{"id":10784,"date":"2010-07-29T10:30:27","date_gmt":"2010-07-29T08:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=10784"},"modified":"2010-07-31T14:22:49","modified_gmt":"2010-07-31T12:22:49","slug":"blogging-is-vanity-publishing-food-wine-bloggers-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/blogging-is-vanity-publishing-food-wine-bloggers-told\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogging is “vanity publishing”, Food & Wine Bloggers told"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Free-lance writer and second-most read South African food blogger Jane-Anne Hobbs, writing the Scrumptious South Africa<\/a><\/span> <\/strong>blog, described food bloggers as “desperate for attention” at the Food & Wine Bloggers’ Club meeting last night, and their genre of writing can be called “vanity publishing”, she said.\u00a0 The bloggers present felt that this description probably applies to bloggers across the board!\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Food & Wine Bloggers’ Club was started earlier this year, and “pairs” a different food blogger and a wine blogger every month.\u00a0\u00a0 The wines of the Wine Blogger are tasted, and Warwick\/Vilafonte’s Mike Ratcliffe brought along his Warwick Professor Black, the unique Warwick Blue Lady without vintage, and Vilafonte Series M 2006\u00a0(the highest rated Merlot blend according to Wine Spectator<\/strong>), for the bloggers to taste.\u00a0 Food was served by Cafe Max.\u00a0\u00a0Meetings are informal, and questions are\u00a0answered during the two-hour meeting, encouraging fledgling bloggers to obtain\u00a0input and tips from more experienced bloggers.<\/p>\n

Jane-Anne said that through social media, “opinion has been democratised”, creating a serious threat for traditional media, with\u00a0their short lead times in publishing restaurant reviews, or food information, compared to traditional magazine and newspaper publishing, and this is leading to tension between the two media types.\u00a0\u00a0She started her blog three years ago, and it reflects her love for cooking and for developing recipes.\u00a0\u00a0 While one may not get financial reward out of a blog, especially if one does not accept advertising, which is Jane-Anne’s\u00a0policy (nor does she accept freebies), she feels that she is adding value to her readers, and she herself receives emotional, intellectual and entertainment\u00a0satisfaction from writing her blog.\u00a0 She advised that food blogs must focus on accuracy in terms of ingredients and method of preparation, but also in terms of spelling and grammar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Online integrity is vital, and one must trust one’s palate in expressing what one experiences, even if it is not the popular view, one blogger said.\u00a0 One should track one’s performance, and Jane-Anne advised that referring to, and tagging, names of chefs such as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and Gordon Ramsay leads to increased web traffic.\u00a0 She also advised that one “should find one’s voice” through the blog, and allow one’s readers to “get to know you”, and one’s personality should come through, whatever\u00a0one’s communication style might be.\u00a0 While content is king, a “yummy and descriptive” headline is vital in attracting readers into the content, and photographs should be of a “reasonable quality”.\u00a0\u00a0 Jane-Anne feels that it is sad to see so many young people’s idea of food and cooking being shaped by chefs and cookery book writers such as Ramsay, Lawson and Oliver, without them having exposure to a more classic cooking culture.\u00a0 With her Scrumptious blog, Jane-Anne hopes to broaden their cooking knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mike\u00a0Ratcliffe is probably the most experienced social media marketing wine marketer, and impressed with the different tools he referred to and uses: Blogging, Twitter, FourSquare, Twideo, Google Maps Latitude, and Nice to Meet You.\u00a0\u00a0 He has opted out\u00a0of Facebook, due to the lack of control.\u00a0\u00a0 He writes a Vilafonte<\/strong><\/a><\/span> and a Warwick<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>blog, being the\u00a0Managing Partner\u00a0of the former brand, and the Managing Director of the latter brand.\u00a0 Vilafonte grapes are grown near Sante Wellness, between Paarl and Franschhoek, and the wines are made in a state-of-the-art venue at Bosman’s Crossing in Stellenbosch, while the Warwick wines are made the traditional way by Mike’s mother Norma on their farm.\u00a0\u00a0 Her 25th vintage celebration will take the Warwick wines around the world with 40 dinners, at which 10\u00a0vintages of their wines\u00a0will be tasted.\u00a0\u00a0 Mike is an irregular blogger, as he travels a lot, and finds he has more time to blog when he travels.\u00a0 He “leans to controversy” in what he writes, he says, yet he will not pick a fight, and will step back in a fight.\u00a0 He complimented www.wines.co.za<\/a>\u00a0for their platform on which he is encouraged to write, creating huge exposure to their 40000 unique readers per month.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Mike advised bloggers to be responsible in their blogging, as one influences views.\u00a0 One must check one’s information sources, and not use a blog as a platform for retaliation.\u00a0 If one disappoints one’s readers, they will no longer follow the blogger.\u00a0 A blog is successful when one is passionate about one’s topic, and about writing.\u00a0\u00a0 Twitter is on a growth trend, he feels, and positional tweeting (crowdsourcing) will be introduced soon.\u00a0 Mike uses traditional marketing communication media too, such as advertising and PR, and the 2000 members of the Warwick Wine Club are an important testing and tasting\u00a0ground for new wines developed.\u00a0\u00a0 He claims that his marketing is spontaneous and dynamic, but one gets the impression that Mike Ratcliffe knows exactly what he is doing in marketing his brands, and is acknowledged by his peers in this respect.\u00a0\u00a0 He was praised by a fellow blogger as a professional.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The next Food and Wine Bloggers’ Club\u00a0meeting is on Wednesday\u00a018 August, and will “pair” Sam Wilson of Food24 Blogs, and Rob Armstrong of Haut Espoir in Franschhoek.\u00a0 Bookings can be made by e-mailing info@whalecottage.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Free-lance writer and second-most read South African food blogger Jane-Anne Hobbs, writing the Scrumptious South Africa blog, described food bloggers as “desperate for attention” at the Food & Wine Bloggers’ Club meeting last night, and their genre of writing can be called “vanity publishing”, she said.\u00a0 The bloggers present felt that this description probably applies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[4795,3,124,266,21,19],"tags":[6259,6278,6267,568,2285,2016,3604,240,32378,6276,6275,6264,6287,6265,6268,32399,2381,6257,6260,4819,32369,6266,6280,997,4678,6269,6272,4792,347,3602,6282,6273,6284,6270,32384,6271,6274,6286,2785,6289,1469,3947,6283,6258,32395,2630,32376,6279,1587,407,6262,6261,6288,3442,32373,6277,6263,6285],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t