This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Hey listeners, hope you're doing well. It's Chris Guillebeau here, your host of Side Hustle School. It's been quite a few weeks for me out and about all across North America in lots of different cities. And yeah, just so much fun to hang out with readers and listeners, talk about gonzo capitalism, talk about side hustling, talk about all the things that you're working on, which is one of my favorite things. Actually hearing about your ideas, your projects, your quests and your pursuits, all those fun things. Today, we're going to hear about one
of those from Laura. She is an amateur chef inspired by shows like the British Bake Off, the great British Bake Off, I think it is something like that. It's a global phenomenon. And she is wondering about starting a block, but she's also feeling a little bit hesitant. She is wondering how does one stand out in a world filled with so many voices all sharing recipes, other food content. Of course, food blogging is one of the most popular categories
of blogging, which means two things. One, there's a lot of competition, two, there's a lot of interest. So it just depends on how you look at that, which side of the coin are you intimidated by the competition? Or are you attracted due to all the interest? Anyway, let's dive in and help Laura bake up a strategy to captivate her potential readers. Why will readers care about
my food blog? Coming up in just 30 seconds. Hi there, I'm Laura. I'm an amateur chef hailing and a fan of many cooking shows. Have you seen the British Bake Off series? Yeah, I've watched
every episode. Anyway, here's my question. A friend recommended side hustle score to me when I was looking for ways to monetize my love of cooking. I've been inspired by your show. I've been considering starting a blog to share my unique global inspired recipes. But I played
myself down. I understand how to set up the technical side of the blog. But attracting readers and capturing their interest is what I'm most concerned about in a world saturated with food blogs. Why would anyone care about what I have to say? Any advice on how to create a blog that resonates with readers? Hey Laura, thanks for calling in. Let me just start with
some really quick and important advice. Probably the most important thing here. Every famous food blogger started with the same question. Every famous blogger and let's not even use the word famous. Every blogger who's known, who's doing well, who's reaching an audience, who is able to monetize their business, to write about something they're excited about, but also to profit from it. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, that's the goal here.
Everyone starts with that same question. Everyone is like, "Oh man, how's anybody going to care about what I have to say? How do I break through? How do I stand out? What is my voice? Why
is it going to matter?" It doesn't always have to sound so morose. It's a realistic question to say, "Why will readers care about my blog or my podcast or whatever it is you want to create?" I think actually it's good to keep that question front and center for a long time, maybe even always. It helps you just to be more focused on the readers, the listeners, the viewers. After all, you want to create content that is engaging and inspiring and helpful to them. The more you think about why they should care, then hopefully the better product you're going to produce. That said, ultimately it's the unique voice, the consistency
and the passion that sets apart successful bloggers or creators from those who just do it for a while and give up. Let's look at this and break it down a bit. There are lots of food blogs, but there might be a particular cuisine, dietary restriction, cooking method that Laura specializes in or chooses to for this blog. I know she's into baking specifically, but what kind of baking? Traditional recipes, something that's more modern, whatever it is, some kind of focus is good. What's next? Oh, storytelling because everyone can post
a recipe, but not everyone can tell a story. Where did you learn this recipe? What memories does it evoke? Use storytelling to make your blog more personal and relatable. Storytelling is always good. Engaging visuals. High quality photos can make or break a food blog. You
definitely want a good camera or even your smartphone if you've got a good phone and you learn to take better photos on your phone, then that is important. Next, you want to engage with your audience. As people begin to subscribe and read, even if it's just a few people at first, reply to every comment. Ask for feedback. Engage with those readers.
Ask them what they want to learn about. Ask them what their questions are. From there, you're going to iterate. Hopefully, you're going to get to know some people and maybe do some collaboration, but really it's just about consistency at that point. Once you've got the focus, once some people are beginning to read or subscribe, post regularly. Whether
it's every day or once a week, whatever the schedule is, stick with the schedule and that kind of helps to retain readers, get them coming back for more. That is the formula. It hasn't changed in years and it's probably always going to be around even as different tactics and strategies change. Ultimately, the model of creating content that people will engage with and follow you and purchase products or click on ads or whatever the monetization strategy is, that's going to be around. I think it's a beautiful thing. I love making
the podcast. I love writing in my blog and doing book tour now, that's a whole other thing, but again, it's all about how can I hopefully add some value, provide something that's helpful to people and create community. Keep that your focus. You're going to be way ahead of so many other people who don't have a clear vision or can't stick with something. That is the way.
Listeners, let me know if you have a question or feedback or a story of your own, of your blog or whatever your project is, sidehustleschool.com/questions. We love to feature a lot of projects here, so be sure to include the name of it or a website. New episodes comes out every day. You can subscribe or listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm excited for all that's to come and I'm cheering you on, whatever you're up to out there. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project.
