The Ultimate Blog Podcast - Passion to Profit: How Shaunda Necole Built her Multi-Blog Business

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Today, we’re sitting down with Shaunda Necole, a successful lifestyle blogger from Las Vegas. Shaunda is sharing how she went from running a brick and mortar cheerleading business to building a blogging empire built from multiple passions. Tune in to hear how she got started in blogging, why niching down into multiple blogs was a game changer for her success, and how she has monetized those blogs without being salesy. If you have many passions you want to blog about but don’t know how to narrow down your focus, this episode is for you!🔗Check out the show notes for Episode 157!

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We have three monthly calls and a forum that's always open for collaboration and help. The best part, no more overwhelm. With the ultimate blog roadmap, you'll know exactly what to do and when to do it. It's a monthly membership designed to take the guesswork out of blogging and help you reach your goals for just $97 a month. If you're ready to join us, head over to ultimateblogroadmap.com and let's get started. Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. This podcast is the podcast we wish we had when we started blogging. I'm Amy Reinike and I'm Jennifer Draper.

Our episodes dive deep into how to monetize your blog, sharing unique insights and practical tips. We bring you in-depth interviews with successful bloggers and experts who offer valuable, actionable advice. Our mission is to educate, support, inspire, and empower you in your blogging business. Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. Hey, welcome back to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. We are thrilled to have Shonda Nicole with us here today, and we are going to talk all

about her journey and where it has led, including Vegas, which is super exciting because she is, when we got on here, I said, you're like the queen of Vegas. You know everything about the city. Uh, so I'm really, really excited to talk to you, Shonda, about your blogging journey. And so welcome to the ultimate blog podcast. Oh, thank you, Amy. Jennifer, thanks so much for having me.

I'm happy to be here. Yeah. Well, we love talking to bloggers, obviously here on the podcast. And what's always interesting is how a person gets started. You know, one day they're like, I think I'm going to start a blog. And I always find it really interesting to hear that story. So Shondo, do you mind sharing kind of how that that epiphany came to you one day and how you started your first blog? kind of how that that epiphany came to you one day and how you started your first blog. Sure. So it's kind of a fun story, but it's it took shape organically. And so, oh gosh, almost a decade ago, I was collecting a brand that I still love called McKinsey Childs.

They're probably seeing the checkered tea kettles on folks' stovetops. And I started collecting them and the brand and they haven't they used to have an annual sale called barn sale they still do have it it's just online at this point post-covid but when they had barn sale was actual an in-person event and every year 20,000 fanatics of the brand like myself would roll in to the small town which actually is a village and not even a town but a village of 900 people. And they would, it's a three day event and they would stand in line to get in and shop because

everything would be like 50 to 80% off. So when I started collecting the brand, I realized barn sells something that happens every year and I wanted to go so bad. And the entrepreneur in me thought, well, I want to go and I want to like shop till I drop, but I'm sure there's other ladies who want to go too, who maybe can't go, just, you know, work or whatever reason. And so what if I like put an ad out there and I personal shop for other people and they paid me and then, you know, I took a commission from whatever sales or purchases I made and then I could go.

And the idea for me was just simply to pay for my trip and pay for all the stuff I wanted to buy that was my my goal of this So I put out an ad on eBay and a bunch of women signed on and I got clients to go on this trip and so one of my clients said to me that the brand is having a Contest so that you can skip the line, you know, cuz all these people are coming through, you can skip the line and get in sooner. So for my customers, that was super advantageous and the same for me because then I could, you know, curate and get more of the things they wanted and make more money. So I at that time did not have any social media. I had a business, it was

totally different field. I was in cheerleading and had a store for cheerleaders. And so all of my employees were a store for cheerleaders. And so all of my employees were either high school cheerleaders or collegiate cheerleaders. So they ran our social media. We had social media, but for the business, nothing personally for Shonda. So my daughter created an Instagram account for me

so that I could enter this contest and hopefully win and skip the line. And so I did all these things, like in community on Instagram, you know, meeting new people, doing whatever the brand had you do every day. I'm putting my dog and everything, dressing him up, and I won the contest. Yes, it was so fun.

I won, yeah. So I got to skip the line, and when they called to say that I won, I thought it was definitely my dog for sure, but it was actually my daughter who created the Instagram as an artist She paints hair nowadays. She's a color specialist and a hairstylist But she painted the logo of the brand the logo they were using for barn sale on a shirt

And that's what won us the contest So she was my plus one when we skipped the line and so I went on to barn sale and when I got there I knew everyone because I'd been playing all these games and community online on Instagram. And so I had just a blast. I shopped for my customers, made my money, bought all the stuff I wanted. And as we were leaving, I remember thinking like,

I'm gonna keep this Instagram account. I had just so much fun on it that I'm gonna hang on to it. So that was my entryway into, I guess, in being an influencer. I don't even know if that word was a term back then, but I kept the account. And so later on, my daughter was in high school at that time.

And so she created me a website on Wix because it was like, okay, I have this Instagram account. Now I need somewhere for folks to land. Like, you know, in my new business that only gets, I get paid once a year when this sale happens. But I need somewhere for them to land, like, you know, in my new business, that only gets, I get paid once a year when this sale happens. But I need somewhere for them to land when that one time a year comes, you know, maybe I can keep communicating with them.

So I started a blog and my daughter made the website, I started a blog on the website, and I would just talk about my collection from the brand. And I had amassed a pretty big collection. I had a ton of vintage pieces that I would, you know, scour eBay and other collection sites and find. And so that's really a pretty big collection. I had a ton of vintage pieces that I would scour eBay and other collection sites and find. And so that's really how I got started.

And so as time went on, maybe by the next year or two, I up-leveled the blog from Wix to WordPress, just knowing that all the plugins you need to do all kinds of things. And I moved into lifestyle content. And that's where my blog, which started as OhMyWhimsy.com and is now, I think, and then it moved to IPersonalShop.com, which is now ShondaNichole.com, just my signature site.

And so that's really how I got started in this space. I think my first brand deal was some jewelry company out of Florida that like sent me jewelry and I was so excited and over the top. And then eventually, you know, as a couple of maybe another year went on brand deals just started to come in. And I ended up with an agent who I'm still with today and two more blogs and kind of here we are now almost 10 years later.

That is such a cool story. But what I heard in there is that you you are already an entrepreneur. Like you just had kind of had that mindset with it. I assume you had like a brick and mortar. So when did you decide to like shut that down? What part of that or do you still have it today? Don't still have the cheer store and as fun as it was, cause we spent over a decade in that business

and we graduated, we started in a mall where I literally worked probably 362 days every year with mall hours if anybody remembers what a mall is. We graduated to a warehouse space with office and I was literally making hair bows. That was our kind of our core business. Cheer bows can be very expensive. So we had like blinged out $30 hair bows. I mean, it was a business, but I was literally making thousands of hair bows with my two hands. And so I've always said at this point, I don't ever want to make a business with my hands

anymore. I want a business with my mind. And that's how I felt when I got into the blogging space. So that business, I think I started collecting at that time because I started transitioning kind of out of that business. Whereas when our girls would like graduate and go off to college or graduate college, I just didn't hire any more employees. And so I kind of, I was able to manage kind of the manufacturing of the hair bows. My husband was in business with me and he pressed the shirts and the t-shirts and the hoodies we had. And so we gradually just came out of there and I went online from that point

and very thankful because I enjoy sitting with my cat and dog and talking online about the things that I enjoy. Yeah. Yeah. And that's one of the reasons that we wanted to talk to you today is how to make money with the things that you're passionate about. And it sounds, you know, I think just how it's true for all of us is like our passions kind of shift along the way. And as we age and as we go through different experiences and things, and so those passions kind of shift and depending on how they shift is how you can show up differently, especially in the online space and what you can offer to people.

So you started then with a lifestyle blog, you said, but now today you have this blog that is, it's literally insane. There's so much about Vegas on this blog and a podcast and everything else all about Vegas. And so I would just love to hear how that happened. Like you had a lifestyle blog and then when was that shift? They are like, I wanna start another blog, and then another blog. I know that Jennifer has done the same thing.

Like you get addicted to blogging. Right. But what did that journey look like for you? And yeah, what did that journey look like for you? Yeah, so totally. So my first blog, I was definitely throwing spaghetti at the wall. I think a lot of us start that way where you're starting and it's almost like you're writing

a journal of this is what I did today or this is what I'm enjoying. And there was really no SEO quality to it. And so I learned Pinterest along the way. And Pinterest was my entry into SEO. And Pinterest was an easy entry into SEO. I still use and rely on Pinterest till today. My signature blog, the shandanichole.com site, totally relies on Pinterest traffic to thrive. And so learning Pinterest and learning what keywords were, and Pinterest is a great, almost a gateway into SEO, and now I'm a total nerd about it. But it was just, it's visual. So you could see the colored bubbles, which were the keywords, and you can see what's in search versus just words telling you what people are searching for.

So I learned Pinterest and then I even started teaching Pinterest classes because I just enjoyed it so much. And so that's when my real entry into SEO was when I decided to start a food blog. So my food blog is the soulfoodpot.com and it was based on Southern soul food recipes from my family, but with modern kitchen appliances like Instant Pot or Air Fryer, just quicker ways to cook the same classic and integral meals. And when I did that, when I started that site, that's when I realized that I

actually had a conversation with an SEO strategist and she was like, you're not going to be able to put this food content on this lifestyle site. Like, I know you may think that, you know, folks will come to your site and they'll read your story about like your women's healthcare procedure or your story, you know, about, you know, why you like this brand of clothes or the McKinsey Childs, why you like these teapots. And you think they're going to jump over to a recipe. And she said they're not because that's not what they searched for. The search intent as to why they landed on your site is not going to have anything to

do with food. And so that's when it hit me like, oh, okay, I probably need to dig into this SEO thing more. And so that was where the first separation took place, where I niche down and started the food blog. And it's all about Southern soul food, but that was how that journey began. And then of course, I think I was expressing to you, Amy,

when we were offline that how I love Las Vegas. Like I love the city I live in. I'm so proud to be here and be a Las Vagan. So I wanted to talk about my passion for Las Vegas. So again, another niche down where I had to separate that content out into its own house. So another website, which is VegasRightNow.com, which is all about Las Vegas. So it was just really honing in on one of my pillars in SEO was definitely that you

have to go small to get big. And so really niching down super hard to what it is that you want to talk about and then building a site from there with that deliberate and intentional strategy in mind. I'm so glad you shared all that because I think that's something that a lot of people struggle with when they start blogging. They have so many different things that they want to share about and talk about. And so I'm glad you've had success in finding that, that niching down and starting multiple blogs has helped you to be able to

grow in that aspect of sharing all the things that are important to you. But I also know that managing three blogs, I mean, managing one blog is not easy. So managing three blogs, oh my goodness, that has to be a significant amount of work to create all of that content. So you must have seen success at each level before you kind of went to the next one to fuel you forward into knowing that it was going to be worthwhile to create another blog. So can you talk a little bit about the different blogs and I know you've mentioned some different traffic sources. Have you gone about your monetization

methods differently with each of those blogs too? Yeah, that's such a good point. I'm glad you asked that because that could be something that's overlooked. So to your point, Jennifer, the first step was definitely to see success in, I say the soul food pot, the second blog, because that's where I came in with a clear strategy

of exactly what I'm doing. And so it was definitely to see success there where that site is like my bread and butter, no pun intended, but it is, you know, it's the one that holds everything down. And so once I kind of, we, you know, accumulated evergreen content there that's going to be, you know, performing on a daily basis, then it was feasible to move into the Vegas right now, into the travel site. So my goal with all the blogs is definitely monetization via an ad revenue service.

So let's go back. So going to the first blog with shondanichole.com, that site totally relies on Pinterest traffic. And here's the fun thing about Pinterest traffic is where Pinterest is a search engine and one of the, I say the second largest search engine because I group Google and YouTube together, they have the same owner with Google has YouTube. So your biggest search engine, those two, and then of course, Pinterest. And with Pinterest, unlike Google,

where I just mentioned how important it is to niche down so that Google can really understand the core of your content, it's actually not necessary to do that with Pinterest. So that lifestyle site that talks about women's health and it has one or two charcuterie board recipes on it or how to make one and beauty and fashion where it's got all these things that it's covering

which is hard for Google to pinpoint like what in the world you're talking about. Pinterest doesn't care. You can create a pen for all of those different niches and get someone to come back to that site. So that's how that site thrives. It's definitely not the most profitable site, but it does make money. Um, and it's definitely geared towards a Pinterest audience.

So then the second site, the soulfoodpot.com, I've totally built that one to get into an ad network. And so that one's monetized with Mediavine. And that's really how that site thrives is I'm always looking for ways to drive traffic. And first and foremost, always organic traffic because it's free. So if we can use SEO to talk to Google, I call it speaking Google's love language. So learning how to communicate with Google and express who you are, what you do and why it matters so that it can send that core audience to that site.

And then building VegasRightNow.com, my travel site, it was the same methodology. And although travel is definitely different from food, so there are just different ways that you're talking to Google with respect to that or speaking Google's love language, there are still a lot of core elements that are the same. But of course, there are just some differences

in writing travel content versus writing food content. I mean, a big one in food content, you have a recipe card, which is a big part of the SEO strategy and getting folks because that's ultimately what they're coming for on a recipe site is to get to that recipe card and which is the ease and delivering how to make the dish. I love that you're in three different niches essentially. And so you have three very different perspectives. And if I had to guess, those are probably the top three niches that most people choose from. I mean, there's obviously lots of them, but those are three pretty common.

Do you find that one has been easier to build than another? I do. Actually, I think the travel site is the, I'm also partial to it because there's so much to do in Vegas or so much to see. We have so many firsts that it's like always enticing. You're like, I'm enticed as a person that lives here as a resident to always share what new thing is in the city. But I also feel like travel content is a bit easier to write because there are just so

many steps with a recipe, with a food site, like that recipe card being one of them. There's a lot of work that goes into the detail, you know, the detail of creating that recipe card. So with food, you can't just write the article and then, you know, move on. If it has a recipe attached to it, you've got to get the card in there. You've got pictures. There might be step by step, you know, there's just so much more detail involved in that food site than with the travel site.

I think that's just an interesting perspective as somebody who might be listening, like wondering, okay, well, I'm passionate about travel, I'm passionate about food, you know, and they're kind of thinking about what path they could potentially take and what that might look like. Because I think that that's something that a lot of new bloggers, you know, they have this idea essentially, okay, this is the thing that I wanna blog about, but then what's next?

And I think it's always just helpful to have some context with this is what it takes to write a food blogger or start a travel blogger, whatever. We've had a lot of travel here in the last several months here on the podcast. So it's been really interesting to just hear the perspectives of travel. And also just, I think that there's been an under,

well, not an understanding. There's been a assumption that somebody who has a travel blog or a destination blog has to travel or or go all the time. Right? Is that something that you feel like you have to do? Or do you feel like you can get a lot of content with you know, one trip or whatever? Like, how do you kind of do that? And how do you know what to write about in regards to

travel? How do you specifically do that? Yeah, that's a good question.. So when I'm gonna answer the back part of the question first, which is about how to know what to write is definitely niching down. And so you want to niche down so hard that it's like extremely clear, like what you're talking about. Whereas I have a friend who's starting a site about Las Vegas fitness. I don't write about Las Vegas fitness, but that's something that's a very niche, you know? So my insight is about Las Vegas things to do. So it's again, very niche to, you know,

so I'm just thinking of something like, I may like, hmm, I'm not even sure. I'm trying to think of something else in Las Vegas. Oh, let's say I don't talk about necessarily like Las Vegas best places to live. That's like another niche topic. You know, I could have a one-off article about that if it's relevant to things to do, like maybe going on a home tour because that's something, that's a thing to do. But the first thing is like definitely being very clear about what you're talking about and owning and honing in on that niche. And so when starting

that site, you want to kind of create an outline of like categories. Like, what are you, okay, this is Las Vegas. What are you going to talk about with that? Or if this is New Orleans or if this is Los Angeles, you know, what are, what is your core niche? What type of categories fit into that niche and kind of outline it before getting started in it. And I do know bloggers that I have friends that are travel bloggers and you know, some

of my, I have a friend who's, she's like the queen of Texas, where she scours, I mean, the huge state of Texas, she's like all around the state. And so she's traveling all the time. Whereas for me, I'm just covering one city and not the state of Nevada in itself. So I think that gives me kind of an advantage with not having to travel so much and being able more accessible to things that are happening. So whenever friends and family come to town, I am definitely like there, like it's kind of a business list. So I have a list of all the things I'm going to show them, but they're really things I

need to cover content on. Smart. Right. So I'm taking them to this restaurant or that place and I'm just batching content because it's like to get the pictures and the experience like and then I could even if I don't write about it to six Months later. I've got like, you know The the cover is the video the pictures and you know, then I can remember the experience and talk about that at any point But that's kind of how I do content So I'll take like field trips myself and go to different places

Especially if they're new or even if it's a place that I just don't have footage or, you know, pictures of, or, you know, something happens new because we get seasonal things that different like our, our ballpark, the Las Vegas ballpark, Lord, can't talk. Ballpark turns into enchant, which is a Christmas experience during the winter time. So some of our staple things, you know, change shape when it comes to the holiday season.

So there's just always new experiences, but I think maybe starting with a city versus a state could be advantageous. Even my book coming out, it's not 100 things to do in Nevada, it's 100 things to do in Las Vegas before you die. So that seems to be like something I landed in, but didn't realize that maybe just covering ground

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Whether your goal is to grow your audience or optimize your content, Pen Clicks will help you dominate your niche with data-driven strategies. Want to learn more? Visit the show notes to learn more about Pen Clicks today. I really like that you said that because I think a lot of people that we hear from have a passion about maybe it's where they live or someplace they like to go or something

that they want to share. But a really common concern is, am I going to be able to reach anybody? Am I going to be able to get any traffic if I write a whole entire blog about this? Are there any specific strategies that you kind of implemented so that you could attract Google or let Google know like, hey, here's what I have to offer so that you could potentially reach those people looking for that information? Yeah, totally. Because we're, I mean, it's definitely a saturated Google out there at this point. So you're looking for places that maybe like, because a lot of times with travel, we're competing with the bigger travel outlets, TripAdvisor, or even just news outlets that

cover stories. And Vegas gets covered a lot. We have like Spears, a big thing that's here now. It's been a little over a year since we've had Spear is a big thing that's here now. It's been a little over years since we've had Spear. They had their annual anniversary, but when that happened, when we got Spear, the first of anything of its kind in the world, we had every news outlet covering it. It was all over social media. So one of the things that you're looking to do is find those uncharted places or uncharted territories where those big media publications aren't covering.

And especially if you're a local, because in your city, you know those very specific niche down things like, for example, Spear is a cashless venue. And so there's a whole article about that right there. Like you can't take money in there because you can't use it. It's a cashless venue. So that's like a very niche down thing that only a local would know

that you could actually write an article about that would be super helpful to people. Yeah. I think it's just thinking outside the box and putting yourself in that perspective from a traveler coming in. Right. And how, like what is the information

that they need when visiting or what would they be looking for? And so as somebody who lives there, you know, sometimes I think we can get a little disassociated with that, but just kind of keeping that in check, like, okay, yes, I live here, but this is someone's first time here. And Vegas, I mean, Vegas in and of itself

could be very overwhelming. Oh, completely. And so I actually feel like you do have a leg up with that because that is a place that people are definitely gonna be like, hey, I think I need some help with that. Right. There's a lot to think about doing and especially a lot of people I'm sure come in

just for a couple days. So what could I do in just a couple days time? So anybody listening who lives like in a bigger city like Vegas, you know, someone's like New York City or like Los Angeles, even like Dallas is one that that's coming to mind. You know, what can you do in those bigger cities? And put yourself in that, that idea and that person's shoes who's coming in just for a couple days. And I think that's a good perspective to have as a travel blogger.

And I'm strictly saying from things that we've learned from people coming on the podcast and talking to us. Oh, absolutely. I'm not a travel blogger. No, I think Amy, you're spot on. I mean, there's just some things I think we take for granted as locals that we know that would be super helpful to someone else.

Sometimes down to if you're gonna go do this set event, make sure you're wearing these shoes, like for example, on the strip. Don't wear heels on the strip. It's a walkable situation. And so we see tourists who look very uncomfortable because they wore their beautiful Christian Louboutins, their high-heeled shoes on the strip.

And so you wanna to definitely have you know walking shoes and so even for me another way to monetize that is when I'm recommending that I'm definitely putting an affiliate link in there. You know I hope Nike picks me up one day and says I'll be an ambassador because I'm always recommending Nikes are just my favorite one of my favorite sneakers but I'm always taking an affiliate link in there to say, if I'm recommending like, this is the size bag you need to have to go do this thing, or this is the type of comfortable shoe,

I'm always linking to that as another opportunity. So I have a bunch of fashion links even on a travel site because it's important to know what to wear when you come here, especially in the springtime or in the summertime, we get extreme heat. And know, and then, so how do you manage that? You're going to need sunscreen. You're going to want to bring a hat, you know, you're going to want to have sunglasses.

So just things like that, that people may not know on their first visit to Las Vegas. So you brought up the use of affiliate links. And so I'm kind of thinking about some of the other things that you've chosen to do in your business, such as start a podcast. things that you've chosen to do in your business such as start a podcast. And I think that we are living in a state that we have to think outside the box when it comes to generating revenue as a blogger, because a lot of people who used to just solely use ad revenue that is shifting that is changing. And so how has that looked for you? What are some things

that you have started doing to generate revenue in a different way with your blog? Because I think that it's always helpful to hear what another blogger is doing. And so what are you doing that one, you're enjoying, but two, that you are actually receiving profit by doing it? Yeah. So I've actually leaned more into affiliate revenue, as I was just mentioning,

because just what I was saying that when someone, even on a travel site, where our audience is looking for us to tell them what to wear during this season, or during this month, so what to wear, what to bring, what to pack. So we always wanna consider those things because they're super helpful.

And so having an affiliate link for all of those things is very helpful. It's helpful to you, you know, in monetization. It's definitely helpful to your audience because if I can make, I mean, I'm looking for that when I go to someone else's site. If you can make my life easier just by saying, click here, here's the exact thing I bought.

You know, this is the suitcase I use. It was so easy to pack everything in it. I don't want to search around. I just want to click here and here's the exact thing I bought. This is the suitcase I use. It was so easy to pack everything in it. I don't want to search around. I just want to click here and go buy the suitcase that you're recommending. So that's really helpful for us. So just not to lose sight of that. And then Shopify is also another great thing. We have, I've had a Vegas travel planner for years.

It even started on my Seanonda Nicole, my lifestyle site. When I used to, I still have some travel content on that site because it just exists there. And before the site branched out to the, to VegasRightNow.com. So I also just at the top, direct people to Vegas Right Now,

just saying like, kind of like, this is an older article, you know, for Vegas Right Now today, head to this site. But Shopify, like I have a Shopify store for some of my for my lifestyle content that lives on on that site and in there's like Even a Vegas travel like a place up not even a travel itinerary But a planner so that you can kind of plan out because to your point It's very overwhelming when you come to our city and so you can actually write out and plan out what you know What you want to do when you get here. So just thinking of different ways, I'm personally an LTK affiliate,

just because I love that like I can cover ground on so many different brands with them. But I know people find success with Amazon, LTK let's be so linked to Amazon. So that works for me, but people do find success there. And then also with travel experiences, what is Viatar is who I use for travel experiences. So whenever I'm talking about an experience, I will link to that because again, people wanna, they're trusting you as that source. They landed on your page.

They're already trusting you. So if I say that you should go to Red Rock Canyon and this is the tour company that I use, when I went there they're so knowledgeable, you'll get all these fun facts on your trip and they'll take you on a guided tour. I'm definitely linking through that program to that experience. So again it's easy for my reader to just go ahead and click on it and book it and it's like done. I can put this on my calendar that on Wednesday we're going to Red Rock Canyon and then afterwards we going to go eat at this place but it just helps them in planning out that trip to my city or to your city that you're writing about. I think that you've

demonstrated what is so important and you do it so well and that's I think a lot of bloggers shy away from like sharing too many affiliate links because they're like, oh, I don't want to be salesy or whatever. But what you've done is you've created something that's truly helpful to people. People just are short on time. They're planning this trip. They want to find somebody that they can trust. They read your content. They decide that you are a trustworthy source. Now just tell me what I need and I'm going to get it and I'm going to book it and whatever. It saves them time. So it's beneficial for both parties in that situation. So I love that you do that and that you've talked

about how you go about it because I think that people should feel encouraged that it's great to share those kinds of things. Because as long as you're sharing things that you've tried or that you know are good, there's no, that's not shady, that's not salesy, that's just really, really helpful. Oh, absolutely.

When I go to someone else's site, which I do, that's the exact thing that I'm looking for. I want you to just guide me. Just guide me, tell me what I need if I'm going to Dallas. What do I need to know that I don't know about because I don't live in Dallas, so guide me. What product do I need? What do I need to put in my suitcase? And just let I don't live in Dallas. So guide me, what product do I need? What do I need to put in my suitcase?

And just let me click to get it, like make my life so easy. We don't need to like have to dance around to a whole bunch of different things to try to figure out what we actually need. That's just decision fatigue. And then we don't know. Then we don't know what we need. And we're confused and they're confused and then nobody gets any help. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Tell me what restaurant is best. You know, what I can't

miss, you know, and again, if there's anything associated that I need to bring, link me right to it. One thing I would love to dive a little bit into here, Shonda, is with three blogs, I am making the assumption, I have no idea, that you have to have support in some capacity with other people. And so I guess the first question is, do you utilize that? Do you utilize like VA's or different managers throughout your business? Do you, do you utilize that in order to maintain all three blogs?

Absolutely. So over the years I've definitely grown into a team of support and those relationships, people often ask like, well, how do you get there? They've been quite fruitful and easy. One of my favorite places to find support is Fiverr, the F-I-V-E-R-R.com, where because you get to try out a situation with someone like on a, I don't know if they're, I always thought they were named because it's like a $5 one-off kind of task thing. Like they're so affordable, the task that you can, you know can delegate out and have someone do. And it's a great way to try out something with someone, see if they're fit.

And so some of my, like my graphic designer, for example, we've probably been together for at least five years and it started with Fiverr. And when she did the first thing for me, it was like, wow, this is better than I would have even thought about it. This is, you exceeded my expectations of what I even had in my mind. And so we just continued to work from there and eventually just we live off of that site now. And I think we manage things through Trello is how we manage things, our tasks there.

And so anything that comes up, I just got the cover for my book. And so, which was super exciting, but that's a handoff to her to make a graphic that we're going to, that's going to live on our website or a graphic that's going to live on the, you know, the size for the Facebook page or, you know, that type of thing or to put on Instagram. So anything that comes up, it's really nice to know that I can just pass that on to her. Like she's responsible for all pins so that all I have to do is go pin them. Or even if I have to make a pin, we have so many templates that she's created

that it's a, you know, for me, a drop and drag really quickly that I can get something up. And then I do have a social media manager because that's not my favorite part of the business. I know that we have to absolutely have a presence there. And I've grown away from brand partnership deals, which I'm not opposed to, but I'm just really more into creating my own content on brand partnership deals, which I'm not opposed to, but I'm just really more into creating my own content on my own platform, which would be your website, my website.

And so that's really important to me. So I do also keep an SEO strategist, even though it's like, I love SEO, I still keep someone on a regular basis that is looking through the content to see what needs to be updated. Because we all know as bloggers, HCU, the helpful content update, it wasn't that helpful to us, but it definitely kept us on our toes. And so we go through content to make sure

that we are still writing and speaking the new language that Google wants to talk today. And so all of those things are important. I try to stay in my wheelhouse, which is writing and creating content with an SEO strategy in mind. But I do have other people on the team so that we can full circle market on all of those platforms that allow us free marketing and free engagement, like the Instagram and the TikTok. And even YouTube, we do for my food site, we do very well with YouTube.

And we've just adopted this year the same strategy of like I'm talking about with our blog of branching out. So now we have two YouTube channels, which we've had one for years and spent, the first one was Sean and Nicole in the Soul Food Pot. And then we began as we really went down hard on this Vegas travel journey. We've just this year and just the last couple of months actually just branched out to give Vegas right now its own YouTube so that we're not, you know, inundating people who want to know about soul food on my YouTube channel with Vegas when they may not want to know about that.

So we've definitely separated that out too. So we've niched down in that area which I'm really happy about and something we've talked about it before but at times it just didn't make sense or seem like there was capacity for it and now it just made sense and we were able to do that. So whenever you can niche down I always recommend it. It's not always an immediate thing. You know it took us some it took us probably over a year before we really landed that way, but I'm really happy that we are there now. Everything that you've talked about today, there's been one common theme. And that's been one you took yourself seriously from the start. And I think that you knew that you wanted to build a business from the start.

And that was it. It wasn't like, oh, I'm just going to have a little bit of fun here. Like I'm going to do this and I'm going to figure out what I need to do, and I'm going to shift when I need to. I'm going to pivot when it's necessary. And I just find that really encouraging, especially in the day and age where things have changed. And the landscape looks a little bit different.

And just to give us some new ideas to think about. Like, how can we make some of those pivots and shifts if we need to? But at the end of the day, keeping the focus being like, this is your business that you're building. This is your thing. Like you have created this blog, these blogs, and they have evolved with you and grown with you, and so I just want to say thanks for sharing, quite honestly, how it's evolved.

It's been so interesting. I don't know if we've ever, no, we have not ever had somebody had like an origin story the way that you did. That was so interesting. Very fun. It was just so interesting. And I love too that connection is at the heart of it. Connection with the people who need the content that you're creating.

I mean that started all the way back just being a personal shopper. You know, I just, I don't know. I think your story is really, really cool and I'm really glad that we are sitting down having this conversation today and sharing you with our community for sure. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. I received that. I always say thank you, daughter, for making that Instagram account and for making my website

on Wix to give me that first start. It was amazing. And I still do get people who are the collectors of the Mackenzie Chiles brand that email me and ask me like, you know, I broke this because I am as such a vintage collection. So they're like, I broke this, you know, legacy candlestick, you know, where can I get another one? So I've had to actually create on my

shondonnicole.com site, a page that's like, where it's just automated now, because I can't keep up with it. And so it's just, if you subscribe, I promise all your answers, y'all get, you know, I'll email you all the answers to the things that you need to know,

like where to buy vintage pieces, you know, who personal shops for them now like that type of thing and so other people that I've met over the years is it just refers them like an email series and it refers them out to all the things that I don't do anymore, but people still have those questions because but not that brand really has fanatics and I it's very fun, but it's also like a really has fanatics and I it's very fun but it's also like a an opportunity to learn from that as well as to like you said building that community and looking to amass raving fans of your product also and that's one last thing that I learned recently or thought about that my soul food readers are very loyal to

the brand to the soul food pot and so I even started on my email series to them, dropping in like just a picture at the bottom with the caption saying, you know, and promotion of the upcoming book, but saying, hey, I did this thing in Las Vegas, you know, and you can learn more about it in my new book that's coming out, but just kind of keeping them in tune of what's happening in Vegas, because they're so loyal.

It's like, why would I leave them out of that conversation? You know, if they really have been with me and on this journey, you know, let them know that a book is coming out and spark their interest along the way, you know, until we get to that release date. So it's just keeping a communication with your communities, even if it's, you know,

something a little bit different, because Lord knows I've taken my people on like a journey from like, from teapots to, you know, something a little bit different because Lord knows I've taken my people on like a journey from like from teapots to, you know, soul food to what to do in Vegas. But they try. I love it because we're all like we, we all have more than one passion. We all have more than one thing that we're interested in. And instead of like trying to smoosh it all on one site and not be able to reach

anybody, you were thoughtful and business minded and you have it on different sites so you can reach the masses. You can reach more with what you're doing. And then through that, you can kind of weave in those connections to where they might have come because of the teapot, but they stay because of Vegas now.

Right. Teapots in Vegas, who would have thought? Who would have thought it? Right, right. I love now. Right. Teapots in Vegas, who would have thought? Who would have thought it? Right, right. I love that. Yes. Well, thank you, Shonda, so much for coming today. Can you please let people know your favorite way to connect and for them to connect with

you and learn more? Absolutely. My favorite way is definitely always my websites because I get to like share like full detail about any experience or any you know recipe or anything so my signature site is my name shondanichole.com and my it's s-h-a-u-n-d-a and then n-e-c-o-l-e.com and you can actually navigate to all my sites from the home page there and then for food it's thesoulfoodpot.com and then for Vegas, it's Vegas right now.com. And then the same on Instagram, it's Sean at Shonda Nicole.

And you can land to any of those places from Instagram also. Awesome. We will make sure to link everything in the show notes so you can easily find Shonda a connect, whether, um, you want lifestyle, whether you want food or whether you are headed to Vegas soon. So thank you Shonda for connect whether you want lifestyle, whether you want food or whether you are headed to Vegas soon. So thank you Shonda for being here today. We really enjoyed talking to you. Oh, thanks so much for having me. I enjoyed sharing with everyone. Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. If you'd like to learn more about

building your blog, visit theultimateblogpodcast.com backslash newsletter to get signed up for our email newsletter. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love for you to share it with a friend, subscribe, and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Thanks for tuning in today and we'll see you next time.