372: How Elena Davis Went From 20k to 100k+ Monthly Pageviews and Got Accepted Into Mediavine

This episode is sponsored by our friends at simplepin Media. In this ever changing landscape of online advertising, one of the best places to get in front of your future recipe makers is Pinterest ads. But maybe you've been confused by Pinterest ads or you're wondering if they would work for your business. You probably know Pinterest is a popular place that people go to search for recipes, right? It's a really important platform. But what happens when you put some money and intention behind an ad on Pinterest? Simplepin Media is the leading educator when it comes to Pinterest ads and they want to help Food Blogger Pro listeners learn about how this powerful ads platform can play a key role in your food blog's growth. Go to simplepinmedia.com pinads P I N a D S to grab your free copy of their Pinterest Ads campaign checklist today. It's a great way to learn more about the Pinterest ads platform and to understand if it might be a fit for you. So again, you can go grab your own copy of their Pinterest Ads campaign checklist for free by going to simplepinmedia.com pinads p I n a d s again, that's simplepinmedia.com pinads thanks to simplepin media for sponsoring this episode. Foreign. Hello, this is Bjork. You're listening to the Food Blogger Pro podcast and today we are talking to Elena Davis. She has a site called Cucina by Elena and she's going to be talking about her journey into mediavine and she's going to go through the process of what it was like for her to build her blog from kind of 20,000 page view range when she really started to get serious to 100,000 plus, which as you know is a significant amount of traffic which also results in a significant amount of income. As I talk about on the podcast, that gets to the point where depending on where you live and how big your house is, it has the potential to pay your rent or pay your mortgage and that is a life changing amount of money. When you can get to that point where the thing you've built, the business you've built, the brand or the blog you've built is able to earn a substantial amount of money. It's really incredible. And she's going to be talking about how she did that in kind of an 18, 20 month process and also along the way grew her Instagram following to a hundred thousand. And one of the things that's important about this podcast is sometimes on the podcast we'll interview people who have been doing it for 10 years, 11 years, 12 years, you know, eight years, whatever. It is a lot of amount of a significant amount of time. And it can maybe be encouraging from a long term perspective, like, hey, if I stick with this, I'll be able to have something that I've built over time, but it can maybe be discouraging from the perspective of like, wow, that's a long time. Eight, nine, ten years. And what I love about this interview with Elena is she was able to do this in a relatively short amount of time. Now, as we talk about in the podcast, when you say relatively short amount, when you're in it, when you're in the middle of it, when you're working hard, when you're hustling, it seems like a really long time, but two years in the grand scheme of things really isn't that long. And especially when you look at what it is that you've built a really significant brand or business. So Ellen is going to be talking about the things that she did, the things that she learned, the idea of investing back into your business, which she was really intentional about, and any tips and tricks that she has for other people who are looking to do a similar thing. And the great thing about that number that, you know, fifty thousand, a hundred thousand is that's right where you start to unlock getting into ad networks that will manage your ads for you. And you can start doing that earlier if you want to self manage. But really, if you're looking at joining an ad network like Mediavine or AdThrive, you have to get to these numbers where they can that you'll even be able to apply to join the ad network. And she's going to be talking about the significance of that and what that looked like for her within her business as well. So it's a great interview. I think you'll get a lot out of it. Let's jump in. Elena, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you. So excited to be here. Like I was just saying we were best friends. You didn't know it, but listening every week, it's so fun to actually be on.

So I remember there's this. Yeah, great. There's this tech podcast. I don't listen to it as much anymore, but it was called, it still is called Mac Break Weekly. And it had, they have these panel, it's like a panel of three to four guests. And Lindsey and I were driving, we were doing a road trip in California and I was like, can we drive by the studio where this is recorded? And she's like, sure. And then we drove by, and one of the guys was standing outside of the studio, and I went up and it was just like this moment of like, wait, his name is Alex Elson. Alex Lindsay. And I talked to him for, I don't know, 10 minutes. And Lindsey's like, you nerd. But it's this thing where it's like you have this connection to people. You know people and. But you don't actually. You've heard a lot of the conversations, but you've never actually been able to have a conversation until today. And now we get to have a conversation.

I know. Here we are.

Here we are. So you. One of the things that's going to be fun to talk about with your story is sometimes we'll talk to creators, publishers, bloggers, like, who have been doing it for 10 years, 12 years, and we say, hey, what did you learn? What were the things that were most helpful? And I think sometimes what can happen is people can, especially in the early stages, it's almost like demotivating. Not always, but sometimes because it's like, oh, they have the advantage of, like, a lot of time. And in your case, you've made some really great progress in a relatively short amount of time. It's been a couple years now. So when did you start your blog? And then we can dig into some of the progress you've made.

Yeah, so I started in June 2020. It was in the middle of the pandemic, and I was. We were kind of wrapping up some online teaching. I am a teacher by profession, 13 years, so reading specialist. And I've always wanted to start a food blog. Somewhere in my head it's been an idea that I've had, and I just thought, well, in the middle of pandemic and teaching my own kids and then teaching online, this surely will be a great idea to figure this out.

Lots of free time between 10 and 12 midnight.

Yeah, exactly. I thought this would be a great idea. And it all stemmed when in June, it was really solidified that we couldn't go to Italy. So a little background. I was born in Italy, grew up mostly in the United States, but also grew up part time in Italy. So Italian cooking and food is. Is my passion and where my blog stems from. And we always go and live in Italy with my entire family. The whole summer. Every summer, except for 2020.

Yeah.

So I just.

I would have guessed there felt like a gap there, like in your heart and soul.

There's a whole, like, in me because I have this memory I'm thinking of it right now, just, you know, coming home a few weeks ago. We're all around the table. Not even a huge table. I'm talking 15, 20 people at all meals. It'll be like a three hour thing. Right. So this just feeds my soul, my whole life. And it's kind of part of my, like, reboot every year is to have this community of, you know, my family, the language, food, everything. The culture means so much to me. So, you know, back two years ago, I thought, okay, I. I can't bring people together physically through food. I can't have them at my house. We've lived in a whole bunch of different places and food is how I made friends. Honestly, when, you know, moved all across Midwest and it was like, come over and, you know, make friends. I'll feed you, I'll bribe you. Let's get in this.

Yeah.

When?

When just out of curiosity, with your story, one thing that would be with that. So you moved when you were 6, is that right?

Yeah.

What was the reason for moving?

Yeah. So my parents are geneticists. Genetic researchers. They came to Utah to work on the Human Genome project.

Oh, wow.

Yeah. So cool. So they map. They were part of that in the 90s where they mapped the human genome and they both did that.

Like, did they meet in school together?

Together. So they. That was the reason why we came in. It was supposed to be for two years and it's been a pretty long two years.

Yeah. So your parents are still in the US Are they?

My parents are here in Salt Lake City and they're still. They're kind of transitioning out of work now, but have been doing that. And so they worked a lot. Which also has a part to do with my blog is still getting meals on the table with parents who work full time. And that's a very big part of creating these recipes. And my mom always did that. She worked full time. She worked really, really hard. My dad did as well. But we always ate dinner together in the evening. It was one of those very unpopular things where you're like, I have to be home for dinner. And your friends are like, are you serious? And it's like, yeah.

And then now, however many years later, it's like, what a gift. So much of parenting, I feel like, is that.

Ye. Yeah. And then pretty soon your friends start to get that it's kind of cool to have like a really good dinner on the table and they start to come.

Yeah, yeah, it's. And they. There's so much research about that. Or Even for our girls. So Sylvie is almost 4. Lena, our daughter's almost 2. But there's so much research just around the significance of a meal. And I think for us in this world, in this industry, I think it's one of the things that is good to remind ourselves of is, like, the meaning behind the work that we do. It's not as tangible. And I know Lindsay's talked about this where, like, teaching is so tangible. You have your classroom, especially, like reading specialists. It's like we went to this show in Vegas out of all places, our friends. I'd like, we're not Vegas people, but, like, we somehow ended up in Vegas with our friends, and they were. They brought, like, at the show, they brought some people up to, like, interview them about what their jobs are. And one of them was a reading specialist. And, like, everybody just applauded. Like, it's like. It's like one of those jobs where it's, like, so meaningful and so impactful. And I think the work that we do is as well. The hard part is we just don't see it. And I think one of the ways that it is impactful is, like, it's encouraging people to make a meal to share with their family or friends, to sit around the table and to share that. And the impact of that is significant in. In a scientific way. Like, they can study that and see that. So when you were doing this, when you decided to jump in and actually start to publish content, did you have an intent behind it? Like, did you know, I want to build this into a thing? Or was it more around wanting to fill the gap of not being able to be in Italy with your family?

Okay, so I think that's where it started is okay, now I'm ready, like, because this is something that's kind of somehow still been in the back of my mind for about 10 years. Like, maybe I should have started then, but, you know, I didn't.

So.

So finally I'm doing that. And so when I started, I kind of had the intention. And I'm kind of one of those people where when I start something and I'm ready, I'm going for it, I'm doing it, you know, and so it was a little bit of both. I had no idea. And I hadn't done research on things like SEO, keyword research, recipe card on your, you know, website, just anything. I just made my own website on a WIX website, which I quickly transferred to WordPress. Then I got actually the Food Blogger Pro, the your recipe card insert. And you Know, so just started learning little things. Yeah. Tasty recipes. So, no, at the beginning, I just thought, let's just kind of see where this goes. But I'm going to give it my all with purpose. So I'm giving purpose. I also really wanted to add kind of that sense that you said it's hard for it to be tangible. So I started writing stories. So on my food blog, you know, and they say, like, don't mix, you know, recipes with, like, personal stories. Well, my stories are a separate kind of part of the blog, and they tell things like how food, family and culture are important. Why are these recipes here? And how food really is a thread to bond past generations, future generations, just through recipes, bringing people to the table with these recipes. So I really wanted a meaning for what I was doing, because in education, I find that purpose. I don't want to just make these recipes. I want to be fulfilled in them. I started teaching cooking classes also for that reason, to kind of bring that element into the food blog.

Yeah.

The more I learned, the more I got into it, the deeper into the hole you got, the more things just kind of escalated in ways I didn't foresee.

I. I love the idea of, and I want to point that out, the idea of story. And I think sometimes we can. We can feel like we're just discouraged to tell stories. But I think there's. It's the art and science of anything, and. And I think the science side of it is like, hey, you want to, like, optimize for SEO and you want to get information as clear as possible and display that. And I think that's really good in a lot of instances for people who are looking to, like, create a recipe and have success with it, to like, make that as clear as possible and to be as. As intentional as possible, structuring that content. But I also think it's important to remember that for the most part, people follow people, and so you can get somebody there. And I think you can, you know, rank well for certain recipes and whatnot. But I think what keeps people coming is a connection or feeling like they know who it is behind the content creation, whether it's a group of people, an individual, but having some type of connection there. And so I think it's really wise to. To do that. And it sounds like you've had some success with it, which we can. Which we can talk about. One of the things that I'd be interested to hear is your brand, what that is now and then what it started as, because I know that you talked about coming on, starting on a WIX page and then eventually updating to WordPress. But you also started with a different brand that you changed a little bit later on. And with all of this, I want to queue it up by saying, I forget where this, who, who it was I was interviewing, but they talked about this Amy Porterfield. Porterfield quote, where action creates clarity. And I think sometimes people think like, I'll get clarity and then I'll take action. But I think your story is a really great example of action creates clarity. Where, you know, you start, it's a WIX page and you're like, as you learn about it, oh, that's not the place that I need to be. I'm going to change it. You start with the brand, you, you launch it. As you learn, you get clear on the idea this isn't what the brand should be, you change it. And I think that's a really good reminder and your story is a good one, that taking action and moving forward will almost always be better than like taking a bunch of time to just like gather information and ponder and think. So talk a little bit about your brand. Yeah.

Yep. That's crazy. So I actually have this written down in my notes. There's a difference in telling yourself, this is the goal I want. For example, I want to hit, you know, 50k monthly page views. I want to qualify for media line. Like, yes, I'm telling myself this, this is what I want to do. There's difference in daily action steps, writing down daily action steps to what you are going to do to get to that goal. Like you're saying it needs to be daily and you need to educate yourself, especially from someone who is coming from a totally, which a lot of people are. I think a lot of people are in corporate America who have these blogs who are trying to make it right. And I think the smartest way also is making connections with people who are doing well in the blogging community, such as social media. It's so easy to reach out to people and say, hey. And I did that as well. From being, from the beginning, Natasha Bull has been such a great, amazing example from Salt Langer, just kind of a mentor and in teaching, you know, I believe in mentorship and so I, you know, if you're someone out there who's very new, reach out to, to someone and kind of see some things. She was the one that told me, you know, early on she's like, you've got to get on keyword research, got to get on SEO. And I'M like, what the. What is that? You know, listen to these podcasts. Here we go. One thing at a. So it seems so overwhelming, like you're never going to get there. And trust me, I was one of those people who would listen to even people who had on your podcast who were like two years in or three years in, who all of a sudden had these, you know, these great kind of like fast growth things. Like you even said, like, in a relatively quick amount of time you've done this, you know, And I'm like, oh my gosh. Sometimes it feels like I've been doing this for 10 years because every day I've been working in some aspect at educating myself on how to make my written goal that I write down whatever it is into, you know, the action that I need to get to where I want to go.

And yeah, I think Stephen Covey talks about start with the end in mind in the seven habits and seven habits of highly effective people. And it's kind of like a goal, but basically it's like you start with that and then you work backwards from it. So what was that for you? Did you have a really clear goal, like, here's what I want it to be. And then do you have some examples of what those daily steps were?

Yeah. So once I kind of started to figure out, okay, you know, one really good way to receive revenue is through advertisement through, you know, either Mediavine or App Drive. Here's what you have to do to qualify. Okay, that's my motivator. Then that's my first thing is I need to reach that goal. To what? To number to how I can qualify. Okay, how, how do you qualify for that? You just, it's called, you know, kind of backwards design. Here's my goal. How am I going to get there? Well, I have to have really good SEO. I have to write in a way that my, that Google recognize my recipes, you know, and, and I have to make sure that I have. I used the feet. The. Is it the feast? I forget their. Oh yeah, the theme. And working with. Am I blanking on their name to, to redo like the theme on your. On your website?

Oh, sure. Like a design company.

Yes, yes. But gosh, I don't know who it is. I'll remember. But that kind of thing is very important. All of the backend things to your website is. Are your core web vitals. You know, I started working with NerdPress who went in and just kind of like destroyed my website and was like, okay, wow, like, to be clear, in A good way. In a good way. Sorry.

Yeah, it's like construction where it's like, go in and can remodel in a sense. Like, hey, make these improvements and. Yep.

So in January, it was like this light went off. So the very first year I was teaching and, you know, doing this and, you know, raising three kids and whatnot.

Yeah. This was 2020 when you started.

2021. Yeah, 2021. So. But. Or 20. Yeah, last year. 2020 and then 2021. Yeah. So last year and then in. In January, I was feeling burnt out. I wasn't really getting anywhere. I was still at the 20k views and I was just thinking, okay, that's when I took 20,000 page views. A month.

Yep. A month. Yep.

That's when I said, okay, I'm either doing this, figuring out the right way, I'm going to take cooking with keywords.

I'm going to go.

Yep. Which I highly recommend. I'm going to figure out all of the things, signing up with NerdPress, having them help me with the back end, just really getting serious. Kind of like, if you are going to remodel your house, like you said, there's ways you can do it, like fix a broken sink yourself and look it up on YouTube and then, you know, whatever. Or you're just going to kind of start from the inside, really get to the root of the problems and start investing in yourself is another thing. So I mentioned I taught cooking classes and so any kind of. And I have a small product line, any kind of revenue that I would make and I would kind of put, you know, put back into the blog, which I think is backwards for a lot of people. Because you think when I start making this much, then I will reach out to Top Hat Rank and do a little audit and see what's wrong with my website. But if you are going to start a bakery from scratch, you're going to need to take out a little loan to invest in yourself, which later you will get back. Right. And so I kind of started having that mentality. And so from January to the spring and then qualifying for mediavine at the end of May, that it just kind of happened. So I've been doing it for, you know, almost two years, but then right before that, two years, a few months in, it was like, okay, you're qualifying. And then I just kept doing kind of more and more of what I was doing, and growth kind of takes off exponentially. And I think another message to bloggers who are maybe a little bit newer, you think it is so saturated. There are 2 million food blogs. There is this, that, and the other. How am I ever going to make it? Who is ever going to look at my blog? These are kinds of things that you are thinking. At least I was. And I think right now there is no better time. And here is why I think that right now there are so much information and so much education and such a kind of a security. Not always, but in saying you can make a living doing this, because these people are. And they have been for 10 years. Like pinch of Yum. Maybe when you guys took that first leap and I remember your story, you're kind of doing it and you're helping and you're crossing your fingers along the way and it's like, okay, we make this step. But it wasn't such a huge industry, which has advantages and disadvantages, right?

Yeah.

And right now, SEO, oh my gosh, people are overwhelmed. I think make SEO your best friend, because that's what's going to get you from A to Z in a relatively quick amount of time. I think in the fastest way is. Is to get into that Google search search engine and in the right way and get recognized that way.

Yeah, that's great. So to recap, if I understand your story right, in January is really. When you took a step back, you kind of looked at things a little bit and said, like, I'm kind of burnt out. I'm doing a ton of work for my blog and publishing online, doing a ton of work as a mom, as a parent, doing a ton of work as a reading specialist. So did. Was. Was that at a point where you said, I'm going to step back from. Did you step back from your role as a reading specialist at that point and said, I'm going to actually focus on this?

So it was in. So it was in the fall that I was my first year in 13 years. I didn't step back into the classroom. So through the fall until January, I'm plugging along, I'm listening to podcasts. I'm still doing action things. I'm kind of knowing what I need to do. But then it was in January where it was that turning point where I need to get serious now. I need to find out how to make this happen, or else it's just getting to be a little bit draining.

Yep. And so that was fall of 2021. And then January 2022 is when you did kind of a analysis of. You looked at the landscape and said, like, I need to figure out some things. So I'm Curious to know what was that change like for you? I'm always curious when anybody has a significant change. You said you'd been doing it for 13 years. Was that a difficult thing? Was it a really freeing thing? A little bit of both. What was that like?

A little bit of both. So I've always taught in inner city schools, which has been extremely hard and extremely rewarding. I still have kids who, who I keep in contact with, you know, who kind of become your. You know, they oftentimes don't have.

Yeah. You become a positive adult figure.

Positive adult figure in their life. And I still have those. And so it was kind of. It was really hard to step away from knows those students. And as I mentioned, I have three kids that are only getting busier and they're still relatively small. So I just, I couldn't do everything. And this opportunity to really dive into my food blog would be a way to also, in a way be homeward, do what I am already doing, which is cooking a lot, enjoying it and sharing it with the world and connecting with people on a different level than teaching. But still, you know, that's why I do my teaching classes once a month to keep in tune with that. The fall was hard. Yeah. It was kind of hard to. To just switch such gears.

Yeah. And it's. You realize, I would assume, how deeply embedded some of the routines are. Even like summers. I know Lindsay talks a lot about that. She was a fourth grade teacher and the idea of summers and what does a summer looks different when you are running your own business than when you're in a school season. And some people do, you know, summer school and whatnot. But. So I'm curious to know at what point you did the brand name change, because that was a part of your story. When did you decide to do that and was that a difficult decision?

So I did that about eight months, nine months in. Yep.

Okay. And what was it and what did you change it to?

Yeah, so it was mamma mia mangia. Mamma mia mangia. Mangia means eat. Or mangia, as we say in Italian, means eat. And it's kind of a saying we say. And it's very familiar. It's very homey. I like that there was so many M's and you know, just. I kind of liked it and it just there. There was a point I also had someone that was kind of took a very similar name as me in the same town as me and it.

Which is awesome.

Not a great idea. And so that person wasn't going to, you know, really budge. And so, so it was a kind of a big leap because also when you do that, I didn't realize like also how back that sets you on your website and your URL, you're like starting all over again.

Yeah. Like there's some, there's some benefit that can come from an aged known URL. And when you do that change, as, as smart as Google is, there's still some inevitable impact that comes from the potential of that kind of falling out of certain positions. Yeah.

And when I, when I did the switch, I was not with NerdPress. The switch was not done. Well. If any of you are thinking about doing a brand name change, I highly recommend having a really good backbone of support and people that know how to do it correctly. So that would be a big advice for anybody who's thinking about changing.

Yeah, it's a big deal. It's kind of like changing the replacing the foundation of a house or something like. Yeah, yeah, it can have really big impact and you want to make sure that, you know, somebody who's like you said, doing it right has the proper, like everything's redirected properly and.

Yes. And mine was not. And so that was another kind of thing. So Nerd Press came in and helped with that.

That's awesome. So January was kind of the turning point. And when you decided to double down and to be clear, at the point where you are now, you did reach that goal of 50,000 applied to Mediavine. And that's really where it starts to become like substantial. Like this can pay some significant bills, right?

Yes.

Not for everybody and not in every month, but it can start to be like, hey, this is like mortgage payment type income that, that you start, you start to get close to. So it sounds like the most significant things in, in, in that time period was really understanding keyword research, working with companies like NerdPress. You talked about top hent rank, who's where they've been on the podcast as well, doing an, you know, audit, reinvesting really back into the business. If, if somebody, if you are at a point where you can do that and justify it from an investment standpoint, when you think of all the different places you could put your money, you could put it in a bank account, you could put it in the stock market, you could put it in, you know, real estate. For business owners, sometimes the best use of money that we're getting is to put it back into the business. You won't get taxed on it. But also that can spur future growth, which creates A more valuable business. So.

Exactly.

Was there anything else along the way that you found to be really valuable from an investment standpoint, like things that you were investing in, whether time that you were investing or financial investment time.

And also one thing is photography, which you've had a lot of people talk about that. And I won't get too much into it, but photos, photos are important. And if you look at, well, they've hopefully all been redone, but since the beginning to now, those, those are huge to update and invest, whether that means equipment or having somebody else do it, you know, but. But that is another huge thing with your eyes, people will always say, yep, that's great.

And so one thing too that I may want to make sure we don't get too far away from it. So you, you had your old blog, you rebranded. I don't know if we said you rebranded into what?

So Cucina means kitchen by Elena. After doing some research, I just felt really good about having my name in there. Cucina kitchen is, is just such a broad term for your cooking in your kitchen. You're gathering people in your kitchen. No matter where we were, what house we lived in, how small it was, how cramped it was, it was. The kitchen was always like the hotspot gathering area. And, and so that word just means a lot to me. So Cucina by Elena.

Cool. That's great. And you, there's a couple things that you had mentioned. You know, you're thinking about not only the growth of your blog, which you said at a hundred thousand page views, which is awesome, a huge milestone. Also 100,000 followers on Instagram, which is also really incredible. It's a platform that's hard to grow followers on, at least that's my perception. You know, I think TikTok can potentially be a faster growth platform, at least right now. And Instagram I think can sometimes seem like a slower growth platform. So that's really incredible within two years. And then you also talked about a few different, like revenue sources. You talked about advertising and ad revenue. We think of that often before we press record. You talked a little bit about sponsored content and that how that plays into Instagram. It sounds like product line and then also doing teaching classes. So can you maybe rank order within your business? Which one of those are most significant in terms of earning and then you don't have to share numbers. But then also talk about maybe like do a little bit of an explanation of each one of those advertising I think we get. But the other ones I think would be interesting to hear. You Reflect on a little bit.

Yes. So advertising right now is by far number one. Just taking off more as pages increase. And that's pretty self explanatory with media buying. Number two coming in is classes, my cooking classes. So those are super fun. They're in person. I am maybe thinking of now doing online content which is huge and scalable because it lives there. It's there forever. Which would be classes that just live on your website and are online. So that would be second. Third is brand deals with national brands and that can be either on Instagram or on my blog or even local grocery stores. And any brand I've ever worked with has always accepted my rates and been very respectful of that. And I've also written some.

Are you reaching out to those brands or are they reaching out to you? How does that work?

Okay, so I've kind of been lucky in a way where some of these opportunities came to me. The grocery store, I work with the local grocery store, Harmon's. They're awesome. I remember I reached out to them and they were like, sure. The other ones, I should be better at reaching out to brands. I think there's huge potential there. I'm not an expert on that. I know a lot of people who are. So another thing is not just doing sponsored content for yourself, but brands can hire you to write articles on their blog using their products, which I've done before. So kind of pasta, Italian food brand that's mainly American, but that's very established that I love asked me to write some articles for them that would live on their blog with and create recipes for them. But they would give me credit and backlinks so that that's another Products would be next.

And yeah, yeah, those are the primary ones. And as we're talking about this, I remember now. Action creates clarity. Amy Porterfield, that quote came from Cynthia who the. I don't know if that podcast will be published by the time that this one is, but she has a business called Culinary Creator B School and it's all about doing online classes for food professionals, chefs or bloggers. So that one is side note. It kind of reminds me, have you ever watched the Office where there's that Michael Scott where he like quotes rain Wayne Gretzky. Like you miss all. You miss 100% of the shots. You don't take Wayne Gretzky and then it's a quote and then it's Michael Scott. This was me doing that. It was like me quoting Cynthia quoting Amy Porterfield. And then each one it gives credit to whoever Said it. But I'm curious about the cooking classes. Are you mentioning those on Instagram? Do you have a special email list for those? Do you use like Eventbrite for tickets and then where do you host them? A lot of questions, but yes.

So so basically I advertise. It's kind. So you can't have them too large. Like 25 is kind of a max with the space that we have. And then. So I advertise mainly through Instagram and dm, that kind of a thing. And then we. I message them, get an email. Get an email list. An email list. Also, I worked with Ali from Duet. She's really great. I'm starting to do some stuff from there. That's a little side note. Hoping that email will. Will bring even more traffic, which is a huge thing right now.

Yeah, that's great. And then how do you charge? How do you charge for those? The cooking classes?

The cooking classes just like payment or.

You do that online or when people show up?

Yes, yes, yes. It is in prepaid. Prepaid before the class. And then there's like a cancellation policy just because it takes a lot of prep time, you know, and so there has to be a policy involved where if you don't, you know, show up. And I'm always willing and working, you know, with people if there's an emergency or something, but you know, cost of food and time and you're taking somebody else's spot kind of a thing. So usually cap them between 20 and 25, depending on the class. If they're hands on or if it's a demonstration class. I hold them in Bountiful, Utah. And so that's kind of what we've done. And again, that's not for everyone.

Right.

But it creates a great community and also brand awareness and connection to the brand because it makes people really feel like they know you.

Yeah. How much have you experimented with pricing for that? Like, how much do you think people could charge if they do a cooking class?

Anywhere from 80 to $100.

And I think of the classes that Lindsay and I have gone to, and that always feels like kind of where they land. But what's interesting, when I started, I.

Started at a really low price.

Yeah, totally.

I feel like everybody's sweet. They're like, have you one lady? She's like, you really should charge a little more for these classes.

That's when you know. So it's helpful to have people who are attending being like, you need it, you need to pay us more or have us pay you more.

Yeah, I'm like, okay, noted.

But again, that comes back to that action creates clarity idea where you wouldn't know that unless you do it like you. You optimize pricing as you go. But you can start to see how with all of those different elements, you know, you have advertising, you have cooking classes, you have product that you're doing, sponsor content, like these different pieces that you're able to plug in and those all you're kind of looking to the. I think sometimes we get trapped, we get tunnel vision around one thing. I want to do advertising income and I want to increase page views. But I think what people don't realize is, or maybe sometimes we forget is that you can capture value in different places. I think cooking classes is a really great example of that where it's not necessarily an online thing, but it's using the brand that you've built to. To say, hey, yeah, yeah, and. And it's a value. There's connection, it's revenue producing people. It might not have to be local either. My guess is that there's been some instances where people would like, travel in. And it's a nice excuse for people to be like, hey, this is something for us to do and spend a weekend in a new place and then do a cooking class as an excuse to travel.

Yes. And I say it's the gift that keeps on giving. Like the skills that you learn, right. Take them home and do them with your family, have a party and you teach the same thing. Like, that's what I want. I want it to be like this gift that just like the ripple effect, you know, it's like you're coming here to learn something and then you take something out of it and then you go spread it in your circles and, you know, do different things. Like, I'm all about that. And. And I think cooking classes are a great way to do that. And then the products too, can be passive. And I think the one thing, if anybody's thinking about it is make sure they're very brand specific. You know, we do. The thing that is the most popular is my pasta server. And these are.

This is like physical products.

You're talking about physical products? Yeah, physical product. And it's designed after my Nonna's Pasta stirring spoon. It measures spaghetti, and it also stirs the spaghetti with fork, like prawns. It's a wood product that a woodworker that I know manufactures here in Salt Lake City. So we work together. So I'm supporting a small business. I'm a small business, and we're working together to provide a really good quality product. So, you know, that was very thoughtful in the way that, in the way that I did that same with our 2 in 1 charcuterie cutting board kind of thing. And then I do have an apron and a tote bag, which might be more of like, okay, like your hat, your T shirt, you know what I mean? But I like the more kind of meaningful things to your brands, like a pasta, you know, utensil. Okay. That goes with like half my recipes as an example of, you know, how that ties into another revenue stream, but also creating meaning.

Yeah. For the consumer, it's not just a random product. Like there's a connection to.

Makes a special gift. It's. It's unique.

Yeah. And how so that you're selling those through your site, Are you packaging those as well? Like, do you have a bunch of those in your garage?

So I actually do, but I bring those to my cooking classes. I actually have. There's just a small kind of storage facility, center business that will hold them for you and package them and you kind of work things out with them and then, and then they do the shipping and it's not a huge source of revenue. Again, for me, it's also a way for just marketing, you know, in a way, brand awareness and kind of a thing like that. So.

And I think what happens is over time, as you get more of those, those add up. Like, and, and those are now in place as a multiplier as your business grows. Like, you know, when you are at 200,000 page views like that revenue source, highly likely that will double. Like, so it's nice if you can, to introduce those kind of multipliers within your business. So they're there along the journey as you grow your following and your traffic.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Just like with cooking classes or with, you know, online cooking classes. Well, who's going to buy it? Nobody knows about me, whatever. Well, as you're building your brand, as you're waiting to get into mediavine, or as you're waiting for this, think of all the things that you can create and you can do in the meantime to create value for people. I think for me, there was a time where, you know, I loved following people on Instagram as a big foodie, but there was a time where I was just tired of consuming. I wanted to contribute, I wanted to create.

Yeah.

And once you really get that in your mind about how your product, how what you do, can serve others, that's where it all really takes meaning and starts to make Sense and that's also where you start to kind of see people investing in you because of what you do for them.

There's this podcast called, I think it's called the Happiness Lab and they were doing episode on social media and just the impact on happiness and they talk about the correlation between consuming versus creating and overall happiness with social media use. And just the point being the more that you create and interact, the happier you are generally speaking. There's a lot of probably disclaimers that go along with that, but versus just consuming and the correlation there is like generally people are less happy using social media if you just consume. So it's a, it's a great motivator to create which is like I think we all have some creator in us, especially people who listen to this podcast and I think it impacts our well being as well. Like as we, if we can create and interact more and just consume less, I think we'll probably be better off.

People pray Community People pray people.

Yep. So if you were to look back at, at your last two years or even you know, really the last year where you've experienced a lot of the growth that you've had, what would you say would be the most significant component of that? Was it a mindset? Was it like specific action that you took? What was the, the biggest contributor to, to the traction that you've had?

Consistency over time will give you results. It's something that everybody knows, but it's so hard to do. There was a few times where I thought, you know, I tried this, maybe it's just not for me, but what if I just keep going one more day? What if I just keep contributing one more day, just going one more day, staying consistent, posting consistently, finding that consistent balance for you, whether it's once a week or five times a week, whatever it is, find how you can be consistent. That looks different for everybody, but be consistent and invest in yourself and believe in yourself that this can and will work. And create an action plan for yourself I think is something that is so simple and yet overlooked. What do you want? What is your end goal? Work backwards to how you can get there. And there are so many tools and people that can help you get there. Reach out to me, reach out to somebody you admire that has accomplished what you have with how DMs work and things like that. You think, oh, she'll never reply to me? Well, she did and she became a great mentor to me as I spoke about Natasha through this whole process of things that I didn't know and and she was willing to help. Not everybody's like that, but consistency is huge.

Yeah, that's awesome. And we'll give a Natasha. We'll be sure to link to her. Not so everybody DMs her, but just as like a shout out.

No, I know.

As a karma piece. Like want to make sure to give her some love and appreciation for, for. For being a good person in the world. Speaking of connecting, where can people do that? Eleanor? Where can people. Where can people DM you if. If that's okay.

Yes. Cucina by Elena on Instagram Pinterest TikTok maybe don't reach out to me on TikTok so I have a TikTok I kind of post and ghost on there just to, you know, do what I need to do. But I found my real connection and community on Instagram so that's where I'm most active. So reach out to me on Kuchina by elena and kachinabyelna.com you'll find my recipes, products and everything that you, that you want and more. If you're local, take a cooking class. I'd love to meet you. That. Yes, please, please reach out.

That's awesome.

Together.

Let's do it together. Love that. Elena, thanks so much for coming on the podcast.

You're so welcome. My pleasure.

Hey there, Alexa here. And thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Food Blogger Pro podcast. We really appreciate you being here. If you really like this episode, we would so appreciate you leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps the show get in front of new listeners and it just makes us really happy. We read each and every one and it's just so great to hear from you what you're liking and what you would like us do to, to improve or change in upcoming episodes. So all you have to do is go and find the Food Blogger Pro podcast on your Apple podcast app, scroll down to the ratings and reviews section and then you can rate the show and then leave a written review if you want to be even more awesome. And while you're there, we would really appreciate if you subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode. But maybe you talk about one of your favorite interviews on the show or maybe you just talk about the show as a whole. But regardless of what you talk about in your review, we appreciate it so, so much. So thanks again for tuning in today. We'll see you next time. And until then, make it a great week.

Sam.