk about is you said you've been really intentional. Think about what you do want to put on your blog and kind of have been intentional about maybe, well, just the content that goes onto it. So does that tie back to the business plan? Like when you first created that business plan, one of the things that you said was, you know, you're intentional to think about what the blog was going to be and what the kind of theme was going to be with it. Has that stayed true from when you first started or has that evolved?

It's definitely evolved. I think when I started my blog I wanted it to be a little bit more health food oriented. I even thought adding a fitness section. I just graduated from exercise science or gotten my degree in exercise science, so I was really excited about nutrition and fitness and I still am. I love it. But my blog's definitely evolved and I've definitely tried to make my recipes more family friendly. I have kids that just won't eat some of the things that I enjoy and not that I don't give them the opportunity to, but I've tried to become and retheme my blog to be more family focused, easy 30 minute meals and still keep it having a healthy aspect. But it's not as health and fitness oriented as I first set out my business plan to be. It's definitely evolved. I share plenty of desserts and not so healthy meals, but I do still have a lot of healthy content on there. But I am very, like you said, very intentional about the content. I spend a lot of time thinking, like what recipes that I want to share and how I think they'll do well with my audience or why I want to share it. I spend so much time brainstorming what I want to share.

Can you talk a little bit about what that looks like? And that was one of the things you had said in your book was just how important research is. What does that look like for you?

So for me, I like my content to be a bit original. So while I have recipes that are similar to other sites, I always like to add a twist. So for example, I recently posted an entire Easter dinner on my blog and it's nothing like Revolutional. It has ham and gratin, potatoes and some side dishes, but I kind of put a twist making it all on sheet pans. And you could bake two sheet pans of dinner at the same time, have it ready in under an hour. It was kind of an idea for college kids or smaller families. And so to me it wasn't anything revolutional, but it was unique and I really tried to have all my recipes have a little bit of a twist, but still common ingredients, things that people are familiar with, things that people like. So I'm very intentional about trying to find things that I think people will like and things that I like and my family likes, and then really thinking, how can I change this? How can I make it worth people's time to read this recipe or spend time on my site?

And is that research process that you're doing, is that you literally just thinking through things, or do you have any type of formalized process where you're writing stuff down and then let's say crossing out half of that and dwindling it down to the stuff that you know that then you want to post? Or are you looking at, you know, Pinterest to see what's popular or what do. What does that look like in terms of the research phase? Or is it mostly inspirational things that you're thinking about and then filtering that through, like brand alignment for your site?

Yes, I actually avoid Pinterest, but it's.

Can you talk about why that is just as a quick.

Yeah, I mean, I just respect all the content creators so much and there are so many bloggers that have just become my best friends. And I just know if I'm on Pinterest a lot, I'm going to be influenced by other people's recipes. And those are generally bloggers recipes. And I just want to be sure I'm really careful to not copy other bloggers or, you know, not that I'm not inspired by them, because I absolutely am. But I just try to avoid having things that are too similar. And I've noticed if I'm on Pinterest a lot, that a lot of my ideas are coming from other people's recipes and I just, I want to be a little bit careful about that.

So do you have somebody that manages your Pinterest account?

I do.

Okay, got it. And is that somebody that. Is that a company or is that somebody that you know and have connected with through your site? Or how did you find that person?

So it's a va. Just like a virtual assistant. Lots of bloggers have them and that's kind of how I found out about it. So I just hired her from another friend's site and she does my Pinterest and some other social media for me, just kind of does the back end stuff.

And this is all rabbit trail stuff, but it's all really interesting. So about how much time does that equal for her every month or does.

It depend it kind of depends. She spends about 10 hours a week, though, on doing social media for me.

Okay, great. Pinterest. Facebook as well.

Yeah. She helps me schedule Facebook. I'm in some comment groups that she'll take over comments. She does some updating on my old posts to try and make them more friendly for Google. So just a bunch of little tasks. She'll kind of do whatever I send her way, which is so nice.

Yeah. And the other thing that's nice about that is then you can opt out of some of those areas that are important to be a part of, like Pinterest, for instance, without feeling like you're losing out on the benefit of that, which would be obviously traffic and engagement and building up that following. That's something that's been super important for us too, is knowing that there are these areas. Pinterest would be an example for me. It's Instagram, like, knowing that these are areas that are important to be a part of, but also feeling like, personally, I know that if I spend a ton of time in Instagram, that, like, my brain is going to be in an entirely different space and it's not going to be a. A good one for me. That's what I've learned. Interest, I know is true for some people. Facebook, whatever, it would be. So it's a strategic, smart decision, I think, to bring people into the things that you know are important, but also that you don't necessarily personally want to be behind.

Right.

Yeah.

Well. And it really frees me up to do what I enjoy doing and what I think is the most important, which is creating new content. If I'm doing so much time on other things, my content's going to suffer, as in how much, how often I can post, or I just don't have as much time.

And can you talk about content specifically? What does that look like for you in terms of how often you're posting? Has that been consistent for the duration of your blog? Have you tried to post a certain amount each week?

Yes and no. When I first started and on my business plan, I had a goal and I was really good about the first two years, but my kids come first. I do put them above my blog. And so as it's gotten busier, and I now have two little boys and they are crazy and they're so fun, but my posting definitely has become less and less over the years just because they're the most important thing to me and they come first. And so now I'm about one to two posts a week. I used to be three to four.

Yeah. And can you talk about what that looks like when you do a post especially? I think people would be interested in what it looks like when you're balancing the reality of raising a family for you two boys that you have and knowing that you're also doing one to two posts a week, which is really incredible. What does that look like in terms of finding the margins in the space for that?

Yeah, well, it's hard and I tell a lot of people, like, my blog is my business, but it's also my hobby. I don't really have time to do other things if I want to put my kids first and make sure that I can get one to two posts a week. So, I mean, that means a lot of late nights working and editing. I don't do a lot of things for myself because I find the blogs for me. So I've also kind of made it become something I'm passionate about. So that's okay with me. But it's a huge sacrifice. Like, I really think you have to make sacrifices and how that looks on a day to day basis, it's pretty different. But usually in the mornings is when we bake or cook. And luckily my boys love doing it with me. Oh, nice. Yeah. My toddler, he's hilarious. Like, he knows every kitchen tool. He has his own set of kitchen tools. He has like a mini microwave, like everything. He loves it. So we have so much fun doing that together. And that's when I'll test my recipes or try out new things. I like to test everything at least twice before it goes on my blog. So we do that in the mornings and then I get really good afternoon light. So I photograph in natural light in the afternoons. And that's when they go down for naps. So I lay them down, make whatever I'm going to be photographing that day and take the pictures. And I can usually edit them before they wake up there. I'm pretty lucky. I've heard they take really good naps.

And it sounds like you're relatively efficient with it too, which is also a huge thing in order to be able to shoot and edit and get all of that stuff done within three hours. I'm guessing it helps to have the time restraint where you know, you have to get through it so you have a hard deadline. There's no wasting of time along the way. So I want to go back to that first year, when was the first month that you did your blog that you officially launched.

So it was November 2013.

2013. Okay. So going back to that month, you know, you share this in the ebook and you say, you know, you start out 30,000 page views and then by that last month, which would be October 2014, had just under 600,000 page views. That's a huge jump and a really quick build in terms of traffic and engagement to your blog. So what do you attribute, like, if you had to do only three things in that first year, what would it be that you would do in order to get from that starting point to just under 600,000 pages within a year?

Okay, so I'd say top three things. First is content. I feel like I worked really hard at the start and I've only worked harder on my content, like trying to make it. Every time I would publish a post or before, I'd say, is this helpful? Is it worth someone's time? Would I want to read this blog post or would I want to have this recipe? So it's kind of always been a focus and I'd say that's the number one thing is content. And that goes from the actual recipe to the photographs, to how it's written, everything. And I feel like I'm so embarrassed of my first post. But, you know, it's a huge evolution. Like, I still, back then, like, to me, that was the best content I could create. And so I really tried my hardest. I would even reshoot things at the beginning. And I mean, that's embarrassing looking at my photos now, but that was my whole mindset. Like, this post has to be worth it. There's so many posts online, there's so many recipes, like, why is this worth it? And it's funny, the most common question I get is, how did you get 30,000 page views your first month? And I get that question so much. Anyone that's read my book, I get the email. For me, I didn't know that this was uncommon, but I've figured it is. And I really looked into that and try and figure it out to give a good answer. And one of the posts that I published my second week, it's still one of my most popular posts. So I did get a little lucky and hit a really good post that just for some reason hit a vibe with people and so got immediate traffic. It was in November, which is a busy month anyways. It's Thanksgiving and it was a Thanksgiving related recipe.

And was that traffic through Pinterest or like, where did it when it got popular? You say, was it organic? What did that look like?

It was Pinterest and organic. It actually Ranked high in SEO. I have no idea how, like, everything I know about SEO now. I just. I think it was like, total luck. So it did well. It was like top of Google or not top, but on the first page of Google Search, and then did really well on Pinterest and going along with that. My second thing after content is really engaging with other bloggers. So from the start, I was commenting on so many blogs. I was trying to get to know bloggers, trying to get to learn from bloggers, because I thought, you know, that's super important. And I found the more people I commented on their blogs, like, they interacted with me or they would share my things or, you know, and I say in the first month, like, I commented on a certain blog that's very well known, very big, and she actually shared one of my new recipes on Facebook and I got 5,000 page views, you know, in one day, which is crazy for your first month of blogging.

So what can you talk more about that? Because I know that's something that people are really interested in doing is connecting with other bloggers, but it's kind of a hard thing to do and it's kind of scary. So what worked well for you in terms of connecting with other bloggers, Commenting? Were there other things that you did?

Yeah. So I think commenting is not as big now, but it was really. I think it was really important when I started. And that was just kind of a way to say, hey, like, I'm blogging too. You know, I'm supporting you. Like, maybe you could come see my blog and give me some support. Because I think the food blogging community is just. It's amazing. People are so supportive and they want to see you succeed and so helpful. And so to me, that was commenting and trying to talk to as many bloggers through their blogs as I could and to try and develop friendships, comment on their social pages. And it was a lot of work, a lot of networking, but I think it was so important. And now to me, that kind of looks like Facebook groups. So I have close friends or just even blogging acquaintances, people I've not met, but met through their blogs. And I'm in a bunch of Facebook groups, and we can give each other advice, vent, talk about things, just anything. And it's so helpful. And these have become some of my really, really good friends, even my best friends. And I think I owe so much of my success to that networking.

Yeah, it really. We've thought about that too. So much of what we've done and what we've seen other people do has to do with the people that you know and that you're connected with. And the common question then is like, well, how do you get to know people and connect with them? And what I hear you saying is like, well, you have to be intentional about being a friend to those people first. And it, it just makes so much sense when you think about it. But so often I think people want a quick and easy answer, which is never the best way to formulate friendships or connections. It takes time, it takes energy, it takes intentional effort. So it makes a lot of sense to hear you say, you know, it wasn't easy. It takes time, takes energy. But the benefit of that is that you both have friends that you're connected with in real life. And also if they are in the same, you know, niche or industry, that then there can be some support that goes along with that, which is awesome and I think important for people to hear. So work harder on your content. Engage with other bloggers. And then what would number three be?

Number three is like, let's just say it's luck. And I say this in my blog. I actually don't really believe in luck, but I think it's when your hard work meets opportunity. And so I think, while I look back, I still do think I've had a lot of lucky breaks, but I also feel like they're because I was working hard and trying my best and trying to learn as much as I could that I was able to meet an opportunity that gave me, you know, good luck. And I think it's when someone big shares something of yours or when you can, you know, make a breakthrough on social media and figure out something that's working for you. Like, to me, those are things that I can't take credit for. But I also feel like because I was working hard, I was able to find the opportunity or figure it out, if that makes sense. I'm not trying to give myself credit, but I do think it comes with hard work.

And so it's both and, and the harder you work, the luckier you are. I think part of that ties into it too, where working really hard and being intentional to show up every day in whatever way that looks for you results in more potential for lucky situations to happen.

Yes, you said that. So much better.

And it's because I totally understand it and believe the same thing. And it's interesting to hear you talk about the post that you had that did really well and was really popular because one of the things that we talk about and really believe is this idea that, you know, there's that 20 to 30% of the traffic and engagement that you see from a website, whether it's a food blog or another blog, any other blog comes back to, well, in, yes, 70 to 80% of the traffic and engagement comes back to 20 to 30% of the content. And compare, I like to compare that to musicians and you know, they'll, A musician will have 100, 200, 300, 400 songs that they've written over their life, of which, you know, 12 to 15 will actually make it onto an album that they produce, of which if they're lucky, one will become a hit and kind of drive their career. And I think that's often true for building a content based business like a food and recipe website, where you have all of this content that you're producing, a handful of that will be really successful, and then you'll have 1, 2, 3, 4 of these really standout pieces of content. But you can't get to those unless you continually produce that other content and refine your craft. What's interesting with your story is like, if you compare it to the musician, you had that hit relatively early on, and it's like you can't predict that and you don't know if that will happen. Like you said, there's a little bit of luck involved with it, but also there's a really intentional effort in trying to produce really good content. So I think that makes total sense what you said, and I'm right there with you. Um, I want to go back to that number one thing that you said where you said work harder on content. That would be your number one recommendation. What does that look like? What does working harder look like? And how have you, how has your content improved from when you started to where it is right now? Like, what are the very tangible ways that you've changed it and improved it?

Yeah, that's a great question. I'd say with my first content, I was maybe spending like two hours on it to get it up and everything.

From start to finish for a post.

Yeah, I mean, and I thought it was, you know, I really did think I was trying my hardest, and it was my hardest then, but now I'd say It's at least 15 hours for each blog post that comes up on my site. Maybe 20 if I add a video, definitely more. And what's changed is I've done a whole lot of brainstorming to even come up with the recipe concept and then testing and I really try and test my recipes make sure they work, make sure they make sense. Like, does this have a good prep time? Are they good ingredients? Does it make sense? Or is it just trying to get page views? So really a lot more goes into brainstorming and testing it. And then honestly, I photograph things and I will re photograph things. I think the you eat with your eyes first. And so that's been a huge focus. Like, I re photograph all the time. And I know some people think that's not efficient. And probably the first photographs were fine and no one would notice. But to me, it's about trying and pushing myself and just having a little bit better content. And then I spend a lot more time writing my recipe. I read over and over and make sure it really makes sense. I'll have someone else read it over for me and then video. And video will be like my last step. After I've got it all, then I'll remake it based off, you know, my recipe and just, you know, filming a video and then editing it. That takes me so long.

Yeah, can you talk about that? Because I know a lot of people are interested in video and what that looks like. So what is your process for video?

So like I said, I'll have my recipe, like, done and the photos done, and then I will print off that recipe that's in my draft box or whatever, print it off, and then make it like I'm making it as if I was, you know, just cooking it in my kitchen. Because it really helps me to see the recipe from a different eye. But also it's a good opportunity to also make a video. So I'll have this recipe that I have tested and made and photographed, and then I'll make a video of it. And that looks. So I finally moved over to artificial light for video. I used to do natural.

And what was your reason for switching over?

Natural was just so hard to work with because it changes. The sun's coming in and out. Yeah, it's moving over you. And especially with winter, like, my time was so limited with natural light that it was just getting exhausting. Also, I shoot photos up in my bedroom. So, like, doing videos up there, I was like carrying trays of food up and down stairs all day. And I'm like, I can't do this. So I got an artificial lighting set up. And that, like, was amazing. And so I'll usually shoot my videos either in the morning or nap time. Nap time works best. Or even late at night, so. And I'll just shoot it start to finish. Takes me usually about an hour to shoot? Maybe two hours.

Are you using a DSLR or a phone for to shoot?

Okay. I have two DSLRs and so I just have the overhead angle and then a side angle and two artificial lights. And so I'll just shoot it. And then it's editing that takes me the longest. And I know a lot of people, you know, hire that out, but I'm very. I really want to learn it and I want to get faster. So for right now, I'm doing that.

What program do you use for that?

I'm doing Premiere Pro.

Okay, great. And how long did it take you to learn Premiere Pro?

Oh, I'm still learning it. I bought an E course and it was like a 20 hour E course or something was on Udemy. I don't know if you're familiar, but so I took that course and it was awesome, but not super helpful because food videos are different than, like film or, you know, other videos. In editing, you kind of edited a.

Little different stylistically and the cuts and everything.

Yeah, right, right. Just kind of different. But it was super helpful. So that was the only thing I did. I tried to teach myself. And then now when I'm doing it, if I, like have a question or I want to do something, like last week, I'm like, I want to learn masking. So I just kind of googled it and researched it. Found a video on YouTube.

Can you talk? For those that aren't familiar, can you talk about what masking is?

Yes. So a lot of my videos now in the text, it'll like appear when I move the bowl or disappear when I put the bowl over it. And that's just like hiding the text with an object or showing the text when an object's move.

Got it. Yep. And so for those that are familiar with Photoshop, it's kind of like a video layer that you create this little layer that can go on top of text and it creates kind of more of a dynamic video, which is cool.

Yeah, it's fun.

So is that something that you're trying to do for every post? How do you decide if a piece of content will have video in it or not?

Yeah, so that was my goal, to have a video for each post, but it was not attainable.

Yeah, it's so much work.

Not right now. So right now I was doing it for all new content and I've kind of shifted. What's doing the best on social media is my kind of old, tried and true posts that I know will do well. So I've kind of shifted and started doing more videos for older posts that always perform well for me, and that's just done better on Facebook and Instagram. For me, if I do videos that are proven. Whereas sometimes you do a new content and a new video and it's just like almost a flop. Like it doesn't do well anywhere. And so I feel like I've spent all this time making a video that no one really saw.

Do you have an example of what that would look like when you look for what's performed well in the past in order to decide what you do for video?

Right, yeah. So I call them my virals. And they're not really viral, but it's like if I share a photo of a recipe that does really well on Facebook, and for me and my page, that's like, if it gets 100 shares to me, I call that a Facebook viral for my Facebook page. And so that, to me is a post that will perform well then in video. So, for instance, like last month I shared a photo and it got like 200 shares. And from my page, that's really good for just a photo. And so I switched that into video, and then it got, you know, 2 million views on that video. Whereas a post that was just brand new that I thought would do well on Facebook, I created a video for it and it just tanked. Didn't do well at all because I'd never tested it. So I've kind of like shifted my. What I'm doing for video.

Yeah, it makes sense to it look at the performance of previous content, even if it's a different medium. Right. So it could be a post that's done really well in search, or maybe it's, you know, your example is social media, which is maybe the best place to start and say, oh, this photo got a lot of shares on Facebook. It's probably worth then looking at this a little bit deeper and saying, okay, maybe I can create a different version of this that, you know, in this case video that I can also then share on social media. Because there's obviously something here that's resonating with people.

Right, Exactly.

And it doesn't have to be like deep data where you're looking at, you know, analytics within Facebook or engagement or total watch time or anything like that. Even just a simple metric like shares can help you, help guide you in terms of what. What works and what doesn't work.

Yep, absolutely. And I have found, you know, it's kind of different for each social media channel. Like, sometimes something will do really well on instagram but not on Facebook. So it is kind of looking at an individual platform and what you. What your goal is like. To me right now, I have a huge goal to grow my Facebook and to really get content that's going there. So I really am focusing mostly on Facebook.

That was one of the things I noticed when I was reading through the ebook. When you published this, and it was 2014, that was kind of the year that you were reviewing. You had talked about your Facebook following and there was at the time, you know, you had 11,000 or 15,000, depending on when it was that you're looking at it, followers. And now you have a huge Facebook following. And that's a relatively short amount of time to grow that. What was it that. What's been most effective for you as you've grown? Facebook.

So part of it is that networking. I really picked brains of people that have done really well on Facebook and learned from them. So I cannot give myself credit. Like, I've really learned from some of the best on Facebook and I feel really grateful for that. And then it's just been a lot of trial and error. I've changed posting schedules. I, you know, change how I share a picture when I share it. And the biggest growth reason, I would say, is video. Video's been super hot. And if you can get a good video, you can get quite a few likes from that. Last Christmas, I posted a video and it got like 15 million views. And that boosted my Facebook page at like 50,000 likes from one video.

And that's a. That you created that you posted to your Facebook page and then essentially that video went viral, right? Yep. And one of the things that I see that you're doing is sharing a lot of other people's content. Is that something that is a strategy that's working well?

Yes.

And sharing a lot of video as well that other people are creating.

Right. I'm trying to share mostly video right now. And then I do like 70, 30. I try to share 70% of other people's content and 30% of mine because I'm really looking for virals on Facebook. What is doing well for people and how can it help my page too?

So a video that's doing really well that then you share to your page, right? Yep. That makes sense. Interesting. Facebook is so interesting to follow along with. And it changes so quickly too.

Like, well, and everyone has a different strategy too. So, you know, some people are like, if I share that much of other people's content, my page suffers. So it's just. It's a lot of trial and error and what works for you well.

And it's fun to hear from people that have done it and done it well, like you for instance, because obviously there's something there. There's something to be to look at and to understand. So when you are building that page, are you viewing it as then potential sponsorships where they would say, oh, if you create a video for me and post it on Facebook, it's has a lot of potential for exposure or is it traffic back to your site? What is the primary value? Obviously there's likes. What does that translate into for you?

So my primary goal is traffic. I want to grow my Facebook page so that I grow my traffic and I think sponsorships are a bonus. But it's not what I'm focusing on. But I'm very intentional about how I'm growing my Facebook page because I want it to eventually bring me good traffic. I think sometimes you can grow your Facebook page, but then when you post something of yours, you have a bad reach on it. I'm trying to find my group that my stuff will do well with and similar content to mine so that it can pay back to me and bring me more traffic.

Is Facebook one of your primary traffic sources?

It's actually not. Pinterest is my primary.

Okay, Pinterest and then organic search and then Facebook.

Yep, that's right.

Got it. And one of the things that I hear from people is so they'll. There's all of these Facebook conspiracy theories, right? So like if you include a link within the description, then it's not going to be as popular. Or you know, there's this ability now to include like shop products within a Facebook post so you can integrate in things that you can sell. And people are saying that doesn't do as well if you do that. But have you noticed any of those to be true for you as you do kind of a side by side comparison? You share a Facebook video without a link to encourage people to leave and go to your site versus one with a link. Do you have any kind of gut reactions to that or feelings about it?

Well, here's my theory. Facebook loves Facebook and they just love themselves so much that if you can keep them on Facebook, they'll be happy with you. So I know a lot of people will post links to their YouTube channel and Facebook hates that they're trying to compete with YouTube so they're going to kill that post or even having. Here's a pin it link. I avoid any links to alternate sources. I also Have a theory. They don't like shorten links. They just keep them on Facebook. But obviously I'm not going to get traffic. So I do add my links. And I've played around a lot with posting a video and then adding my link later or in the comments, and I haven't actually noticed a huge difference. So I now just put my recipe link in the description. But I won't share posts that have tons of other links. If someone puts a post in a share group, I'll take out their shortened links and find the real one. I'm just careful with links in Facebook.

Yeah, it's really interesting too, because with any of it, you don't really know. The only thing that you can do is go off of your own experience and kind of your gut on it. And the people that know the most are the people that are consistently posting. And you're one of those people. So I'm always interested to hear what people have to say.

Yes, I post a lot on Facebook.

So I'm looking at the. In your ebook, you talk about my first year and kind of do a little breakdown here. And so 42,000, just a little bit over 42,000 that you're able to make from your blog in the first year. The breakdown is 15,000 from ads, 11,000 from freelance, 14,000 from sponsored, and then 2500 for like product comparables or comparable cost for that. So, like, you know, if you get a $500 knife set, then that's what it would be worth. What does that percentage breakdown look like for you? Now? You don't have to share numbers, but has that stayed relatively consistent? Are there other. Are there parts that you have cut back on or areas that you've kind of doubled down on and have really invested more in?

Yeah, it's very different now. I do pretty much no freelance. I've just found the money's not worth the time for me. I feel like I could make more creating my own posts on my own site. I do pretty much no freelance anymore.

When did that change? When did you switch?

Probably about two years ago. I was getting enough traffic and I felt like I was getting enough sponsor requests and just enough sponsored posts that were paying more than a freelance job that I was like, well, I'd rather do this sponsored post for X amount than this freelance for a third that amount. And so just slowly I kind of stopped doing it. Stopped doing it. And now I charge the same as a sponsored post for a freelance. And so no one really can afford that. It doesn't make sense for a company to buy that.

Got it. So in terms of right now, is it the focus would be advertising and sponsored content. Is it like 5050 or.

I make more from ads most months, so I'd say maybe like 60, 40. And the other is sponsored. And I guess there is one. I do a little bit of freelance still, but it's just video content, and that is still makes it worth it, what people will pay. So I guess I do still do a little bit of freelance, but it's maybe like one video a month.

So this would be a brand or another blogger that partners with you to have you help create a video?

Yes, usually brands. Got it. But not.

You wouldn't post to your site that they would use. Yep.

Right.

Got it. Okay. And then do you do affiliate? Is that part of the.

I am not awesome at affiliate. That's one of my goals. So I make pretty little from affiliate. I did add like a shop to my blog, which I've noticed brings in an income. Nothing to, like, write home about, but it's good. I get to buy what I want on Amazon, so I guess that's for sure. That's a nice little perk, but nothing crazy. And I do make more from my ebook sales than my Amazon affiliates, so that's like my third bracket of income.

Got it. Yep. Your own product. Cool. Yeah, it's interesting to hear about that. And one of the things that I love is that you took that first year where you're really intentional about kind of building these things out, and then said, kind of, how can I create? It's almost like an inception piece because you're writing about these different ways that, you know, you're intentional about building this into a business and then add to your business revenue streams by doing this analysis of what you did in the first year. And I think that's a great, great way for people to. And it's. In some ways we've thought about that with Pinch of Yam, it's like, what are the other branches that exist? We have the food, we have the recipes, and that's usually the first place that people think. But then there's also these other things. You know, Lindsay does workshops, and she's been really excited about doing those and intentional to say, how can I use my skills as a teacher to apply that to, you know, the niche that we're in, which is food and recipe, but also, you know, maybe an untapped area within that. So for anybody that's listening, I would encourage you to think about what are the different ways that you can create, like, branch off and not just think about the primary ways, whether that be ads or sponsored content, but what are the other things that you can do? And I think freelance is a great example. It's a great way to take that step into, you know, working for yourself or working with somebody that you're really excited about and the niche that you're excited about and kind of being intentional to look at it from multiple different angles, which I think you did, which is fun to see. So if you were to go back, let's say you're to go back to November 2013 and you were to start over again, you did a lot of things right and had a lot of success early on. But I'm guessing there's some things that you'd look at and you'd say, hey, I would love to be able to do this a little bit different or to start doing things earlier that I know work really well now. What would that be?

Oh, there's so many. First, I would have taken Lindsay's workshop.

Oh, thanks.

That was such a game changer. I mean, no, seriously, it was my favorite thing I did last year. So can you talk about it?

Not like, in the sense of, like, what you liked about it, but what you took away from it, what the experience, whether it was a mindset change or like a technical skill or ability that you picked up, what was it that was significant or helpful?

I think it was a huge mindset change. It was just, like, amazing to watch Lindsay and just to get her perspective and like, how she thinks about the photography. To me, that was just huge. Like, I still. Every shoot now, I think about it, like, she said something that really resonated, like, look at the food to how to make it. Oh, I'm slaughtering this. But she said basically, you know, take your ingredients, look at your ingredients and say, where are they the prettiest? Like, where are they going to show the best? Is that an ingredient shot, a process shot, the final shot in a bowl, in the casserole dish? Like, to me, that was just a huge mindset change. Like, where does food look its best? And it's a little thing, but it's really changed my photography. And there's just a few little tidbits of wealth she gave that have just changed my mindset, you know, made me more excited about photography. And I don't feel like I was a horrible photographer when I went to her, but it just changed so much. And I just wish I had had that earlier. And even just to see a demonstration earlier because I read books when I was starting, but it's just. I'm very much a visual learner. And so it was always hard for me to try and figure out photography. Like, when I was starting, I had so many questions, I didn't know really what I was doing, and I was basing it off of books I'd read.

And so there's something to be said about being in the same place with people, learning something and just observing. And I think it's. It sounds so obvious, but it's such a natural way to learn, and it's so uncommon because it's. What is common now is learning from, you know, reading, which isn't. This isn't bad by any means, but like, reading or even podcasts, it's like there's only so much you can do versus, like, sitting down and seeing somebody. Even, like, how do they change the settings on a camera as they're going through it? And you kind of absorb some of that stuff versus just reading it or learning it on your own, which. Which makes a lot of sense. And I think I'm. I'm similar in that way. But it's hard to commit to something where you say, I'm gonna, you know, block out the weekend or a couple days and travel, and it's not very efficient, but it can have a big impact. So I'll. I'll pass that along to Lindsay and let her know that you said that.

Oh, yeah, she knows I'm like a huge fan girl, love her photography, so.

Oh, that means a lot.

I would do it again.

So for the takeaway for those that are listening would be as soon as possible to start thinking about where are the areas where I can invest some time and energy into learning and investing back into the things that I want to grow and as opposed to repeating and doing the same thing, saying, how can I fine tune my craft and my skill a little bit?

Right? Because you can do the same thing over and over and over and think, like, I'm doing it. Why isn't it, you know, why isn't something happening? But you might be doing it wrong? And so I think learning from someone that's having success and like, to me, like, learning how Lindsey thinks about her photography and her whole workflow, like, that was a huge game changer for me. That was really important.

Yeah. I was listening to a podcast today, and it was. So it's a business podcast called Mixergy. And the guy that does it, his name's Andrew, and he interviews. It's primarily like tech and online interviews or online business owners. But he was interviewing the guy that started. It's called Sumo, and his name is Noah Kagan. It's like a social sharing and email list building application. And he was talking about how he's really intentional about finding people. I think it was in this podcast, but intentional about finding people that he appreciates or sees as successful and then looking at the path that they took and saying, what does that look like? And maybe I've said this on the podcast before, but the idea that success leaves breadcrumbs, right? So you can kind of follow and see. And one of the best ways to do that is to get as close as possible. Whether that's doing, like you said, a workshop or reaching out and finding somebody online like you did. I know that you're really intentional about doing that. Even just connecting with people via email or social media. It sounds so easy, but it's such an important part of the process and it sounds like you did that, which makes a lot of sense for why it would be helpful. Okay, so workshop. That would be an important thing or something similar to that, where you really take time to invest in your passion or interest or skill. What are some of the other things that you would do differently if you were to go back?

Yeah, so while I'm thinking of this question, I keep coming back to something my husband always says, and he's a big business guy, but he says you have to spend money to make money. And I think as a blogger, like, I'm always. Or, you know, I've really had a mindset shift. But when I first started, I'm like, well, I can't spend this yet. Like, I'm not making enough money to rationalize this. I can't buy this new prop. I can't pay for this book. I can't do this. But totally shifted. And now I'm like, I need to invest and make my business better if I want to continue to see an income. And so I hired an SEO guy a few months back and just had him walk me through things, teach me how to set up a post to be more Google friendly. To me, that was a big expense, but I wish I had done it honestly at the start because now I have hundreds of posts to go through and fix. And it's like, yeah, it's an investment, but I think my Google and search traffic would be better if I had done that earlier.

With that. What was one of the biggest takeaways that you had or changes you made.

With the SEO?

Yeah.

So this is embarrassing, but I've never really used Yoast, and that's a plugin, so didn't really use it very much. And he kind of, like, walked me through it. Like, I am so beginner on SEO, but he kind of walked me through it. And I've been adding that to all my posts. Being very intentional about adding keywords and, you know, a post description at the top that has my keywords, you know, watching my slugs and just all those little steps that are probably so obvious to most people. Like, to me, they work hard, but.

It'S the little things that are hard to do. Right. Like, whether it's being healthy. It's like, well, it's really obvious that you eat healthy and then work out. But it's same thing with something like SEO, where it's not necessarily some complicated voodoo science thing. It's like, well, you know, it's pretty simple, but the hard part is actually doing it right. So it's getting in and actually making it happen. Okay, any.

So just little changes.

Anything else? Yeah, Anything else that you would add to the list? Maybe one more thing that you say would say, hey, if I were to go back, start again, this is something I would do a little bit different.

Yeah, this last one is I just think care less about what other people think. I think a lot of times in blogging, like, there's, oh, don't do that. Like, it's not, you know, I don't know how to explain this, really, but just owning my business and being proud of what I do, like, even though I make different business decisions than a different blogger, and then most bloggers being intentional and just not caring what other people think. You blog for your audience, not for other bloggers. And I think a lot of times I'm scared or timid about certain things. Even to put out my ebook, I was so proud of it, but also a little timid. Are people gonna think. What are people gonna think about this? What are bloggers gonna think about this? And I just think getting past that and just, you own your own business. You can't care what other bloggers or other people think. And you do what's best for your business.

It seems like a combination of self awareness and then business awareness. So who am I? And then who am I within my business and who is my business? And being intentional to be aware of that and know that and not be impacted by the thousands of things that are coming in from whether it be social media or conversations or what you see somebody else doing. I feel like we can all relate to that little ping that we feel when there's like outside influence in whatever way, shape or form that comes. And feeling like, oh, maybe I should change this or not do this, or maybe this isn't good enough or maybe I need to start doing this thing. And there's so many of those things that exist and can be totally overwhelming. So I think that's a really good note to end on because I think that's really important. But before we wrap up, Chelsea, I'm curious to know where can people find you and follow along with what you're doing and check out all the different resources that you have.

So My blog is chelseysmessyapron.com and I have my ebook just at the top. There's a tab that says ebook. I know we've referenced that a lot and that's pretty much my biggest resource for bloggers. Cool.

Great. Yep, we'll link to that in the show notes as well. And it was really fun for me to read through that. It's always interesting to see, you know, kind of what, what the inside scoop looks like for other people. And so for those, especially those that are in the beginning stages getting up and running with their blog, it would be a super incredible resource. But also, even if you've been doing it for a few years, I love going back and reviewing, hey, what are the strategies that other people are using that I'm not aware of? And that was helpful for me to look through. So we'll be sure to link to that. And Chelsea, thanks so much for coming on the podcast. I'll tell Lindsay that you said hi because I know that she would be excited to hear from you and we'll give Sage a scratch on the ear. So thanks so much for coming on the podcast.

Thanks for having me. Thank you.

Such a good episode, right? We hope you love this FBP rewind episode with Chelsea from Chelsea's Messy Apron. As for what's coming up on the podcast in these next few weeks, well, we are hard at work behind the scenes on a brand new free and virtual event for you. We are opening enrollment very, very soon for Food Blogger Pro and we have a brand new podcast series that we are just so incredibly excited to share with you. So more on all of that very, very soon. July is going to be such a fun month for us and we so appreciate you being here alongside us. So we'll see you next Tuesday with a brand new episode of the Food Blogger Pro podcast. But until then, make it a great week.

Sa.