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Today I'm talking to Sarah Cook, from the blog, Sustainable Cooks. This conversation is all about what not to do as a blogger. Sarah made all the mistakes in the book, but if you look at her blog now, you'll see it has transformed into something beautiful! Plus, on her blog, Sarah writes: "Come for the food. Stay for the snark." Her special sauce is not just her gorgeous recipes, but her total honestly with her audience. If you have kids and a busy life, I think you'll find it refreshing. So listen now! Resources: Sustainable Cooks Food Blogger Pro What Bloggers Need to Know to WIN at SEO with David Christopher How to Gain Mega Free Traffic with the SEO Skyscraper Technique with Deepak Shukla MiloTree Pinch of Yum Food Photography ebook Mediavine Transcript: What Not to Do as a Blogger with Sarah Cook Host 0:03 Welcome to The Blogger Genius Podcast. Brought to you by MiloTree. Here's your host, Jillian Leslie. Jillian Tohber Leslie 0:10 Hello everyone. Welcome back to the show. Today my guest is Sarah Cook. Jillian Tohber Leslie 0:18 Sarah Cook is the founder of SustainableCooks.com. She is into healthy, tasty and sustainable food and life. She used to blog under a blog called Frugal By Choice, Cheap By Necessity. So Sarah, welcome to the show. Sarah Cook 0:34 Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here, Jillian. Sarah Cook 0:37 Oh, good. Well, first of all, what I loved about you was when you reached out to me, and you said, You're the only person who's ever done this."I have made a ton of blogging mistakes, and I would be happy to share them with your audience." Sarah Cook 0:55 And I was just, you know, checking out your blog. And I love your sense of humor. I love your honesty. Sarah Cook 1:05 Well, I mean, in life, we can't hide who we are. Not for very long. So you might as well just be who you are. From the start. Jillian Tohber Leslie 1:14 Yes, yes. And there again, I will say that there's something very refreshing about that. As we all try to present ourselves in a better light, then, you know, we might normally be. Jillian Tohber Leslie 1:26 So Sarah. Will you share how you started your blog, how it evolved, and where it is now? How to start a budgeting blog Sarah Cook 1:34 Sure. I started blogging in 2010. So I'm a bit of a blogging dinosaur. And I started blogging because on April 1, April Fools Day of 2010, my husband was laid off from his job. Sarah Cook 1:56 Very stressful situation. We had a one-year-old, and I had just taken a huge pay cut, because we had moved from Los Angeles back to our home town near Seattle. Sarah Cook 2:10 So things were already tight, and it was really stressful. And I started learning a bunch of stuff as I was adapting our budget and all those things. And I, I really wanted to share it. Sarah Cook 2:22 And the group of friends I was sharing it with, I realized I was like, kind of being annoying. So I thought, you know, I'll just start a blog and share it there. Jillian Tohber Leslie 2:31 Okay. So this is just a personal thing. Sarah Cook 2:34 It was just a personal thing. I like to say that at the time, blogging was cheaper than therapy. I couldn't afford therapy. I'm a big list maker. So it was a way for me to kind of be like, Okay, this is what we're doing this week. And this is how much money we're saving this way. This is what we're eating. Sarah Cook 2:56 And then over months and months, I realized that my passion was what we were eating. And the gardening and the homemade cleaning supplies and all that, that that was fine. And it was still really enjoyable. But the food is what I really enjoyed most about blogging, and sharing our journey. How a budgeting blog turned into a budgeting food blog Jillian Tohber Leslie 3:16 Okay. And so now, was it hard at all to be putting yourself out there, talking about how you were budgeting and stuff like that, or was that liberating? Sarah Cook 3:26 It was liberating. And I'm a chronic over sharer. Anyone who has read my blog knows that I probably share too much, but it's all part of the journey. Sarah Cook 3:39 And also, if you think back to 2010, a ton of people were going through the same situation. A lot of people had it worse. It wasn't, this is me, and I am all alone doing this. It's, this is us. And we're kind of all in it together. And at first, again, I didn't really know anyone was reading. Sarah Cook 4:02 So as as it grew, I was like, Oh, you know, I helped this person today realize that they could make bread for 60 cents, instead of buying it for $3 at the store. Jillian Tohber Leslie 4:13 Wow. Sarah Cook 4:18 So I did that while working full time. And what we're doing, I worked for a medical nonprofit, I did recruiting for them. And so I was working full time and commuting. How to become a firefighter Sarah Cook 4:33 After my husband was laid off, he decided he was going to become a firefighter. Well, we had moved to Los Angeles a few years before, so that he could pursue his dream of working in TV and film. He did lighting and electrical on movie sets, and a lot of reality TV shows. Sarah Cook 4:57 And so when we moved home, I was kind of like, all right, let's have normal jobs. And then the earth fell out from under us. And he decided, I'm going to go be a firefighter. Which, if anyone knows any firefighters that I'll tell you, it's extremely hard to get into. It's very expensive, and it takes forever. Jillian Tohber Leslie 5:20 Really? I had no idea. Sarah Cook 5:23 No, I like to say it's like trying to join the mob. The mob, you know, you have to kill somebody. To get a job as a firefighter. It's, it's a really, really hard industry. And it's very expensive to get into, because every department requires a physical test and a written test, and you have to pay for each test. Sarah Cook 5:47 But no two departments require the same test. So every time you go to apply, you're taking two to three $300 worth of tests for this one department, and you may not even get an interview. So it's stressful. Jillian Tohber Leslie 6:02 So did he ultimately get in? Sarah Cook 6:05 Yes, it took four years and more money I would ever admit to in public. But yes, he is a full time firefighter. Jillian Tohber Leslie 6:13 Okay. And does he liked it? Sarah Cook 6:15 He loves it. Jillian Tohber Leslie 6:16 Okay. Okay. So that has a happy ending. So during this time you're blogging? Sarah Cook 6:23 I'm blogging, yes. How to monetize a food blog Jillian Tohber Leslie 6:24 And are you starting to make money? Sarah Cook 6:27 I think I put Google AdSense on about six to nine months in. But it was just, a little bit here and there. I wasn't doing it as a business. I was doing it as a hobby. Sarah Cook 6:41 My husband was gone all the time. Anyone who has small kids knows when they're very little, there's not a lot in your life that's yours. Jillian Tohber Leslie 6:50 Yes, definitely. Sarah Cook 6:52 And so this was mine. This was something I could do. It was free. I could do it in my spare time, which wasn't a lot, and I enjoyed it. Selfishly, it was what I wanted to do, and I could do it. Jillian Tohber Leslie 7:07 And are you still working at this point for in your nonprofit? Sarah Cook 7:13 I don't work there anymore. Jillian Tohber Leslie 7:15 No, but I mean, during this time when you were starting up your blog, were you working and raising your family and blogging? Sarah Cook 7:22 Yes, all of those things, but I wasn't blogging well. I'll definitely admit to that. So I'd put a post up when I thought about it. I'd write about whatever I wanted to write about. It was just like, Hey, this is me, me, me kind of mentality. Jillian Tohber Leslie 7:39 Got it. And when did it start to shift? Sarah Cook 7:42 Sadly, not until last year. Jillian Tohber Leslie 7:45 Really? Okay. What it's like not to give your blog readers a great experience Sarah Cook 7:47 I mean, I have a very, very loyal audience. And like, I like to say they have to be loyal, because I pretty much gave them crappy content for years. Jillian Tohber Leslie 7:56 Okay. Sarah Cook 7:57 Yeah. I mean, if you look back at my archives, and please don't. It's not, it's not the best stuff ever. But I did connect with a lot of people. And I think I helped them feel like they weren't alone. Sarah Cook 8:15 So, you know, they were either going through financial difficulties, or they were going through a job transition, or they had little kids and they kind of fell out of control with their situation. They could at least relate to me in that regard. But other than that, what I gave them was not great. Sarah Cook 8:37 And so, last May, May of 2017. I was listening to a blogging podcast, which I had never even known existed. Jillian Tohber Leslie 8:48 Which one? Sarah Cook 8:49 Food Blogger Pro. Jillian Tohber Leslie 8:50 Got it. By the way, I was on it. Sarah Cook 8:54 I know, that's how I found out about you. Jillian Tohber Leslie 8:57 I love that podcast. I love Bjork. Sarah Cook 9:00 They're so great. But I realized, Oh, my gosh, there's so much stuff, I don't know. So it was a whole, just new world for me. And up until that point, I was like, You know what, I need to quit doing this. I'm not, I'm not giving anyone any value. I'm not giving myself any value. Sarah Cook 9:20 This isn't enjoyable anymore. I sit down to write a blog post. And I'm like, I don't even know what to write about. That kind of thing. And so it's really been a journey since May of 2017. And I feel like every day I learned 10 things I wish I had known when I first started. Blog for the "we" instead of the me Sarah Cook 9:37 But something lit a fire in me. And I feel like I've turned everything around. I'm blogging for the, I like to say, the "we" instead of the me. Jillian Tohber Leslie 9:50 So can you can you unpack that? What does that mean? Sarah Cook 9:53 Yeah, absolutely. So it means that when I sit down to write a blog post, it's not like, Oh, I'm going to use this time to complain about, I don't know, this person who cut me off in traffic or something. Which, I'll still throw in from time to time. Sarah Cook 10:06 But hey, I'm going to put this blog post out there. And I need to know ahead of time how this is going to help my reader go about their day, in a better way. And sometimes that's just like, they need a little bit of humor in their life. Sarah Cook 10:22 But other times, it's, hey, this is a 25 minute dinner that you can make from scratch with all natural, real food ingredients and still get your kids to soccer practice on time. And not go through the drive thru and spend $35. Most useful posts for your blog readers Jillian Tohber Leslie 10:37 Got it. And what are your most useful posts for your audience? Is it that? Is it the quick meal? Is it the kind of I'm overwhelmed as a parent? Like, where do you feel you connect the most with your on you provide the most value? Sarah Cook 10:57 So I think so. Yeah, it's for me, it's the quick meal. And my readers tend to love quick meals, healthy meals, and side dishes. Sarah Cook 11:06 They're not really into desserts, though. Sometimes I will still do a dessert from time to time. Sarah Cook 11:13 But within my posts, I also like to weave in short personal stories. Because, you know, back in the day, when I was blogging, it was 600 words about what I ate for breakfast, or something like that. So now, it's like snippets of real life, but also, I don't, I don't sugarcoat things. Jillian Tohber Leslie 11:33 That's what I have to say. That's what I really like about your blog. Blogging with humor and truth Sarah Cook 11:38 Yeah, it's, I mean, we can't be perfect, nobody's perfect. And if we waste all of our energy, trying to pretend we're perfect. At the end of the day, there's nothing left for us. Sarah Cook 11:48 So I'd rather just say, you know what, my kids are driving me nuts today. And I made this dish and they're still driving me nuts. But at the end of the day, I really liked eating this for dinner. Jillian Tohber Leslie 12:02 I don't like my kids right now. But I like my dinner. Sarah Cook 12:04 Exactly. Like yesterday, I told my nine year old, You know what, next Summer, I'm putting you in Summer camp every single week. Because I cannot be around you this much. Jillian Tohber Leslie 12:14 Right? I read that. And I read your joke about Ambien, too. Jillian Tohber Leslie 12:21 I get it. So how does your audience then reach out to you? How do you know how you're connecting to them? Sarah Cook 12:28 So I would say it depends on the platform. On the blog, I can tell based on comments. Jillian Tohber Leslie 12:35 Okay, so people are commenting on your posts? How to know what's connecting with your readers as a blogger Sarah Cook 12:39 Yes. For my email subscribers, I can tell based on open rates. So, hey, I wrote this really great post. And I spent eight hours researching it. And only 30% of my readers opened it. Sarah Cook 12:56 And then I start looking at, well, geez, consistently, they're not opening these types of posts. Okay, so what's that telling me? It's telling me my readers don't care about desserts, or they don't want them from me. Sarah Cook 13:11 Instagram, I base it, you know, you kind of have to do it on a vanity metrics of likes, engagement, comments, direct messages, that kind of thing. Sarah Cook 13:24 Facebook, comments and shares, and then also emails, you know, I have a really, really engaged readership and they will happily email me and let me know what they thought about something. Sarah Cook 13:37 Sometimes it's positive. And sometimes it's not. But it's all a way to kind of interpret their feedback. Sarah Cook 13:43 What kind of negative feedback have you gotten? Sarah Cook 13:46 At the start, it was my language. I can be kind of salty. But I stopped responding to those or, just let people know, the internet's a really great big place. And if I don't resonate with you, there's other places out there for you. Jillian Tohber Leslie 14:03 Got it. Sarah Cook 14:04 You, you wouldn't come into my house and tell me how to speak in my house. So find something that fits better with you. Jillian Tohber Leslie 14:12 Okay, that's good. You will respond, or now, you don't? Sarah Cook 14:15 Yeah, if someone's aggressively rude or anything like that, I'll just let it go. Especially on Facebook. My friend once gave me the great advice of don't engage the crazy. But I find that I don't have a lot of that. And if I do, oddly enough, my readers are the ones who take care of it. How MiloTree will grow your blog Jillian Tohber Leslie 14:36 I wanted to take a short break and give you guys some props, because I know how many hats you have to wear as a creative entrepreneur. Jillian Tohber Leslie 14:44 And I know how important growing social media is, and growing your email list. And that's why at MiloTree, our goal is to lighten your load a little bit. Jillian Tohber Leslie 14:56 So MiloTree is a series of smart pop-ups you and install on your site, program it how you like, super easy to set up. It puts your follower growth your subscriber growth on autopilot. Jillian Tohber Leslie 15:12 Again, it's one less job than you have to worry about. So check it out at milotree.com, add it to your site, see how it works. Jillian Tohber Leslie 15:21 And what's great is we give you your first 30 days of MiloTree free. So there's really no risk. And now back…
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