Journey to Becoming an Influencer
Matthew Ivan, founder of Plating Pixels, has loved food and cooking since childhood. Today, his obsession combined with his visual talent as a graphic designer enables him to create and share recipes with the world, all while using photography to turn food into a visual art. Matthew started his blog in April 2014, cleverly naming it Plating Pixels as he’s literally plating the recipes he creates and turning them into pixels with photography. As a graphic designer with a passion for visual art, Matthew experimented with different photography styles until he found that food photography was his calling.
While he loves all types of foods and shares a range of everything from entrees, desserts, and appetizers, comfort food holds a special place in Matthew’s heart. In his move towards a healthier lifestyle, he prefers to lighten his recipes up by using natural ingredients as much as possible while still maintaining a rich and flavorful character. Recipes on Plating Pixels are unique, yet written in a way that even first-time cooks can follow along and learn something in the process. When working with sponsored brands, Matthew prefers products and ingredients that lend themselves into an original recipe. His healthy take on comfort food recipes are accessible to anyone and strive to use common ingredients that are often stocked in the pantry or easy to find at any grocery store.
“I love working with brands I like and sharing recipes with my readers. I have a full-time job but enjoy blogging because it’s a great way to try new products and it helps springboard recipe ideas.”
How Has Linqia Helped
Matthew had consistently blogged for almost two years before deciding it was time to start earning money from his work on Plating Pixels. He joined Linqia after seeing it featured on a couple of blog posts about sponsored networks, and it’s been an uphill journey of success ever since. Matthew’s favorite part about working with Linqia is the creative freedom and potential for continued income growth (his click milestone consistently increases with each campaign). He appreciates that Linqia trusts its influencers to create quality content based on the campaign specifics, as almost all of the other networks he belongs to requires a recipe pitch (and sometimes a full draft) before posting. For Matthew it’s refreshing to create recipes and content that he chooses, while still making the brands happy.
His advice to influencers who are new to Linqia or interested in joining? Apply and give it a try! “The fact that you can keep earning more the better you do is amazing,” he says. “It’s a unique network to be in with the potential for great success. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get many posts or your click counts are low early on. I stuck with it and now Linqia posts are my highest paying and most enjoyable campaigns!”
Check out Matthew’s featured blog post on How to Create Unique and Easy-to-Follow Recipes.
