February 21st, 2010
I’ve been thinking about how to attract good comments since writing my previous two posts on commenting.
The first was on the value of comments like “Looks delicious.” It garnered my all-time highest response. I guess that’s not surprising, since that’s the response that often comes to mind when reading food blogs (or it should, if the blogger’s doing it right!). The second was on whether commenting on posts is a worthwhile strategy to build traffic.
I asked a lot of questions in those two posts, because I’m counting on you all to help me figure out the answers. This caused regular commenter Nate to ask me: “How do you structure a post or a question on a food blog post to cultivate signal and reduce noise?” Okay, I’ll give it a shot.
But first, a qualifier. My blog is a place where people discuss topics I’ve brought up, sometimes with each other! Maybe yours is not. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Food blogging, food writing
Posted in Blogging | 24 Comments »
February 18th, 2010
It seems that when it comes to reviewing, the food blogging community is more interested in promotion rather than in a balanced critique. I can’t tell you how many bloggers have said, in comments on this blog, they only do positive reviews because “the reader’s time is short” or “I’m only going to write about it if I love it.”
Why? Rave reviews are boring. Totally negative reviews are rare and difficult to do well. How about going for middle ground, where the review is mostly positive, but acknowledges the cons?
Finally, I can point to a few examples from people Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: book reviews, Food 52, food bloggers, food writing, Nora Ephron
Posted in Blogging, Books | 22 Comments »
February 16th, 2010
A blogger thought she got a product for free, then was asked to return it. On a listserv, she wrote:
“A PR person contacted me, representing a large cookware store. ‘If they could do anything for me…let them know.’ I told them I was testing bread cookbooks and could use a scale. If they could work somemagic on that end…great!
“The response I got was a link to their entire kitchen scale inventory and was told Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Blogging, Ethics | 28 Comments »
February 14th, 2010
The morning started innocently enough. I decided to make Mark Bittman’s muffins as a treat, instead of the usual cereal or toast. After all, Valentine’s Day demands special effort for a special day.
But then I noticed I only had a half a cup of applesauce, and needed a cup, so I had to make more. I made my husband get up from reading the Sunday comics to stir.
And then I remembered I had made roast chicken the other night because Ruhlman said any idiot could do it, so I felt qualified. It turned out fine, but I also discovered why I stopped making roast chicken at high temperatures: it throws fat everywhere and destroys the oven. Now the oven had to be cleaned, or it would smoke and perfume my special Valentine’s Day muffins with essence of burned poultry fat.
So while I prepped the wet and dry ingredients for my special treat for my husband, he cleaned the oven on his hands and knees. I was so distracted I forgot the sugar.
Finally, at 1 p.m., we sat down to fresh muffins, fruit and yogurt. I asked my honey if he liked the muffins. He said they were “okay.” We’ve been married so long (20.5 years) I knew what that meant.
Crestfallen, I asked if he would have preferred a big ham and cheese omelet instead of this healthy treat, which I realized appealed more to me than him. He said no. “Just next time, add the sugar.” And then he kissed me.
(Photo of sugarless applesauce muffins by Owen Rubin).
Tags: food writing, Mark Bittman, Michael Ruhlman, Valentine's Day, whole wheat muffins
Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments »
February 9th, 2010
Thanks to all for the stellar conversation about the value of “Looks delicious” as a comment in food blogs. Let’s continue with a related subject that came up in the comments: the idea that it’s necessary, when you’re a blogger, to comment on other people’s food blogs.
According to Blogging 101, we’re all supposed to comment to build traffic on our own blogs. First of all, I’d like to know whether that’s true. Have you found that you have more visibility as a result of leaving comments? Do you stake out certain blogs? Do you set a minimum number of comments per week?
A related issue is how to comment with sincerity. One “A list” food blogger insists he can tell when a blogger Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Food blogging, food writing
Posted in Blogging | 55 Comments »
February 7th, 2010
In a previous post about Simply Recipes‘ Elise Bauer and her comments policy, we started a discussion about the value of “Looks delicious” as a comment on food blogs. At the risk of flaring tempers again, I’d like to bring it up now.
Let’s look at the “Looks delicious” comment from a variety of angles related to food writing. First, I’m sure we’ve all left some version of “looks delicious” as a comment when we’re salivating over close-ups of Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Food blogging, food writing
Posted in Blogging | 68 Comments »
