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The Food Blogger Pro Podcast

The Food Blogger Pro Podcast

By: Bjork Ostrom
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Welcome to The Food Blogger Pro Podcast, hosted by Bjork Ostrom from Pinch of Yum! Our goal is to help you create a beautiful, functional, and profitable blog. We interview successful food bloggers and industry experts in an effort to surface strategies that can help you more efficiently grow and monetize your site. You'll learn about recipe SEO, food photography, plugins, monetization, traffic, and more. New episodes every Tuesday! Learn more at foodbloggerpro.com/podcast Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Marketing Marketing & Sales
Episodes
  • How Rebecca Blackwell Turned Food Blogging into a Six-Figure Digital Business from an RV

    How Rebecca Blackwell Turned Food Blogging into a Six-Figure Digital Business from an RV
    Jun 23 2026

    Diversifying income streams, building community, and personal storytelling with Rebecca Blackwell.

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    Welcome to episode 576 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Rebecca Blackwell.

    Last week on the podcast, Bjork chatted with Jenna Arend. To go back and listen to that episode, click here.

    How Rebecca Blackwell Turned Food Blogging into a Six-Figure Digital Business from an RV

    Rebecca started out as a food blogger, but somewhere along the way, she traded a stable paycheck for a life on the road, running her digital business full-time from an RV! In this episode, she opens up about what that transition actually looked like: the risks she took by leaving a steady job, how the RV lifestyle reshaped her thinking about work and creative freedom, and why she made the strategic decision to manage multiple websites rather than rely on a single income stream.

    The conversation also gets into the community side of Rebecca's business. Specifically, how she's used Substack to build genuine connections with a growing audience of food writers. She shares practical advice on growing a newsletter, engaging readers, and landing sponsorships that feel like a natural fit. You'll also hear her talk about how she's navigating the challenges of AI and shifting search algorithms, why leaning into personal storytelling has been her biggest differentiator, and what she's learned from building community through mastermind groups and in-person retreats.

    Three episode takeaways:
    • Diversify your income streams: Branching out to different avenues instead of relying on a single blog or platform gives you more creative freedom and financial stability, especially important in an era of unpredictable algorithm changes!
    • Personal storytelling is your biggest differentiator: As AI and search engines continue to evolve, what sets your content apart isn't information. it's your unique voice, perspective, and lived experience. Rebecca's journey from food blogger to RV-dwelling digital creator is a perfect example of a story no algorithm can replicate.
    • Community is a growth strategy: Whether it's building a newsletter on Substack, joining a mastermind group, or hosting retreats, investing in genuine relationships with your audience and peers pays dividends that go far beyond traffic and page views.

    Resources:

    • A Little and a Lot
    • Of Batter and Dough
    • Rebecca's Substack: Let's Get Lost
    • Tiny Shiny Home
    • Designing Your Life
    • Substack
    • Mastermind for Food Writers
    • The Food Writers Business Lab
    • Kit
    • Follow Rebecca on Instagram here and here
    • Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group
    Thank you to our sponsors!

    This episode is sponsored by Member Kitchens. 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.
    Show More Show Less
    56 mins
  • Inside Pinch of Yum's Strategy for Email Growth and Content Distribution with Jenna Arend

    Inside Pinch of Yum's Strategy for Email Growth and Content Distribution with Jenna Arend
    Jun 16 2026

    Welcome to episode 575 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Jenna Arend.

    Inside Pinch of Yum's Strategy for Email Growth and Content Distribution with Jenna Arend

    This week, Bjork sits down with Jenna Arend, General Manager of Pinch of Yum, as part of our ongoing GRO mini-series. In this episode, she shares how Pinch of Yum is navigating the biggest shifts in the digital landscape right now, from the decline of third-party cookies to the rise of AI, and why those changes have pushed the team to double down on email and Facebook as their most reliable channels.

    Jenna also gets into the strategy behind keeping a long-running food blog relevant and thriving — from improving older content to creating targeted resources like meal plans and freezer meals. She shares how GRO has helped streamline the process of converting social media followers into loyal email subscribers, and why building that direct line of communication with your audience matters more than ever. If you've been thinking about how to future-proof your content strategy, this one is worth a listen!

    Three episode takeaways:
    • Adapt your strategy as the digital landscape shifts: With changes like the decline of third-party cookies and the rise of AI, relying solely on search traffic is risky. Pinch of Yum has leaned into email and Facebook as more stable, direct channels — and it's paying off.
    • Don't overlook your existing content: Improving older posts can be just as valuable as creating new ones, especially for a long-running blog looking to maintain relevance and traffic in an ever-changing algorithm environment.
    • Make it easy for followers to become subscribers: A clear call to action paired with genuinely helpful resources — like meal plans or freezer meal guides — gives your audience a real reason to join your email list, and tools like GRO can make that conversion process even smoother.

    Resources:

    • Pinch of Yum
    • GRO
    • Episode 547 of The Food Blogger Pro podcast: Inside Crowded Kitchen's Strategy for Growing to 2.4 Million Followers on Facebook
    • Pinch of Yum - Freezer Meals
    • Get Pinch of Yum's Trader Joe's Meal Plan for free here!
    • See the Trader Joe's DM automation in action here!
    • Episode 563 of The Food Blogger Pro podcast: Using AI to Eliminate Busywork and Unlock Creative Time with Jason Glaspey
    • OpenClaw
    • Live Q&A with Jenna: Marketing Your Content
    • Follow Pinch of Yum on Instagram and Facebook
    • Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group
    Thank you to our sponsors!

    This episode is sponsored by GRO. 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.
    Show More Show Less
    55 mins
  • How Mika Kinney Turned Her 480,000 Instagram Followers into Site Traffic and Revenue

    How Mika Kinney Turned Her 480,000 Instagram Followers into Site Traffic and Revenue
    Jun 9 2026
    Increasing revenue without increasing your workload and mastering Instagram strategy with Mika Kinney from Joy to the Food. ----- Welcome to episode 574 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week, Bjork is back with part two of our GRO mini-series — this time chatting with Mika Kinney from Joy to the Food. How Mika Kinney Turned Her 480,000 Instagram Followers into Site Traffic and Revenue Two years ago, Mika Kinney had 1,000 Instagram followers. Today she has 480,000 — and both she and her husband work full-time on Joy to the Food. That kind of growth doesn't happen by accident, and in this episode Mika breaks down exactly how she did it. Mika started her site in 2021, left her job in September 2023, and went all in on Instagram in January 2024. What followed was a masterclass in understanding what social media can do for a food business — not just as a vanity metric, but as a genuine traffic and revenue source. In this episode, Bjork and Mika dig into the super intentional content strategy behind her growth, how she uses GRO to capture the value of her Instagram audience and drive traffic back to her site, how she (easily!) increased her affiliate income, and why she and her husband recently launched a membership program — all without dramatically increasing their workload. Three episode takeaways: What's actually driving Mika's Instagram growth — Mika breaks down the difference between videos that get reach and videos that get followers and the role of calls to action in Reels. She also shares why showing your face and bringing your personality to your content is one of the most important things you can do and how she structures her content schedule in a way that keeps her consistent without burning out.How Mika uses GRO to turn Instagram attention into real business results —Mika walks through how DM automation and story replies work to reduce friction for her audience, why carousels are her go-to format for reaching a large portion of her existing followers, and how conversational hooks have changed the way she thinks about content. Most importantly, she shares how direct traffic to her site has increased continuously because of GRO — including during a stretch of six to eight months without a single viral video.How Mika is diversifying her revenue without adding to her workload — From sharing two to three affiliate deep links per day (generating an extra $2,000–$3,000 per month) to launching a weekly exclusive recipe membership program with GRO, Mika has built multiple revenue streams on top of her existing content workflow rather than in addition to it. She and Bjork talk through how each revenue stream works, how the membership is structured, and why diversifying away from a single traffic or income source has become essential for food bloggers navigating the current landscape. Resources: Joy to the Food From 1K to 250K: The Instagram Growth Strategy That Transformed Joy to the FoodGROLTKButcher BoxCreator CoachShop My Maximizing Affiliate Revenue with Deep Linking Jab, Jab, Jab, Right HookFeastMika CreativeFollow Mika on InstagramRegister for the Q&A: Google Updates, AI Search, and What Actually Matters for Your Blog in 2026 Thank you to our sponsors! This episode is sponsored by GRO. 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.
    Show More Show Less
    54 mins
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