The Food Blogger Pro Podcast

Developing a distinct brand voice, building a new discovery path on Substack, and working as partners with Holly Erickson and Natalie Mortimer from The Modern Proper.
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Welcome to episode 595 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Holly Erickson and Natalie Mortimer from The Modern Proper.
How The Modern Proper Built a Brand That's Bigger Than Its Founders
Holly Erickson and Natalie Mortimer started out with their own food blogs and a catering business they ran together. In 2013, they teamed up to launch The Modern Proper, partly to keep each other accountable and consistent. When Instagram took off for them in 2016, the brand really started to grow. Today, they run a business with a team that includes a writer, a project manager, a photographer, and a recipe developer.
In this interview, Holly and Natalie share what they've learned from working as business partners for over a decade, why their first hire was a writer, and what it's like working with an executive strategy consultant. They also talk about letting go of some of the mental load, how they deal with negative comments, and why they launched Weeknight Dinner Club on Substack, which has grown to 90,000 subscribers. This is a great listen for anyone thinking about a brand beyond their blog, or looking for a new way for readers to find them.
Three episode takeaways:
Why they built a new discovery path on Substack — Holly and Natalie launched Weeknight Dinner Club, a Substack that sits alongside The Modern Proper brand, so they could share more creative recipes that aren't driven by keywords. They talk about how their voice and recipes differ on Substack, how the newsletter is evolving, what growth has looked like as it reached 90,000 subscribers, how social media turns followers into subscribers, and why getting people to upgrade to paid is so hard.
How a distinct brand voice gives you freedom to grow — By defining The Modern Proper's voice and brand clearly, Holly and Natalie have been able to hire people who create content that still sounds like them. That has helped them let go of some of the mental load that comes with running the business.
What it's like working with an executive strategy consultant — They explain why they brought on a consultant, how that person helps them choose the right KPIs to focus on, and how they get support with work-life balance as two business partners.
Resources:
The Modern Proper
Well Plated
The Modern Proper Cookbook: Simple Dinners for Every Day
Register for our free Instagram Strategy Q&A on November 19th!
Follow Holly and Natalie on Instagram and Substack
Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group
Thank you to our sponsors!
This episode is sponsored by Clariti.
Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com.
Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

Learning as you go, repurposing content, and building a business that fits your life with Emily Christensen of Country Roads Sourdough.
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This episode is sponsored by Raptive.
Welcome to episode 594 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Emily Christensen from Country Roads Sourdough. 
Last week on the podcast, Bjork chatted with Dahn Boquist. To go back and listen to that episode, click here.
The Real Timeline Behind Creator Growth with Emily Christensen
Emily Christensen joins Bjork this week to share how she grew Country Roads Sourdough from local sourdough classes into a thriving online business. It started small, with a simple logo and posts in local Facebook groups. From there, Emily steadily built her social media following, learned which content hooks connect with her audience, and found ways to turn one popular recipe into several posts. She also explains how her blog, cookbook, affiliate links, and social platforms each play a pivotal role in her business.
You'll also hear Emily get candid about what contributed to her growth: plenty of time and persistence, the work of balancing a business with raising a family, and the decision to hire help and set boundaries. If you're working to turn your audience into income and want a business that supports your life rather than taking it over, you'll come away from this episode with practical ideas to put to work right away!
Three episode takeaways:
Start with what you have: Emily didn't wait for a polished brand to get going. A simple logo and posts in local Facebook groups were enough to get Country Road Sourdough off the ground!
Get more from the content that works: Spotting strong hooks and turning popular recipes into multiple posts helped Emily grow her audience without reinventing the wheel every time.
Build a business that fits your life: Growth didn't happen overnight; it took time and persistence. Hiring help and setting clear boundaries made it possible for Emily to keep growing while raising her family.
Resources:
Country Roads Sourdough
Same Day Sourdough Bread
Check our Emily's cookbooks here!
Raptive
Shop My
Amazon Affiliates Program
GRO
URLgenius
Follow Emily on Instagram and Facebook
Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group
Thank you to our sponsors!
This episode is sponsored by Raptive. Learn more about our sponsors at foodbloggerpro.com/sponsors.
Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com.
Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

Creating content without the boundaries of SEO, recovering from a traffic drop, and rediscovering joy in food blogging with Dahn Boquist from Savor the Best.
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Welcome to episode 593 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Dahn Boquist from Savor the Best.
Recovering from a 40% Traffic Drop By Providing More Value to Readers
Dahn Boquist left her nursing career to blog full-time with her mom at Savor the Best, and the flexibility that came with that leap has been the highlight. But the journey hasn't always been a linear one. In this interview, Dahn walks Bjork through her site's growth, its decline, and its recovery, and what she learned and changed along the way to start growing again.
Dahn opens up about the March 2024 Helpful Content Update, the emotional toll of cutting two full-time team members, and why she decided to run her blog as if SEO was dead. She also talks about the importance of testing and reviewing data and how she's making sure she still enjoys running her business. This is a great listen for anyone rebuilding after a traffic hit and looking for ways to make their site more valuable to the readers who already love it.
Three episode takeaways:
What happens when you let go of SEO — After being hit by the Helpful Content Update, Dahn stopped doing keyword research and writing SEO-optimized posts altogether. She explains how SEO had been quietly dictating what she could create, and how letting go of it brought her back to the reasons she started her food blog in the first place.
How meal plans made her site more useful to readers — Dahn shares how she set up a menu planning tool on her site using WP Recipe Maker and what the process looked like. So far, 600 people have signed up, and that group spends 4x as much time on the site and views twice as many pages. Along with a stronger focus on email and Pinterest, the meal plans have helped push revenue from direct traffic up about 76% year over year (which is especially valuable as search becomes less predictable).
Her approach to email marketing — Dahn talks about why she always ends up back on Kit, how to use Google Postmaster Tools to keep an eye on deliverability, and how she has been using the Kit MCP to streamline her email process.
Resources:
Savor the Best
Savor the Best Meal Plans
WP Recipe Maker
How Savor the Best is giving readers more reasons to come back
Clariti
Email Crush by Matt Molen
Substack
Flodesk
Kit
Postmaster Tools
Kit MCP
Raptive
Mediavine
Follow Dahn on Instagram and Facebook
Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group
Thank you to our sponsors!
This episode is sponsored by Clariti.
Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com.
Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

Outsourcing your weaknesses, the power of email authentication, and using AI to optimize your business with Aaron Randhawa. 
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Welcome to episode 592 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Aaron Randhawa. 
How to Build Trust with Your Email Subscribers with Aaron Randhawa
This week, Aaron Randhawa joins Bjork to explain the different processes behind The Forked Spoon, where Aaron manages technical operations so Jessica can focus on what she loves most: recipes, photography, and creative work! They'll talk about how email infrastructure can play a huge role in protecting a creator's brand and improving deliverability, as well as the lengthy process of earning a verified logo in email.
The conversation also explores the outcomes of Aaron's updates, how AI has improved business workflows, and the freedom that comes with outsourcing your weaknesses. From email performance to accounting opportunities, Aaron and Bjork share practical ways creators can use technology and expert support to build a more resilient business!
Three episode takeaways:
You don't have to do it all: Aaron shares how he and Jessica divide the work at The Forked Spoon, with Jessica focused on being the creator while he handles the technical and operational side. Rather than searching for one person who can do everything, he recommends building a vetted list of trusted specialists and outsourcing your weaknesses to the people and tools that are stronger in those areas.
Email trust starts with authentication: DMARC, SPF, and DKIM are the backbone of email authentication, but Aaron took it a step further to get The Forked Spoon's logo and a blue check mark in Gmail, which led to higher opens and clicks and fewer unsubscribes, especially among new subscribers!
AI can be your guide through unfamiliar territory: You'll hear Aaron talk about how he used AI to learn about BIMI and VMC to optimize his trademark filing and to identify tax and business structure improvements, like moving from sole proprietor treatment to an S Corp.
Resources:
The Forked Spoon
MediaWyse
NerdPress
ChatGPT
Raptive
Kit
dmarc digests
Claude
LegalZoom
United States Patent and Trademark Office
CultivateWP
DigiCert
Clariti
Wispr Flow
The Economist
Follow The Forked Spoon on Instagram
Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group
Thank you to our sponsors!
This episode is sponsored by Clariti and Raptive. Learn more about our sponsors at foodbloggerpro.com/sponsors.
Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com.
Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

How to adapt to shifting discoverability, what thriving food creators are doing right, and why you should focus on email with Cyd Converse from Mediavine.
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Welcome to episode 591 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Cyd Converse from Mediavine and The Sweetest Occasion.
What Successful Food Creators Have in Common Right Now
Cyd Converse started her food blog in 2008 and has been working at Mediavine for the last 6.5 years. She was recently promoted to the Director of Publisher Advocacy and Partnerships, and sits down with Bjork for this interview to talk through the recent shifts in search, how creators can adapt, and what successful creators have in common right now.
Bjork and Cyd talk about the current state of the industry, the rapid pace of changes, the decline in predictability, and how many creators are feeling burnt out. Cyd also shares her advice for content creators — leaning into email, updating old content, and leveraging video, to name a few. This is the perfect interview for anyone feeling like they're weathering the current search changes alone and looking for actionable steps to take to get back on the right track.
Three episode takeaways:
Prioritize your email marketing strategy — Cyd explains why traffic from your email list is more desirable to advertisers, how you can use email to make the most of the content you already have, why you should experiment with cadence, segmentation, and the types of emails you send, and how to get started collecting email addresses if you don't already.
The common traits of creators who are thriving right now — From her conversations with creators, Cyd has found a few things that most creators who are doing well despite AI Overviews have in common — a recognizable voice, expertise, and trust with readers. You want to become the go-to resource for recipes within your niche and keep your audience coming back for you.
Why you should focus on updating old content — Cyd talks about the shift she has seen from churning out a high volume of new content to instead optimizing and repromoting the content that is already doing well for you (especially the posts with the highest RPMs).
Resources:
Mediavine
The Sweetest Occasion
Tastemaker Conference
TopHatRank
Email Cyd
Follow Cyd on Instagram
Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group
Thank you to our sponsors!
This episode is sponsored by Clariti.
Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started here.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com.
Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.