Who are you blogging for, anyway?
- Image by purpleslog via Flickr
I'm as excited about my blog as I have ever been. Readership is growing quickly, incoming links are up, Google searches have spiked, and I'm finding new ways to monetize that search traffic every day. More important than any of that though, I am loving every minute of it. My fun level, you might say, is at an all-time high.
Blog boredom
And yet, barely a month ago, I was close to giving it up. I was tired of writing the posts I was writing, tired of feeling guilty every day that I didn't write a post, tired of my free time no longer being free. I was writing what I thought people wanted to read, the types of posts that I knew got the most comments but were mostly devoid of anything fulfilling for me. In short, blogging had become a job, and a poorly paid one at that.
Where had things gone south? At what point had my blog turned into a drain on me rather than an opportunity to communicate and grow?
As the New Year was approaching, I happened to be doing a lot of thinking about goals, values, and how I choose to spend my (finite) amount of free time. And the answer to the above questions came rather easily: Blogging had ceased to be fun when I started writing for other people instead of myself. I aimed to post every day, even when I had nothing worth posting, simply because I thought that I should give people something to read every day. But my heart wasn't in it, and the frequency of my posts tailed off. I tended towards giveaways because it was fun to get lots of comments, even though those comments were essentially "traded" for the chance to win something.
I decided on New Years that this year I would live meaningfully, and do only those things that brought me fulfillment in some way. Blogging didn't fit the criteria, so it had to either go or change. I decided to change it, and if it didn't work, I'd quit it.
The simple shift that saved my blog
In a New Year's post, I announced to readers that things would be different. I wrote that I would no longer post if I didn't have something good to post, that I wanted to become a better writer and contribute more through my blog. I worried that readers would view this as a betrayal, but exactly the opposite occurred: They completely supported the changes.
I announced that I would give away my 2010 Foodbuzz revenue to the Humane Society, figuring it was a chance to do some good and that it might free me from worrying about getting pageviews. And almost to the day, money started coming in via other avenues. Pageviews actually increased, but at the same time, Foodbuzz income became but a small fraction of my blog's daily revenue.
Suddenly free from the obligation to post every day, I started coming up with great post ideas, without even trying. Posts I wanted to write; in fact, posts I couldn't wait to write. One post idea branched into others, and I now have a list of posts-in-the-works so exciting to me that I am back to almost daily posting! And not because I feel the need, but because I feel the drive.
Just as I expected, my posts get fewer comments now. But I'm fine with that: I've found that the more interesting a post is to me, the less universal the appeal. A huge percentage of my traffic now comes from search engines (people are far more likely to search for what I write about now than for what I ate for breakfast) and I don't expect Googlers to leave much feedback. But lots of them subscribe, and they sure do click my links!
Who are you blogging for?
It's such an obvious shift, but somehow it's so hard to notice the problem when you're in the thick of it. If you aren't loving what you're doing, you're not going to do it well. And with a sea of blogs from which to choose, readers will quickly sift through those that are missing that special something—the passion on the other end. Write posts that you love, and your blog will love you back.
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Health Bloggers Dish: Lynn and Christy from The Actor's Diet
It's time for another serving of Health Bloggers Dish! Today we have the pleasure of sharing the thoughts of the two fabulous ladies behind the scenes of The Actor's Diet blog – Lynn and Christy!
Lynn and Christy from The Actor's Diet
Lynn and Christy co-write their blog, giving readers a glimpse into each of their lives as actors and what's on their plates too! With so much pressure on body image in the world of acting, The Actor's Diet gives readers a fun and unique look into what the day to day diet of an actor can look like. Not only do Lynn and Christy each do food journal style posts, but they have a regular series on the blog called Tweats of the Week where they share some Tweets of what other actors eat. These posts are bound to leave you with a smile on your a face, followed by the sudden urge to get up out of your chair and to head for the fridge to scrounge for something to eat.
So without further ado, let's get to it!
Thanks so much gals for joining us today! How long have you been at this food blogging gig?
Since June of 2009.
What was your inspiration to start blogging about food and healthy living?
Lynn: I was already reading food blogs and thought it would be a good way for me to express myself creatively. Actors have a lot of free time – we spend a lot more time NOT working than actually acting on a project – and I wanted something to scratch that artistic itch on a daily basis – writing, photography, and having an audience.
Christy: Lynn came to me with the idea. I am a holistic nutritional counselor as well and I loved the idea of letting people see that actors are normal people with heightened pressure about their bodies who can still eat normal diets and have good relationships with food.
How much time to spend on blog related tasks every day?
Lynn: Too much! I am a little addicted to food blogs. Probably about half an hour actually blogging, and then, depending on the day, up to 2 hours reading other food blogs, answering emails, updating the site, etc.
Christy: Depends on the day but I would say that it averages out to about 30 minutes.
What made you decide to take a co-authored approach to The Actor's Diet?
Lynn: Christy and I have worked together on other projects in the past (a podcast called Actors Off) and we are currently working on writing a script together. Since we already talk about food a lot, it seemed like a natural fit to have her join me on this endeavor.
Christy: As I said earlier, Lynn came to me with the idea. I think we make a great team though because our approaches to food are different but complimentary. Lynn does a great job of having variety in her diet and trying new foods and products. I tend to go for the same foods over and over if they work for me because I know they work nutritionally for what I am trying to accomplish. Since we started blogging though, I have added much more variety and tried a lot of products I probably wouldn't have picked up to try.
As a blogging team, do you have a blogging schedule? How do you work out who will blog when?
Christy: We both try to blog every day.
Lynn: Yup, though there’s no real schedule though we do try to do it daily. I also do all of the website setup, blog-related emailing and twittering (by choice, because I love doing it!) The only time we really coordinate is when we are both eating together, in which case we will do a joint post.
What are some of the challenges you've faced with blogging? How have you overcome them?
Christy: My biggest challenge is when to blog. Originally, I was blogging at night about that day. But since I do so much counseling during the day, I am tired of talking about food by night time. I just want to relax and not think about food anymore. So recently I changed it to a day time blog about the day before and that works much better for me.
Lynn: Sometimes things in my life are truly sucky and it feels weird – almost insincere – to do a post without mentioning it. Most of the time I don’t, because it’s personal, and I have to remember that there is a barrier between the public and the private.
What do you think is one of the best ways to gain readers when you're first starting out?
Christy: Have an amazing co-blogger who is a genius at getting fans and followers 
Also visit other blogs, make comments and link back to them in your blog. We add blogs we like to our blog roll and ask them to do the same for us.
Lynn: Agreed. Though I don’t know about that “genius” part….
How long were you blogging before you felt like The Actor's Diet was taking off?
Lynn: Probably a few months…when we started getting comments from regular readers and companies started giving us samples.
Have you made any mistakes along the way?
Lynn: We are now on wordpress, which gives a lot more freedom and looks a lot better than blogger! Wish we had started there to begin with.
What advice might you give to a brand new blogger?
Lynn: Find out if you love blogging before you start investing time into your layout/look.
Christy: Pick a subject you really enjoy or have a passion for. Think of the blog world as a huge community you can learn from. Look at other blogs, what you like/what inspires you, and then find your own blog style. If it is fun for you, you will do it more and be more involved.
What's one of the craziest things you've ever done for a blog post?
Christy: Well, every time I go to a restaurant, I become a crazy person. I ask about all the ingredients of every dish I order so that I can get it right for the blog, and then I spend all kinds of time trying to get a good picture (with flash, without flash) – I'll even ask for a new plate or more light if I think I need it. The people sitting next to me must think I am nuts!!
Lynn: Whipping my camera out in front of strangers and snapping a picture of my meal may look weird, but I don’t really care what others think! I don’t get embarrassed easily when it comes to food blogging – it’s enriched my life in so many ways that I’m not willing to hide my love for it!
Thanks ladies for taking the time to give us a peek into what goes on at The Actor's Diet!
Do you have questions you'd like to have answered by guest bloggers in the future? Send any ideas or questions our way! We'll ask the questions you want answered!
Two great opportunities
Hey everyone, just a quick post today to let you know about two neat opportunities I found out about in the past few days. One's a bonus offer, open for five more days, on an e-book that I personally own and highly recommend. The other is an affiliate opportunity that I haven't seen on many health blogs, so it might be worth a lot to be among the first bloggers to feature it.
New Year's bonuses from Problogger.net
If you've been a Health Blog Helper reader for a while, you might recall seeing an ad in the sidebar for Darren Rowse's (of Problogger.net) fantastic blog-improvement system 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. It's essentially a 31-day, self-guided blog workshop, in the form of an e-book. Each day, Darren gives you a new assignment (write a link post, find a blog buddy, write an opinion post, etc…) and a page or two of advice on how to do it most effectively, plus links to actual examples and others' advice. It has been an invaluable system for me; two early assignments of writing a list post and subsequently promoting it (the post, not your blog) resulted in my most successful post ever and completely changed the way I look at blogging.
Anyway, for the next five days, Darren is offering a bonus package along with the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook to help make your blog great in the new year. In addition to the e-book, you get:
- A report by the name of 9 Things to Do to Get Your Blog On Track for the New Year – essentially it is a 9 day extension of the 31 Day workbook. It contains 9 extra tasks, particularly designed for the new year.
- 55 minute podcast with Leo Babauta from ZenHabits.net - this podcast is rich with tips on how Leo has launched his blogs and leveraged them to sell successful e-books and a best selling book.
- 45 minute podcast interview with Neil Patel from Quicksprout.com – another practical podcast with Neil on how to drive traffic to blogs as well as tips on personal branding, SEO and more.
The only one I've looked at so far is the "9 Things to Do to Get Your Blog On Track for the New Year," and I love that it's all about "big picture" thinking, like examining your goals, figuring out your worst time-wasters, and creating a traffic generation strategy. This kind of stuff is right up my alley, so I'm really excited to put it to use.
Anyway, the cool thing is that all the extra stuff is free, so you get the whole package for under twenty bucks. The catch: the deal is only good for five more days! If you want to take your blog to the next level this year, I can't recommend this program highly enough.
Here's the link where you can get the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog e-book and the bonus package (plus see a countdown until the offer expires!). Alison and I get paid for referring people, so if you decide to buy it, we hope you use our link!
iHerb.com affiliate program
![[iherb logo]](http://www.healthbloghelper.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/iherb.gif "[iherb logo]")
In my post a while back about earning money through affiliate programs, I mentioned several ways to get started with affiliate marketing. Well, I just found out about a new one through iHerb.com. iHerb.com is an online health food and supplement store, and the concept behind their rewards program it is exciting.
Here's how it works: When you join, you get a personal coupon code that you can post on your blog and that your readers can use to get $5 off their first purchase. You earn commissions on sales that use your code, but the best part is this: your readers get their own coupon codes when they purchase, and you earn commissions on THEIR sales as well (and their readers' sales, and their readers' readers' sales!). Since lots of health blog readers are health bloggers themselves, I think this has the potential to generate a decent amount of revenue to supplement your Foodbuzz income.
The catch: you have to actually buy something at iHerb to get your coupon code. But if you pick something cheap (they have lots of food, tea, and toiletries besides just vitamins) and use my code RAZ652 on your purchase to get $5 off, it won't cost you anything besides the shipping. (And obviously, I'll get credit for referring you.) Then you can start sharing your code on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, and wherever else to start making money.
So, it seems like a cool program to me. Since you're giving something of value to your readers when you post your code (as opposed to just posting an ad or link), I think this could spread quickly in the health blogosphere. So it might be good to be one of the first in, so you'll earn commissions on everyone's sales! You can see lots more details about the program on their rewards program page.
Hope you find these links helpful! Here's to making 2010 your best blog year yet.
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