591: 7 Common Food Photography Mistakes and How to Avoid Them with Alexandra Shytsman

In episode 593, Kimberlee Ho teaches us 3 easy ways to grow our blog part-time while working full-time, including, how to be selective with our focus and time. Kim is a home baker from NJ, who loves to share approachable baking recipes and tips with busy families like her own on her blog, kickassbaker.com. Kim works full-time during the day and bakes, recipe tests, and photographs at night and on the weekends in between acting as an Uber driver for her two teenage daughters. Her goal is to inspire home bakers to kick ass in the kitchen! In this episode, you’ll learn more about identifying growth drivers for your blog, the importance of adapting to changing industry trends as well as intentional time management and the support of a community in achieving blogging goals. Key points discussed: - Focus on 1-2 key growth drivers: For example, you can focus on growing page views and sessions to attract and retain readers, rather than getting distracted by new platforms. - Test different work methods: Experiment with your work schedule and batching tasks to find the most efficient approach for you. - Use to-do lists: Keep multiple to-do lists to stay organized and reduce anxiety about forgetting important tasks. - Embrace flexibility: Maintain a flexible mindset, adapting your methods as your needs and circumstances change over time. - Leverage trusted networks: Ask for feedback and support from the blogging community to avoid shiny object syndrome. - Break down goals into steps: Break down larger goals into manageable, actionable steps to avoid feeling overwhelmed. - Advantages of working full-time: By having full-time job Kim can enjoy growing her blog without the pressure of relying on it as her sole income. Connect with Kimberlee Ho Website | Instagram

In this episode, we’re going to talk about why we feel envious of other bloggers in our space and how to turn envy into celebration and collaboration. Food blogging is competitive. There are thousands and thousands of food blogs online. For a long time I approached food blogging as a competitive career. I felt like I had to do better than everyone else, a feeling which led me to isolate myself. This held me back big time! And it’s only when I started changing my approach to seek out and collaborate with other food bloggers, that my business really started taking off. So here are 5 ways in which you can do the same. Action Plan: 1 - Change your mindset from competition to collaboration: See other food bloggers as teammates, not competitors. 2 - Celebrate and support others with a generous spirit: Outwardly and inwardly express happiness for their successes. 3 - Celebrate your own accomplishments: Take time to write down your wins, no matter how small, to boost your confidence. 4 - Own your unique story and journey: Embrace the lessons and challenges that have shaped your business. 5 - Immerse yourself in the food blogging community: Reach out to those who inspire you and build relationships. Get in touch with Megan if there is a specific mindset and self-care topics you'd like her to cover. Website | Instagram Resources Coaching and Mentorship for Food Bloggers by Brittany Roche Promote your food blogging services Megan’s recommended books and resources

In episode 591, Megan chats to Alexandra Shytsman about how to avoid 7 common food photography mistakes beginners make, including lighting, angle and styling mistakes. Alexandra Shytsman is a recipe developer, food photographer, and creator of The New Baguette, a plant-based recipe site. Her mission is to inspire people to cook healthier plant-centered meals at home. She is the author of Friendsgiving, co-author of The Complete Vegan Cookbook, and contributes to sites like Simply Recipes and EatingWell. She has also been teaching in-person food photography classes (in groups and one-on-one) since 2018. Originally from Ukraine, Alex moved to New York City at a young age and has lived there ever since. In this episode, you’ll learn more about using natural light versus artificial light, the correct angle for shooting food, which garnishes to use and which ones to avoid and how to make boring food stand out. Key points discussed: - Lighting is crucial: Use natural light or photography-specific equipment, rather than overhead kitchen lights, to achieve flattering and accurate food photography. - Avoid tilted angles: Keep the camera horizon straight to create a more natural and comfortable viewing experience for the audience. - Provide context: Zooming out to show the entire plate or scene, rather than just a close-up, helps provide context and balance to the image. - Choose props carefully: Neutral-colored, non-distracting props are recommended to avoid drawing attention away from the food. - Are your photos in focus? Learning to use the camera in manual mode and checking focus before finalizing the shot can help ensure crisp, in-focus images. - Garnishes can transform boring photos: Adding thoughtful garnishes, such as herbs, spices, or seeds, can enhance the visual appeal of the food. - Plan before you shoot: Creating a mood board and shot list beforehand can help streamline the photography process and ensure all necessary shots are captured. - Embrace negative space: Allowing for some empty space around the food can create a more balanced and visually appealing composition. Connect with Alexandra Shytsman Website | Instagram

Are you tired of feeling stuck or overwhelmed in your blogging journey? In this episode, I’m sharing some exciting news about the 2025 Eat Blog Talk Mastermind, including the new tiered packages designed for bloggers at every stage. I’ll walk you through the program’s logistics and highlight how the mastermind can fast-track your blog’s growth, no matter your budget or experience level. But that’s not all—stay tuned for powerful transformation stories from current mastermind members! You’ll hear how they’ve overcome common blogging pain points, from stagnant traffic to unclear goals, and turned their blogs into thriving businesses with more traffic, revenue, and confidence. Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode: - New mastermind tiers for 2025 that cater to different budgets and experience levels. - How the mastermind can help you accelerate growth and avoid common blogging mistakes. - Real-life transformations from current members—how they grew their traffic, increased revenue, and found clarity in their blogging strategies. - Why community, expert guidance, and accountability are the key ingredients to lasting success. - How the program can help you gain confidence, clarity, and focus to tackle your biggest blogging challenges. Ready to take your blog to new heights in 2025? Tune in now to hear how you can be part of this life-changing experience or visit eatblogtalk.com/mastermind to apply.

In this episode, we're going to talk about 5 ways to be proactive, focus on progress and invite more good things into your business. We all want good things to flow into our business. Sometimes, it feels like we’re making no progress or regressing. I’ve been there, multiple times. Even this year. For bloggers, this might mean losing followers, getting less pages views, trying to get into an ad network… the list goes on and on. By this same token, if you embrace a proactive, positive approach to your blog and focus on what’s going well, you will most likely invite more good things into your business. Here are some practical ways to do this. Action Plan: 1 - Extend the invitation: Invite good things, opportunities, money, and positive energy into your business on a daily basis. 2 - Practice daily gratitude: Write down 5-10 things that are going well in your business each day and express gratitude for the progress (however small) you’ve made. 3 - Do daily decluttering: What tasks are cluttering your mind and business? Make a list and systematically work through and complete them. 4 - Engage in daily learning: Spend at least 15 minutes each day learning through podcasts, books, or discussions to stay eager and ready for good things. 5 - Invest in your business: Consider making strategic investments in coaching, masterminds, conferences, or courses to open the floodgates for positive growth. Get in touch with Megan if there is a specific mindset and self-care topic you'd like her to cover. Website | Instagram Resources Madison Wetherill's Web Design Services Promote your food blogging services Megan’s recommended books and resources

In episode 588, Megan chats to Laura Arnold about why an SEO content calendar is important for diversifying your brand and how to set it up to improve your rank on Google. Laura Arnold is a New York City-based Emmy-Nominated Culinary Television Producer, Cookbook Consultant, and award-winning Content Creator with over a decade of experience. She currently is the Supervising Culinary Producer for Food Network’s The Kitchen, and has worked previously at ABC’s The Chew, DotDash Meredith, Good Housekeeping, Food52, kitchn.com, and with many more brands. In this episode, you’ll learn more about how to balance new posts with content updates, which keywords to choose, the significance of storytelling and expert phrasing and whether social media is important or not. Key points discussed: - Consistency is key: Maintain consistent SEO efforts and content creation for long-term growth and success. - Manageable workloads: Create a content calendar that fits within your capabilities and resources for sustainable success. - Competitor analysis: Research and understand the top-performing content in a given niche to help you develop effective SEO strategies. - Keyword research and targeting: Identifying high-volume, low-competition keywords is a key step in creating content that resonates with the target audience. - Interlinking and content pillars: Strategically linking related content within posts and building out content pillars can improve site navigation and user experience. - Storytelling and expert phrasing: Balance personal narratives with authoritative language to help engage readers and establish the blogger as an expert in their field. - Performance tracking: Regularly monitoring and analyzing SEO metrics, such as impressions and keyword rankings, can inform content optimization and strategy adjustments. - Social media integration: Leveraging social media platforms to share and promote content can help diversify a brand's digital presence and reach a wider audience. Connect with Laura Arnold Website | Instagram

In episode 587, Brenda Cadman teaches us how to organize our uploads and templates in Canva to create designs quickly and without fuss. Brenda Cadman is a Canva Verified Expert from Prince Edward Island, Canada. After spending more than two decades supporting businesses with their website development needs, she now focuses on teaching small business owners how to use Canva more effectively and efficiently. Brenda has taught thousands of business owners through her courses, and in particular, she loves to help business owners tame their hot mess Canva accounts by creating an organizational system that ensures they can spend less time in Canva, and more time doing what they love. In this episode, you’ll learn about creating custom folders for better categorization, template and time management and thereby streamlining the design process. Key points discussed: - Organize Canva uploads: Create custom folders to categorize and easily find your uploaded images, videos, and other media. - Leverage the brand kit: Use Canva's brand kit feature to store your logo, color palette, fonts, and other brand assets for consistent branding. - Streamline element organization: Use the "Add to Folder" option to create custom folders for frequently used icons, illustrations, and other design elements. - Manage templates effectively: Separate future-use templates from customized brand templates to maintain organization and efficiency. - Prioritize Canva organization: Dedicate time to organize your Canva account - this will help improve productivity and save time in the long run. - Use brand templates to speed up workflow: Creating and saving brand templates can ensure consistency and reduce errors when customizing frequently used designs. - Avoid wasting time in Canva: If you prioritize Canva organization, you will save time spent on the platform designing and looking for assets. Connect with Brenda Cadman Website | Instagram

In this episode, we're going to talk about 5 ways to manage feelings of overwhelm in entrepreneurship. If you are an entrepreneur long enough, you are bound to experience times when you have to evolve or you can't go on. Often, when you’re in a state of complete overwhelm, it’s a signal that something needs to change. I think most of us want to stay passionate about what we do but we don’t want to get buried by to do lists and business projects. Here are 5 ways I manage overwhelm and keep a positive outlook. Action Plan: 1 - Time Tracking: Track everything you do for a minimum of 3 days, preferably 7 days. Comb through the data to identify where you're spending your time and make changes to reduce draining activities. 2 - Exercise and Self-Care: Commit to a daily habit of exercise, even if it's just 10 minutes and engage in self-care activities like meditation war spending time in nature, reading, or creative pursuits. 3 - Take a Break: Listen to your gut and take a break, whether it's a 30-minute break during the day or a longer, week-long or month-long break from your business. Giving yourself this time off can help reset and reduce overwhelm. 4 - Limit Tech and Social Media: Reduce the time you spend on your phone, computer, and social media platforms. The constant connectivity can contribute to feelings of anxiety and overwhelm. 5 - Laugh and Love: Surround yourself with situations and people that bring you joy, laughter, and love. Spend time with friends, family, or pets, and engage in activities that make you smile. Get in touch with Megan if there is a specific mindset and self-care topics you'd like her to cover. Website | Instagram Resources Food Photography by Ikram Ali Promote your food blogging services Megan’s recommended books and resources

In episode 585, Megan chats to Carol Borchardt about the advantages of being a food blogger after you’ve retired and how to succeed regardless of your age. Carol Borchardt is a retired personal chef with 22 years of experience cooking food people want to eat! She is also a former newspaper food columnist and mom to rescue kitty, Olive. Carol is married (almost 29 years) with two stepchildren and four grandchildren. At From A Chef's Kitchen, which Carol started ten years ago, she shares easy, step-by-step, chef-tested restaurant-quality recipes that are easy to make at home. If You Loved This Episode… You’ll love Episode 132 with Jen Lefforge – Starting A YouTube Channel Over 40. In this episode, you’ll learn about what it is like being a full-time retired food blogger, why it is important to start sooner rather than later and how to overcome technical difficulties. Key points discussed: - Start a food blog at any age: Carol started her food blog between the ages of 40-50 - it’s never too late to pursue a creative passion. - Overcome technical fears: Start with a good host and theme, and use resources or hire experts to handle the technical aspects of blogging. - Embrace social media strategically: Focus on the platforms that you feel comfortable with and enjoy. - Monetization can provide financial freedom: If your blog is monetised, your retirement income will be self-sustaining and provide flexibility. - Blogging can be a fulfilling retirement gig: You may find immense satisfaction in the creative outlet of food blogging, keeping you active and productive in retirement. - Build a legacy through recipes: Think of preserving family recipes and creating a lasting legacy through a food blog. - Do it on your own terms: Pursue your passion and don’t feel pressured to conform to industry standards. - Find your true fans: Remember why you started the blog and connect with readers who appreciate your unique voice and content. Connect with Carol Borchardt Website | Instagram

In episode 584, Chris De La Rosa teaches us 6 unique monetization strategies so that we can earn a living without relying on income from ads. Chris De La Rosa, is the founder of CaribbeanPot.com, a platform dedicated to exploring the vibrant culinary culture of the Caribbean. Although his roots trace back to Trinidad and Tobago, Chris’s goal is to showcase recipes from all the enchanting islands that contribute to the rich tapestry of Caribbean cuisine. Through his website, social media channels, and YouTube videos, Chris shares the authentic flavors, techniques, and stories that make Caribbean food so special. In this episode, you’ll learn how to outsource finding brand deals, successful ways of selling digital products and how to leverage your culinary expertise by collaborating with restaurants and tech companies. Key points discussed: - Branded partnerships and sponsorships: It is essential to align brand deals with your niche and stay true to your audience. Hire out the process of contacting brands. - Digital products and online courses: Repurpose website content into digital cookbooks and courses to generate an additional revenue stream. - Seasonal content planning: Analyzing data, such as YouTube statistics, to help identify popular topics to create seasonal digital products. - Physical products and merchandise: Selling branded merchandise like t-shirts and aprons with your logo can generate additional income. - Menu consultation: Leveraging your expertise in a niche cuisine can lead to opportunities to consult with restaurants. - Culinary tours and experiences: Offering food-focused tours and experiences can be a unique way to monetize your brand. - Embrace the opportunities technology offer: Use your culinary expertise to collaborate with technology companies developing AI for recipes. - Ghost kitchens: Partner with shared kitchen spaces so that you can have a space for the production and distribution of your own food products. - Reduce food waste by offering made-to-order meals: By offering pre-ordered, made-to-order meals you can minimize waste and serve specific communities. Connect with Chris De La Rosa Website | Instagram