The Vine Podcast

Your website looks good enough, but your traffic isn't climbing. You may be wondering what you're doing wrong. In this episode, I walk through three strategic mistakes I see again and again while working with food bloggers. None of them are complicated technical problems, and all of them have straightforward solutions! In this episdoe I cover: Why your blog posts need to pass the 3-second test, since most readers arrive on a post rather than your homepage How thin categories can confuse both Google and your readers, and the simple 12-post guideline to help you decide which categories to keep Why your homepage still matters, and how to make it work like a store window that invites people to explore     Related Episode: EP 124: Using Web Design to Highlight Your Best Content     Connect With Madison Instagram | Website | YouTube | Show Notes Work with Grace + Vine in 2026: Design Services for Food Bloggers Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.

Let's talk about your old blog posts. Some aren't getting traffic. Some you don't like anymore. The temptation is to delete them. But what if deletion is only one of three options? In this episode, we'll walk through the exact framework I use to evaluate over 900 posts across two food blogs. You'll learn when to update a post, when to delete it, when to archive it, and why some solid recipes deserve a second life outside your blog. If you've ever wondered whether an old post is worth keeping or if you're about to clean house and want a strategic approach, this one's for you!   In this episode: The three strategic options for old blog posts (and when to use each one) How to evaluate posts using actual data (not just feeling) Why updating an old post often outperforms writing a new one How to repurpose content that isn't getting search traffic The framework for a monthly audit rhythm   Sign up to recieve our Content Audit Guide here!   Related Episode: EP 187: How to Get More Out of Your Popular Content   Connect With Madison Instagram | Website | YouTube | Show Notes Work with Grace + Vine in 2026: Design Services for Food Bloggers Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.

I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that no one got into food blogging to write emails. But every blogger I know who has a stable, profitable business has one thing in common, and it's not their SEO strategy or their Instagram following. It's their email list. So I called in email marketing expert Liz Wilcox to help us fix that, because she makes email way less painful than you think it needs to be. Liz Wilcox is an email strategist and keynote speaker showing small businesses how to build online relationships and make real money with email. She's best known for turning a $9 offer into multiple six figures without ads, and for helping you untangle the email "knot" with her Email Staircase. In this conversation, we cover why email is a full business and not just a side channel, how to build real connection with your subscribers, why your emails don't need to look perfect to convert, and how to write subject lines people actually want to open. Connect with Liz: 🔗 Website: https://lizwilcox.com/ 🔗 Join her $9 membership TODAY! Sign up here!   Related Episode: EP 223: Why Your Welcome Sequence Is Your Secret Weapon Against AI (And How to Build One That Actually Works) with Allea Grummert   Connect With Madison Instagram | Website | YouTube | Show Notes Work with Grace + Vine in 2026: Design Services for Food Bloggers Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.

If you've been blogging for more than a year, you probably have a few things you'd do differently if you were starting today. In this episode, Madison shares nine of hers, including some mistakes you can skip entirely and a few strategies she's still working to build into her own blogs. This one is a little unscripted, and Madison is upfront about where she's still catching up. You'll hear about the platform she'd start on, why an email list matters so much, how consistent emailing has changed her results, and the systems she wishes she'd put in place before her content library grew to a thousand posts. In this episode: Why self-hosted WordPress is the best place to start Building your audience with strategic opt-ins Emailing your list consistently Why video takes repetition, not perfection Connecting with your audience and remembering you're not your ideal reader Creating a system for content updates Hiring out writing sooner Building multiple streams of revenue, even small ones Building authority through a podcast or YouTube channel Connect With Madison Instagram | Website | YouTube | Show Notes Work with Grace + Vine in 2026: Design Services for Food Bloggers Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.

Remember when E-E-A-T was the hot SEO topic, and then it just kind of faded from the conversation? With AI completely reshaping search results, it's back, and it might be your biggest competitive advantage. In this episode, I break down why E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) matters more now than it ever has. AI can generate a recipe in seconds, but it can't generate your actual experience or expertise, and that's exactly what sets real food bloggers apart. I share three quick wins you can put in place this week: How to actually optimize your About page (hint: two sentences and a photo won't cut it) Why inconsistent authorship might be quietly hurting you, and exactly how to fix it How to build authority outside of your own site so Google and readers both trust you're the real deal Connect With Madison Instagram | Website | YouTube | Show Notes Work with Grace + Vine in 2026: Design Services for Food Bloggers Our newest way to redesign your website! Learn more here.