How to build a community: Food Bloggers Los Angeles

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Food Bloggers Los Angeles, May 2012 (photo: James Abke)

When I started this blog in 2008, it was just me and my keyboard. I enjoyed writing, got into the rhythm of blogging, but I was lonely. I only had a few readers and wasn't sure how to get more. I ran into technical roadblocks daily. I had lots of questions and no one to ask.

Then I went to my first food blogging conference and discovered that I was by no means alone. Though it had been invisible to me, the food blogging community already existed. The conference drew hundreds (!) of food bloggers, including a decent-sized group from greater Los Angeles - most of whom had never met each other in person before. Twitter friends are great, but I longed for food blogging friends in real life.

When Patti Londre (the voice behind Worth the Whisk and owner of Camp Blogaway) and I decided to start Food Bloggers Los Angeles - FBLA for short - neither of us was sure where it would go. But we both sensed that the food blogging journey we were on would be more interesting with friends along.

Patti and I networked like crazy, spread the word and arranged monthly meetings. The group grew from a handful to a dozen to a small army. We invaded each other's dining rooms for potlucks. We drew on each other's expertise for discussions on SEO, Google Analytics, how to work with PR people, traffic-building strategies. We threw in community service projects and the occasional food crawl. And some months we skipped meetings and had plain old parties instead. Because, as it turns out, we really enjoy each other's company.

Patti Londre of Worth the Whisk and Gisele Perez of Pain Perdu at Trufflepalooza 2011 (photo: James Gierman)

FBLA continues to grow. New members show up at each meeting. We are an open-door group; anyone is welcome, including PR people, local chefs and restaurant owners, and food companies. Blogger-friendly brands send samples and treats to our meetings, and we're grateful for those relationships. Best of all, we've made friends, good friends, who understand and appreciate the obsession we all share.

But here's the kicker: The amount of concrete progress each of us has made as bloggers because of FBLA is equally staggering. Collectively, the members of FBLA have:

• Gained inbound links and drastically increased our organic search rankings as a result of photographing and writing about each other's potluck contributions.
• Grown our traffic and audiences significantly because of the help and advice we've gotten at meetings.
• Improved our photography, writing, editing and technical skills.
• Appeared in newspapers, in magazines, on the radio and on TV. 
• Gotten paying work as food writers, recipe developers, chefs, caterers, cooking instructors, video hosts, web developers and social media professionals.  

I know I'd be in a very different place were it not for the support, wisdom and generosity of FBLA. Thank you, friends. I look forward to sharing many more years of obsession with you.

Just do it

Bloggers: Are you thinking you might want to start a group like this in your area? You should, whether you blog about food, kids, cars, stocks or hamsters. Here are a few pieces of advice.

1. Don't wait for someone else to do it. Guess what - they probably won't. If having a community is important to you, take the reins. It's neither difficult nor extremely time-consuming. It just takes a little organization and the willingness to be bossy.

2. Make a schedule and stick to it. We do something every month. It took us a while to figure out what worked best for everyone given work schedules, family commitments and L.A. traffic. We mostly meet on Saturday or Sunday mornings, when the majority of members seem to be able to come.

3. Change up your location. This is particularly important for us given the sprawl of Los Angeles. We alternate neighborhoods because no one is truly centrally located.

4. Yes, your house/apartment is big enough. The point is being together. No one is expecting the Martha Stewart treatment. Get over it. If you don't own enough dishes or flatware and don't want to use disposable, have everyone bring his or her own. Think how interesting the photos will be!

5. Take advantage of each other's strengths. Create opportunities for those with particular skills or knowledge to share with the group. You won't believe how much you'll learn.

6. Write about each other. Post summaries of interesting discussions. Interview or profile fellow members. Guest post for each other. Do round-ups around a theme or holiday. You'll get interesting content, and you'll each reach the others' audiences. 

7. Make friends with the media. Invite a local newspaper reporter or radio producer to your meetings. Your local paper might find a taco crawl with a bunch of food bloggers extremely interesting. Start with the reporter who covers your topic and invite him or her to come as a guest (or a guest speaker). Once you've got a relationship, coverage may follow. Remember, most newspapers, magazines, and radio and TV stations have blogs too. They're always looking for interesting community items.

8. Support each other. It's not a contest. The better you all do, the better each of you does.

9. Throw the doors open. I've had bloggers roll their eyes when I tell them we welcome PR people and brands to our meetings. I don't see the point of exclusivity. We're all in this together, trying to figure out how food bloggers fit into the world of professional media. We've all got a lot to gain from building strong relationships. Also, FBLA's food brand friends have been integral to the success mentioned above.

10. See number 1.

Are you ready to build your community? Just do it. You'll be glad you invested the time and effort.


Got questions? Need more advice on building your own community? Leave a comment below....

How to blog for your personal brand: 9 rules for raising your profile

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I've met scores of bloggers over the past few years who love to write, wish they could make money writing, and don't know how to make that happen. If that's you, keep reading. And if that's someone you know, please feel free to pass this post on. 

This week I spoke at a conference in San Diego called Women Create Media: Empowering Writers in the Digital Age. My topic, which I shared with Patti Londre (owner of Camp Blogaway and Worth the Whisk): "How your blog informs your brand."

The morning's sessions tended toward the inspirational and emotional, but Patti and I were all about business. Your blog can be your resume, your portfolio, your public face to the world. You can use your blog to make a name for yourself, build a personal brand, and get paying work as a writer, editor, consultant, recipe developer, photographer. But it doesn't just happen. You have to make it happen.

I realized as I was preparing for this presentation that I've followed some basic rules over the past two and a half years, and I'm proud of the results. I can't promise you fame and fortune if you follow these rules - but I can promise you that potential employers and clients will take you more seriously.

Erika's 9 rules for blogging with purpose


1. Create excellent content. This may seem obvious, but lots of bloggers give themselves permission to be sloppy. I do not think it's okay to post stuff half-baked. You never know how a potential employer or client will find you - it could be your most recent post, or it could be something from months or years ago. Make sure that wherever on your blog a visitor lands, she's seeing your very best.

2. Pick an angle and stick with it. You want people to read your title and your tag line and know exactly who you are and what you do. You want them to be able to describe you in one sentence. Why? So that potential clients notice and remember you among the crowds of food/mommy/etc. bloggers. If you can package yourself well, clients will assume you can do the same for them.

3. Be consistent. Don't disappear for a month and then write four posts in one week. It makes you look flaky. If the client sees that you ignore your own brand for weeks at a time, she might be more wary of trusting you with hers.

4. Be professional. If you want people to pay you to write, then write cleanly - no typos, no grammatical mistakes, no lazy constructions or run-on sentences. If you want people to hire you to develop recipes, make sure every recipe you post works. If I'm a brand manager looking for a freelance writer to help me with my website and I see typos or careless errors on your blog, guess what? I'm moving on. There are lots of writers out there - I'm going to hire one who'll make my life easier by turning in clean copy.

5. Think strategically. When an opportunity comes your way, make the most of it. There's always a way to turn a lucky break into a stepping stone.

Here's an example: In 2010 I was fortunate to be chosen by Foodbuzz to decorate cakes with Kelly Ripa and Buddy "The Cake Boss" Valastro. I knew the event would be getting a lot of attention, and I wanted to find a way to use it to boost traffic to my blog.

The collective mind of Food Bloggers Los Angeles (more on that in a minute) came up with a great idea: Write a themed post every day for a month leading up to the event to generate excitement and create search-engine-friendly content. I took private lessons with a local baker in fondant and buttercream, listed facts about ovarian cancer (the event raised money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund), shopped for makeup to get ready for the video cameras, decorated cupcakes, piped chocolate - and blogged about it all. In every post I mentioned Foodbuzz, Electrolux (the sponsor), Kelly Ripa, and the OCRF.

It was hard work. But my blog traffic took a big jump that month and never dipped. And when I got to the event in New York, every single person from the PR agency and Electrolux knew who I was and had read my posts. Did that series lead directly to money? Maybe not. But it went a long way toward putting In Erika's Kitchen on the food blogging map.

6. Make friends. The better people know you, the more likely they'll be to help you, support you, and even hire you. Online relationships are fine, but nothing replaces face-to-face time. That's why we go to blogging conferences. And that's why Patti and I founded FBLA.

Every month our group of Los Angeles-area food bloggers gets together to learn from (and cook for) each other. Members share their expertise with the group - we've had sessions on SEO, Google Analytics, working with PR agencies, brand-building, photography and more. We write about each other's food, which helps all of us expand our audiences. We've fed each other paying work, helped each other get mentioned in newspapers and magazines, and pulled each other up the learning curve. And we've become really good friends along the way. We've been meeting for almost two years and in that time every single one of us has seen tangible growth and success. By the way, we include reporters, PR reps, local chefs, food companies, and just about any other member of the local food and restaurant community. Relationships are key.

7. Ask for what you want and don't sell yourself short. Your voice is important, your audience is desirable, and your time is worth money. When someone asks you to write for free and promises you fantastic exposure in exchange, think hard about whether you're really likely to get something concrete out of it (traffic, recognition, connections, a reference, a portfolio piece). If yes, then do it. But if you feel like it's something you should be paid to do, then ask. I say something like "Thanks so much, but I'm only taking paid writing assignments right now - is there any funding available for this project?" Sometimes there is, sometimes there isn't. The worst they can say is no.

8. Be patient, but not complacent. It can take months or even years to get significant traction as a blogger. It's not likely to happen overnight. Have patience. But don't just sit there waiting for things to happen. Do something. My M.O.: Strategize, plan, act, assess, repeat.

9. Prioritize. Figure out what's really important to you and make decisions accordingly. My personal guideline: Real life comes first whenever possible. If it's a choice between blogging and cuddling my kids, my kids win (most of the time).

What else belongs on this list? I'd love to hear your ideas - leave a comment below....

Happy birthday to my blog (and a very personal giveaway)

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Two years ago today I started writing In Erika's Kitchen. As I say to my husband every year on our anniversary: Feels like a lifetime. And I mean that in only the most positive sense. Blogging has become such an integral part of both my routine and my persona (online and in real life) that I hardly remember what I did with my time before it.

Oh, wait, it's coming back to me. Exercise. Knit. Read more books. Ah well. Who needs that stuff when you have a food blog? Because, let me assure you, knitting offered me neither the opportunity nor the motivation to:

• Interview the legendary Alice Waters and the toothsome Curtis Stone
• Pick the brains of master chefs (Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger), food styling pros (Susan Spungen), food TV stars (Darrell "DAS" Smith and Jeffrey Saad) and cookbook authors (Lucinda Scala Quinn)
• Decorate cakes with Kelly Ripa and Buddy "The Cake Boss" Valastro
• Develop original recipes for brands like POM Wonderful and Nestlé
• Audition for a national TV show
• Get featured on the radio (twice!) talking about pie and my grandmother's rugelach
• Inspire my kids to write their own recipes (like Weston's guacamole and Emery's avocado hand tacos)
• Organize a group of kindred spirits (Food Bloggers Los Angeles)
• Conquer my fear of pie crust
• Indulge my fascination with fungi (Trufflepalooza 2009 and 2010)
• Improve my photography (from terrible to not bad) 

All of the things listed above have meaningfully improved my quality of life over the past two years. But what's changed most of all is that I've met dozens of new friends through this blog - too many to list, that's certain. Some are friends with whom I spend a lot of time and who have become part of my family's routine. Some are friends I haven't yet met in person but to whom I feel just as connected through Twitter, Facebook and mutual blog comments.


To those of you who are reading this but have never let me know who you are: Thank you. I'm grateful for the time you spend here and look forward to getting to know you in the future. And to those of you I do know: Thank you, too. You have made my life considerably more rich in the past two years. I feel lucky.

Okay, no more sappy stuff.

Enough of what you've done for me. Now here's what I'm going to do for you.

Leave a comment below by 5pm on December 24, 2010 telling me what recipe you'd like to see on my blog in 2011. (I'm crowdsourcing.) Two randomly selected commenters* will get to choose one of the following:

1. A batch of my famous brownies (the people in my office will tell you how fantabulous they are)
2. An apple cake (ditto the office thing)
3. Some Meyer lemons from my backyard (although you'll have to wait a few months until they're ripe)

Looking forward to sharing more food stories and recipes with you in year three....

* U.S. residents only, please and sorry. I have no idea how I'd ship any of the above out of the country successfully.

A day at the food bank

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Today I'm writing about food from a different point of view.

This morning, instead of working at our computers in our comfortable Santa Monica office, about 40 people from my company descended on MEND, or Meet Each Need with Dignity. MEND, a nonprofit in a rough part of L.A.'s San Fernando Valley, helps people and families in need with clothing, food, medical and dental care, and educational programs.

The bulletin board near MEND's food bank offers nutritional information and healthy recipes

I spent my time in the food bank with a dozen of my coworkers, where we sorted through bags of donated food and gathered the edible stuff into boxes to be given away to MEND clients. MEND volunteers drive trucks around the valley to pick up donations. Sometimes these are packaged foods past their expiration date, or day-old bread. They get a lot of produce, too, much of which, unfortunately, has already turned the corner, and which, even more unfortunately, is generally mixed in with the good stuff. MEND is committed to providing clients with fresh produce whenever it can, so the volunteers spend a lot of time sifting through soft, rotten fruit to find the edible pieces within the piles. It's hard work, not the easiest job for which to recruit volunteers, according to Luke Ippoliti, assistant director of MEND's food bank.

Sorting bread

Food boxes ready for MEND clients

MEND serves both local families and homeless people

MEND gets a lot of donations from local Trader Joe's stores

Bread waiting for a home

MEND's food storage facility is huge - boxes piled up to the ceilings

The federal government supplies some of the canned goods MEND distributes

Filling boxes with cereal, beans, canned vegetables and milk

Food bank assistant director Luke Ippoliti in the volunteer-maintained MEND vegetable garden

Some food goes straight to the dumpster - it's spoiled by the time MEND gets it

Over dinner tonight I tried to tell my kids about the outing to MEND. I think it was hard for them to empathize, which is certainly not their fault. They've never gone hungry. They've never done without. When they want something to eat, I make it or we buy it. We try not to waste food in our house, but sometimes it happens: Bread molds, fruit rots, milk sours. As I was sorting through bags of discarded food today, I realized that my normal "throw it out" standards didn't apply at the food bank. If it wasn't spoiled, it went into someone's box. Because when you're hungry, soft bananas are better than no bananas.

I feel lucky to work for a company that considers it important enough to give back to the world that it's willing to pay a few dozen people to spend a day at a place like MEND. Next time I go, I'm taking my kids.

If you live in Los Angeles, MEND needs your help. November and December, leading up to the holidays, are their busiest time. Contact volunteer services director Lupe Martin, (818) 896-0246 x7327 or lupe@mendpoverty.org. They'll put you to work and use your time well.