Monetizing: How do I monetize my content? How do I connect with brands?
Sponsored by Evernote / Evernote Food
Snacks provided by Zilks Food
6:00 – 7:00 pm – Meet and greet other members
7:00 – 8:30 – Panel Discussion with Q&A
Free for AFBA members, $10 for non-members. Event open to any type of content creators.
Follow the conversation: #AFBA @ATXFoodBlogs
Thank our Sponsors #EvernoteFood #Evernote @ZilksFood
You’ve created great content. You’ve grown a loyal following. How can you turn your hard work into a few dollars? Join the Austin Food Blogger Alliance for an educational event on how to monetize your blog. We’ll touch on the three categories of monetizing content.
- Sell space on your blog. Sell time on your podcast. Sell a spot on your videos.
- Sell offline assets like event sponsorship, conference sponsorship, or consulting services.
- Repurpose your content into another product like book, mobile application, or add on a virtual store (affiliate programs).
We’ll also share experiences from our own community in additional to hearing from seasoned professionals working in the advertising industry. Some issues we discuss include:
- What works? What doesn’t work?
- How can I tell what my content is worth?
- Should I write a book?
- Can I sell my tweets?
- Does my blog need an app?
- What are some of the legal implications for partnering with a brand?
- What can I do when brand wants me to post something I don’t believe?
To ensure that we can get through the content planned for the night, it is recommended that attendees read Making Money from a Food Blog. This blog will help you understand traditional ways of monetizing a blog.
Meet our panelists:
Cara Thielvoldt has worked in online marketing since 2005, focusing mainly on pay per click, search engine optimization and social media marketing. Cara is currently working for Vertive, where she does online marketing for Offers.com, CouponCodes.com, and DailyDeals.com. She also writes for www.idontbelieveindiets.com where she chronicles her journey on a healthy fitness journey. Cara will share her experience and knowledge of selling ad space to bloggers.
Tom Buckley has over 15 years media sales experience with companies ranging from start ups to the largest tech publisher in the world. He’s worked with literally dozens of ad agencies including traditional and interactive all over the US. He has spent six years in marketing positions, been part of several product and media launches and brings this broad range of experience and skillset to everything he does.
A big thank you to the Evernote for sponsoring our event, and thank you to Zilks Food for providing our snacks.
In early February, twenty-two volunteers from the Austin Food Blogger Alliance spent an evening at the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. We were there to help sort through donations from the Food Bank’s Souper Bowl of Caring donation drive.
CAFB welcomed AFBA volunteers for an evening of giving back through service
With work clothes on and following an orientation from Bethany and Lea (part of the Food Bank’s dedicated team), AFBA members got down to business, preparing nearly 10,000 pounds of food for distribution to people in need in the Austin area. That’s equivalent to almost 8,000 meals for Austin’s hungry!
Photo by Michelle Fandrich, The Kid Can Cook
If you visited your local grocery store in January and early February, you probably saw some of these bags full of canned goods for donation to Food Bank. Maybe you even donated one. If you’ve ever wondered what happens to the food you donate to the Food Bank, it’s simple.
Trailers deliver donations to the Food Bank. Photo by Michelle Fandrich, The Kid Can Cook
Your donations are delivered to the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas on one of these semi-trailers. All told, Souper Bowl of Caring donations filled five trailers – that’s over 835,000 pounds of food!
Photo by Tiffany Harelik, The Trailer Food Diaries
Volunteers and staff unpack the donated goods and sort them into different categories.
Photo by Michelle Fandrich, The Kid Can Cook
Sorted donations travel down the Food Bank’s conveyor belt to be packaged for short-term storage in the warehouse before they are distributed to those in need via service organizations, food pantries in the area and CAFB’s mobile food pantry.
One of about nine pallets of canned goods processed by AFBA volunteers. Photo by Michelle Fandrich, The Kid Can Cook
At the end of the night, our volunteers got to add their name badges to CAFB’s super “ball” of caring.
Photo by Kathryn Hutchison, The Austin Gastronomist
But the Food Bank is still in need of assistance. Now is the time to lend a hand and help CAFB get Souper Bowl of Caring donations out the door and into the bellies of Austin’s hungry. You can help by volunteering – just visit CAFB’s volunteer page and register for a work day or evening.
- Michelle Fandrich, The Kid Can Cook
Further reading:
A big “Thank You!” goes out to our members that participated in the SNAP Challenge, our first philanthropy event for the AFBA. In total, we had 20 bloggers participate. In addition to helping raise awareness to the hunger issues in our community and the SNAP program in particular, these bloggers also provided more than 60 recipes and tips that will benefit the “Choices” nutrition education program offered by the Capitol Area Food Bank. As an unexpected bonus, the event also raised over $350 dollars for the CAFB thanks to the creativity of a few of our members. This event just shows that collectively and as a community, we can work together for greater causes. I am proud to be a part of a community of food bloggers that believes in giving back. I look forward to seeing you at our next event in August (details to come soon).
Kristina Wolter, Girl Gone Grits
Zucchini Ricotta Cheesecake
The Austin Food Blogger Alliance recently held our first social event as an official alliance with our very own members! Potlucks are how the food blogger community in Austin first came together, so it was only fitting to carry on the tradition as our first member event. This potluck was unique, as members were asked to make a dish using ingredients from a local farmer’s market. Our foodie blogger family set high stakes for future potlucks, bringing delightful treats made of local bounty such as gluten free and vegan beet hummus, shredded beet salad, tuna lettuce wraps, incredible cupcakes, strawberry-rhubarb pie, zucchini ricotta cheesecake, homemade oreos, basil lemonade, purple potato salad, and…the mystery of the day, incredible homemade basil/vanilla and lavender ice creams– the chef is still unidentified. (If you are the maker of that popular potluck delight, please come forward so we can give you credit!) Take a look at a few photos we snapped between snacking and schmoozing…
Beet Hummus, GF (gluten free), Vegan
Members Rachel Daneman and Megan Myers
Incredible Cupcakes by Jennie Chen
Lindsay and Luke
Members, feel free to post your recipes as comments to this post. Thanks for potluck-ing. Until next time…
Rebecca Otis, TheRebeccammendations
I spend a lot of time thinking (and writing) about how to get healthier, tastier foods into our kids. But I am ashamed to say that in the past I have spared little thought for those who may be concerned with an even more serious problem – just getting food for their kids. Period. Full stop. I was ignorant when I walked through the doors of the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas that night in April. I had no concept of how many of my fellow Texans were affected by hunger and then to learn that such a large percentage of them were children – 1 in 4 kids in Texas is food insecure! I knew I had to do something. And I wasn’t alone – so many in our nascent alliance have participated in this, AFBA’s first philanthropic project. Each week we’ve posted recipes to maximize SNAP benefits, we’ve spread the word about the facts of hunger in Texas and how everyday Texans can make a difference, some of us even interviewed SNAP participants to put a real face on hunger in Texas. For me, it was a life-changing experience – one that has re-shaped my passion for food and incited in me a new passion, for bringing an end to hunger in our country. Since the challenge began, my family and I have re-focused our personal philanthropic goals and I hope that the posts on The Kid Can Cook have encouraged others to do the same. Who knew blogging about food could change your life?
- Michelle Fandrich of TheKidCanCook.blogspot.com
Copyright: How do I protect myself from legal trouble and how do I protect my content?
June 8th, 2011 at the AT&T Executive Education Center
6:30 – 7:00 pm – Meet and greet other members
7:00 – 8:30 – Panel Discussion with Q&A
Free for AFBA members, $10 for non-members
RSVP HERE.
With the popularity of content sharing platforms, posting content that is freely available online seems like a good idea. Posting a popular video or photograph to your site can drive a tremendous amount of traffic. But before clicking send, do you think about copyright law?
Using copyrighted photos, re-posting recipes, and using music are all ways that can land you into legal troubles along with legal fees. Join Anthony Campbell and Rachel Farris on Wednesday, June 8th to discuss copyright issues and blogging. Rachel Farris will share her personal experience of having a photograph stolen. Anthony Campbell will share his legal expertise in how to handle legal action and how to protect your work from theft.
Issues we’ll discuss include:
- Someone refuses to remove my content from their site. What should I do?
- I received a cease and desist. What do I do now?
- What are the different types of licensing for content?
- A fellow blogger stole my work. How should I approach a friend?
- Do I need to file for copyright on all my blog posts?
- Should I trademark my blog name?
- I received a letter demanding that I give up my domain name. Is this legal?
Meet Rachel: 
Native Texan and Democratic activist Rachel Farris (@MeanRachel) writes MeanRachel.com, a progressive blog that follows politics, the legislature and how they both are affected by social media. She covered the 2008 Democratic National Convention with The Texas Observer team and has spoken about social media and communications at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs, Texas State University’s “Mass Communications Week,” and St. Edward’s University. She also writes for The Huffington Post, currently serves on the board of Texas Democratic Women, and has served as the National Communications Director for the Young Democrats of America Women’s Caucus. She is also known for her work at the Austin-based PetRelocation.com, where she oversees operations and directs online communications strategies to create brand awareness and foster relationships with pet owners online.
Meet Trey: 
Trey Ratcliff is best known for StuckInCustoms.com, which has become the #1 Travel Photography Blog on the Internet. On average, the photos get 175,000 views per day and over 60 million total. His work first became popular after Trey had the honor of having the first HDR photo ever to hang in the Smithsonian. After that, Trey was represented by Getty, featured on the BBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, and NBC, and has had numerous showings around the world. Trey Racliff was also awarded a 2010 Texas Social Media Award, and currently shares his passion and knowledge for HDR with other photography enthusiasts.
Meet Anthony:
Mr. Campbell is trademark specialist with experience in advertising, marketing and contest law, along with use of image, likeness, name and voice. With a broad background in marketing and commercial practices, Anthony assists with visual, graphic and performance artists, authors, designers and architects on copyright licensing and infringement matters, and assists in negotiating performance, reproduction and publication rights agreements. Mr. Campbell has extensive experience in computer and technology law. As an electrical engineer with work experience in computer architecture that has maintained an e-mail address since 1988, he was at the forefront of Internet legal issues, handling domain name litigation in 1996, website user agreements, privacy policies, software licenses, website development and hosting agreements and general on-line, computer, copyright and intellectual property matters. In his free time, Anthony is an avid cyclist: Mr. Campbell have donated several thousand dollars of proceeds from his work to support his charitable bicycle rides, including rides from Houston to Austin, San Antonio to Austin, and Houston to New Orleans.
Thank you to @MeetatTexas and @WholeFoodsATX for supporting our event.
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