Posts Tagged ‘Food blogging’

Your Best Food Blog Post: What Worked and Why?

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

champion food blog postWhile replying to Cheryl Sternman Rule’s comment about how to attract good food blog comments, I got an idea:

What if we all chimed in about which post garnered the most responses on our blogs, and why we think it worked?

The first part is easy enough. It’s based on the number of responses. I don’t care how many you got, as this is not a competition. Let’s skip giveaways as a category.

Next tell us why it worked. Was it the photograph? A banana bread recipe (I’ve heard that desserts are no-fail)? A personal crisis? Your baby announcement (seriously, Smitten Kitchen readers went berserk )? 

I’ll go first. My biggest response was for (more…)

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Three Tips for Attracting Blog Comments

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

attracting good blog commentsI’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. (more…)

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Must Bloggers Comment to Get Visibility?

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

overloadThanks 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 (more…)

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What’s the Value of “Looks Delicious?”

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

BerriesIn a previous post about Simply RecipesElise 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 (more…)

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Blogging Pro Not Afraid to Delete Comments

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

 

Me and Elise Bauer in the dining room at Club Med Ixtapa

Me and Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes, in the dining room at Club Med Ixtapa.

Last week in Mexico at the Club Med Food Blogger Camp, Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes spoke about the history of her mega-successful blog and particularly, her philosophy about blog comments.

At first I was surprised she had so much to say  about comments. Then I was grateful, because I don’t always know how to handle them, particularly the snarky ones that irritate people. Elise’s no-nonsense policy showed just one of the reasons why her blog is so (more…)

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Kickin’ It at Club Med Food Blogger Camp

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

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I’m  adjusting to this new format of food writing and blogging conference, where hanging out is a big part of the day. Today I’ve walked along the beach in the surf, done yogalates with David Lebovitz and Matt Amendariz, gave Nancy Hachiso a quick Twitter lesson, had lunch with Michael and Donna Ruhlman, and now I’m sitting in the bar, waiting for the presentation at 3 p.m.,when Jaden Hair and David Lebovitz discuss book proposals, with a handout from me. 

You’ll just have to join us next year. Really. You can relax and network (more…)

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