Download - How to turn your blog into a business
Nagi Maehashi: Who Am I?• Cook, voice and photographer
behind RecipeTin Eats food blog
• Started in May 2014
• #1 food blog in Australia
• #2 recipe site, after taste.com.au
• 1.5 million+ monthly readers with 2.5-3 million page views
• Forecast to hit 4m in Jan 2017
• 10% Australia
A Bit About Me• Born in Japan, raised in
Sydney Australia
• Food obsessed family
• “Big 4” accounting firm straight out of high school
• University and post grad degree part time (finance)
• Pursued career in Corporate Finance
• Climbed corporate ladder
• Had epiphany and decided to leave Corporate
What I Actually Do• Create recipes, photograph, create
videos and write posts for RecipeTin Eats
• Interact with readers• Super Food Ideas monthly feature• Clients both on and off my blog as
an Influencer, photographer and recipe developer
• Create eBooks for sale to readers• Food blogging advice
• Food blogging groups• US Conferences
• Keeping “up to speed” with industry trends - food, blogging & social media
My Previous Blogging Experience• ZERO
• Barely knew what a blog was
• Zero tech / website experience
• Never used a proper camera before
“You’re nuts”
“When are you coming back to work?”
How I Did It• Started with deliberate intention of
making a full time living from my blog
• Business approach fuelled by passion for food and sharing
• Very clear business plan and strategy
• Knew cooking would be a small part of what I would do
• Invested enormous time developing new skills
• I blog for my readers: New readers come, they stay
Why I Love What I Do• More than about love of food
and earning an income
• Cooking (& eating) = 5% of what I do. Easiest part!
• Truly love sharing recipes and getting people excited about food - always have
• Genuinely enjoy helping people cook better
• The business and strategy side
• The challenges, the ever changing environment, the continuous improvement
The Food I Share• Made from scratch
• Healthy-ish: I very rarely deep fry, don’t use tubs of cream
• Never bland, never flat tasting
• Classics done right
• Focus on comfort foods
• Regular stream of Asian food
• Genius techniques - inventions + known
• Unique creations
• Less salads than I should have
My Unique Angle: Trust & CommunityI’m a trusted friend
• I truly give a damn about my readers
• Respond to every comment on my blog and (try) every email
• My rule: There is no such thing as a stupid question
• Readers help each other
• Consistency - I’ve been doing this since the very beginning
• Invest 6+ hours each week interacting with readers solely on my blog
Trust & Community (cont’d)Readers trust my recipes• I’m not a Chef, but I’m a good
cook
• I know a lot more about cooking than the average food blogger
• Genuinely interested in cooking and am constantly learning
• Saturated blogging industry = increasing number of bloggers focussed on pretty photos + “viral potential” recipes
• My focus: expertise, quality and creativity
Trust & Community (cont’d)My food tastes even better than it looks
• Every recipe works. I live in fear of recipes that fail due to an error on my part.
• Test repeatedly• “Palette” bar is high - no flat
tasting food on my site, no trends for the sake of it
• It’s not just about pretty photos - I’m the reverse: taste first, pretty photos a distant 2nd
• Clearly written with step photos and/or videos
Trust & Community (cont’d)I Blog For My Readers
• Every recipe I post, I choose for my readers• Variety, seasonal, health,
ingredients• Create seasonal recipe collections• Write recipes for my audience -
easy enough for learners, professional enough for the more experienced
• Identify the “risk” areas in recipes and provide helpful notes, provide substitutions where possible
Working With Brands• My readers LOVE my sponsored
posts - because I always make it something special
• Genuine enjoyment of the challenge and bringing something new to my readers
• Truly picky about which brands I work with
• Worked too hard to gain reader trust, will not compromise
• Waited 18 months before my first sponsored post
• Focussed on building readership base and trust first
Successful Campaigns• Focus on client brief / objective• Brainstorm for ideas that will fit
client objectives and maximum results through my readership and influence
• Different ways to deliver successful campaigns:• Social media focus• SEO• Connection with readers
• Focus on perpetual performance, not just short term
• Always authentic, always organic integration