Building Traffic with Jenn Fishkind and Tanya Harris | Mediavine On Air Episode 44

Traffic matters.

Fortunately it’s not the only important metric anymore, but it’s still a vital component for website success.

Whether you’re a Mediavine publisher wanting to increase your revenue or a content creator ready to reach the 50k sessions* and apply, today’s episode of the podcast is all for you!

Senior Director of Marketing Jenny Guy interviews guests Jennifer Fishkind of Princess Pinky Girl and Tanya Fleming of My Forking Life know how to grow traffic, as they share their secrets with you on how to build successfully.

*Since this episode of Summer of Live, the requirements to join Mediavine have been adjusted.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Helpful Resources

• Princess Pinky Girl
• My Forking Life
• Growing Your Traffic – Summer of Live 2018
• Why All Traffic Doesn’t Monetize The Same
• Behind The Numbers With Brad

Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hey, everybody. Welcome. It is Thursday, August 29. I’m Jenny Guy, the marketing manager for Mediavine. And it is hard to believe, but another summer is almost gone. It is Labor Day weekend, which means that our second annual Summer of Live is wrapping up. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

So just to remember where we’ve been, in June, we talked about all things Mediavine. We talked to Create, which is our most valuable WordPress plugin. A couple other things that are coming up. In July, we went beyond the blog talking book publishing, and content creation and philanthropy. And then, all through this month, we’ve been talking about making it rain.

We’re basically a broken record when it comes to diversifying your revenue stream. So we talked to video, affiliate marketing, SEO, RPM. And we are closing out this Summer of Live extravaganza with the metric that impacts all of the above metrics, traffic.

As I was talking with my – before we started, we all have a love hate relationship with traffic. But I don’t think any of us would deny that more of it is better. Traffic – from Instagram’s swipe up feature to more lucrative campaigns with brands.

Plus, for those that are out there wanting to join Mediavine, we have the traffic threshold of 25,000 sessions in the previous 30 days to work with us for full service ad management. So if we’ve got anyone out there looking to reach the traffic threshold, post in a comment and say, hi. But I’m got to go my two amazing guests.

They know traffic. They know how to grow traffic. And real traffic, not bought traffic. And they’re here to tell all their secrets– or at least some of their secrets– to our wonderful audience today. First, I’ve gotten Jennifer Fishkind. She is one of the OG’s of Pinterest, where she has over a 3.5 million followers. She shares all things food, entertainment, fashion, and family on her website Princess Pinky Girl.

Which, by the way, is celebrating its six year blog birthday today. Happy birthday to Princess Pinky Girl.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Thank you. Thank you, Jenny.

JENNY GUY: She came to be a full time blogger after 20 years in the corporate nonprofit industry. And now she blogs full time. And she – blog expertise is one-eighth of Bloggers Tell All, which is the advanced mastermind group for educational – for other influencers who aspire to financial freedom and blogging success. She lives in Michigan with her husband and three boys. Hello, Jen. Thank you for joining us.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Hey, Jenny. Thanks for having me.

JENNY GUY: So great to have you today. And my other guest, Tanya Harris Fleming, is a mom, wife, attorney, recipe groupie, photographer, and traffic whisperer who took the love of pressure cooker and air fryer recipes and turned them into a full time income on her part-time blog, My Forking Life. Which she began only in 2016.

So for devoting 5 to 15 hours a week to her site she reads up to 500,000 page views a month. She reached the medium on threshold in April 2013, and was able to quit her job as an attorney earlier this year to blog full-time and spend more time with her two daughters. Thank you for joining us, Tanya.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Hi, Jenny. I’m glad to be here.

JENNY GUY: All right. So if you have questions, you guys know the drill. But if you have questions– they’re saying the sound quality is low. What’s going on?

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Uh-oh.

JENNY GUY: Jen, can you put on headphones? I think they’re saying that it’s echoing.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: I sure can.

JENNY GUY: Thank you. Fantastic. All right, guys, we’re going to work on it. Sorry, everyone. We’ll work on it. My apologies. OK. Hang on a second. Let’s see if that helps. Give us one moment.

Let’s see. Is that better, everybody? Maybe? All right. Let’s give it a shot. I’m going to go on with questions. But as I always say, if you guys have questions, please post them in the comments and I will ask my guests, Tanya and Jen.

But let’s start out, first, just with that basic question. Let’s talk about your journeys. Your sites. Your brand and how you initially started out with the traffic growth. And I will start with Tanya.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: All right. So I started my blog March 2016 when I was working full time as an attorney. And I just had a general food blog. I didn’t want to niche down, so it was all types of food, whatever we were eating. I guess I had a general quick, easy family-friendly recipes. And I was also doing restaurant reviews.

But over the time, I would post like once a week and I had no direction. And my passion started to wane. So I took a break about June 2017. And I came back to the blog in February of 2018 with just the main goal of actually growing my site to enough sessions to be able to qualify for Mediavine.

So I did my research, looked at my Google Analytics, realized people loved pressure cookers and air fryers. So I kind of just went that route and just used that to grow my site. And I was able to qualify for Mediavine in April of 2018.

JENNY GUY: Yay. And so I love to hear that you were kind of blogging just as a hobby. And you were doing what you want, following your passions and wherever those led you. And then you got really intentional with it, and that’s when you started– So is it accurate to say that’s when you started to see the growth and the impact in your analytics?

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Yeah. That was my whole intention. At that time, I think I had like two pressure cooker recipes, and I kept on getting comments when I was on my blog break. And they were always towards those recipes. So it was like, oh, this is what people want it for me.

And so at that time, I decided to make a content strategy, which making that the majority of the content that I shared. I still shared other recipes, but I knew that those were going to be my moneymakers. So I really just focused on those.

And then the other recipes I would still post just to show my audience that I could do more than just pressure cookers and air fryers. But I knew that that was going to be the ones that brought me the most traffic.

[RINGTONE]

JENNY GUY: Awesome. Oh, Sex and the City? Heck yeah. Hey, there’s no shame in that game. All right. Jenn, same question to you. You talked to us a little bit, I don’t know if you heard, but I want to hear a little bit about your brand. How Princess Pinky Girl came about and– Tanya, I don’t know if I said this already. My Forking Life, it’s a great site and we’re going to share that link, too.

But, Jenn, will you share a little bit about how you initially started Princess Pinky Girl and you’re journey with it?

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Yep. Can you hear me OK with my earphones?

JENNY GUY: We can hear you great. And we are also not hearing 75 echoes, which is a plus.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Right. Awesome. OK. So as you heard, it’s my blogiversary today. So it was actually two years before this– before my blogiversary. So about eight years ago, I was planning my son’s bar mitzvah, and I was doing so using Pinterest.

And my Pinterest board blew up. It was like you said kind of like in the good old days of Pinterest when I was highlighted as– I guess as a feature board. And all of a sudden, I had a million followers on there. So I got really lucky.

I’m very different. I have a very different story than most people because my social came first, and my blog came second. So I was monetizing my Pinterest through affiliate marketing, and then decided that I needed to diversify it, and started the blog. And I didn’t know what I was going to blog about. I didn’t know what a blog was, but I just decided one afternoon in my backyard, to start one.

And I’m not going to go into the name, because that’s a whole other story. It’s my girl. I have three boys, it’s my girls. Let’s leave it there. And then I really relied 100% on social traffic. And really had no idea how to blog until a couple of years ago when I started learning that social traffic is great but you’re relying on someone else.

So it was time to start relying on myself and focusing on SEO and other ways to get traffic outside of Pinterest, which was good because Pinterest, again, can be like a bad ex-boyfriend.

JENNY GUY: It so can. You can not stop texting them.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: You love it, but hate it.

JENNY GUY: You have a couple of glasses of wine definitely –

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: –and all that. It’s not that good old days of Pinterest, so you have to really to kind of take it more in your own hands. And within that time is when I started with Bloggers Tell All, which we talked about for a minute, but we’ll talk about it more, hopefully, later.

JENNY GUY: Yes, we definitely will revisit that. So let me go ahead and just jump in and talk a little bit more about your journey with Mediavine. How long have you been with us, and how has media impacted your business? Jenn, let’s start with you this time.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: OK. I think I had been with Mediavine for three years.

JENNY GUY: We just celebrated our third year of shifting to full service ad management. So that is possible.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Maybe it was two years. It was either two or three. It wasn’t right when you guys shifted. Yeah. So I’ve been with media events for probably– at least two years. And what was the second part of the question?

JENNY GUY: And how has Mediavine impacted your business? And really the nitty gritty of that question– of the question that I want to get into is, how has ads– have they impacted your traffic?

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: I mean, 100%. First of all, my RPM has been better than ever. My traffic, I I’ve made a shift from traffic, again, from social to trying to get my own organic and direct traffic. So there’s been definitely some ups and downs there, but even when there were downs in traffic, because my RPM continues to go up, my income has been steadily increasing throughout my journey.

So that’s been really great. And for me, the community at Mediavine is so important to me. I was having a lot of issues with my site speed. I was having a lot of issues with other funky stuff going on with my blog because of the way that it was built. And I think that– because I didn’t know what it was doing.

And Mediavine not only was concerned about my ads, they were concerned about the whole health of my site. And that was what kind of drew me to them and has continued my love fest with them.

JENNY GUY: Love fest. I mean, I’ll take it. I’ll take it.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: [LAUGHS]

JENNY GUY: Tanya, what about– obviously, there are so many people beyond me that go into making Mediavine what it is, clearly. But I will be the personification of Mediavine and take the love at this time. Tanya, what’s going on? Talk to me same. Question to you.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: So I joined Mediavine right in April of 2018. And since then, every single month of my traffic was growing, as well as the– so to kind of give you a standpoint of where my ads were beforehand. I was with a different ad agency and I had one very small ad in the sidebar, basically, because I was terrified to put ads on my site because I thought they would slow them down.

So I had heard so many great things about Mediavine, not just on a monetary side, but also that it wouldn’t slow down your site. So that was my goal. Once I joined, that’s when my site had a ton of. Ads and my first reaction was like, oh, my gosh. I can’t believe this. And I immediately– initially wanted to turn them down, but I was like, you know what? Let me see what the response is.

And honestly, I’ve never had a complaint about my ads at all. Because my– [AUDIO OUT] we’ll I wouldn’t say Mediavine impact on my traffic, because my traffic still grew. My site is fast. My users are happy. As well as monetarily wise, even if my traffic fluctuated– we all know we have traffic spikes and there’s slumps throughout the year– my RPM continued to grow because I just follow the best practices.

I’m also heavy into video. I think last year was the year of the video, and I was here for it. So that helped a lot with my RPMs and my earnings as well. And so, just like Jennifer stated, I love the community because probably 95% of the things I know about site speed or SEO or even Pinterest, I learned by watching lives or just being in the Mediavine group.

So, again, I love you all. I love you, Jenny, too. So here’s a heart to you, too. I’ve learned a ton since I’ve joined Mediavine just following the best practices that you guys preach.

JENNY GUY: Just checking in on Jenn’s dogs. Sometimes there’s going to be a mute. We love you, too. And hearing about both of your journeys is super inspiring. I mean, I don’t think that anyone is going to say that people are coming to their site for the ads. So I don’t know that anyone’s going to go, yeah ads. We love ads.

But to hear that it’s not impacting you negatively and you’re not getting negative feedback. And that your speed is still good and all the things that your viewers can still come, for the amazing content that you’re providing but not getting adversely impacted through the ads I think is the goal that we’re shooting for, at least. We have not yet found a way to make ads the most awesome thing on your site, but we don’t want too.

The whole point is for you guys to be compensated for the incredible work that you’re doing. And, yeah, the year of video has become the decade of video. I think that video is still incredibly lucrative, but in addition to that, it is driving the traffic.

And I’ll ask that. That’s actually not on my questions list, but do you find– are both of you leaning into the video and are you finding that video is positively impacting your traffic? I’ll start with you, Tanya, since you brought up video in the first place.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Absolutely. I think it’s still the case. But the social media platforms like Facebook, whenever I would share a video would have a much further reach than other links or even photos. Pinterest now, if you look, sometimes it’s just ripping a topic, you’ll see the videos at the top. So that’s helpful there.

As well as even in Google if you’re searching for recipes, you’ll see they have a little Play button. So it’s helped with click through to my site on social media platforms, as well as in Google. So I definitely don’t think I would have the same amount of traffic I have if I wasn’t incorporating video into my content strategy.

JENNY GUY: Love hearing that. And same question to you, Jenn. How is video in your world?

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: I guess video for me it’s not as big of a happy fest right now as it was. Because I just hear two and three years ago when video really did– it was it was a viral sensation. And I would put up– that’s where I got my first virals and I was getting 10 million views on a video and seeing the traffic to follow it.

So, yeah, I mean, that was really when video was really first came out, especially, in Facebook. The Facebook videos for me have not really been– the ROI on them has not been as good for me. Now, I’m not doing the long form videos, I’m doing more of– I’m still doing the hands and pans, and those are just not– again, the ROI isn’t there as much. But I continue to do it for kind of specific reasons. Obviously, for Google.

And for Pinterest, I’m on the fence and on video for Pinterest right now. Because I’ve seen the impressions and I’ve seen the saves, but I am not seeing traffic from it.

JENNY GUY: OK.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: So for me, I’ll continue doing it. It’s not going anywhere, but I’m not seeing the benefit that I was seeing from video.

JENNY GUY: OK. Fair enough to say that in terms of a traffic standpoint. But just to clarify, revenue is still good from video, right? In terms of–

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Revenue it’s still good, yes. Revenue is still good from video. And the video player for Mediavine has been very profitable for me.

JENNY GUY: Good. Fantastic. OK, I want to talk a little bit nuts and bolts traffic wise. Not traffic wise traffic, content wise, and how that impacted traffic. And, Tanya, you kind of already touched on this in that when you began intentionally changing your traffic– changing your content strategy up, and creating a content strategy to begin with is when you started to see those traffic growths.

So I want to talk about that a little bit more specifically with you. And then with Jenn, I want to talk about specifically what you did with your content to switch from that social model into an organic traffic model. So let’s start with Tanya and then go to Jenn.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: So when I started, I mean, like I said, I studied my Google Analytics and I saw the– luckily, I’m a gadget junkie, so I had a pressure cooker. I liked it. I saw that that was also a trending topic. I also used Google Trends, not quite as often, but just look to see, OK what is getting higher searches in Google and what’s churning at the time.

And luckily, for me, it’s stuff that I actually– it’s already food related so I can actually do that. I also am in like a ton of Facebook groups with my people– with my gadget people. Because that also shows me what people are excited about, what type of recipes people are creating, what kind of questions they’re having. And I use all that to help also me with the content strategy in addition to my keyword research.

So once I started to do that, I only– because I only posted once a week because I was still working full-time. I would use all that information to make sure whatever post that I posted I knew that I had a higher probability of ranking in Google, a higher probability that people in these niche groups would get more excited and I’d get more engagement on my content as well.

So it basically was really driven by my prior post, but also, by what was trending in the community as well.

JENNY GUY: And just to stay on top of all of those things, what is your– how do you keep track of everything that people are talking about? Would you immediately go out and create whatever it was that people were talking about? Did you have a little diary? How long did you have? What was the shelf life of that hot thing that you’d find?

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Usually, like maybe within that month maybe. Because I don’t really– I suck at creating content calendars. They’re not that far out. But if I’m in a Facebook group and everyone’s asking these questions, I will go, and then I will test it. And then if I had great results, I’d be able to write a blog post– I do step by step photos– and share that content.

So I mean, I’m always in these groups because I’m passionate about it. I have lots of gadgets. So whenever I would get it, I would usually run to figure out if it’s a good topic or not. I also use Airtable to keep a long, long, long list of different topic ideas. And it helps me stay organized on top of different content that I’m creating.

JENNY GUY: We like Airtable, too. We actually had a live about Airtable. So we, I think, can post that in there. We love Airtable. OK. Jenn, same question to you. Talk about that intentional content shift going from the social traffic to organic traffic.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Sure. So when I started, I did a lot of roundups. It was all about roundups. We didn’t have a lot of content hooked to them and took people away from our site. In the last, I’d say, three years or so, I’ve really shifted to do more food blogging and travel. So those have been my two real focus areas, especially with the food.

And with the food I really have worked on– rather than what I used to do, which was write a little blurb, post a recipe, done. Now, I’m really doing a lot more keyword research. Seeing what’s out there what I need to be focusing on. What questions to answer. Making sure my content is long, especially for ads. Google likes that.

Worked on my age H2’s and all that. So I spend a lot of time with that and also, researching what type of recipes are not just going to get social traffic, but are going to get organic traffic as well. And which ones I feel like I can actually have a chance to rank for.

That’s been a big focus.

JENNY GUY: You’ve both talked about keyword strategy. And I think that that’s something everyone agrees is important. But I would like to hear more nuts and bolts of how you do keyword research. Where are you doing it? Are there specific sites you like to use? Specific programs? Talk to me a little bit. Give us a general overview of your keyword strategy. Jenn, we’ll start with you.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Sure. SEMrush is– and I never know if it’s SEM rush or S-E-M rush, but whichever one it is, I use it.

JENNY GUY: We know what you’re talking about.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: [LAUGHS] So that’s my first go to. And I love, love, love the plug-in that they have in WordPress, where you can use the float mode for it. And it has it right alongside while you’re writing, which has been mind-blowing changing for me– life changing for me.

JENNY GUY: Yeah.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: That’s really nice because it’s all right there for you. So if you’re not using that, it’s a great tool.

JENNY GUY: How much then? How much is it? Because we have a lot–

JENNY GUY: It’s free if you have SEMrush. It’s a plug-in. And it’s a lightweight plug-in, so it doesn’t hurt anything. It’s really great. If you’re not using it, I would absolutely look into using it. Keywords Everywhere I really like. I just use it when I use– through Google and that gives you kind of a sidebar of what else is going on, what other kind of keywords are. I really like that, too.

I use Google a lot just for keyword research. Because I want to use it like the intention that a user would have and see what’s pulling up for them. And then Pinterest, I do a lot of keyword research just in Pinterest, too, to see what people are searching. Because Pintrest is a visual search engine.

It’s not just simple– they really have made a shift from being a social media platform to a visual search engine. And you need to see what people are searching when they’re going there, because they’re not going in their feeds anymore and just scrolling. They’re going there with intention. They’re going there to look for something specific.

So I want to know how they’re looking for that and what’s coming up in the top results, because that will help me decide what I’m calling a recipe or what kind of keywords I’m putting in there.

JENNY GUY: Fantastic. Love it. We’re going to talk more about Pinterest in a second. But, Tanya, will you jump in and talk a little bit about your keyword strategy?

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Yeah, it’s Pretty similar, to say Jennifer’s, except I use Ahrefs rather than SEMrush. And Ahrefs, the plan that I pay for– I think it’s like $180. I pay for the more expensive one but, initially, I didn’t. Before I grew my blog to the point where I could afford it, I was using Keywords Everywhere .

And I also use– I think it’s called, keysearch.co. That’s also a cheaper option. But I use those. And one of my favorites even though– Ahrefs I like because it’s super, super powerful. But I really like Keysearch because it does give me a little green light, red light or whatever. And whenever I type in a term it will kind of give me a, yeah, you definitely want to go for this. And then there will also be ones that are medium, but I’m like, OK, I guess I can try and hopefully hope for the best. Whatever.

I also do regular Google searches. And I use AnswerThePublic, as well, to know what people–

JENNY GUY: I love AnswerThePublic.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: It’s great. I love the little guy–

JENNY GUY: Me too. It makes me so happy.

[LAUGHTER]

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: He does. But I also use that, definitely, so I can make sure I’m answering users queries for whatever post that I’m posting about. And like Jennifer said, I also use Pinterest. I’ve never been a big feed person anyways when it came into Pinterest. I’ve always used it as a search engine.

So I always do that when I’m doing my initial keyword research. That helps me to do it from the beginning so I can see like what kind of images are popping up. So I have a better idea of what my images should look like or what other images may be missing that I might want to incorporate into my pins to get people to, hopefully, click on it.

JENNY GUY: I love that. So it’s just even from your inception period, before you’re even writing the post. Because I think, a lot of times, people strategy with Pinterest is creating those pins at the end. And now, you’re saying creating– so both of you do that. Talk a little bit more about that, Jenn. Are you similar in that way?

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Yeah. 100%. I mean, it’s the same with Google Search. You want to see what Google sees as the intention of that particular recipe. If it’s going to be that you’re on target with what they’re showing. And a lot of times it’s, is it a plated version or is it something that’s in a casserole dish that you should be showing? Because what is Google actually showing you when you search for that?

And if you have any hope to rank for it you need to be right on their– in their mindset so that you can get with it. But then the same thing, again, with Pinterest. Because if you’re talking about a recipe–

And I can’t think of an example right now. But I think, actually, one that someone else has told me when we’re talking about intention was like, a chicken chili recipe. Is it white or is it red? And you need to know what they’re looking for because if you’re doing a red one and ever other one is white, it’s not going to show up in those results.

JENNY GUY: Could you talk a little bit about the same thing through the travel lens since you do that as well? We’re doing a lot of recipes, and I love recipes. And I could talk about food all day long, but let’s give a little shout out to some of our non-foodies out there. Jenn?

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: I mean, just in terms of searches searches and stuff like that?

JENNY GUY: Yeah. So when you go in to look at Google and you’re looking to see how things are being plated or what type– you said white or red– what type of searches are you looking for with travel?

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: I mean, for me when I’m doing my research for travel, it’s less about the photos and more about the questions people are asking that I’m trying to put in there as H2’s. So for instance, I’m writing a post right now on Italy. And I’m trying to think about the questions that we had when we were going.

How do you get from Positano to Serrento? Or, where can I store my luggage at the airport? Things like that. Again, I’m trying to put myself into the shoes of the traveler, because it is– it’s a different mindset than recipes, 100%. And my travel posts actually do really well and rankings.

Alaska cruise packing list, are they asking for an Alaskan cruise? Are they looking for Alaska cruise? What kind of searches are coming up? And I’m trying to go after those or put them in in different ways so that it’s hitting the search engines in those ways. That make sense?

JENNY GUY: Very helpful. Yeah. It absolutely does. So let’s shift a little. Tanya, tell me what is your breakdown of organic versus social in your traffic– your overall traffic? And same question to you, Jenn.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: For organic traffic– I had to look this up– but about 50%–

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: I did, too.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: 50% traffic from Google, and about 40% traffic from Pinterest. And, actually, only about 4% from Facebook, which surprised me. So, yeah, I think initially when I did start, I had more percentage of Facebook traffic. But as my site grew and I focused on SEO– and like I said, my SEO strategy goes the same to Pinterest– that’s when those Google and Pinterest numbers just pretty much took over the amount of traffic that I bring into my site.

JENNY GUY: Excellent. Same question to you, Jenn.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: And I had to go look this up as well. And I just looked from like the last six months, and I’m probably a high 60% on social between Facebook and Pinterest. And, interestingly– because I’ve had some really good runs on Facebook lately– my Facebook is outperforming my Pinterest right now. and I’m about I’d say 20-25% organic search traffic.

JENNY GUY: So have you– just to narrow in here since Facebook is somewhat of a– I don’t even know how to put it. It can be a little bit sketchy and a little bit out there. You never really know what’s going to work. So what changes have you implemented? Have you done anything in particular to get those numbers better on Facebook?

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: I mean, the last couple months– and I think that’s about to change, so I wouldn’t go run out and try this. But link posts have killed it for me.

JENNY GUY: OK.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: But now, we’re starting to see dings from Facebook on linked posts, which I don’t know why. So, again, I wouldn’t go run out and do it. It just happened over the last few days. So now I have to go and rethink my strategy there. The thing was social is you’ve got to ride out what’s happening at the time. And then come up with an exit.

You don’t know how long it’s going to go, so just enjoy it when it’s going. And then–

JENNY GUY: Pivot.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Yeah. Pivot.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

JENNY GUY: Awesome.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: But it was a good summer.

JENNY GUY: Well, that’s really exciting. We’re always looking for that. So I’m going to ask about social in general, but Karen Lee, said hi, Tonya Harris Fleming Esquire.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Hi, Karen.

JENNY GUY: Courtney Odell said, I love all of Jenn’s cruise posts. She puts in so much great info. Yay. Love for you guys. So talk about social in general as a traffic generator. And where do you go to test all these things out? You’re saying you’re riding things out.

Are you making these little discoveries on your own or are these Facebook groups? Where are you finding this information on what’s working? And how do you then capitalize on it and change your strategy? We’ll start with Tanya on that one.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: You mean as far as getting traffic to my site?

JENNY GUY: Yeah. When you’re doing social experiments, which– you said, Pinterest is your number one performer in terms of traffic generation. What is your Pinterest strategy? You said it’s similar to Google.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: For Facebook, what I did– because I do so many niche like recipes, I’m in the niche groups for two reasons. One is for research. So I want to know what the people are talking about and what they get excited about. And then I will drop out my recipes in there.

I haven’t been doing that as much as I used to, mostly just because I haven’t focused on it. But when I was doing it a lot, I did see a lot of uptick in traffic when I did it on the weekends. And when I drop really engaging videos.

And the more engagement that I got– like if somebody comments it, I made sure I responded to comments because that helps with traffic to my site. The only issue that I have with Facebook traffic when it comes to sharing in two groups is that, that traffic lives for about a day or two, and then it just disappears.

I think back in the day, initially, it would last a lot longer. But now it’s not as strong as it used to be. But I still don’t give up on Facebook, because we never know when you’ll just get that– I had my highest earning day was a day where I dropped a holiday recipe. I think it was St. Patrick’s Day. Dropped it in a niche Facebook group and it went crazy.

And then after that, my videos didn’t do as well. So I think they’re– and my strategy is just basically to make sure that every weekend I put something in the group. And I also engage with the community as well. Partially, because I actually like gadget recipes and I like commenting on them, but also just to kind of get– just to be involved.

JENNY GUY: So you are a big proponent of covering your bases. Even if it’s not necessarily working right now you’re not giving up on it, you’re continuing to invest time in those different places. And then just waiting for the moment when it goes great, and you strike, and that’s good to know. Good to know.

I think it’s going to be easy to really feel like you’re screaming into the void, especially, on Facebook sometimes. You’re just talking and nothing– the reach is strangled or you had great one day, and then the next day it’s terrible. So it’s encouraging to hear that you’re still devoting time to those things.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: And I will say that I’m not the voting hours into my Facebook.

JENNY GUY: Sure.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: It’s literally like 10 minutes. So I would put more of my energy into making sure my Pinterest and my Google is doing really well. But Facebook, I think it’s still worth it to show up. I wouldn’t just say, I hate Facebook. I’m never posting there. I definitely think it’s important to just make sure you cover all your bases.

JENNY GUY: Jenn, same question to you. Talk about your social strategy and what you’re finding most effective these days.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Sure. I mean, I do spend a lot of time on Facebook. I spend a lot of time in Pinterest. And I spent a lot of time just on a post. For every post I do, I do multiple images for Pinterest. I’m sorry, I’m getting this weird sun on me.

Facebook is the short game for me, Pinterest is a long game. You don’t when a pin is going to hit. It might be a pin that takes off right away. But more frequently now, it takes a little while for it to take off. So I’m doing my Christmas stuff right now and I’m redoing pins– constantly redoing pins. I’m constantly trying new formats.

I’m trying new formats. I’m trying new to pin dimensions. I’m trying different fonts. When I see a pen that’s taking off, I’m going to go and make five new pins for it. So if I see one that’s kind of fallen off, like an old post that had gone viral, I’m taking new images. Or I’m taking old images and I’m reformatting them to do whatever is working in that current– currently.

Because what’s working today isn’t going to necessarily work tomorrow. And what worked yesterday isn’t going to work today. So I do spend a lot of time on my Pinterest images. and on my descriptions. And distributing the information to groups, to tribes, to multiple boards and WhatsApp and all that.

So I spend a lot of time on social, but it brings me a lot back. So for me, it is a big part of my traffic. I would love to– what I would really love is to have that’s social traffic and to really boost– at the same time I’m trying to boost up my direct traffic as well.

JENNY GUY: Sure. Yeah. I think that the stereotype oftentimes you hear about– especially, Pinterest. Social in general, but especially Pinterest– is that it’s a great way to get a lot of traffic in the beginning and fast. So do you guys agree with that? Was it something that you– I mean, I know, Jenn, it was somewhat your experience, but you were in at the very beginning of Pinterest.

And I would like to hear how your Pinterest strategy has adjusted now that your several years in. You can get that first blush of traffic from Pinterest, and then how do you continue to sustain growth and stay active within the platform? And we’ll start with, Jenn.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Well, I mean, back in the day, I would literally pin something and I would immediately go look at my Google Analytics. And it would go up. It was like the best ever. I could only wish for those days again. It was like a game.

But obviously, that game has changed. And I wouldn’t say for Pinterest that it’s an immediate push of traffic, because for me, it’s not. It’s usually– again, it’s more of the long game. And it’s getting into those search results. So it’s a lot of trial and error there to see what descriptions are going to get you there and what image it’s going to get you there. What was the other part of the question?

JENNY GUY: So basically, I was asking about the strategy for you going forward. You said it’s a lot of trial and error now?

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: It’s a lot of trial and error and it’s getting it out in a lot of different places. I still do a lot of share groups to try to get my images out there. And especially when I see one going, then I want to get as many people dependent as possible. So for me the share groups are really important with that for Pinterest, along with tribes and interval pinning and loops.

I use Tailwind, I’m in it every day. And I’m constantly evaluating what’s going on. I’m constantly looking and scrolling through my feed. I’m constantly going in and looking in my analytics within Tailwind to see what’s working and what’s not. Stopping doing what’s not, and doing more of what is.

Especially with loops. There’s a lot of talk about loops. Are they effective or are they not effective? If you’re using loops like a fix it and forget it, then no, it’s not effective. It’s not a Crock Pot. It’s something that has to have a lot of love and a lot of attention. And you need to spend a lot of time making sure that the stuff that you’re putting on there is quality.

And then cleaning out your loops and revisiting them at a really regular basis if you want them to work. So I spend a lot of time with those.

JENNY GUY: I mean, it’s good– yeah, but you still see value and you’re still seeing a return on your time investment there with Tailwind?

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: 100% I do. Because if you can get some clean loops out there that are turning quality content on a regular basis, you know your good stuff is getting out there. It’s when you’re just putting the stuff in there and not spending any time to give it attention and to make sure that you’ve got adequate stuff going on and that it’s stuff that people are responding to. So that’s where I see people who aren’t having luck with that.

JENNY GUY: Tanya, same question to you. Talk to me about your Pinterest strategy.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Well, I guess, my experience was a little bit different. Because when I started my blog, I think Pinterest had changed. And so when I would post I was pinning like crazy and my traffic wasn’t increasing like crazy. But when I took the break, I did notice that a couple of my pins that I had put out in the universe, months later, they started to bring in traffic. And I was like, oh, this really is a long game like everyone says.

So when I came back, my strategy was to continue like I had been doing. Doing my Pinterest research when I created– whatever content I created, I looked to see what pins were out there. I would look to see what keywords I needed to keyword my pins. I probably only created two pins per post.

I used Tailwind, so I’d make sure my Tailwind queue was full. And I was also using SmartLoops. I did see good return on SmartLoops. And I do the minimum of tribes. I don’t do share threads only because I just don’t have– well, initially, I had a really slow computer and it was taking me way too long, so I just stopped. And the growth of my traffic, I just chose to not focus on shared threads, to just focus on creating more content and really trying to optimize my site for Google.

So that’s pretty much how my strategy is. I’ve now hired a VA to take over my Pintrest because I just got– I would always forget to keep my queue full. So that’s my advice for anyone to use. If you have a strategy, great. But if you are a person like me, and you just hate, hate, hate, remembering to keep your queue full, it’s not a bad idea to hire help to help out with Pintrest.

I know how to operate Pintrest great, but at the same time, I just don’t necessarily like making sure that my queue was full.

JENNY GUY: If it’s not your love, then not your thing. I mean, even if you know how to do it, if you’re not– if you can outsource it and it’s– Can I ask where you found your VA?

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Yeah. I think someone in the Mediavine group recommend to her. But as Nicole Barker, virtual VA. She does my Pinterest and she’s been doing an amazing job.

JENNY GUY: Fantastic. Good to hear. OK. Switching to another social platform that we all love, that can be a great traffic generator. Let’s talk a little bit of Instagram, because nobody’s mentioned it. Oh, I just saw two really awkward faces like everyone wanted to do the Homer Simpson fade into the bushes move.

So I’m getting a sense from both of you that perhaps Instagram is not your most popular platform. Is that accurate?

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: So I mean, I personally love Instagram as a user. Brands love Instagram so I will always put time into Instagram. I don’t have a huge ROI for it as far as traffic.

JENNY GUY: OK.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: But for sponsored work, it’s super important. They want it. They love it. They need it. So I will do it.

JENNY GUY: Tonya, same question. Instagram for you?

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Yeah. So I think it really depends on your business strategy. I don’t work with a ton of sponsors because that wasn’t what I really wanted to focus on. My business strategy, I love ad income and I love affiliate income. So that’s where I’ve focused mostly on.

So Instagram is not a big traffic bringer for me. I still show up there because I do love the community on Instagram. So I do like posting there. But I do agree, brands love Instagram and they’re always wanting to know that you have a presence.

Even if it’s not a user account, they want to know that you got engagement and that you’re there all the time. And I will disappear from Instagram for weeks at a time. Not on purpose, but since it’s not the main function of my business, I don’t show up as much as I should.

But when I do show up I actually do get really good engagement. So I do like that platform. And I do intend to hopefully start focusing more on that in the future.

JENNY GUY: So do both of you have to swipe up? Just asking for– you both have the track– no, you don’t? Tanya? OK. So is that a goal for you to achieve the swipe up? Because I have a question asking how– if you have any great strategies? And if you don’t, it’s OK. But if you have any good strategies for getting to the swipe up level?

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: It’s not necessarily. It’s a goal, of course, because I would love an additional method to get more traffic. But I’ve noticed that I can still get traffic without having it. Not tons and tons of traffic [AUDIO OUT] food blogger. I do post a lot of images of my food. And I’ve also been putting my whole recipe a lot in the actual caption for Instagram because I guess the most engagement.

And the way that I do get traffic is, I may do like two of those posts where the whole recipe is in there. And then the third post will probably just be a link or directions saying, hey, to get the recipe, click on the link in my bio, and then click the image. And if I’ve got a post that has really good engagement. I’ll actually get a lot of traffic on that day.

JENNY GUY: Excellent. Jenn, same question to you. You do have this swipe up, yes?

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Yeah. I mean, it’s just being present there and it’s being active. I mean, I think that’s how you get the followers there. Well, I don’t have a VA for Pinterest because I keep that pretty close to me. I do have someone who works with me on Instagram. And it’s actually a high school student. And I’ve used a high school to every year.

And they’re great because they’re on it and they get it, and they’re constantly on their phone. So that’s been really good. Yeah. The biggest thing about Instagram is that if you don’t baby sit it, everything goes away. Like if you are not on it– like, I was not on it when– in between high school students, I was not on it for a couple weeks and it killed my engagement. So now, I’m climbing back uphill.

OK. Good feedback. So shifting, before we move on from social platforms in terms of traffic growth, do you have any other tips or platforms you want to mention? Or anything social before we move back to organic? Either one of you?

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: I’ve got one. It’s not necessarily social, but email. I started focusing more on growing my email list. I still use my email to tell my audience about affiliates. But growing your email list and having an engaged list, you will see an influx of traffic if you’re sending out the right kind of emails and enticing them to click.

And what I’ve noticed is that people will email me back, but they will also share– they’ll make the recipes and they’ll also go and share it on social. So I would not forget email list as a platform– well, it’s a platform. But you pretty much control it. And if you are always show– I show up twice a week in people’s inboxes, so they will always remember you if you’re showing up and making sure you’re sending out your emails.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: I want to piggyback on that because I’m so glad you brought that up, Tanya. Because I ignored my email for years. Like, up until about a month or two ago I was just doing the RSS feed. And I recently started working with Matt Mullin, and we’re doing– I’m in like the kindergarten class for email right now with him.

And that’s actually my 4 o’clock call today that I have with him. So literally it’s like holding my hand through being a big girl emailer. And in the 4 weeks I’ve been working with him I’m seeing like really, really great things. I’m super excited about it. And I’m excited about– because it’s the one thing you own. I mean, once you have those names, they’re yours.

And unless they unsubscribe to you, that’s a very captive audience who want to be there. They’re not just pressing like and something, they’re having to actively put their email address in and saying, yes, I want this. So now I’m working on multiple welcome sequences, forever sequences, and understanding it. But it took me– I had to put my big girl pants and say, you got to do something about this, because what you’re sending them is not good. And that’s not fair.

JENNY GUY: I can’t say enough good things about Matt Mullein. He spoke at our conference in Chicago. He’s been on live with me before. We have those episodes, we’ll be sharing those. He’s awesome and he knows his stuff, for sure. I can also say that he will excuse you for being a few minutes late because he’s a good guy.

So email, for sure, we can’t encourage enough to have you guys grow that email list. Because an algorithm is never going to hit you. Nobody’s arbitrary changes– or not arbitrary, but you are in control. It’s what you can sell the brands. It’s what converts oftentimes with affiliate. So it is something–

So talk a little bit. We’ve got a couple of questions we’re going to jump in there, but talk to me a little bit about how you incentivize your email. How do you get people into that funnel? Tanya, we’ll start with you.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: So beforehand, I wasn’t sending out any emails. Not a RSS feed or anything. And then I did watch the live with Matt Mullin. And what I took from that was the welcome sequence. And so I actually didn’t even create a lot. I created one welcome sequence on my most popular post. And I just have it– it’s not even a pop up or anything, it’s just right below my hero image.

And I did that on purpose because I want the people that sign up for my emails who really want to get there. And I did a startup guide. So it’s like a guide that people get. They’ll get an email one day for five days. And then they get funneled into my– is really my air fryer email sequence. They get funneled into my air fryer list.

And so, once a week, they get a dedicated air fryer email. And I tell you, those are my biggest fans. Those are the people that are telling everyone about my email list, everyone about my recipes. And it’s grown like wildfire and people in my neighborhood apparently know about this email list.

[LAUGHTER]

My husband got stopped at the store and they’re like, oh, yeah. I know your wife. She’s got those air fryer emails and whatever.

JENNY GUY: That is so awesome.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: It was. It was actually really cool. So before, I really wasn’t paying any attention to it. But once I watched that live, I realized how valuable email is. And the reason why it’s so important is, you’ve grown these dedicated fans. So when you want to sell them and affiliate that you think will help them– or even a product– those are the people that are wanting to buy from you.

I have people even ask me like, when are you going to drop a cookbook or whatever? So it’s been pretty much a game changer. Not just for traffic wise, it helps. I get a lot of clicks through when I do send out a recipe or whatever post, but I also think it’s great for just growing an audience and showing your audience you’re an expert in whatever you’re talking about.

JENNY GUY: They’re your people, man. Those are the people that are going to buy. They want to hear from you, and you got to give them what they want. It’s so good to hear. So how long have you been focusing on emails? Just since that live, Tanya?

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Yeah. Whenever that live happened, that’s when I actually started and I saw my sign-ups skyrocket. I was getting initially like maybe five sign of a day. And now, I get it about 40 to 50 sign-ups a day just by–

JENNY GUY: That is awesome.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: –implementing that strategy. I probably need to take his course and his coaching, because just that little bit of information– I would say, anyone, if you haven’t watched that live, watch that live if you are having trouble with email because it was a game changer for me.

JENNY GUY: And hearing that email is a huge source of traffic is super exciting too. And people in your neighborhood are randomly talking about it, so brilliant then. Jenn, same question to you.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Yeah. So like I said, Matt has been a game changer for me. Tell him I sent you. And it’s Matt. Marisa was asking, what’s his name? Matt Mullin, that’s his name.

JENNY GUY: Yep. We’ll share it. Yeah, we shared the live, and we’ll share his link, too.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Yeah. He’s been great. So I do have a popup and I didn’t before. But he had suggested one, and I have a tech guy who was a little worried about it bogging my site down so he suggested Bloom for the popup, and that’s what I’ve been using. And my sign-ups like also skyrocketed like Tanya’s.

For a month I was probably getting– I don’t know– 500 or maybe more than that. But now, I’m getting about 1,500 a week–

JENNY GUY: Awesome.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: –since having the popup. And he’s helped me put them in some key places on my posts and stuff like that. He’s been great. And like I said, he’s been really holding my hand through it. So I knew for me– I buy courses– I’m a course hog– and then I don’t do him. So I knew if I’d buy I bought the course, if I got stuck somewhere I would just stop, which is why it was worth it for me to spend the extra money to get the coaching, because I know it’s that important to do.

And he really has kind of walked me through, not only the how to do it, but the why to do it. And for me, if I don’t understand the why, then I’m not going to– it’s not going to be successful. So, yes, that’s kind of where I’m at.

But I do– like I said, I do the welcome sequence. I have an easy dessert welcome sequence. I’m starting an easy appetizer welcome sequence. And I’ll start a couple other ones as well. And then they get funneled into my forever series, and then I also do a broadcast email once a week.

JENNY GUY: Fantastic. So many I love. I love hearing that those are engaging and that some of that came from the live, which is super exciting to hear. Eden Westbrook asks, what you put in the emails to get more engagement besides recipes? Tanya.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: I usually will just do like a paragraph intro. So if it’s like a recipe that has a story behind it, I may put that in there just to get people excited about the recipe as well. Just like you would do on a typical blog post. And then I’m usually a one link person for most recipes, unless it’s like– just recently I did a back to school, because my daughter started middle school on Monday. So I just sent out an email with a lot of different links that way.

And then some of my emails will have related affiliates in the email as well. So it’s really just– I kind of just make sure I have a directed email like, hello, whatever your name is. And it’s like I’m talking to a friend. And my particular purpose would be like, this is why you shouldn’t make this week.

And you’ll be surprised how many people will click and literally make it that week if you are talking to them like it’s your– if I talk to it like it’s my– they’re my friends.

JENNY GUY: That’s great. And, Jenn, same question to you.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Well, I mean, it’s a formula that Matt uses so I don’t really want to necessarily throw it out to the group.

JENNY GUY: You don’t have to say exactly.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Yeah.

JENNY GUY: Don’t share the secrets to the sauce.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Yeah. It’s kind of one of the benefits of working with him. But it’s obviously, linking to particular recipes but he kind of has a structure that he’s found successful. So we’ll check out his live. I’m sure he talks about it.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

JENNY GUY: Yeah.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Michelle asked a question about Bloom and what makes it better than others. According to my tech person, it just was a lighter weight, it didn’t bogged down the site as much. And he tells me what to do, and I do it. So I trust him. He’s my spirit animal.

JENNY GUY: Fantastic. Good to hear. Good tech people are worth their weight in gold. So we’re starting to run a little bit low on time. I want to get both of you to give me your favorite resources for traffic building tips. Are there podcasts? Are there websites? Anything that we can toss to our audience just to share. Or just favorite blogging resources, in general. We always like to ask that question. Tanya, you first, please.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Podcast, I love podcasts. I’m a podcast junkie. But my favorite for SEO building, of course, Theory of Content. It’s great. And I just listen to those– I listened to it on the way to work when I was trying to build and learn everything. On my commutes to work, my poor daughter she had to listen to Amber and Josh talk about SEO. But it helps a lot.

And just the Mediavine blog posts helped as well. If you are a Mediavine member and you’re in the Mediavine about a publisher or a group, anytime I have a question I usually just go to that group and do the search for whatever I want. Just to see if anyone’s has asked and answered that as well. But those are generally– I’m trying to think of the other podcast I like.

Chopped is one that I listened to as well. And there’s probably other– any blogging related podcasts that, if I like the topic, I’ll usually give it a listen while I’m commuting.

JENNY GUY: Fantastic. Jenn, anything to you? Any questions to you?

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: I mean, I’ve been working and listening to Ty Kilgore from Everything Digital Marketing. And I’m going to be attending a retreat with him. And it’s almost similar to what I’m doing with Matt for SEO. So I really like what he’s been saying, he’s been doing lives all summer. So I’ve been watching those. But I’m not a big podcast person or anything like that.

And this is 100% not to toot our own horn, but the Bloggers Tell All group is the majority of my information. Because not only do the ladies that I work with have amazing insight and ideas, but the members there– that’s where I get a lot of great content and what’s going on at the very minute.

JENNY GUY: Fantastic advice. OK. We’re sharing links, but we are reaching the end of our time, which stinks. And you guys have been sharing so many great things. But the last question I’m going to ask you both, aside from sharing where we can find you and any special offers or exciting things we can share with our audience is, if someone out there is struggling to reach the Mediavine traffic threshold, what can you advise them to do today that might help them get there?

So that’s going to be the final question. I’m going to give you guys a second to think about it and give a couple of announcements. And then we’ll come back and say goodbye to the rest of you to answer those final questions. But before I get that final question, as we always do every time we’re on live, I’m going to say our farewell.

And I’m also saying farewell to the Summer of Live 2019. It has been swell. It has been great. We are so incredibly grateful to all of our guests. I’m going to do a quick overview. Thank everybody in person and in particular, because we are so grateful to them.

Week one, we did our three year celebration for Mediavine lines moved to full service ad management with two of our original publishers. They were Brandy O’Neil with Nutmeg Nanny, and Jocelyn Brubraker from Inside BruCrew Life. Week two, we had two co-founders. We had Amber and Eric on, and they were both sharing all of our secrets and talking past, present and future.

Week three was Trellis with our engineering manager, Jordan Cauley. Week four, we talked about create. We had our vise president of publisher support, Nicole Johnson, on and our Mediavine publisher Tara Jacobson of the site Marketing Artfully. We talked philanthropy and turning passion into compassion.

Week five, with Julie Tran daily of The Little Kitchen and also her philanthropy, which is blogging for kids– or Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. And then we have a site– a link for her too. Get involved with her amazing fundraiser that she does yearly, and Mediavine is also a contributor. And then Betsy Eaves of Java Cupcake and Operation Gratitude.

Week six, was books and publishing with media publishers Jen Ruiz of Jen on a Jet Plane and Valerie Stimac of Space Tourism Guide. And Valerie and Valise. Product sales was our next week with our experts Chloe Macintosh from Boxwood Avenue. And Erin chase of $5 Dinners was followed in week 7 by Course Creation with Jessica Festa of Jessie on a Journey. And Hilary Erickson from Pulling Curls.

Decade of video, as always in week 8 with on camera aces, Meredith Marsh of VidProMom and Kristen McDonnell of Studio Knit. We crushed affiliate marketing in week nine with Mediavine publisher Amanda Williams of A Dangerous Business and Jeannine Crooks from a Awin. We covered all things SEO and Beanie Babies in week 10 with Josh Unseth from Theory of Content and Morgan McBride from Charleston Crafted.

And last week, we talked about more acronyms– as always, we can’t ever get enough– with our top RPM maximization tips with Lance Cothern of his blog, Money Manifesto. And Dorothy Kern from Crazy for Crust. And finally, we had amazing guest this week, Jennifer Fishkind from Princess Pinky Girl, and Tanya from My Forking Life. Ladies, will you please share your final thoughts before we say goodbye to the Summer of Live 2019? We’ll start with, Jenn,

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Sure. So as far as getting that Mediavine threshold, I’d say focus on your SEO 100%, but your social traffic, Pintrest can help you. So really, for me, I would say you know spend some time on your Pinterest and try a lot of different pins out there. And maximize that those pins, because it can help you get there, that’s for sure. Did you want where to find us, or no?

JENNY GUY: We did. We’ve gone ahead and shared the Bloggers Tell All, but tell us a little bit more about Blogger Tell All and that special offer…

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: So really quick, yes, it’s eight bloggers who are actually blogging. And we are there giving– it’s more of an advanced group. And we have a lot of people– we have a lot of questions that come up about getting to that threshold. So that does come up a lot. We’ve had a lot of wins of people who’ve made it to Mediavine based on some of the stuff they’ve learned there.

But we do have, right now, an offer that we are putting out there. It’s $1 trial for a week. So you can see if it’s something that you like. And if it is, you can decide if you want to join. And the link should be in there, and it should take you right to the $1 offer.

But you’ve got eight really talented bloggers who are from– have all very different experiences and different strengths who can really– are in there and active and answering questions. We do weekly lives. And we do weekly audits as well. So I hope, if anyone has any questions, feel free to message me about it or just check out the link.

JENNY GUY: Fantastic. Tanya, same question to you. If someone is struggling to reach that 25,000 sessions, what can you tell them?

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: I’m going to echo SEO, of course. And what I would say to piggyback off of that, what I focused on was just basically three. I picked the number three and that’s three traffic bringing the tools that I– that’s what I focused on when I was trying to reach 25,000, which is why my Instagram game is pretty weak.

So when my goal was, I really want to join Mediavine, I made sure that I was optimizing my post for SEO. I was doing keyword research to make sure that I could actually rank for recipes. So I wasn’t targeting those high certain keywords. I was sticking around 2,000 or less. And it was easier for me to rank for the lower keywords than it would be for higher keywords.

And so I did that to build my authority in a lot of related content so that I could interlink like crazy. I think that helps as far as, what I was a sharing to Pintrest, what I was sharing to Facebook. Creating similar content that was well keyword researched, that will help you grow your site faster if you’re trying to reach the Mediavine on threshold to get that 25,000. I guess it’s sessions per month.

JENNY GUY: Correct. In the previous 30 days. It doesn’t have to be from the beginning of the month to the end of the month, just the previous 30 days via your Google Analytics. Thank you so much. And where can we reach you, Tanya?

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Oh, I’m My Forking Life. That’s M-Y-F-O-R-K-I-N-G-L-I-F-E .com I Have to spell it out because I know sometimes people hear something differently.

[LAUGHTER]

JENNY GUY: What did you say?

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: And I’m on Pinterest. I’m on Instagram. I’m on Facebook. Don’t find me on Twitter because I barely tweet anything, but I’m on there too. So, yeah, that’s where I can be found.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: And princesspinkygirl.com, I forgot to mention that.

JENNY GUY: We’ve got all of that shared in the comments if you have any questions on that and want to get in touch with our amazing guests. I am so grateful to you guys for being here. Thank you for sharing all of that great information, and we appreciate it. It’s such a great exciting time to see bloggers lifting each other up. It’s what we’re here for. We’re all about education.

And I want to also thank an incredible audience. You guys are with us– you’ve been with us every week this summer. And if you were looking for these episodes, they are always available on our Facebook. And once we have the edited versions, they will go up on the Mediavine YouTube channel. So subscribe to that and make sure that you’re not missing an episode.

We are kicking off Season 2 of Teal Talk in a couple of weeks. It’s going to be Thursday, September 12th, at 2:00 PM with our CEO, Eric Hochberger. We’re going to do an overview of all of his RPM increasing strategies to get you guys ready to kick all the butts in Q4.

If you have any suggestions for content or guests for an upcoming episode, please email in. We’re here for you at sponsored@mediavine.com. And I just want to say thank you for an incredible summer. Everyone, have a great Labor Day weekend, and we will see you in the fall. Thank you guys so much.

JENNIFER HABER FISHKIND: Thank you, Jenny.

JENNY GUY: Thanks for coming.

TANYA HARRIS FLEMING-ESQ: Bye.

JENNY GUY: Bye, everyone.