Hello and welcome to another dose of my thoughts on blogging, entrepreneurship, and our industry in general. My goal with these newsletters is to help you feel less lonely in our space, and occasionally teach you something about self-publishing cookbooks.

tldr;

🍿 Blogging has been weird for about a year. How are you feeling about it? I'll share the results next week.

🍿 An SEO newsletter that won't make you feel like a blogging dummy (sponsored)

🍿 Cookbook Lab updates as a new school year arrives

let's chat -

It's been a weird year for blogging. I've heard so many different things from different people but I think there's one thing we can all agree on: the future of blogging is murky at best.

Here are the different perspectives I've heard, in a nutshell:

"This is so unfair. Google changed the rules overnight. I've lost all my traffic."

"I'm glad they're finally making SEO more intuitive, and rewarding us for writing FOR the reader instead of for robots!"

"All these changes seem well-intentioned, but the execution has been terrible."

To be honest with you: I've been largely unaffected by these changes. I have barely blogged in a year, yet my traffic has steadily grown, and I'm so grateful.

Why then, have I barely blogged in a year?

• I had my first baby last summer and I care for him full-time
• In addition to blogging, I'm working on my first traditionally published cookbook, working for my dad, and running The Cookbook Lab​
• I feel a little stuck with a blogging future that seems uncertain

Personally, I'm more concerned with how AI will affect blogging vs search engines (although there's quite a bit of overlap between the two). However, I'm feeling more and more optimistic about this. It seems as though people want recipes developed and tested by people, not made up by robots. Makes sense!

I'm still figuring out my pivot and how to get back in the game, but I'm getting there. Slowly but surely.

In the meantime, I'm curious about how YOU are feeling about all this turmoil. I put together a very short, anonymous Google Survey to find out. If you have a few minutes, I'd love it if you filled it out. I'll share the results of the survey next week so you can see how your fellows are feeling, too!

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finally, non-condescending SEO advice

The below is sponsored content from Foodie Digital. I've been a member for nearly four years and am so excited to share about their new paid newsletter, Siftr.

I've been food blogging for almost 14 years now. I know about all the SEO experts. I've listened to podcasts they've been on, seen them speak at conferences, and read their advice in Facebook groups. I always walk away feeling:

• scared I've been doing everything wrong
• momentarily convinced the only way to success is to follow their recommendations exactly
• like I still don't have an understanding of the bigger picture
• often, belittled and condescended to

I signed on with Foodie Digital in 2020. Remember how I said my blog has been unaffected - in fact, it's grown - over the last year? FD gets a lot of credit for that! In short, they run the backend of my blog, keep me up to date on all the current happenings with search engines, and give me advice (and homework!) specific to my blog, niche, and strategy. But best of all? They talk to me like we're partners in the success of my blog. They talk to me like I'm smart and capable. They want to know what I think, what I've seen working.

They closed their waitlist in 2023, so while you can't work with them like I do right now, they just launched something new (and more affordable): a newsletter called Siftr.

It's a twice-monthly newsletter that sifts noteworthy recipe search news right into your inbox, with actionable insights, news, tips, and strategies specifically for food blogs. I can speak from first hand experience that Liane and her team know their stuff and the $11/month subscription is well worth it. Join Siftr’s waitlist and get notified as soon as subscriptions are available (which Liane tells me is very soon!).

cookbook lab happenings

​The Cookbook Lab is my course that teaches you how to self-publish your own cookbook, from recipe testing to photography and design to marketing.

🧁️ Have you joined my self-publishing Facebook group yet? I just offered a Cookbook Lab coupon for members (see the pinned post at the top).

🧁️ We're starting live classes for Cookbook Lab students again in September. I'm so excited about this year's classes! We have guest speakers like Liane Walker, Stephanie Moon, Sam Adler, Laura Scherb, and more.

talk soon,