LA isn’t just home to a community of bright entrepreneurs; it’s also home to a legion of great writers and bloggers. Throughout the year, Lalawag will be chatting with some of the city’s most prominent bloggers to find out a bit more about what makes them tick.
Our first LA Blogger Spotlight is on the lovely Jenny Alden (@DessertDarling), the blogger behind sweet tooth lover site DessertDarling.com.
Tell us a bit about your blog.
At DessertDarling.com I critique and review desserts with a 5-cherry rating system. My belief is that if you’re going to eat desserts, you should do it right and eat the BEST. I eat the good, the bad, and the ugly so that you don’t have to.
Love the artwork on your header image, did you do that yourself?
I hired Nicole Bateman from The Pixel Boutique to execute my vision for the blog. I think she did a fantastic job. I’ve since referred her to many of my friends who are loving her work as well.
So if I was visiting LA for only one day and I had to get dessert at one place, what would it be?
Oooh. That’s a tough one! What’s your favorite type of dessert?! The butterscotch budino at MOZZA2GO is pretty special. The vanilla “Oreo” sugar cookie from Platine Cookies knocked my socks off today. Yummy Cupcakes and Frosted Cupcakery make the best cupcakes in town…depends on what you like!
How long have you been blogging? How did you get started?
I’ve only been blogging for a year and a half, but I absolutely love the platform that it has given me to express my passion for desserts. I started Dessert Darling because it occurred to me that I didn’t know who made the best cupcakes out of all the new bakeries springing up. Then I wondered, what about cookies? Or pies? Bakeries are now a $4 billion business. They’re everywhere! So I decided that the country needed a ZAGAT Guide of sorts for desserts.
What platform do you use for blog publishing? What made you decide to use it over the other choices out there?
Hoy! This might be a little political. My brother was the CEO of 6 Apart, so naturally, I was encouraged to use Typepad. He recently left the company though, and well, word on the street is that WordPress is the place to be now. So I’ll be making the switch soon. But I’m a little terrified to start on a new platform! I’ve been trying to embrace new things and new technologies, but sometimes it’s still a bit intimidating for me.
What are the first three sites you check when you wake up in the morning?
I’m getting married in September, so aside from Facebook and Twitter to connect with my Dessert Darling fans, I check Style Me Pretty, Once Wed, and a slew of other wedding sites. You don’t even want to know. It’s a compulsion! My homepage is set to Yahoo News, so I guess that’s the very first thing that I read in the morning.
Who are the five most important people you follow on Twitter?
-I follow @Oprah, who’s pretty synonymous with God to me.
-I also love @HuffingtonPost tweets (but balance them with @Drudge_Report).
-@Alyssa_Milano always has great, informational tweets.
-Can’t forget to mention @ValleyGirlShow! Love Jesse Draper.
-My friend @Bsideblog is hilarious
and of course, I follow loads of food, dessert, and wedding bloggers!
What smartphone apps do you find indispensable on your home screen? Why did these apps make the cut?
The ones I use religiously are:
-Camera
-Text messaging (obviously)
-Facebook
-Twitter
-I had a fun run with Facemelter and it would make me laugh out-loud in public as I would melt my friends faces while waiting in line for things….
-I went through an intense Connect 4 phase (app is called Touch 4). I’m pretty unstoppable at this game.
-FourTrack and AudioBoo are great to use with BLUE Microphone’s Mikey to record rock shows
You mentioned some apps for recording rock shows, are you an avid concert goer/bootlegger?
My fiance is the head of business development for BLUE Microphones. He’s extraordinarily passionate about music and has opened a whole new world to me by bringing me to amazing rock shows and festivals. BLUE makes a small, portable mic called the Mikey. You can attach it to your iPod or iPhone and it record concerts in CD quality. The results are awesome.
Who are your friends that I see peeking out there from behind your iPhone background?
Ha ha, that’s my fiance and our dog, Charlie. ;)
Where do you do your best writing?
I do all my writing from home. I wouldn’t be able to focus at a coffee shop or public venue!
What helps you the most in terms of expanding your readership?
Great question. I get a ton of traffic directed to my site from Facebook, so I think it’s an incredible tool to keep your readers up to speed on when and what you’re posting. Twitter is a great way to reach out and connect to people in the food and dessert community, but it hasn’t been as significant as Facebook for me, as far as traffic is concerned. Submitting images to sites like FoodGawker and Tastespotting really help when they highlight your photo. Finally, commenting on other popular sites can drive a lot of traffic back to your own site.
Do you have any other tips for any budding bloggers out there?
Blog because you are excited about sharing your voice, not because you think you are going to make money off of it. Your reward for blogging will be the sense of personal accomplishment and the response that you get from your readers (which will be very few in the beginning). Blogging delivers an emotional payoff, not a financial one.
My tips are:
-Post regularly! If you write every day for a week and then disappear for two, you’ve lost your audience. Even if you can only update twice a week, have a schedule. For example, let us know that Tuesday and Thursdays are the days you post new blog entries.
-Reach out to similar bloggers, comment on their sites, build a community.
-Grow your Facebook page by asking for a few new friends a day.
-Grow your Twitter followers and follow people with similar interests.
-Have a mailing list and use it!
Finally, you’ve got a burgeoning acting career going as well, how are things going on that front?
Funny you ask. Right now I’m really focused on building my own brand. UTA recognized the potential for Dessert Darling and signed me. We have some tricks up our sleeves, which is really exciting. So right when I was ready to hang up the acting masks for good, fate sent me a ton of auditions that I’ve been really enjoying. Isn’t that always how it is? Whenever you stop caring and turn your back on something, that’s when it decides to come back after you… I don’t know, we shall see! Check in with me again after pilot season! ;)
You can follow Jenny on Twitter (@DessertDarling) and on Facebook.
