Food24 blogs
July 12, 2011 in Uncategorized
Hi Food24 Bloggers,
I have known for quite a while that there are rumblings of discontent amongst bloggers, I’ve chosen to focus on the one I think most important… the awful LetterCrash itself. My personal focus has been trying to get our broader 24 development team to take little Food24 (and in the News24 stable, it IS little) more seriously and spend the time we need completely revamping our inadequate blogging platform. And yes… hopefully there’ll be fantastic news on that front very soon.
Clearly though, we need to be more transparent about the process we use to choose recipes to feature higher up the site and 24.com network. I apologise for not doing a post like this earlier… now, in hindsight, it obviously has been lacking.
Sorry for that, guys.
Our current system
Every morning, Cath Shone and Caro de Waal get to work and go straight to the blogs. I know this because, even though I sit a little way away, they start calling out to me:
“Hey, Sam… this one from Food and the Fab is going straight to the pool room!”
“Yeah baby! Nummy, nummy curry curry!”
“Good grief… how lickable is this pic? I am sending you a link…”
They then pick the ones to feature on News24, MWeb and higher up Food24.
I need to stress this… our blogs drive our day at Food24, and rather than ‘sitting smugly watching our traffic’, we honestly delight each and every day in how the community has grown and how individual bloggers have risen like cream over the years.
Whenever I speak about Food24, or 24.com generally, I always make mention of the fact that I am more proud of the Food24 blogging community than any other aspect of my job. And I am. I consider your work to be the finest example of UGC in the country, and I couldn’t be more impressed or thankful to be a part of it.
Recipes in the database
As many of our bloggers use Food24 as a mechanism for linking through to other blogs, we also have relationships with regular bloggers to load up some recipes (also chosen by Cath and Caro) into the Food24 recipe database, linking back to the original blog.
These bloggers currently include:
| http://blogs.food24.com/LaraDee |
|
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We are happy to extend that to ANY Food24 blogger interested in increasing SEO and allowing their recipe to be Food24 search-friendly. Just say the word (by emailing caro@food24.com) and you can join this list.
What we look for when choosing recipes
We choose the recipes we feature according to the following criteria, in no particular order:
- Community interest Clearly, after years of analysing our stats, we know the kind of recipes the 24.com community likes to click on. Main definer? Staples.
- Seasonality Winter? We’re going for curries, soups and stews. Summer? Salads. And so on.
- Picture quality The more lickable the pic, the better it looks on our homepage.
- Recipe quality Does it sound like it’ll be delicious and makeable?
- Gaps Are we missing content in that area? We have a dearth of traditional African recipes for example, so we always leap on those.
Bottom line: if you want to increase your traffic: blog solid, well-shot staple recipes with in season ingredients. I know that may feel limiting to many of you, but that’s what our readers want to read... and that’s who we are aggregating for.
Copyright
I’m very concerned over the intimation of recipe ‘stealing’. Please… we take that very seriously. If we’ve missed an occasion where this has happened (and in the past, we have taken action in this regard)… please mail me direct at sam@food24.com. Obviously, it’s very hard to exercise recipe copyright but I promise to look into it and keep your name out of it.
More macaroni cheese that you can shake a colander at?
Food24 started out about 8 years ago as a recipe database for the Media24 magazine titles. In fact, we were using Media24 magazines to populate our website right up until our beloved bloggers got stuck in. So yes, there are going to lots and lots ofrecipes for the same basic dishes. But you know what? Readers LOVE to click through a bunch of recipes on the same topic, and then make their own mishmash staples. So it works for us. And you.
Our Food24 stats.
Food24 gets about a 1 000 000 page impressions a month, spread across our recipes, blogs, restaurants, directories, galleries, how-tos, articles, wine and video pages.
Broadly speaking, over 85% of our traffic on Food24 comes from South Africa, the top cities being, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria and then Durban. We get roughly 15% of that from direct traffic (via our homepage or bookmarks) and then 35% via search. The remaining 50% is from Facebook and Twitter, as well as our big brother sites News24 and MWeb.
I hope that info helps.
New ideas
Given the mails I’ve been sent and blog posts I’ve read over the last few days, I’d like to make a few suggestions… tell me what you think?
- You choose. You know traffic concerns drive our choices, but I am happy to abandon that focus once a week and allow you to choose 3 recipes to go to the Food24 box on News24 on Friday (and then stay up for the weekend). How about we make a vote (using this template) of the ones that caught our eye on a Thursday, and then the top 3 from that vote can be featured the next day? (And if you think we’ve missed a gem, you can mention it in the comments.)
- Community building… for real? We need a morale boost. How do you feel about a Food24 www.wefeedback.org project? I was approached about this a few months back, but didn’t pursue it after I found out that they weren’t in a position to do the dev work required to convert a widget to rands. Would you be interested in us setting a joint target together and working in US dollars? Check out the link… it really is a fantastic initiative and opportunity for us to give back.
What ‘cha think? Other ideas?
Did I leave something out?
I really love the fact that this has finally bubbled to the surface of the site, as opposed to mere grumblings and ‘she said that they said’s. This way, I have something tangible to address, rather than just hearsay and rumour… so thanks very much for that, Anne. And to everybody else, I seriously encourage you to send me a personal email (sam@food24.com ) if you are unhappy. The bloggers who have done so in the past can vouch for my discretion in this regard.
This is your community and I am privileged to be its custodian. I promise to consider any and all ideas to make it better and will try to be more transparent from now on.
Editor-in-Chief: Food24
Sam Wilson (Twitter: @SamWilson1)
JustChef said on July 12, 2011
*sobs at not being on the list* I like the idea of your weekend vote
)
fritzbrand said on July 12, 2011
Hi Sam
Thanks for this post, I will give it some more thought and give you any constructive feedback I can come up with.
Cheers
slicesofkiwi said on July 12, 2011
also not on the list and some of my recipes are on the data base. *sigh*
women24ed said on July 12, 2011
Really? Please send me and Caro a list of links and I will ensure they are removed. If we don’t have permission to use your recipes in our database, they shouldn’t be there.
women24ed said on July 12, 2011
Want to be on the list? Email Caro! caro@food24.com
women24ed said on July 12, 2011
Cool, I look forward to hearing from you!
JustChef said on July 12, 2011
Mine too! *dashes off to e-mail*
janicetripepi said on July 12, 2011
Fantastic News!!!! I like the sound of this!!! *Jan gets out her lucky rabbits foot, lucky penties and crystals ……Ohhhhhhhmmmmm xxxx
women24ed said on July 12, 2011
Seriously? Please PLEASE do. Thanks.
slicesofkiwi said on July 12, 2011
I don’t mind my recipes being on your data base, would just like my name on the above blogger list.
women24ed said on July 12, 2011
Done. Caro? Can you confirm when that lists updated?
JustChef said on July 12, 2011
Me too – have sent Caro a mail
) Thanks Sam!
women24ed said on July 12, 2011
women24ed said on July 12, 2011
Oh and sorry about the bad form in using my women24 24.ID… but it’s the one configured to have responses go directly to my personal email address.
ilovecooking said on July 12, 2011
Hey Sam, thanks will do blog tomorrow if I can just make it to tjaila time today … but my quick knee-jerk reaction on your suggestion ‘voting’ for best recipes or posts: nada darl, very yesterday idea – electornics have made personal voting campaigns a walk in the park making a mockery out of voting. As a rule only Idol still really vote … and we all know that it is not remotely representative of viewers. Schools, universities, towns and groups are rounded up and prompted to vote. Sort of peer group pressure. I have heard a tale of a blogger walking from floor to floor office to office at work in a high-rise office building and getting I forgot how many collegues to vote for something she entered. It’s a local blogger and I know who it was but wont spill the beans. Bottom line is that ‘voting’ for your fave has become non representative of mass appeal and objectivity or preference. It has become an activity of who can organise the most votes for him or herself via their social networks, emailing and subscription lists and our blogging realm is not free from those little tricks. I have access to a subscription list of more than 40 000 foodies and with one email I can be voted the toppest, bestest anything on food24 for the rest of my life without ever again giving you a great post or image or recipe! Yeah, so sorry darling, yeah, our cooks playground has become fraught with competiative tension and the end result? Nobody gets to win, really. Not even you. But enough said for now. Just taking a break from spending a scary amount of budget on that gear. You were my welcome break from that boring job who needs to kayak with the penguins or snorkel with the seals or navigate Elgin apple orchards with a segway and sleep in luxury tented camps for 20 nights …? xxxx
TheGorgeousGourmet said on July 12, 2011
Hi Sam! Thanks for the great post – it’s lovely to hear from you (rather than just being the mythical editor who showcases our recipes!). Of course there will always be issues to work out, but I really love what you are doing for the foodblogging community…keep it up!
Kitchengirl said on July 12, 2011
Oh Kiwi, I am so sorry! You were meant to go on – my bad – huge apologies!*sad face*
Sous-Chef said on July 12, 2011
I hear what you are saying Anne and I agree that is probably not the way to go for the voting having watched some of the comps on Facebook. However, what about only registered food bloggers being able to vote? Just a thought.
Sous-Chef said on July 12, 2011
It’s great to get some feedback, thank you for that Sam. I am personally delighted that this issue has been raised, every foodster has a place and we are all learning……even Nina! *wink*
women24ed said on July 12, 2011
Yup, there’s not much support for that idea, so not to worry on that score. Thank God, actually, because it would have been a total ovary-ache for Caro!
women24ed said on July 12, 2011
Thanks Candice! I know I am not very operationally involved (Cath and Caro do the day-to-day running of the site), so I’m not choosing the recipes myself… but I am fighting in boardrooms for a better blogging platform and some revenue share options!
women24ed said on July 12, 2011
Yeah, I’m also struck by something that is obvious to me, but not to the food24 bloggers… recipes that get picked for News24 are for News24 readers, not foodies. So the criteria are clearly different to what bloggers would expect perhaps. I hope though, that this post has made some of that clear… and if not, that bloggers will continue to get hold of me and hold me to account!
Sous-Chef said on July 12, 2011
Yay!
pinkpolkadot said on July 12, 2011
Hi Sam, it is very late and I am too tired to read the other comments! I am personally not in favour of voting – 1stly – I don’t have the time! 2ndly – I don’t think i will be able to choose between the great posts! I have looked at the cupcake entries and thought I would never be able to choose only 3!!? 3rdly – Some bloggers have more connections and e-mail addresses that can vote for them!
I personally think that the blogs of note should be updated weekly and secondly do not repeat recipes on the front page!
I will try and read the other comments tomorrow and provide some better input!
… I can’t even read all the food posts tonight!
women24ed said on July 13, 2011
Thanks! I’m going to ask Caro to update the blogs of note weekly, I think that’s a great idea… thanks. And the voting idea is dead – a lot of horror expressed!
Zabwan said on July 13, 2011
Thanks so much for your response to these issues, Sam.
I was amazed to see that my name features on your list, I can’t remember when last one of my recipes was used, and I know I have been posting some good stuff. Recently I posted a recipe for fillet of beef wrapped in dough and roasted in the coals, and a traditional ginger pudding, cooked in a pot on the fire. Both these recipes appeared in a national magazine, so I know the photos and recipes were good and unique, but I often feel that neither of your two Caros even open my posts!
One suggestion – the ladies who choose the posts to feature on Food24 home should really actually read the post as well as look at the photo – sometimes I get the feeling they just grab the photo and put it up, without checking what is in the post.
I love the idea of changing the blogs of note weekly, such a nice incentive to put up good posts, and interesting to the readers, too, who get tired of the ‘same old, same old’ faces.
I would also like to suggest that on days when there are lots of posts, that the photos and the the 3 other little ‘red’ mentions below get changed more often than just once a day (this used to be done, last year when I started blogging). At the moment, one feels that if you don’t get your recipe up before 8 am, your post will be ignored and sink into oblivion.
Again, thank you for addressing these concerns, and for paying attention to the bloggers. I must say, when Aletta was helping you out last year, all the bloggers were truly appreciated, not just a select few, who are in the industry (food writers, chefs, award-winners, food-stylists, etc)!! Theres a place for all, even the home cook, because after all, the majority of cooks are home cooks, not chefs!
I hope we can get back to that.
women24ed said on July 13, 2011
Hi Zabwan… thanks for taking the time to respond. It has been a little hard with the transition from Caro to Aletta to Caro again, community management-wise, so your suggestions and comments are really appreciated. Caro’s going to respond via email to some of these issues – but I think the more you deal with her directly (drop her a line if you are very proud of something/concerned about something else) caro@food24.com)… we’ll all start feeling the showcased bloggers are more representative of the community.
Zabwan said on July 13, 2011
I will contact Caro in future, thanks for the suggestion. It would be great to be in closer contact with the Food24 editors. I know I really appreciate the feedback and suggestions I get from my editor at the Caravan mag, where I write the some of the Cookout features.
Thanks again for everything
pinkpolkadot said on July 14, 2011
Hi Sam, I never knew that some of the recipes are featured on news or Mnet? What is the link to the Mnet site, please? How long do the chosen recipes stay on these sites?
Kitchengirl said on July 15, 2011
Hi Zabwan,
As I said in my mail to you I am so sorry you feel this way! Let’s all work together to create a happy environment where we can all have fun cooking and blogging.
I think my upcoming articles on blogging and what we look for at food24 will be very helpful to everyone and shed some light on this subject.
BIG warm buttery hugs.
Kitchengirl said on July 15, 2011
Hi Pinks,
I agree with changing the blogs of note! Thanks for all your lovely input and being so wonderful. x
Kitchengirl said on July 15, 2011
Hi Pinks,
The sites that we also feature on are http://www.mweb.co.za and http://www.24.com – on mweb we feature once a day in the lifestyle section and 24.com we are on the main ticker everyday and we also have a small box a bit further down.
Isn’t it fabulous? xx
Kitchengirl said on July 15, 2011
Thanks Candice and keep up the awesomely gorgeous work!
Kitchengirl said on July 15, 2011
Yay!
Kitchengirl said on July 15, 2011
Love that! Ovary-ache ha ha
Kitchengirl said on July 15, 2011
Thanks Fritz for all your lovely feedback and for being so cool
TheGorgeousGourmet said on July 15, 2011
My absolute pleasure! I’m still so new to blogland, so absolutely love what you guys are doing to encourage a sense of community x
Kitchengirl said on July 15, 2011
Nice to chat on email JustChef… as I said you were meant to be on, but in all the flurry somehow it didn’t happen – Lotsa foodie love xx
fritzbrand said on July 15, 2011
And thanks for your responses
Glad we are now “in touch”
Collywolly said on August 4, 2011
That fighting in boardrooms for a better blogging platform and some revenue share options is probably the most important job around. And I know you do it well. So keep doing what you do well Sam. xxx
Collywolly said on August 4, 2011
I like……any improvement is great progress. Well done Sam, Caro and Cath. Love you girls xx