(Before you read today’s post, check out Yaro’s Blog Mastermind opening page. He reopens the program at 10 AM today. If you want to learn to make money blogging, sign up. You won’t regret it.)

If you want to make it as a writer, you’re going to have some bumps along the way.

Make no mistake about it. You’re going to have a client who drops off the face of the earth right after you send her $500 worth of work. You’re going to farm out some work to someone who proves to be unreliable. You’re going to lose a gig somewhere, not because you couldn’t land the client, but because you couldn’t find the damn order in the middle of your chaos.

In my freelance writing business, I’ve been going through some growing, although most of it hasn’t been painful. In the last three months I’ve landed several new clients and found cause to bring some other writers into the fold. I’ve even been able to bring my wife, Angie, on board to help me keep tabs on everything and to help get new clients.

Yes, there have been some dips and hurdles, but overall this growth is good.

I’d just like to say, while I’m here, that Angie is amazing. She’s got something like a 60% conversion rate when bidding projects already. We wondered at first if it was beginner’s luck, but the gigs keep on coming. Yeah, my portfolio is impressive. I do excellent work, and it speaks for itself. But she’s got the goods when it comes to hooking clients and getting them to really consider hiring us.

Along with this growth, I’ve had to modify my business plan. I’ve written many times about the need for both vision and flexibility in that vision. While you can’t guarantee that a given endeavor will or won’t succeed, you can adjust as needed to ride the unexpected waves.

What am I getting at with all of this? Just sharing my journey, folks. That’s what this blog is about, after all.

I’m curious about your stories, though. If you’re a freelancer, are you working solo? Have you had growing pains, and what sort? If you’re not yet making a living with your writing, what do you envision in the long term? Will it be just you, will you have a writing team, or will you just have support staff?

(This is the fifth and final post in the How to Write the Best Damn Food Blog series.  The other posts in the series include How To Write the Best Damn Food Blog on the Internet, The Number One Reason People Read Food Blogs, Three Types of Food Blog Posts You Must Master and The Essential Element of Food Blogging.  You can, of course, read on, but I’d recommend starting at the beginning.)

I could go on and on with this series.  I could move into talking about some of the specifics of good writing, point out good grammatical practices, or talk about writing headlines.  The fact is, though, that many of you already know the things you need in order to improve your blog writing (no matter what your blog’s niche).

What are those things?  What have I talked about in this series?  Let’s sum it up in three simple bullet points:

• Reader loyalty depends greatly on the quality of your writing.  Write well.
• Write in such a way that your posts activate desire in the reader, teach the reader something, or connect with the reader on a personal level.
• Write with authority.  Authority is integral to your success as an Internet writer.

These are not revolutionary or difficult concepts.  Like I said, you know what to do.  However, the fact is many of you are not doing them.  You might be too comfortable writing the way you have for the last few months.  But ask yourself:  are my readers coming back?  Just because you’ve practiced something the same way over and over again doesn’t mean it’s working.  If you’re not getting results with your blog, you have to change something.  To do things the same way over and over again and expect different results is irrational.  It’s time to switch things up a bit.

Some of you will read this series, take in the information I’ve given to you, and put it to good use.  Now, like I said in the beginning, good writing is only half of the battle.  You’ve got to add effective marketing to the mix.  But if you practice the principles I’ve shown you and you make any effort at marketing whatsoever, I guarantee that you will increase your readership.

photo credit: internets_dairy

I’ll even put my money where my mouth is here, with a direct challenge to my readers.  I want you to go back to your own blog.  It doesn’t even have to be a food blog.  Between now and June 30, 2008, I want you to take these three principles of blog writing and implement them to the best of your ability in every post. 

One participant (determined randomly) will receive ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett and a $10 gift card for Amazon.com.  If you’ve already got the book, I’ll send you a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card (your choice).

What are the rules?  Well, there would have to be a few, wouldn’t there?  They’re not too bad, though.  I promise:

1. Drop me a comment in this post and let me know you’re going to participate.  Alternatively, you can write a post about the contest on your blog and leave a Trackback to this post (use the following URL to link:  http://writing-journey.com/internet-writing/the-last-word-on-food-blogging-and-a-25-contest/trackback.)
2. Post at least three times a week on your blog between now and June 1.  Each post should be written with authority, and use one of the three post types discussed.  You can post more (for example, a link love post), but at least three posts a week must be mouth-watering, teaching, or empathetic.
3. Drop back by here, from time to time and let me know how it’s going.  I’ll even be glad to help you out in whatever way I can.  If you want me to critique a post, say so.  If you want me to help you brainstorm a bit, I’ll try to do that to.  I’m not promising hours of consulting or fast turnarounds, but I’ll do my best to help out where I can.  When one of us succeeds, we all succeed.
4. Make some regular marketing efforts.  I can’t verify that you’ve done these, so your word will have to be enough.  If you need ideas, check out the Blog Profits Blueprint by Yaro Starak. 

Oh, If you don’t come across this contest until long after it’s posted, that’s OK.  You can still participate.

Now, I’m not really going to go out and verify that you’ve done #2-4 above.  Those steps are all for you, anyways.  I’m interested in your success, and hope you do them.  But it’s up to you to hold yourself accountable.  It’s all about taking action, folks, and taking action NOW.  That’s how you get ahead with your writing, and that’s how you’re going to write the best damn food blog on the Internet.

———-

I do have a little bit more to say to food bloggers, specifically.  First, thank you for joining me for the last week or so.  It’s been an absolute blast. 

I know that some of you may never come back this way again.  I wish you would, though; after all, my goal here is to help all Internet writers.  And, like I said in the beginning, to be successful you’ve got to be a writer first, and a food writer second.  So, maybe you’ll come back and see me, from time to time, when you need to be reminded that good writing matters.

At any rate, I’ll close this series this one bit of writing advice from John Jakes.  It’s as valuable for blogging as it is for novel writing:

“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.” 

(This is the fourth post in the How to Write the Best Damn Food Blog series.  The other posts in the series include How To Write the Best Damn Food Blog on the Internet, The Number One Reason People Read Food Blogs, and Three Types of Food Blog Posts You Must Master.)

We’ve already talked about why people read food blog.  We’ve also talked about the types of posts readers enjoy.  I want to work backward a little bit now.  I want to look a bit deeper, too, to look at an essential element of every successful food blog.  This element is integral to your food blog’s success in many areas, from readership to traffic to monetization strategies. In many ways, this element is more important than any of the tactics we’ve discussed so far.

What is it?  What is the one core element your food blog can’t live without?

photo credit: jon.nelson

It’s authority.

What’s authority blogging?  In the blogging world, “authority” refers to the way that your readers view your blog.  Do they see your blog as a reliable source of information?  If not, then you may as well pack up and go home. 

Readers want to know they can trust you.  Sure, part of building that trust is empathy, like we discussed last time.  But empathy will only get you so far.  Authority gives your readers confidence that your recipes are tasty, and that you know what the hell you are talking about when it comes to food.  I’ll let Chris Garrett tell you more about authority blogging, as Chris is probably the expert in the area. (Chris, by the way, will soon release his Authority Blogger program.  I highly recommend it to everyone.  Chris’ advice on authority and leadership is solid all around, and I would stake my own reputation on the fact that this program is going to be worth the cost.  I’ll update you here as we get closer to the release date.)

So, how do you project authority in a food blog?  There are four basic ways, as I see it:

Know what you’re doing.

Food blog readers are an astute bunch of folks.  They can smell crap a mile away.  If you don’t know what the hell you’re doing in the kitchen, they will know.  Even if you try to fake it and make them think you know what you’re doing, when they try your advice and it fails miserably you can bet they won’t be back. 

On the other hand, if you do know what you’re doing and can demonstrate it, readers begin to respect you and to view you as a source of expertise.  As an example, you might write a wonderfully informative post about a unique, efficient, or easy way to make pie crust.  Down the road, if a reader is having a problem getting their pie filling to turn out, she’ll immediately think of your blog.  Demonstrate that you know what you’re doing in one area and folks will assume you know what you’re doing in other areas.

The same goes for other blog niches.  It cracks me up when I see a blogger writing about how to get huge amounts of traffic to your blog when they’ve got a horrible traffic rating on Alexa.  Likewise, if you want to write about writing, you damn well better be able to write.  That one, in particular, is hard to fake.

Write with clarity.

Food blog readers are in a different situation than readers in some niches.  In most cases, food blog readers go to your blog to get instructions on how to do a specific task.  They want your recipe for Coconut Cream Pie, or they want to know how you get brownies to turn out.  As a successful food blogger, you should be able to tell them.  However, if you don’t tell them in a way that they can understand or follow, they won’t be back.

Can your readers make out what you’re saying?

photo credit: $arah Murray

One of the clarity-related dangers food bloggers run into is specialized cooking terms.  For example, a recipe might instruct you to “julienne” some carrots.  While many of your readers know what to do, some don’t.  The ones that do know won’t usually be bothered if you explain the term, and the readers that don’t know what it means will be grateful.  Here’s an example post where Angie Pangie (that’s my darling wife, by the way) does exactly that.

One useful way to deal with the specialized terms that also adds to your authority as a food blogger is to create a glossary page.  The glossary page is a great way for you to present novice readers with technical definitions without having to interrupt the flow of your post.  You simply link to your glossary page every time you mention “julienned” and move on. 

The glossary page serves several other purposes for your blog, by the way.  I use my Internet Writing Glossary page constantly, both from within my blog and when I’m on a writing message board or article directory.  That page drives readers to my site on a pretty regular basis.  On top of that, it’s one of the pages that other writing bloggers often link to when they don’t want to have to explain a term.

Admit your mistakes, but do it infrequently.

You are human and are going to make mistakes.  Your readers already know that.  You don’t have to remind them of it two or three times a week when you post a recipe and say, “this didn’t turn out, but I think I forgot the sugar” or “I couldn’t figure out how to julienne the carrots, so I just sliced them.”

Your readers can benefit from your mistakes.  Usually, that benefit is transparent.  You make a mistake, fix it, and then present the final product to your readers.  Sometimes, you point out common mistakes that people make in the kitchen, like I did with my 8 Most Common Internet Writing Mistakes.  (That post, by the way, has by far been my most popular post on this blog, with more than three times the number of hits as any other post).  Other times, you run through all of your mistakes at once, and use them all to make a point.  But if you only ever talk about your failures, that’s how your readers will see you:  as a failure.

Instead, talk about your successes.  Talk about how you added just a pinch of sea salt to that brownie mix and how amazing it turned out.  Talk about the time your 7 year-old, who hates fish, ate three servings of salmon.  You can do it humbly, but do it without self-degradation as well.

(There are some interesting exceptions to this rule.  My good friend Brett Legree’s blog motto is”Fail Early, Fail Often.”  In context, it seems to be working for him.)

Give your best to your readers.

Yes, there is value to posting every day.  Yes, you tend to get more page views and more unique visitors when you post every day.  But, especially for food bloggers, it isn’t always possible to put up a stellar post every day.  Food bloggers, perhaps more than bloggers in any other niche, have to invest a heck of a lot of time in each post.  They have to find a good recipe, cook it, redo it if it’s crap, take pictures and only then can they start to write about it.  Because of this, I’m skeptical when a food blogger puts two or three recipes up a day, or even a recipe every day for two weeks straight.  When is it they test these dishes?  Don’t some of them flop, ever?  Most importantly, will the one I try to make flop because of this?

There’s no magic formula here in terms of posts per week.  The point is, though, that if you wouldn’t recommend a dish to your best friend, don’t recommend it to your blog readers.  Skip a day (or two or three or six) if you need to.  In the end, your readers will be grateful for it and will respect you for protecting them from crap recipes.

———-

So, what about your blog, food blog or not?  Can your blog readers trust you?  Do you really know what you’re talking about, or are you just faking it?  How’s your clarity?  Do you spend more time talking about failure than success?  And, maybe most importantly, are you giving your readers your best stuff?

photo credit: cmbellman

(This is the third post in the How to Write the Best Damn Food Blog series.  If you’ve not read that introductory post, please do so before reading the following.)

Well, we’re off to a decent start.  We talked last time about how good writing is the #1 reason people read food blogs. Today, we should talk about what kinds of good writing are most effective on a food blog.  After all, just because you write well doesn’t mean that what you have to write about is interesting, does it?  You’ve got to know what to write about; in other words, you’ve got to what kinds of blog posts work and what kinds don’t.

Here are three types of blog posts that are guaranteed to become the most popular sorts on your food blog:

1.  The Mouth-Watering Post

This post makes your reader hungry.  Through your word smithing and your pictures, you want to get the reader to walk away, drooling as they drive to the store at 2 AM to buy chocolate chips.  The mouth-watering post takes one of your reader’s basic needs (nutrition, in this case) and turns it into a want, as in “I want to eat these mother lode pretzels right freaking now!”  You make the case why they need your recipe, and how they’ve needed it all along.  These are the Dorie Greenspan posts, where you can almost smell the dish right through your computer screen.

But, the post doesn’t end there.  After you’ve gotten your reader to identify a desire, you pull out the big guns.  You give them exactly what they’re hoping for.  You tell them how simple it is to make those pretzels.  You tell them not to worry about the calories, because we are all going to die one day anyways.  You break down arguments and you show how your recipe solves their felt desire. 

Without belaboring the point, you can see how this works with other blogs topics, too.  You can write about making money online, for example, and about how great it would be for your readers to quit their day jobs to blog.  Then, you turn around and offer your blog training or blog setup program, meeting that felt desire.  That’s what the mouth-watering post is about.

Do your posts make your readers so hungry they could eat?

photo credit: dpwolf

2.  The Kitchen Tech Post

In the Kitchen Tech post, you show your readers how to do something.  Preferably, you show them how to do something they think they can’t do, or you offer them a quicker, more efficient or more perfect way to do something they already know how to do.  Maybe you explain how to make the perfect hard-boiled egg, with no traces of sulfur on the outside of the yolk.  Maybe you teach them how to get a bunt cake out of the pan.  Whatever it is, you give your reader the technology to do what they want to be able to do. 

Are you providing readers with valuable tools in the kitchen?

photo credit: unclebumpy

Kitchen Tech posts are the ones that get linked to, over and over again.  They are become the reference material for your blog, and they get passed around over and over again.  While the Mouth-Watering post will likely be used once and then forgotten, the Kitchen Tech post will be bookmarked for every time your reader needs to complete that task.  These are the Alton Brown posts, which leave your readers thinking, “How clever!  I can do that, I’ll bet!”

Here again, in the non-food world, you have the same thing.  These are the “How to” articles.  They tell you how to brand your blog, or they tell you how to choose an iPod.  Whether it’s food tech, writing tech or tech tech, these posts become pillars for your blog.

3.  The Empathetic Post

Most readers of food blogs are women between the ages of 25 and 50.  Many of them are professional chefs, but the vast majority are moms and wives who are looking for a way to add something interesting to their dinner table.  The Empathetic Post is one that connects with these readers on a personal level.  You might talk about a friend who’s mom is dying of cancer, or you might talk about trying to get your kids to try asparagus just once.  You might do like we saw the Pioneer Woman do yesterday and mention the “Pesky brother-in-law, Tim.”   Something in this type of post causes your reader to think, “Hey!  She’s just like me!”  These posts don’t have to include personal details, but they do need to make an emotional connection of some sort.  These are the Paula Deen posts, where you just want to give the blogger a big old hug when she’s done.

Are you connecting with your readers? 

 
photo credit: …Tim

What’s the value in this kind of post?  With the Empathetic post, your reader begins to think of you as a friend.  Just like they call their friend Jane when they need their computer fixed, they visit your blog when they need to figure out what’s for dinner.  They trust your judgment, because you are one of them.  When it comes time for you to recommend a product to them, they see you as a friend offering advice (which, in many ways, you are) rather than a marketer vying for their attention. 

For my blog, one Empathetic post became an entire series where I wrote about my journey as a writer, and about where I see that journey taking me from here.  That series allows my readers to know who I am first, make a connection with my struggles as a writer, and then decide whether or not my writing advice is worth anything.

———-

These three types of posts will make up the skeletal structure upon which the meat of your food blog is built.  Will every post on your blog be one of these three types?  Of course not.  Are there other types of posts that can be useful to a food blog?  Absolutely.  In fact, let’s talk about them today:

What other kinds of tasty posts are essential to your food (or non-food) blog?

(This is the second post in the How to Write the Best Damn Food Blog series.  If you’ve not read that introductory post, please do so before reading the following.)

photo credit: offshorewifeslife

What is it about food blogs that makes people want to visit?

Is it the recipes?  I suppose it could be.  Although, I think if I were interested in looking up a recipe I’d probably head to Recipezaar or another database-style website.  After all, the recipes there are peer-reviewed, so I’ve got a good idea of what to expect.  I might instead grab my second-favorite cookbook (Angie’s cookbook, of course, is my favorite).  And, let’s face it:  if I go to a blog to look up a recipe, I’m really not engaging with the blogger.  It’s a one-way street;  a monologue in which I receive something, as a reader, but have no interest or desire to give anything back.  While it makes sense for a food blog to have recipes, it’s not what makes people want to visit.

Is it the pictures?  Lord knows I like looking at food nearly as much as I like eating it.  But there are plenty of places to go to look at food.  TasteSpotting is just one that comes to mind.  Heck, Flickr is full of food pics.  But here again:  great food photography is, in most cases, a monologue.  And why would I sift through all of those blogs when I can look at all the pics right on TasteSpotting?  Yes, good food blogs have good food pictures, but again, that isn’t what makes people want to visit, or want to come back.

So, what is it?  What will keep readers at a food blog?

photo credit: Stompy

It’s the writing.

Take, for example, Elise over at Simply Recipes.  Simply Recipes is one of the higher-rated food blogs on Technorati.  Her Blue Cheese Burgers Recipe.  Go on, go look at it.  I’ll be here when you get back.

Did you notice how simply but powerfully the post was written?  This post uses some wonderful writing techniques:  she tells a story about where the recipe came from, she talks about serving them to her parents, and she even offers a little extra tip about how you should use hamburger that isn’t so lean.  Not only that, Elise also takes the time to respond to many of her comments, again using personal anecdotes and offering helpful advice about where to find the buns she used in the recipe.

Elise writes in such a way that, even though you’ve never met her, you feel like these burgers are going to be the tastiest you’ve ever had.  She gives you reasons to trust her judgment, and she does so in a way that makes you feel like she’s sitting at your kitchen table.

Want another example?  Check out the Pioneer Woman Cooks.  Yes, her pictures are awesome.  But again, there are plenty of food pics out there.  Her recipes are good, too.  But that’s not the appeal of the blog.  It’s the way she talks about Marlboro Man (her husband) and “My Pesky-Brother-in-Law, Tim” that makes it so interesting.  It’s the Marlboro Man and Tim that will keep you coming back to read the blog, even if you don’t like Goat Cheese with Fresh Dill and Paprika (bleech). 

So, how do you get there?  How do you get to where Elise and Pioneer Woman are at? 

You write well.  You identify and develop your own writing voice, making sure that it’s consistent with your vision for your food blog.  You learn the rules of the language.  You avoid the big mistakes.  You start with all of the basic elements of good writing.  You commit yourself to quality in your writing.  You start to self-identify as a writer first, and a food writer second.  You become as meticulous about your writing quality as you  do about the quality of your food pics because, in the end, it is the writing that is going to create loyalty among your readers.  Good writing matters.

Is there more to it?  Absolutely.  In fact, there’s quite a bit more.  Good writing is only the beginning.  As this series of posts continues, we’ll look at some of the other elements involved.  But, if you’re going to write the best damn food blog on the Internet, you have to start right here, with good writing.

Let’s get something straight from the get-go.

I’m not a foodie.  I’m not even a cook.  My specialty is scrambled eggs.  Plain ones, with no distinct features, other than “extra love,” which is my special ingredient. At least, that’s what I like to tell my kids.  And they buy it, for now.

I have NO IDEA, for example, how to make this:

Occasionally, under extreme pressure from outside forces, I might be compelled to make Thai Beef or Tuscany Glazed Turduken in Hollandaise.  But I’m not good at it.

Let’s get something else straight from the get-go.

I’m not a graphic artist.  On more than one occasion (here and here, at least,) this blog’s banner has been called into question, with good reason.  My personal taste is, let’s just say it, tacky. But I’m working on it. 

Beyond all of that, I have little or no feel for the food blog marketplace.  Angie tells me a few things here and there;  I know that Orangette rocks, and that you can find yummy-looking food pictures at TasteSpotting.  So, obviously, photography is an important part of food blogging.  And I stink at that, too.  Oh, and I do know that a good number of food blogs do little more than restate Alton Brown’s latest theory.  Aside from that, I haven’t a clue.

To recap, I can’t cook, don’t know the food blog marketplace, and I rely on others for help in my own blog design.  So, why am I writing about food blogs? 

What could I possibly have to say that would be of any use to a food blogger?

Here’s the thing:  I never said I could make your cooking blog famous or pretty, help you pick out recipes or take great pictures.  What I said was that I can teach you how to write the best damn food blog on the Internet.  And I can.  And I’m going to.

I’ve said it here before, many times:  I’m a good writer.  I’m far from the best writer on the Internet.  I like to think of myself at the high end of average.  Regardless, I’m a good enough writer to have provided for my family for five years writing full-time on the Internet.  I know what works and what doesn’t.  I know what good writing is and what it isn’t.

There are plenty of folks out there, from Dosh Dosh to ProBlogger to Remarkablogger to Entrepreneur’s Journey to a thousand others that can tell you how to market your blog, how to drive traffic to your blog, and how to monetize your blog.  Those folks are good at what they do, and you should definitely take the time learn from them.  Learn as much as you can from them, because I can’t teach it to you.  I don’t have anything original to add when it comes to blog marketing.  Sorry.

But I do have plenty of original things to say about writing on the Internet.  To repeat:  I know what kind of writing works on the Internet.  I know what kind of writing can make your readers think, “I’ve GOT to remember to come back here!  Where in the world is her damned RSS button??!?”

So, starting on Monday and going for the next week or so, I’ll be using food blogging as an example of how you can improve your Internet writing, putting it (and, assuming you can market it, your blog) ahead of your competition.  If you’re not a food blogger either, feel free, as you read the series, to replace “food” with whatever your niche is.  Maybe you want to write the best damn model railroad blog on the Internet.  Well, this series is for you, too.  It’s even for the folks whose niche is blog marketing, social networking, real estate, or James T. Fracking Kirk. 

Most of my regular readers, you writing bloggers, might even find something useful in the process, too.  I certainly invite and expect you to contribute your thoughts to the process as we go along.

Here are the other posts in this series, as they become available:

• The Number One Reason People Read Food Blogs
• Three Types of Food Blog Posts You Must Master
• The Essential Element of Food Blogging
• The Last Word on Food Blogging – And A $25 Contest

Follow along with me, won’t you?