Usually as a content creator, you're creating blogs, video content, and podcast. But there's multiple avenues to get your content and brand out there. Which all begs the question: have you ever wanted to publish a book? Writing a book is a natural segue for many bloggers, but the journey can seem large and long. In Summer of Live 2019, we talked to two Mediavine influencers who are both published authors: Jen Ruiz of Jen on a Jet Plane and Valerie Stimac of The Space Tourism Guide and Valerie & Valise. Jen and Valerie pack this episode with their honest individual experiences in publishing their own books, and give action-packed tips on how you can get started today. Make sure to tune in! Helpful Resources Jen On A Jet PlaneThe Space Tourism GuideValerie & ValiseBecome A Published Author with Jeffrey Eisner | Mediavine On Air Episode 16The Solo Female Travel BookDark Skies 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV0CgXjrtC0 Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Happy Thursday, everybody. It is July 11th, and we are in the Summer of Live. I'm Jenny Guy, Mediavine's marketing manager, and it is our month of beyond blogging. So we are talking about the things that tie to your blogging career but might be a little bit outside just the nuts and bolts of operating your website. But we are here and we are so excited today to be talking about book publishing. And I have two amazing guests. But book publishing can seem like a really natural segue for a lot of bloggers. It's an extension of you sharing that expertise that you're already sharing with your audience-- that's sometimes it-- and then other times, it can be the impetus for people to begin blogging in the first place. We've heard a lot of publishers tell us they're great authors, but they aren't able to quite navigate the system and get published, so they decide to start a blog so they can make use of their expertise and their writing skills. But whatever your experiences with book publishing, I'm here with two guests who are both highly successful publishers. We're really excited to have them-- both on their websites and with their books. So first I have Jen Ruiz. Hello, Jen. Welcome. JENNIFER RUIZ: Hi, Jenny. Thank you. JENNY GUY: Awesome. So she is the Mediavine publisher with the site Jen on a Jet Plane, where she writes about affordable female travel solo-- which I think is so fierce and amazing. She's a frequent conference speaker, and she also has her own TED Talk. No big deal there. And, exciting news, she just told me she is doing another TEDx Talk, which I'll have her tell us about a little bit later. But her current TED Talk that's already available for release is "The Power of Flying Solo," which is advocating for travel as a cure for what ails you. She's also a lawyer and the author of the books You Need a Vacation, which is about how to travel with a full-time job, which we all could use, The Solo Female Travel Book, which is tips and inspiration for women who want to see the world on their own terms-- who doesn't?-- and The Affordable Flight Guide, which is how to find cheap airline tickets and see the world on a budget. That last one I just mentioned, The Affordable Flight Guide, just happens to be a number one Amazon best seller. So she has a few things she's worked on. Jen, welcome, and tell us just real quick, what's going on with you in your life right now? I know that I spilled the beans on your TED Talk, but what else is going on? JENNIFER RUIZ: You did. I just got that notification minutes before logging on today. [INTERPOSING VOICES] JENNIFER RUIZ: Hot off the presses, important news. Otherwise, I have a couple of press trips coming up. I'll be, actually, taking a food trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan next week, which I'm so excited about. I worked out really hard today to try to earn my right to eat all the delicious things next week. I have a big move coming up.

With all of the constant shifts in the blogging industry, from social media algorithms to influencer marketing trends, the one thing that stays consistent is your brand. After being a content creator for a while, you realize pretty quickly that you don't have control over many things. You'll never be able to control how many likes you get on a post, or how much engagement your blog pieces get But, you can always optimize your brand to be in the best position possible day in and day out. Back at MVCon 2019, Jocelyn Delk Adams took the stage to talk all things brand. She's the founder of Grandbaby Cakes, a brand inspired by her grandmother which shares classic recipes in a modern and accessible way. In this podcast episode, you'll hear her top tips on how to align your brand with your personal passion and create a community that you love. You don't want to miss it! Helpful Resources Grandbaby CakesJocelyn's CookbookGrandbaby Cakes MerchMediavine On Air Episode 49 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx1UhSZM6UE&t=115s Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JOCELYN ADAMS: Good morning. Yeah! I'm the only one excited to be here? OK, I just want to apologize for the weather in Chicago. It sucks. I am sorry. [LAUGHTER] I am sorry. It will get better tomorrow. How is everyone doing? Yeah, I feel like I'm doing the Oprah-like thing. Well, first of all, we're going to go from high energy to probably some kind of cooler energy. And we'll go back and forth because this is a serious topic. So for you guys who are blogging a year or less, raise your hands, a year or less. Oh, so everybody is like OGs up in here? [LAUGHTER] Right? OK, so what about four to five years? OK, yeah, y'all need this. You burn out. Anything above that? Oh, my gosh, and you're still doing it. OK, clap for yourselves for real, right? Because this is hard. Staying fired up about your brand is very, very difficult to do. You've got the ebbs and flows. I mean, I'm sure most of you are not waking up every single day like, oh, my gosh, I can not wait to do SEO today. No? No, right? This is difficult. And it's like, oh, my gosh, I cannot wait to go out and do 20 more Instagram shoots today. It gets difficult to stay in the mix. So I have a presentation, and I have all of these thoughts about things you guys can do to externally keep the fire going and internally keep the fire going. But this morning, I had a lot more revelations. It was at like 3:00 in the morning. And I was up with my daughter. And I started writing in what looks like my eighth grade journal. Does anyone still do that? And so I have more stuff to offer too. And the first thing that came to mind for me is that staying fired up about your brand, that's inner work, right? So when you come to these conferences, you're going to learn so much about strategy, about how you can do all of the things, the things that keep your brand growing. But what about the things that keep you invested? What about the things that keep you excited about what you do every day? Because it's difficult. How many of you guys do this full time? A lot of you-- so the first thing I like to do is I recognize the gratitude. Because how many of you guys love what you do, right? Do you ever talk to some of your friends who go to a 9:00 to 5:00 or whatever, work weekends, not like us? But and their jobs suck. [LAUGHTER] Right? That is real. I'm talking about the people who are at the cubicle right now. And they are going to go get coffee. They're going to talk to somebody at the water cooler-- big fun. They're going to be on the phone later. And this is what they do day in and day out. But you guys are here, right? Think about the fun things you get to do. You get to interact with people online. You get to speak to them from your blog. You have this personal voice. You have something to offer. And you get to do all this stuff like work with brands. You get to be creative,

If content creators have learned anything recently, it's that the only constant in the blogging industry is CHANGE. As we usher in the privacy-centric era for the web, the winds of change are blowing more strongly than ever, but what does it all mean for publishers? On this Teal Talk, Jenny is sitting down with Mediavine CEO Eric Hochberger for a no-holds-barred conversation about the state of the blogging industry and everything Mediavine is doing to ensure that content creators not only survive the coming shifts but THRIVE. Make sure to let us know what you think and check out the helpful resources below! Helpful Resources Helpful Resource SlideGrow and First-Party DataExclusive Content with GrowGrow Product TourMediavine x Slickstream https://youtu.be/e4ytEVZRvAs Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hello. Howdy, friends. Welcome. Welcome, one and all, to another episode of Mediavine's Teal Talk. For any of our first-time viewers, welcome. This is our live program where we feature experts from around the blogging industry on any and all topics that could help content creators build sustainable businesses. So basically if it concerns publishers, we are talking about it here. I am with you as always as your host, Jenny Guy. So happy to have you here today. We have a very big show for today, so we are just going to kind of speed through our little opening. But I did have to say that believe it or not, however you feel about the various memes announcing it, like it or not, it is already May. Mother's Day is Sunday. 2022, I have to say, is winning the award for Bat Out of Hell years. Like, I don't-- I don't know if anyone-- like, how is it already May? That's insane to me. This is our final episode of Teal Talk before we go on our hiatus for our fifth annual Summer of Live. So I don't know how that happened, but it is happening. It is the truth. And in a world this crazy where time has no meaning, it can be comforting to rely on traditions. And from Mediavine, for Teal Talk, for this show, we traditionally start things and end things with a certain guest. He's here with me today. He's Mediavine CEO and co-founder. Please welcome the one, the only Eric Hochberger back to the program. Eric, welcome. ERIC HOCHBERGER: Thanks, Jenny. Good to have my usual anchor spot. JENNY GUY: It is. ERIC HOCHBERGER: That's the anchor, right? Yeah, OK. JENNY GUY: Yes, anchor. You're batting cleanup, for all you sportsball fans out there. Eric, is this year happening in a bananas, like, flying by crazily to you, too? Are you in shock? ERIC HOCHBERGER: I feel like the last three years, so why make an exception to this year. Don't even-- is it May? That's great. Awesome. JENNY GUY: What does time mean anymore? It doesn't mean anything. And I also-- I've said this repeatedly. I'm sorry for people who are hearing me say it over and over again, but I feel like anything that has happened in the last three years, like significant milestones, shouldn't count. Why? I turned 40. Why? That shouldn't-- ERIC HOCHBERGER: That means I'm not turning 40? Is that the good news? JENNY GUY: That's what that means. That's what that means. It's crazy. OK, everybody. We are going to be talking about some important stuff today. We know you have questions about all of this stuff, because I certainly do. All of us at Mediavine do, so please post those questions for Eric or myself in those comments. We will get them to you. But let us without any further ado, Eric-- we usually have you here to talk specifically about Mediavine updates, but today we have really widened our scope to talk about important things that are impacting the whole blogging, content creation industry. There are some big changes on the horizon for publishers, and we wanted to break them all down. So I want to just start here at the top. I don't know, again, with anyone else, it feels like we've been talking about the deprecation of ...

As a content creator, there's a bunch of milestones. The first blog post you publish is huge. The first time you place ads on your site? Amazing. Finally going full time as a content creator...WOW. Then, there's the first time you land your dream sponsored content gig! Congratulations!! ...Now what? In this session from the Mediavine Influencers Conference in Austin back in 2019, attorney Jamie Lieberman of Hashtag Legal LLC gives tips to negotiate the best deal you can get, the terms of the contract you should include and what you should look out for when reading a contract. Jamie's a treasure trove on knowledge being in the business for over 15 years: you don't want to miss it! Helpful Resources Hashtag LegalNegotiating ContractsThe Art of Negotiating | Mediavine Summer of LiveGetting Legit with Legal | Designed for the Creative Mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77gPtobP4N4 Transcript MUSIC PLAYING: I just feel so good, good good. Just feel so good, good, good. Just feel so good. JAMIE LIEBERMAN: Y'all just had drinks. Come on. I think it's suspect that the lawyer has to talk after the drinks. I get it, it's not as exciting. We're going to do our best. So, today, we're going to talk about covering your assets. And we're specifically going to talk about sponsored content. And I'm going to talk about it from start to finish. So let me tell you about me. So I am Jamie Lieberman. I've been a lawyer for about 15 years. I run #Legal, which is, like they said, a full-service law firm. We are dedicated to making legal accessible. We work with entrepreneurs. We work with influencer marketing professionals. We work with creatives, content creators. The thread that sort of binds all of our clients is there aren't a lot of lawyers out there who speak that language. And so that is really our goal. There we go. So we're going to talk about contracts. And pretty much instantly, everyone went to sleep, right? We're going to make this as interesting as I possibly can. There's going to be some technical stuff that we talk about. I'm going to leave space for questions, because in a really weird turn of events, people always have questions for the lawyer. So if you do have questions, I will happily take them and answer them as best as I can. Although, famously, I like to answer questions with, it depends, if anyone has ever heard me speak. So I will do my best not to use that answer, but I might. You'll have to forgive me. So I want to talk about contracts from start to finish. I want to talk about the sponsored content deal. So the last time I stood on a Mediavine stage, I talked all about negotiation. And this is a really powerful topic, one that I love more than anything. I love to negotiate. And so I definitely say-- I know all the talks are up on YouTube. I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about negotiation, but I feel like it's something worth touching on. If you want to go in-depth about negotiation, go to the Mediavine YouTube channel. My whole talk is up there. I have a whole framework. And I am going to offer you guys a chance to download my negotiation framework so you can see it. But a couple points I want to touch on before we get to the actual contract part of this talk. So the most important part of negotiation, and this will help you in your contracts, is research. So the thing that you have to pay the most attention to before you literally do anything-- I mean, before you make a phone call, because we're all going to be making phone calls after this. I know. It's OK. You're going to do it. It's going to-- yes, you are. Yes, you are. Now I know you, and now I'm going to find you. We're going to make some phone calls. So research is our first thing that we want to do. And that can be done in so many different ways. One, you all know each other. We kind of live on the internet, right? So talk to your friends. See what they've done.

One of the best things about being a content creator is doing what you love. But at a certain point, we all hit a wall and have to ask ourselves: How do you stay passionate when your hobby becomes your job? Digital content creation offers the opportunity to share our passions with the world, which is deeply rewarding, but just like any job it has its pitfalls. Clients don't pay on time; internet trolls leave mean comments; and sometimes, the content you work so hard on barely catches an audience. Over time it can start to feel like, well, work. Sometimes it feels overwhelming. What should you focus on? What’s the best way to divide your time? How can you tell what’s important and what’s noise? At the Mediavine Influencers Conference in Austin back in 2019, Andy Dehnart of reality blurred took the stage and tackled this very topic. In this episode of Mediavine On Air you'll hear all about Andy's strategies, techniques, and tools to help you center your focus on what matters most. Check out the episode below! Helpful Resources reality blurredThe Four Tendencies QuizElizabeth Gilbert's FrameworkBird By Bird by Ann Lamott https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ils2qcpz-J4&t=304s Transcript MUSIC PLAYING I just feel so good, good, good. I just feel so good, good, good. I just feel so good. ANDY DEHNART: Oh, welcome everybody. Thank you so much for coming to this session. I know that the competition is Pinterest, which is basically the-- I don't know. That's tough competition. So thank you all for rejecting-- [LAUGHTER] --the Pinterest cult for a moment, at least. You can go back to pinning things in the next 45 minutes. But I'm excited to talk to you today about passion in our lives, and how we work the most effectively, and how we can improve on the stuff that trips us up sometimes. My name is Andy Dehnart. I publish a site called reality blurred. As the title maybe suggests, it's all about reality television. And I've been publishing it since the summer of 2000, so 19 and a half years of blogging now. That was back in the days before there were blogs. Or we called them web logs-- two words-- as I heard someone say yesterday. And most of them were personal diaries, not really about a subject. So I've seen this industry change, and grow, and shift over time. And it's been really exciting to be part of it and really, ultimately, a beautiful experience at first to take my passion for reality television, turn that into something that I create myself, that I control. I'm kind of a control freak. So I love to make everything mine and look exactly like I want it to. And it's amazing. And then also, sometimes, making a little bit of money from it, too, and being able to discover-- and that was in the BM days, before Mediavine was the-- a little bit of money. And then now, obviously, it's become more sustainable and more than just something that can pay for itself. So yeah, all really good, and really exciting. And I think it's such a privilege to be able to do this kind of work and for all of us to be able to share what we care about with the world. That said, over the 20 years-- probably over the time that you've been doing this, however long that's been-- sometimes the storm clouds come in. Sometimes there is an occasional lightning strike or two. So my goal today is to talk through some strategies, tips, techniques, tools that have helped me weather those storms-- if you'll excuse the cliche-- over those 19 and a half years. So let's just talk first about the stumbling blocks and then get those out of the way. So these are basically the things that come up over time and that just trip us up. Maybe they're actually weeds that we need to get rid of. Maybe they're actually beautiful flowers that we think are weeds, and we still have to get over the fact that they're not just weeds that we need to pick out. So let's talk about some of those and what they've been, for me,

It's finally here!  Without further ado, please allow us to introduce Mediavine University, where we teach content creators how to build sustainable businesses.  Our debut course, Growing Traffic, is now live and available to purchase. In honor of that, we're celebrating with Mediavine's VP of Support Heather Tullos.  She and Jenny will be dishing on all things Growing Traffic and Mediavine University (MVU), talking about how the course is set up, the different topics that are covered and what's up next. You don't want to miss it! Helpful Resources Mediavine UniversityHelpful Resources from the liveUsing Heat MapsSpotlight Subscribe https://youtu.be/dKtejvEeBSI Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hey. Hello. Howdy. Hi, long lost friends. It feels like it has been about 500 years since we last saw each other. How are you all? Hello. The last time that we were all together for an episode of Teal Talk it was February and cold, and we were having a terrific conversation with two of the founders of Black People's Recipes as part of our Black History Month programming. Now March and the whole of Women's History Month has passed us by and it is already spring. The days are longer and all kinds of things are blooming from flowers to seasonal allergies. And I am suffering on the regs. But I just wanted to first say thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to join us for another episode of Mediavine's Teal Talk. I'm with you as always as your host, Jenny Guy. Our goal with all of the programming we put out at Mediavine is to provide education in service of our company mission statement, which if you don't know what that is, here it is, helping content creators build sustainable businesses. It sounds so noble. And it is noble. We're very passionate about it around here. And I have to say that our topic today falls absolutely in line with our Mediavine mission. And it's really been a dream of mine for a whole lot of years. So I will try to keep any squealing or pinching myself off camera, so y'all don't have to watch. So that's right. If you missed any of the times in the last few days that we blasted it out over social media, we have officially launched Mediavine University, where we teach content creators how to build sustainable businesses. Yes! We need an applause track. OK. Our first course of many is available for purchase right now, and the long title is What I Wish I Knew When I Started My Website About Growing Traffic. And while this one is designed for content creators earlier on in their blogging career, we have many courses coming up that will be perfect for wherever you are in your publishing journey. Our goal with this is to have to be meeting people in different places wherever they are, whether it's they're just getting started or they've been doing this for many years. In fact, part of the reason that we are here today is to ask you, our always incredible audience, what courses and instructors do you want to see on Mediavine University? So say, hey, let us know in the comments. We are taking notes. My incredible team is writing it all down. So tell us, we want to know as always. We always ask you guys what do you want to see? What are your next ideas? And that's what we're here for. So please put that in there. And now that I have been yapping away, and a lot of yapping, it is past time to introduce my wonderful guest with me today, is Heather Tullos, Mediavine's VP of Support. Heather is not only one of the featured instructors in the growing traffic course, but she and I worked together to plot the course out. So it truly would not be happening without her. So I want to welcome you Heather and thank you and the whole support team for all of your support in bringing Mediavine University to life. So thank you. They support they're good at supporting. That's what they do. Let's talk growing traffic and be you,

If you're on the fence about creating original video content, here's a question for you: How would you feel about 5x more audience reach? Yes, really! At Mediavine we constantly talk about the importance of video and it's time to get on board. On a former Summer of Live episode, Meredith Marsh from VidProMom sat down with Senior Director of Marketing Jenny Guy and talked all things video: she showed us how to take video content beyond YouTube by quickly repurposing it, how she got started integrating content within her own business, and what she'd do different if she was starting today. Make sure to listen to the episode below. You don't want to miss it! Helpful Resources VidProMomThe Video Pursuit Society CourseMeredith's YoutubeVideo Player FAQ & Best PracticesHow to Fill Out Video Details to Improve SEO and RPM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rwQ3zymD-Y&t=187s Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hello, everybody. It is Thursday, July 9th. How did that happen? Welcome to the Mediavine Summer of Live. I'm your host, Jenny Guy. How you doing? Tax day, day two, is next Wednesday. Where are you guys at with that, all of that? Are you already filed? Are you filing an extension? Tell us in the comments, what-- if you are all set to go with your taxes, part deux. As a year, 2020 it's been a bit of a doozy. But for today's episode, we are not going to be focusing on all of the less than positive things that 2020 is known for. We are going back to a simpler time, a time before masks and quarantine hair, although my guest today's hair is impeccable, when we kicked off the second Roaring 20s in an all-new decade of video, on an echo, video, video, video. I'll do my own. Here at Mediavine, we have never made our passion for video a secret. We had the Year of Video, which led to a Decade of Video. And, on New Year's Eve, this past year, we celebrated a brand-new Decade of Video. So we are forever encouraging, pushing, pleading with Mediavine publishers to produce more original video content so they can cash in on those industry high CPMs and keep up with advertiser demand for their pre-roll. But those digital advertising dollars are not the only reason to prioritize video creation. Anyone who spends time online-- and with social distancing, that is all of us, all the time-- knows that video is everywhere, on the social media platforms, on all web sites. So create video content, right? What do you have to lose? Record scratch. Video is hard. It can be expensive. And the vast majority of us are doing it solo, without a team of filmmakers standing by to help. So how can you make video easier and, beyond creation, make sure that you're getting the most bang for your video investment buck? Enter my guest, the VidProMom herself, Meredith Marsh. She is here to teach us how to quickly reach a wider audience with multi-platform videos, and I am here for it. Let's meet her. Meredith Marsh is the creator of the Video Pursuit Society, a membership community for bloggers who want to reach a wider audience with YouTube and social videos so they could impact more people and make more money in their online business. Don't we all want all those things? On the VidProMom YouTube channel and blog, Meredith teaches video editing tutorials and camera how-tos while your thriving side-hustle podcast listeners learn about growing an audience and earning passive income as a content creator. Meredith, welcome. Thank you for joining me. MEREDITH MARSH: Thanks for having me, Jenny. JENNY GUY: It is so good to see you. Guys, if you have questions for myself or Meredith, please post them in the comments. We will get them asked. Otherwise, you know that this is kind of special because, as with all Summer of Live 2020, we've brought over our guests and topics from our canceled-due-to-COVID Baltimore conference. So we are going to be sharing the link in the comments from Meredith's slide presentatio...

What happens when you take seven content creators, each wildly successful with their own sites, and unite them under one website with a very important mission?  The answer is the brand new site Black People's Recipes.  On this episode of Mediavine On Air, Senior Director of Marketing Jenny guy is sitting down with two of the creators, Brandi Crawford of Stay Snatched and Tanya Harris of My Forking Life, to dish about what they've got cooking with their new venture.  We’ll hear how the seven women are blending their visions and backgrounds to empower one another and their readers, while building a new online destination for African, African-American and Caribbean cuisine.  Listen to the episode, watch the Teal Talk or read the transcript below! Helpful Resources Black People's RecipesStay SnatchedMy Forking LifeResource List from the LivestreamBrandi's Appearance on Good Morning AmericaTanya's Appearance on BFF with the Chef https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9IZXuQ6O6Y&t=1s Transcript JENNY GUY: Hello. Welcome one and all to another Teal Talk Tuesday in almost March. I have to take a moment and ask an important question. Am I the only one that finds it incredibly rude every single time I'm reminded that we're already almost in the third month of the year 2022? I can't be the only one. I feel assaulted every time. To be perfectly honest I was struggling like pre-COVID to accept that 2008 was not just a couple of years ago anymore. But with everything that happened in 2020 and 2021, like any hope that I had of knowing the date or not feeling just completely attacked by the date went out the window. So that's where I am. So I hope I'm not alone. Anyway, here we are on 2/22/22. It's a palindrome day. I'm your host for Teal Talk, Jenny Guy, and I am so happy that we are all here together, whatever the year or date may be. Today I am joined by two powerhouse content creators who have done something incredibly brave and maybe just like a little bit crazy. They have partnered up with five other extremely successful publishers and done an additional website. So Black People's Recipes debuted at the end of January in 2022, and we cannot think of a better way to continue with our Black History Month content than to hear the story of how it all came to be. So please join me in welcoming back to Teal Talk the wonderful Tanya Harris and for the first time Brandi Crawford. Hello, ladies. Welcome. BRANDI CRAWFORD: Hello. TANYA HARRIS: Hey. BRANDI CRAWFORD: Thank you so much. JENNY GUY: I'm going to read the very incredibly impressive bios for each of them. So Brandi Crawford is the recipe developer and food photographer behind Stay Snatched, where she shares quick and easy healthy recipes that do not compromise on taste. Very important. She's a CPA with a background in corporate finance and financial planning. So her love is real for numbers, data sets, and Excel spreadsheets. She is also the author of the Super Easy Air Fryer Cookbook and has been featured on Good Morning America, Women's Health Magazine, Shape Magazine, Parade Magazine, Essence Magazine, Country Living Magazine, Southern Living Magazine, BuzzFeed, Delish, the Kansas City Star, Kansas City Spaces, Greatest, and more. Brandi, welcome for the first time to Teal Talk. BRANDI CRAWFORD: Thanks, Jenny. So happy to be here. JENNY GUY: So happy to have you. And now for another incredibly impressive person. Tanya Harris Fleming is a mom, wife, attorney, recipe groupie, photographer, and traffic whisperer who took a 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 in 2016. Devoting between 5 to 15 hours a week to her site, she reached up to 500,000 page views a month and she now averages over a million page views a month. She reached the Mediavine threshold in April 2018 and was able to quit her job as an attorney in 201...

Spring is here and winter is DONE! Well, sort of. But that's not going to stop us from our favorite annual tradition: spring cleaning! Whether it's your office or your bedroom, it's important to stay organized, clean, and throw all the clutter away. As a content creator, your website is no different. On today’s episode we have Mediavine’s Sr. Support Engineer Manager Jacob Feltner and Once Coupled’s Lauren Gray. Jacob and Lauren are talking spring cleaning for your site, with everything from auditing your plugins to their favorite tools to use. This episode is packed with actionable tips so if you learn something, make sure to let us know and share what stood out to you! Helpful Resources Once CoupledOur Help Guide to Site SpeedLazy Loading AdsHow To Do A Plugin Self-Audit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewfe22cAZFA&t=109s Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hey everybody, welcome. It is Thursday, March 12. It is a little bit crazy in our world right now. But we are here. I am Jenny Guy. I'm the Director of Marketing for Mediavine and the host of Teal Talk. And I'm very grateful that you are joining us today. In current events, daylight savings time started for most of the US states over the weekend, which coincided with International Women's Day and resulted in more confusion and deprivation for females, perfect. And then in other news, spring starts officially one week from today, the season of rebirth, and fresh starts, and green grass. And I think that that's something we could all do with right now in our lives. I know that on everybody's minds and thoughts right now is what's going on in our world and in our country. But what I'm excited about is we can have a whole hour to just sit in our home pods and talk about our websites and not the big elephant in the room, the virus elephant in the room. I'm so excited. So as I was saying, spring, rebirth, green grass, fresh starts, which means it's time for spring cleaning, which could be your closet, your pantry, pockets of your winter coats. Unless you are me, and you love the dollar pocket lottery to happen when the next year-- you know, when you put on your coat that you haven't worn in eight months, and you stick your hand in the pocket, and you're like, $5. It's-- it gets me every time. But what we're talking about today, us being Mediavine, is your website. Have any of you guys ever done this? A deep and thorough cleansing to get rid of the things you don't need anymore that are just taking up space and weighing and slowing you down. It sounds like a great idea. But how do you make this happen? Enter my amazing guests. Lauryn Gray is the founder of Once Coupled and believes in doing everything with passion and transparency, which mostly means she sends really long emails riddled with exclamation points. Girl, same. She's worked with over 500 plus bloggers on projects from reducing above the fold white space, to taking a site from a zero-page speed optimization score to green. When she's not making your site faster and easier for you to manage, Lauren enjoys crime TV, mojitos, and long walks on the beach with her dog. Hi, Lauren. Welcome back to Teal Talk. It's been a while. LAUREN GRAY: It has been. I think we did a spring talk like this last year. JACOB FELTNER: We lost Jenny. She was the glue. She's what kept it together. LAUREN GRAY: She is. I can't even tell if we're still live. JACOB FELTNER: Yeah, I don't know. Andrew just waved at us. So-- LAUREN GRAY: OK. JACOB FELTNER: --potentially. LAUREN GRAY: So that might mean we're still here. We don't know where Jenny is. JACOB FELTNER: No. LAUREN GRAY: Jacob, should I introduce you? I've got your-- JACOB FELTNER: Dude, that'd be awesome. LAUREN GRAY: --info here. Great. Well, I'm here with Jacob Feltner. He is a Support Engineering Manager at Mediavine, as well as a husband and dog dad. He's an expert in all things Mediavine ads,

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. Helpful Resources Princess Pinky GirlMy Forking LifeGrowing Your Traffic - Summer of Live 2018Why All Traffic Doesn't Monetize The SameBehind The Numbers With Brad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsOprOrAnwk 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 earl...

There's hundreds of things you need to do as a content creator: strategizing your outreach, building your audience and scaling efficiently chief among them. But how do you do that in today's world, where everything moves at the speed of light? We've got the answer. Enter affiliate marketing, an often underutilized revenue stream. On Summer of Live 2019, Mediavine On Air host and Senior Director of Marketing Jenny Guy picked the brains of two affiliate marketing experts. Amanda Williams, a Mediavine travel publisher and affiliate ace on her website A Dangerous Business, and Jeannine Crooks, Partner Acquisition and Development Manager at Awin, a global affiliate marketing network. Listen in and get ready to earn as Amanda and Jeannine tell us all in today's episode of Mediavine On Air! Helpful Resources A Dangerous BusinessJeannine's LinkedInAwinMediavine Ads and Affiliate Marketing: Striking the Right BalanceImproving In-Post Affiliate Earnings with Katelyn Fagan: Mediavine On Air Episode 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F3WJ4qhlqI&t=25s Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hello. Welcome. It is Wednesday, August 7th. It is the final month of the 2019 Summer of Live. And even though it is hot and dry most places around the world right now, we are making it rain here at Mediavine and continuing our focus on monetization. Welcome and thank you for joining us. I am Jenny Guy. I am the marketing manager for Mediavine. And I have two amazing guests that I'm going to talk more about here in a second. But what we're focusing on today has the potential to be a really highly lucrative revenue stream for content creators. But it also has the potential for being complicated and challenging to get going. We are talking about affiliate marketing. What did you think of when you heard the term? Did you have excitement, dread, bewilderment? Well, luckily, my two incredible guests, when they hear affiliate marketing, they also hear cha-ching, because they know how to earn. They are experts from different sides of this equation. So first, I have Mediavine publisher Amanda Williams. She has one of the top travel blogs on the internet, a Dangerous Business, which she started in 2010. In 2018, a Dangerous Business was awarded a silver award for Best Travel Blog in the 2017-2018 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition, which is hosted annually by the Society of American Travel Writers, SATW for the acronym. So not only is the content on her site phenomenal, a Dangerous Business helps drive more than $35,000 in sales to its affiliate partners every month. Amanda is also killing it with ad revenue and relationships with brands and tourism boards. Hello, Amanda. Welcome to the Summer of Love. AMANDA WILLIAMS: Hi. Thanks, Jenny. JENNY GUY: Yay. We're so glad you're here. So she's on the blogger side of the equation, clearly. And I also have Jeannine Crooks. She is the partner acquisition and development manager at Awin, a global affiliate network. She is especially experienced in affiliate marketing and internet marketing and creating successful partnerships and developing effective, profitable websites that generate immediate involvement and results. She's a frequent conference speaker everywhere from Affiliate Summit to TBEX and the Military Influencers Conference. She's also a travel writer herself. And her work has appeared in most of the major newspapers across the US and Canada. Thank you for joining us, Jeannine. JEANNINE CROOKS: Well, thank you for inviting me. Glad to be here. JENNY GUY: I'm so excited to have you both here. So I know that there are a lot of questions out there about affiliate marketing. So please make sure to post in the comments. And I will make sure that we ask the questions to my wonderful guests. But let's start with the more general question, ladies. So you're both extremely well-traveled, both literally and figuratively,

Content creators have the power to change the world from behind their laptops. Cheesy? Maybe a little, but that doesn't make it any less true. Unfortunately, creating a safe space for yourself and others isn't going to happen by chance. So, how do we go about this very important work with sensitivity and intention? For Mediavine On Air Episode 42, Senior Director of Marketing Jenny Guy is joined by Yolanda Evans, Mediavine's VP of People Experience and Diversity. Yolanda shares all the wisdom she's learned from more than 20 years of experience advocating for diversity and inclusion and you DON'T want to miss it! Helpful Resources Helpful Resources SlideHate Is A Virus#ChangeTheFaceThe Tonquise "TQ" Evans '03 Endowed Scholarship"How to Be An Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi https://youtu.be/4lZ_1lM5CY4 Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hello, everyone. Welcome. Grab a seat. Grab your favorite beverage. It is the middle of the day, but we are not here to judge. It is 2022, and we're still in a pandemic. So we need to take our moments of joy whenever we can have them. Mine today was a iced dirty coconut chai and a cheddar and spinach scone, and I have zero regrets about it. YOLANDA EVANS: Man, that sounds amazing. [LAUGHTER] JENNY GUY: It was so-- it was one of those things when I'm like am I going to take the time to do this. And then I thought, yeah. You know, I am going to take that extra 10 minutes, and I'm going to get this, and I'm going to have it. YOLANDA EVANS: That beats my water and bagel any day. JENNY GUY: You reward yourself post live. YOLANDA EVANS: There you go. JENNY GUY: Mm hmm. Reward yourself post live. That's good. How is everybody out there doing on this Teal Talk Tuesday? I want to take this moment to say thank you for being here. Truly it is my privilege to come here every couple of weeks to talk with industry experts and all of you. So thank you. And I should say who I am. I am your host for Teal Talk. I'm Mediavine's Jenny Guy. It is February, which means it is Black History Month. One of the ways we're honoring the occasion is by sharing some of the incredible Black content creators and Mediavine team members that we are so lucky to work with. So make sure that you're following us on all of our social media platforms, including LinkedIn, if you do that, and YouTube, to catch them and more things that we'll be doing throughout this month. While we are excited though at this opportunity to share a light on these talented individuals, our goal is to ensure that we're pushing for awareness, equity, and inclusion year round. As content creators, we're in a unique position of influence and can affect real change, but sometimes we might not be confident in how to provide support sensitively, which is why I am so excited for my conversation with our wonderful guest today. Yolanda has joined the Mediavine team in the Summer of 2021 and has already proven herself a maker and educator at our organization. I'm going to read her impressive bio. Yolanda Evans serves as Mediavine's VP People Experience and Diversity overseeing the people operations department and department staff. In this role, Yolanda leads the overall strategic direction of all people-related programs within the company, including talent acquisition, talent management, and all diversity and inclusion initiatives. She brings more than 20 years of experience to Mediavine. In her most recent position at Syniti as the VP of talent acquisition, she played a key role in the company's growth as the business scaled from 400 to 1,400 employees during her tenure. In her leadership role at Syniti, she also helped to initiate the company's Diversity and Inclusion Council and launched the Black Employee Network, BEN, & Friends as the executive sponsor. Yolanda, thank you so much for making time for us. YOLANDA EVANS: Absolutely. No, thank you for having me.

February is Black History Month, and for the next few weeks we want to not only share the wonderful work that Black and Brown creators are producing in the industry, but hear their thoughts at large on where we're heading.On today's episode of Mediavine On Air, we're not just hearing from one creator - but three.In late 2019, Senior Director of Marketing Jenny Guy sat down with Beth Santos, CEO and Founder of Wanderful and the Women in Travel Summit, TaKenya Hampton of the website Kenya Rae, and Martinique Lewis of Audacity Fest and the Creative Lead of Nomadness Travel Tribe.The three ladies told us all their thoughts on diversity in the content creator world, how we can better be advocates for inclusion and how we can share and spread the spotlight to marginalized communities, giving them the space to lead and prosper.Make sure to listen to this episode and check out the transcript below! Helpful Resources Nomadness Travel TribeWanderfulWITSKenya RaeMediavine's Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYN4_h2diuU&list=PLVy2vgUysJwuQ7KuAkPgD6DsCVjvNCkVJ&index=4&t=280s Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hello, and welcome, everybody. It is Thursday, October 17. And I am so happy to be back with you guys for our first official fall episode of "Teal Talk." I can't believe it's fall, y'all. I am Jenny Guy. I'm Mediavine's Marketing Manager and your host today. How is everyone doing? It's been a while since we talked. And it is now Q4, which is the quarter I feel like we all talk about until it is here. And then everything is so insane during that time, with all the personal stuff, that business is hard to come by. So basically, it's already 2020, if anyone was wondering. It's the end of the year. It's a new decade. But to get to the matter at hand today, I have got a super impressive lineup of guests with me today. As you can see, we're doing three guests. And they're all incredible. They took a break from being industry leaders to talk about a topic that is near, dear, and very important to all of our hearts. We are talking about diversity, inclusion, and access within the blogging industry today. I'm going to introduce our guests. But just to remind you, first, thank you for being here with us. Second, if you've got questions for us and the panel, please feel free to just post them in the comments. And we will make sure to get those asked. So lots to cover today. I want to introduce everyone. First, I'm going to start with Beth Santos. She is the founder and CEO of Wanderful, a global community and lifestyle brand that specializes in helping all women travel the world. Wanderful reaches a diverse audience of over 100 million each year through chapter events in 50 cities, an international home-sharing network, which is super cool, global summits, and small group trips-- a thriving membership community and dynamic online content and forums. She is the creator and host of the Women In Travel Summit-- which I've been to twice, it's amazing-- a leading event for women, travel creators, and industry, happening on two continents each year, and co-founder of hashtag At The Table, a national dinner series and community for female founders. She lives in Boston. Hi, Beth. Thank you so much for joining us today. BETH SANTOS: Hi, Jenny. Thanks for having me. JENNY GUY: Absolutely. All right. Our next wonderful woman, TaKenya Hampton is the blogger behind Kenya Rae, an online food and DIY outlet where good food doesn't take all day. And it sounds like some food is ready now, maybe, in someone's microwave. I don't know. Could be something delicious. Dessert could be its own meal. And dessert is also in a war with breakfast for the meal of the day. She has been in the blogging space since 2011 and watched it go through many changes. She also serves as a resource to fellow bloggers on the Mediavine Publisher Support team. Hi, Kenya. Welcome.

When starting the new year, there's a lot of things you have to get in order for your business to thrive. More often than not, you're doing the job of 5+ people as a content creator.Enter automation. Automating work frees up time and helps you focus your attention where it's needed. Erin Chase from 5 Dollar Dinners joins Jenny Guy, our Senior Director of Marketing, in a conversation about what automation is and how you should treat these products and services as an "invisible employee". From determining what tasks you should automate to what services could be the right fit for you, you don't want to miss it! (This past episode of Summer of Live was brought to you by BigScoots, a service that offers completely hands-on managed WordPress hosting. Visit their website at https://www.bigscoots.com/) Helpful Resources 5 Dollar DinnersErin's Meal Planning WorkshopFreezer Friendly Dump Dinners CookbookFreezer Cooking ToolsWhis-Kid Cooking Lessons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8DkDp-0WcM&t=125s Transcript JENNY GUY: It's Thursday, August 20, which means that summer is winding down. Sad face for some of us. Some people are all fall and have been waiting for Halloween to begin. Since I have an awesome food blogger on today, I decided that we should kick off this episode with food talk even though she's not really here to talk food. So for your hello, welcome, post in the comments, what end-of-summer produce are you making the most of while it still lasts? Or are you canning? Tell us in the comments what late summer goodies your loving. Gifts, emojis, recipe links, whatever butters your bread with late summer produce, drop it in there, and that's what we're talking about today. And while you are spamming us with comments I wanted to let you know that this episode is brought to you by BigScoots. BigScoots offers completely hands on managed WordPress hosting purpose built with WordPress in mind to deliver industry leading performance and reliability. They proactively dig deep into your specific WordPress website to find optimizations and page speed performance improvements that other hosts just don't have time for. As your WordPress partner, they will be laser-focused on your individual site catching issues before they impact you or your site's visitors. And are always working hard behind the scenes to ensure things are secure and running smoothly without having to be asked. For more information on BigScoots, check out their website. We're going to share that in the comments for you. We are so glad to have BigScoots. They're so fun. Oh, yay. And we're already getting wonderful comments from people what they're doing with their late summer produce. We've got white nectarines. Yeah, Carol Bryant. Good call. Tomato cucumber salad. Yep. Canning salsa, diced tomatoes, pasta sauce, and pickled okra, Rachel. You're putting us all to shame. OK. I will go. I will go back to the food in a minute. But for the topic at hand, as I already mentioned, my guest is a pretty big deal in the blogging world. And for her specific food focus she really emphasizes saving home cooks-- their sanity, their money, making their lives easier. And she is here today to do the same for all of our audience websites. Free up your time and your energy so you can focus on the high level and high priority tasks in your business with automations. And I have been wanting to sing the-- [LAUGHS] do you know the Pointer Sisters song? (SINGING) Automatic. I've been wanting to-- every time I say, automations, I want to go, (SINGING) automations. Every time. So just so you know. Erin Chase is here. She is the founder of $5 Dinners and 5dollarmealplan.com, grocerybudgermakeover.com, myfreezeasy.com, and author of The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook series. She is on a mission to help busy, overwhelmed home chefs learn to spend less money on groceries and get organized in the kitchen. Her courses and membership programs have helped tens o...

2022 is here! NOT 2020, too.Curious about what's on tap for the largest exclusive full-service ad management firm in the United States? Us too! Today on Mediavine On Air, we hear from Mediavine CEO Eric Hochberger. From the actual death of third-party cookies and the future of programmatic advertising to the features you've been asking for, Mediavine's Senior Director of Marketing Jenny Guy asks it all -- and it's an episode you won't want to miss. Helpful Resources Helpful Resources Slide2022 Roadmap: It Takes All of UsGrow: Introducing Subscribe and the Spotlight Widget Universal Player: One Video Solution to Rule Them AllMediavine's Content ChallengeCreative Ways to Use Create https://youtu.be/0JJh9gKdxmo Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hello. Hey, hi. Welcome, one and all, to our first episode of Mediavine's "Teal Talk" of a new year. I can't even believe it. But you've got an old host. I am Jenny Guy, and I am still here. You are stuck with me. Hello, welcome. Guys, it's 2022, which sounds way too close to 2020 2, as in another leveled-up version of 2020. And I don't think there's a single one of us who want that. None of us. None of us want that. So I guess my question is, are we still within our trial period for this year? Because I am not sold on keeping it. Anybody? Yeah? How about you guys? How about everyone's coming in now, kind of rolling in? Hello, welcome. Say hi. Tell us how your new year is going. Are you off to a grand start? Did you make resolutions? Are they on track? Tell us. Tell us how you're doing. Say hi and let us know. I sincerely hope that you had a beautiful holiday season and that you are starting the new year invigorated. But as always, on this show on "Teal Talk," we are here to talk about content creation. So it is our time to quiet the noise from all the various current world dumpster fires and focus on our businesses for a little while. So friends, as far as good news and exciting announcements, my guest today has brought both. Please join me in welcoming Mediavine CEO Eric Hochberger back to the program. Hello, Eric. ERIC HOCHBERGER: Thank you. So does that make me an old guest? I've been wondering that since your intro. JENNY GUY: I mean, I'm an old host. You're an old guest. We're old-- we're experienced. We're vintage. ERIC HOCHBERGER: Experienced guest, great. OK, love it. JENNY GUY: Yeah, we're very experienced. Everybody's saying hi. Yes, we have people saying they want to cancel their subscription as well. We understand. OK. So what we're going to talk about today is all of the developments we've got going on. Eric put out a great blog post earlier this year, as is tradition. I think this was our fifth, our fourth or fifth, yearly roadmap, which tells us where we're heading in the coming year. Our other co-founder Amber puts out a recap at the end of the previous year, and then Eric puts out our roadmap for the coming year. And most of our questions come from that, along with some things that people have asked in the different groups. But if you have questions, as always, for Eric or I, drop them in the comments, and we will do our best to get to all of them. OK. So I'm just going to dive in. We OK with that, Eric? Actually, we had a request for a baby story. Do you have a baby story for us? ERIC HOCHBERGER: Who did that come from? JENNY GUY: Sarah. Sarah Auerswald said she's off to a great start, hoping you are, too. Give a quick story about the new baby Eric. ERIC HOCHBERGER: Oh. The new baby Eric? Is that what we're calling it-- JENNY GUY: No-- [LAUGHS] I think there is-- ERIC HOCHBERGER: I mean, that's fine. JENNY GUY: I think there was a comma. ERIC HOCHBERGER: Oh, a comma, comma. JENNY GUY: We were missing a comma-- new baby, Eric. ERIC HOCHBERGER: Because I didn't know. Maybe she knew, because this one actually does look the most like me of any of my girls.

It's a new year. Which means our favorite thing is coming up...That's right: taxes!Jokes aside, whatever the due date, we ALL must eventually pay taxes. And it's no joke that taxes for freelancers and creative business owners are often more complicated. Last year Amy Northard, CPA, joined Mediavine's Senior Director of Marketing Jenny Guy on Teal Talk to walk us through taxes as a content creator, and how to start off the new year on the right foot. You don't want to miss it! Helpful Resources The Accountants for CreativesAmy's Youtube"How Do I Reach a Real Person at the IRS?" ArticleAmy's Instagram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-j7YtM9XvA Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: So that's a great answer. But I have gotten word from my team that we just showed up on live. I don't know why it took five minutes for us to get going, but we are just now going. So we were having a fun private conversation just about a minute ago. Guys if you are just-- you're not just joining us. We've been here. But we just got live. So that was a fun thing that just happened that has never happened before. I am here with Amy Northard. She is a partner at Amy Northard CPA, the Accountants For Creatives. And she was just explaining how she works with bloggers. We're here to talk about all things taxes. The question I ask you guys to post on if you're here with us in the comments is, have you already done your 2019 taxes yet? Or are you more or are they wait till the last minute kind of person? And Amy was explaining what it means to be an accountant for creatives. And can you just go a little bit more over about how you do work with bloggers? And some of the specific things that, questions that they bring to you? AMY NORTHARD: Yeah. So we work with bloggers virtually, bloggers all over the US. And we do it through video calls, phone calls, emails, those sorts of things. But we work with them to work on things like cash flow, savings for taxes, saving on taxes-- not only being prepared for taxes, but also how can we reduce that, how much you're paying on your income. So we try to help in all aspects of things related to taxes, bookkeeping, those sorts of things. Because you never want to get to the end of the year without knowing or having an idea. Otherwise, it can be really stressful. So helping them throughout the year, instead of just being that one-- the account that you just talk to once right around April. Prepare people a little bit. JENNY GUY: OK. So we just got a comment from Melissa Greeley Olivieri, I just want to make sure I'm saying it right. She says, no, she has not done her taxes yet. She's in Canada. And this is her first year doing them as a blogger. She's terrified. And she doesn't even know where to start. So we'll get to you in just a minute. But let me start out with this question that might kind of address everyone broadly. Since we're all creatives, pretty much everyone that's watching is a creative in one sense or another, most website owners of their own. Could you tell us any common struggles or mistakes that you see content creators making regularly with their taxes or just general accounting. AMY NORTHARD: I think, two big ones. One is not worrying about your bookkeeping throughout the year, and just saving that for once the year wraps up. And the reason I think that's a big mistake is, like I just mentioned, you want to throughout the year what you can expect for taxes. So forcing yourself. Getting in a good habit of maybe once a month, or at a minimum once a quarter, sitting down giving yourself a chunk of time to get that taken care of. And just kind of like make that the day. You act like you are your business's SEO or CFO. And spend time really treating it like a business. Even if you consider your blog a hobby, treat it like a business. Because the more you treat it like a business, the more you could potentially bring in through that venue.

A new year means new beginnings. Today's On Air episode is all about that.Alison Gary worked for a long time in corporate America - a decade to be exact - before she went full-time with her blog, Wardrobe Oxygen. Often we talk about what it takes to maintain your business as a content creator, but what about the most important decision? The decision to go full-time?In today's episode you'll learn how Alison made this decision and all the work that led up to it. You'll hear how she taught herself from the ground up, the conversations she had with her husband that helped her make the jump, and what she learned along the way.You don't want to miss it! Helpful Resources Wardrobe OxygenAbout AlisonAlison's InstagramAlison's Interview with us! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69QTElDz7Us Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hello, everybody. Welcome, welcome, welcome. It is Thursday, February 7. This is Teal Talk. I am Media Minds Marketing Manager Jenny Guy, and we are so excited to be back with you for another Thursday installment of our series. I am thrilled to be introducing you to Alison Gary. She is my guest this week. She is the owner and founder of the blog Wardrobe Oxygen. She is an essential resource for any woman who is wanting to up their wardrobe game and get themselves to the next level without spending an arm and a leg. Alison, thank you so much for being here. ALISON GARY: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. JENNY GUY: We're so thrilled to have you. And, of course, you look fabulous. Naturally, I knew that I was going to have to up my game a little bit. I'm wearing a flannel shirt, but I thought that I would need to up my game a bit, do some makeup. I knew you'd look wonderful, so you look fabulous. So Alison, tell us a little bit about your journey. Tell us a little bit about your site. Talk to us about your audience and how you've evolved. You told me a little bit before the broadcast about how you went from where you began to here. ALISON GARY: Well, I had a desk job, and this was in 2005. And I was hired for a specific contract, and the contract hadn't been signed yet. So my new boss was like, just look busy until we get the contract. And I had seen something on Dateline or 60 Minutes or something about blogging, because it was the hot new thing. And I was like, oh, that'll make me look busy at work. And I had several years under my belt working in apparel as a personal shopper, as a visual merchandiser, and so I decided to write about what I knew really well. and it started getting traction, and I started getting followers, and it kind of grew from there. And now, it has been, yeah, since 2005. So we're going on my 14th year with Wardrobe Oxygen. And now, it's really kind of evolved as I've evolved over the years, and it's real-life fashion advice for grown women. So it's ways to live a stylish life regardless of your budget for every body size, every shape, every age, every lifestyle , and every personal style. JENNY GUY: That's an awesome empowering mission statement for a blog. I love to hear that. I'm so glad that you're here with us. And so the reason why, other than the fact that you're wonderful, that we have you on this broadcast today is to talk about going full-time with your blog, which is something you just very recently did. You're telling me-- so I know that there are a lot of people out there who want to hear how this happened, why this happened, when they're ready to do it. And I know it's got to be a personal decision for each person. So tell us, I know that you said that you originally had multiple blogs, correct, and you combined them. ALISON GARY: That's right. I started way in the beginning with what is Wardrobe Oxygen now and a personal blog, and got rid of the personal blog when the other blog started gaining traction. Then I went with another outfit of the day blog. And then when I had my daughter,

What's better than an ugly holiday sweater party? A whole lot of education for content creators — while wearing ugly holiday sweaters. Back on Teal Talk in 2021, we closed the year with a bang, prizes and an extremely good sport: Google's Head of Creator Relations, Paul Bakaus. He joined Senior Director of Marketing Jenny Guy to discuss everything from Web Stories, resources for content creators, how creators can sustain their career and much, much more. You don't want to miss it! Helpful Resources Facebook Live HandoutGoogle for CreatorsEnglish Google Office Hours with PaulGoogle Web Stories: What You Need to KnowGoogle for Creators Twitter https://youtu.be/U4D4whh43cQ Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hello, everyone. Welcome to Teal Talk, and happy holidays to one and all. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Believe it or not, we've reached our final episode of 2021, and I have been fortunate enough to be with you for every single one of them. I'm your host for this magical hour, Mediavine's Jenny Guy. And today we've got ugly sweaters, although in the case of my guest, I wouldn't call it ugly so much is just fascinating and amazing. But more on that later. We have great prizes, and we have another incredible guest that is generously sharing their wealth of essential knowledge for content creators. And speaking of a wealth of essential knowledge for content creators, have you heard of Google? Maybe. Possibly, once or twice in your life. They have a plethora of resources for us that, frankly, it can be tough to know where to begin, where to jump in, where to tackle all of it. Not to worry, though. That is where my next guest comes in. Please welcome Paul Bakaus to Teal Talk. Paul, thank you for coming. PAUL BAKAUS: Thank you for having me. JENNY GUY: All right. I'm going to not be mesmerized by your sweater and I'm going to read your very impressive bio. One moment, please. Paul Bakaus is an entrepreneur, creator, advocate, developer, and product manager. As the head of Creator Relations at Google, he and his team are helping content creators, designers, developers, and decision makers to create better, faster, more immersive and more convincing digital content. I think we all want that. Prior to joining Google he created jQuery UI, the world's most popular tool to build user interfaces on the web, and the Aves engine, the first interactive HTML5 game engine later acquired by Zynga. That is quite impressive. Again, Paul, welcome. Thank you for coming to Tealk Talk. We're so glad to have you. PAUL BAKAUS: Yeah, thank you for having me. It's great to be here. JENNY GUY: We're so excited to talk about all the different things. I'm going to get through a couple of announcements. Also one of our audience members just asked if it was a teepee on my head. It is not. It's like a stocking hat, but it's like a rigid stocking hat. So I don't know. There's a lot of movement happening there. OK, so reminder, audience. You guys submitted so many questions in advance for Paul that we are not going to be taking questions live. We have a lot to talk about. But if you do have questions for Paul, keep posting them and we can maybe entice him back for another episode. PAUL BAKAUS: Yeah. JENNY GUY: So we're just saying that-- PAUL BAKAUS: I'll try my best. JENNY GUY: Thank you, Paul. We appreciate it. OK, and everyone else keep your eyes on the screen for chances to win prizes during the episode today. But without any further ado, let us get into it. Google. As you-- I saw you nodding when I was talking about this in the intro, Paul. You have an incredible vast array of resources for content creators. And as we said-- as I said in the intro, it can be overwhelming. Where would you recommend we get started? PAUL BAKAUS: Yeah, I guess we-- in some ways, we made it more overwhelming, because we added another one. But to be honest, I would say the content-- the reasons that we hav...

This year is coming to a close and so is Mediavine On Air Season 1. 2022 is upon us, so how do we make the upcoming year for ourselves, regardless of what's going on? On Mediavine On Air Episode 35, we're listening in to Siobhan Sudberry from the BeFree Project. Last year on Teal Talk she joined Senior Director of Marketing Jenny Guy in a conversation on creating a road map for finding fulfillment in life. This episode is full of great lessons, including learning how to take a personal inventory, create a balanced life through friends who hold you accountable, positive affirmations, setting SMART goals and more. Don't miss it! Helpful Resources BeFree ProjectBeFree Project Podcast107.3 The Wave's Interview with SiobhanJoin the BeFree Inner Circle!Don Miguel Ruiz - The Four AgreementsGirl Be Free Affirmation Card Deck Free Your Mind Journal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2pPEyG_4fo Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hello, friends, Happy 2021, question mark. It is the first episode of Teal Talk in a brand new year, which feels eerily like last year and wearing a dumb disguise to me. Is anyone else having that feeling? I'm Jenny Guy, Director of Marketing for Mediavine, and the host of Teal Talk, the show about the business of content creation. I have the amazing opportunity to bring in experts from across the field and make them talk to me about ways to make content even better and more easily, plus earn more money while doing that, to boot. So what's not to love? And it has, as we said, been a month-- about a month since our last episode. And in that time, we've had the holidays, and a new year, and more world insanity, and more cheese consumption than any of us wanted or needed. So I'm not sure where we all are, how you guys feel, but my new year fresh start needs a fresh start. So like it's like the vacation you need after you go to Disney. Anyone else experience that? So I'm calling for a do-over. And I would love for those who are with me to say, aye, in the comments, or say whatever you want in the comments. Just say hi to us. And luckily, my guest today is the perfect person to help us hit the reset button on this year and get us headed in a healthy direction. Siobhan Sudberry, welcome to Teal Talk for the first time. I'm going to read some really impressive things about you before we get down to business, if that's OK. SIOBHAN SUDBERRY: Thank you so much for that. I mean, this is amazing. So thank you. JENNY GUY: We're so excited to have you here. Siobhan Sudberry is a Community Cultivator Founder of the BeFree Project and host of the BeFree podcast. She teaches women how to get unstuck, gain clarity, and cultivate the life they desire on their terms. She's passionate about empowering women and encouraging them to show up for themselves and take action in their life. She hosts in-person and virtual events called the BeFree Meetup, and has an exclusive online community called the BeFree Inner Circle where women find their forever friends and get accountability doing their personal growth work. Welcome to Teal Talk. SIOBHAN SUDBERRY: Thank you. Thank you. Hello, everyone. I'm so, so, so excited to be here and to have this conversation at the top of the year. So thank you for having me. JENNY GUY: We are so excited, and I am calling this a do-over. I wanted to ask our audience before I ask you our first question. Do you guys do New Year's resolutions, anyone out there? And if so, how long have they lasted for you this year? And do you-- could you use a little bit of a do-over for you? That's the first question for you. And I'm going to talk to Siobhan. So tell us more about your journey and the BeFree Project. I think it's one of the coolest things I've ever heard is that your job is to inspire people for a living, which is amazing. So please tell us how that all came about. SIOBHAN SUDBERRY: Yeah.

You've heard of SEO Like a CEO. Today we're bringing you SEO Like a Google Pro. As in THE Pro. On the next episode of Teal Talk, Senior Director of Marketing Jenny Guy is joined by Google Search Advocate John Mueller. Yes. That John Mueller. SEO expert translator extraordinaire. Listen in as Jenny asks John questions about updating existing content, images and videos for your site, the best way to structure your site and general algorithm questions. You don't want to miss this episode! Helpful Resources Helpful Resources SlideGoogle Search ConsoleImproving Rankings with Google Search Console AnalyticsSEO Friendly URL StructuresJohn's Twitter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FA_vlmROqc&lc=UgyMwGZSSoKh34lAFyl4AaABAg Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hello. Hello, everybody. And welcome to a very special edition of Teal Talk, the show about the business of content creation. I'm with you, as always, as your host, Mediavine's Jenny Guy. And today you might notice it is Wednesday, November 17, as opposed to our plan of Tuesday, November 16. But that is all right. It is OK that we are so grateful that our guest was able to reschedule. Sometimes the internet is an unpredictable place. And that is part of why we are so thrilled to have our guest here today. But as you know, next week is Thanksgiving in the US. And ordinarily, I would ask a question or two about your plans for the holiday, maybe get into a healthy debate about stuffing versus dressing, really important questions. But today, we don't even have time for the briefest of bantering. That is because of my guest, who is joining us live from his home in Switzerland. I have to say that we have been extremely fortunate over the course of four seasons on this show to talk with some of the most influential and knowledgeable people in the industry. But I've got to say, even with all of our incredible past guests, today is special. I already told him that I would try not to geek out, so I am working on myself. As a result, the format of today's show is slightly different. Just a little housekeeping. We asked you to submit questions in advance, and you guys have showed up. In fact, if I asked everything that was sent, we would be here for five hours. Instead, myself and my team have put together a list of questions that we hope covers a wide range of important current CEO topics. So in order to get to as many of those topics as we can within our time restrictions, I won't be taking questions live. Please keep commenting with your questions and feedback, though, as they may show up in a future episode if we are able to convince John to return. So without any further ado, let us get SEO advice from the source. Today, I am joined by the one and only John Mueller. I'm going to read his bio real quick just to wow us all. John Mueller joined Google in 2007 and works in Zurich, Switzerland, where he coordinates Google Search Relations efforts as a Search Advocate. He and his team connect the Google internal world of search engineering to those who create and optimize public websites. Together, they help to bring an understanding of the external web ecosystem to internal teams and help publishers, like us, make awesome websites that work well for users and search engines. OK, here we go. Our first question. John, welcome to Teal Talk for the first time. JOHN MUELLER: Hi. Nice to be here. So cool. JENNY GUY: Wonderful to have you. Thank you. OK. Christine from Taste of Maroc. Do we run-- we're starting with a section on updating existing content, which is something we preach a lot of here. All right. Do we run the risk of losing rank on a top post if we make a minor update, such as adding an internal or external link, correcting a typo, adding a custom excerpt, breaking a long paragraph into two paragraphs, et cetera? How about adding additional photos to a post? JOHN MUELLER: No problems.