When raising a family, it’s easy to fall back on pre-packaged and take-out foods. After all, it’s convenient, easy and quick – three tempting buzzwords for every modern parent. But for Dan and Rachel Hanawalt, they knew that by opting for convenience they were sacrificing their health.
“My husband and I came to the realization that we needed to make some real changes to our lifestyle,” said Rachel. “Both of us began to understand that our bad health choices were beginning to hold us back.”
So they set out to make a change, adopting healthier dietary habits in order to live a more balanced life and be an example for their young son. And with their newfound lifestyle came Simple Seasonal, a food blog aimed to educate other busy families that healthy living starts in the kitchen.
We asked Dan, User Experience Designer at AWeber, and Rachel how the blog got its start, the tactics they use to grow their audience, and some advice to those who want to start a blog of their own.
What was the inspiration behind Simple Seasonal?
Rachel (R): As a visiting nurse, I noticed that many of the chronic health problems of my patients were directly related to their lifestyle choices, particularly their diet. Because of this, my husband and I joined a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm where we get a weekly share of fresh vegetables.
At first it was challenging to cook healthy recipes with a variety of vegetables, some of which were unfamiliar to us. But with time, I fell in love with creating my own healthy recipes. The blog is a way for me to explore my creativity as well as make CSA and farmer’s market vegetables more accessible to others.
What methods are you using to grow your audience?
(R): We’ve been posting 2-3 times per week, keeping SEO best practices in mind and using social media. We’ve been utilizing tried and true marketing techniques to encourage readers to join our mailing list, such as having a sign up form available in the sidebar of every page, as well as at the bottom of every article. We also use action phrases on our forms to encourage people to sign up.
Developing relationships with other bloggers by commenting on their websites, following them on social media and featuring them on recipe roundups in our monthly email newsletter, as well as submitting photos to “food porn” sites like Tastespotting and Foodgawker, has helped. We’ve also been fortunate enough to be featured on some large online magazines, like SpryLiving, Brit + Co. and DailyBurn and have a partnership with Living Hope Farm (my local CSA).
Are you using any social media channels?
(R): Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+.
How are you using email marketing to connect with your audience?
(R): We’re using AWeber to send blog broadcasts and monthly newsletters. We’re about to send out a reader survey and currently planning an autoresponder series for our subscribers, as well as an ebook, which we will market to our subscribers through AWeber.
What kind of content are you sending? How frequently are you reaching out to your readers?
(R): We send recipes around 2-3 times per week. Our monthly newsletters feature news about Simple Seasonal, exclusive recipes just for subscribers, and a roundup of favorite recipes from other bloggers.
Our blog surveys are to get to know our readers better so we can understand what their needs and desires are.
How do you find time for blogging?
(R): As a mother of a 4-year-old (in addition to working part-time as a visiting nurse), it’s very challenging. I schedule time into my day planner for creating content and marketing and schedule around my son’s quiet time and his preschool.
Sometimes, I exceed my goals, which is great, and sometimes I don’t meet them, which I’ve come to accept. Building a successful blog is like running a marathon. It’s important to just keep showing up every day and to give 100% with the time that I have.
What tips would you share for those who are new to blogging?
- Always be ethical and genuine with your content. As a blogger, you’re an influencer and with that you need to preserve your integrity.
- Make use of your biggest “unfair advantages.” Dan is a user experience designer and handles the technical side of keeping the website running, and I was a photographer’s assistant and minored in English in college.
- Be willing to learn new things about technology and marketing that you never thought you could master. You may surprise yourself.
- Become friends with other bloggers in your niche. Don’t think of them as competitors. Your audience is the whole world – there are enough customers for everyone.
- Although at times you may get tired or frustrated, remember to have fun and love the content that you’re writing about.
- If you don’t meet a goal, or your audience isn’t growing as fast as you’d like it to, don’t give up. It’s a long game. Be persistent and view it as a commitment that you will have to invest time in. Growing a blog takes time, and persistent people with good content will find success.
This post is part of our monthly #AWeberLife Series, in which we showcase our company culture and Core Values. Want to join in on the fun? Visit AWeber.jobs to see all open positions and to apply.
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