In today’s episode, I’m sharing how you can have a unique voice on your food blog and still make Google happy! You don’t have to pick between building a unique brand AND working towards improving your SEO. 

Can’t listen to the episode? Read on for the transcript!

I’m really excited to share today’s episode with you. It is actually an interview I did for the Eat Blog Talk podcast and I’ve gotten such great feedback from Megan’s listeners that I wanted to share it with mine, too. 

In this episode you’ll hear me talk about how important it is to define your unique voice AND use it on your blog. We can make Google happy by optimizing our websites and blog content, without losing our brand’s personality in the process.

There is a dangerous trend that’s happening where food bloggers (in general) follow what others are doing, using the same layouts and themes and SEO steps to satisfy Google and food blogs are all starting to look the same. So it’s so important to remember what your brand messaging is to not get lost in a sea of bloggers.

Don’t forget to subscribe — next week I’m making a HUGE announcement and I don’t want you to miss it! 

There is also a freebie in this episode that I mentioned. It is my brand identity framework that I walk my clients through. You can download that free guide by going to thevinepodcast.com/021.

(Full show notes are available on Megan’s site here)

There has been a huge shift in the way we approach our blogs now that we are all fighting for Google’s approval. Through this shift, food bloggers have felt the need to strip away their own personality and brand messaging from their blog posts. In this interview we’ll cover: 

The importance of brand messaging (and how to discover yours)

• What’s brand messaging?
  • Your niche, your voice, your story
• Within your niche, you really have to go a few layers deep
• The Bottom level is that you’re a food bloggers
• Middle level is the specific kind of recipes that you share
• Top level is what makes you unique within that specific type of recipes. So if 10 other food bloggers in your specialized niche were lined up, what would make YOUR blog stand out?
• The thing is though, when we are all using the same theme, following the same rules for SEO, etc., food bloggers will all start to look the same. 

Why having a unique website is so important

• There are so many food blogs now and having a site that stands out from cookie cutter themes is what can make a huge difference in connecting with your audience AND making an impression on brands
• We have to realize that so much of our traffic is coming for a hot second and half the time we give that audience from google or Pinterest absolutely nothing to remember us by (if our sites/logo/brand messaging look exactly the same)

How we can make Google happy by optimizing our websites and blog content, without losing our brand’s personality in the process. 

• We’ve all seen the memes about how people don’t care about the story behind the post or just want to get to the recipe.
• While that is definitely true for a vast majority of people, there is that small percentage of YOUR people that is lurking within that google or pinterest traffic.
• So the question becomes, how do you capture those people?
• They MAY only be on your website for one specific recipe, but if your website is designed properly to speak your brand message and connect with your audience, you have a much higher chance of grabbing their attention and getting them to subscribe or come back again. A lot of the work I do with my web design clients is figuring out what that brand messaging is so we can design the website in a way that connects with your audience. 

Ways you can optimize your content to convert organic traffic into loyal readers

Freebies

• You have to know what your audience is struggling with to know what kind of freebie would resonate with them
• In order to know what they’re struggling with, you really have to have your audience defined which is a part of the process of figuring out your niche

Strategic content

• I absolutely LOVE coming up with content ideas and I think it’s such an easy way to tap into an audience you may already have OR at least have coming to your site
• I have an entire podcast episode about this, it’s episode 13 of The Vine Podcast, but I love to think of blog posts that are already doing well, then thinking of two different types of content from that idea. One is content that ADDS to what you already have. Something that would pair well with a popular post. The second is something that is a different spin on the post that is performing well.

Check out the episode on strategic content planning for more

Changes you can make to your website

• As a web designer, this is my favorite part! 
• There are SO many ways you can optimize your website to convert your traffic into an audience
  • Utilize categories — adding buttons or even adding a freebie sign up to a category page that gets decent traffic to it (even if it’s just internal)
  • Add a brand messaging box to your blog posts
    • Something I’ve been doing with a lot of my clients lately. Think back to your niche and what makes you unique. How can you turn that into brand messaging and share that brand messaging in your posts?
    • Gutenburg makes this really easy to do, but it can also be done with some coding to create a styled box where you can share Tips for _____ whatever your niche is. 
• Strategically place things on your website – don’t just put things because other people do. Think about whether it really furthers the goals of your website! 
• Make sure your blog is not just generic! I know we all have “rules” we have to follow for google to like us, but remember that Google wants what is best for the user. It’s okay for people to be repelled from your site if it’s not their thing. But what you want to make sure of is that the RIGHT people immediately know they’re in the right place.