The Kitchen Thyme Blogger Spotlight Series is a way for you and I to get to know and support the wonderful Food Bloggers who share their delicious recipes at Kitchen Thyme.
Meet Tilly from Tilly Eats!
Check out Tilly’s recipes at Kitchen Thyme!
Kitchen Thyme: Hey Tilly! Thank you for being part of our Kitchen Thyme Blogger Spotlight Series! Tell us where you’re from and how you got into blogging?
Tilly: Aw geez, I’m originally from a very small town in Australia but I’m currently living all over South-East Asia. TillyEats originally started when my partner started taking photos of me and uploading them to the internet. I’ve always loved cooking and started getting into health and fitness a few years ago, I wanted to show people living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to mean low carb, hours of cardio or starvation so it evolved from photos of me eating into wanting to help people live a healthy life 🙂
KT: How did you come up with the name of your blog?
Tilly: I didn’t, my partner did. I’m thinking about changing it. Just haven’t found the perfect name yet!
KT: How long have you been blogging?
Tilly: Ummm, I’ve been posting to my blog since around the end of 2017 but I’ve only really been getting serious with it since around August 2018.
KT: Are you a part-time or full-time blogger?
Tilly: Part-time. The dream is to become full time so I can move to a farm and spend my days cooking and photographing.
KT: How many recipes do you publish each week?
Tilly: One, every Wednesday. Thinking about changing that to two a week.
KT: After you publish a recipe on your blog, walk us through the steps you take to get more eyes on that recipe. What sites do you submit your recipe to? Do you use a spreadsheet to keep track of where you share your recipes?
Tilly: No spreadsheet although I should probably start haha! I start with uploading the video to Youtube and link back to my blog for the full recipe. Then I share on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. Next comes recipe sharing sites. The current ones I use are Kitchen Thyme (duhh!), FoodYub, Fridgg, Foodgawker and Yummly. I’m always looking for more though. I send out an email with my new recipe and lastly comes Facebook sharing groups.
KT: What does a typical week look like for you? Do you create recipes and blog posts on certain days of the week?
Tilly:
Monday: recipe creation, and learning more about food photography/video
Tuesday: cooking, filming, and photographing
Wednesday: editing videos/photos, writing blog posts
Thursday: marketing
Friday: other loose ends that need attention like hard technical stuff haha.
KT: Do you have a good blog/life balance? Do you unplug at night or on the weekends?
Tilly: I would say so! I give myself a set schedule to work on certain things, sometimes I get stuck down the wormhole and loose track.
KT: How much time do you spend on Social Media each day? Do you use any schedulers for Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram? Do you have a Virtual Assistant to help you?
Tilly: No VA here! And I spend probably way more than I should. I say around 2-3 hours a day. I use tailwind to schedule pinterest but everything else I do manually.
KT: What social media networks/websites give you the most traffic to your blog?
Tilly: Pinterest consistently. Websites like FoodGawker and FoodYub give me a boost when the recipe first gets published but drops off after a day.
KT: What AD networks do you have on your blog?
Tilly: Currently Google Adsense
KT: What are the main sources of income from your blog? Sponsored Posts? Advertisements? Affiliate Links?
Tilly: Ads
KT: Do you have a long relationship with any particular Brands?
Tilly: Not yet!
KT: Do you enjoy going to Blogging Conferences? If so, which ones do you recommend for Food Bloggers?
Tilly: I have yet to attend any. All the good ones are on the other side of the world.
KT: Where do you find inspiration to create new recipes?
Tilly: Cravings, food I’ve eaten out, Pinterest, Instagram and recipe submission sites
KT: What are your top 3 favorite recipes on your blog?
Tilly: Picking just 3 is hard, I’m going to have to say Wonton Soup, Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burgers and Sweet Potato Turmeric Pancakes.
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burgers
Sweet Potato Turmeric Pancakes
KT: Do you have great lighting in your house for photos or do you need to use artificial lighting or filters?
Tilly: I move like every 1-3 months so I don’t know how to answer this question. But I always try and find the best natural light possible in the house. (This also makes it super hard for food styling because I don’t have a stockpile of props.)
KT: What advice would you give to new food bloggers when it comes to taking photos of food?
Tilly: Learn as much as you can about everything from lighting to styling! Never stop practicing. I swear by Plate to Pixel: Digital Food Photography. I read it every couple of months for a refresh as well as online resources such as Joanie Simons Youtube.
KT: Do you have a favorite cookbook?
Tilly: I have so many, I simply can not pick just one.
KT: If you could cook with a famous chef or celebrity cook, who would it be and why?
Tilly: Gordon Ramsay. The man’s a legend.
KT: You are constantly working with food. What are a few ingredients you cannot live without?
Tilly: Salmon, Oats, Lemon, Avocado, Fresh Tomatoes, Spinach and Quality Bread. Could live off all of these.
KT: Do you have any advice for someone starting a food blog?
Tilly: There is so much more to blogging than taking photos and posting recipes. Learn as much as you can about the back end of it before starting. Nothing happens overnight, it takes hard work and effort if you want to grow. And never stop learning!
KT: Thank you so much for joining us at Kitchen Thyme, Tilly! Where can our readers find you?
Tilly: Thanks for having me! 🙂
BLOG: Tilly Eats
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