If writers are to blogs what chefs are to food, then LaTara Ham-Ying is a Chef de Cuisine. One of the newest blogs in her natural health communication web site network is a three-month old recipe membership site called Vegan Meal Helper.

With years of vegetarian eating under her belt, for herself and her family, she knows how to easily plan vegan meals and shares this in her blog.

So how can one enhance a network of health communication sites with a meal planning service for people on a strict vegetarian diet by blogging? LaTara was kind enough to give us a peek into her corporate kitchen.

LaTara got the idea to create a membership blog to offer simple meal planning for vegans but ran into a snag. "I couldn't afford or hire a VA to help me set up a membership site and the basic scripts are anywhere from $150 and up."

Instead, she applied a bit of do-it-yourself ingenuity to cook up a simple front end for her members and a robust backend. "Wow, I can do this for little or nothing," she quickly realized.

Front end: Members sign up via the
sales page get a password and username then login to the WordPress dashboard. "Very much like anyone who has a WordPress blog," she added.

Back end: There is limited member access to backend office thanks to a selection of WordPress plugins like these:

• BT-Active Discussions
• Member's Only
• Private Plus

When put together, she's able to offer monthly audios and tutorials along with exclusive articles on meal organization, vegan cooking and eating. The tight focus on veganism complements her web site network which focuses on natural health and living. Each site, whether it be on health communications or family living tips, promotes eating whole foods where ever possible. LaTara believes that whole foods will help her visitors take control of their health instead of their health controlling them.

When asked about her membership site's design, LaTara mentioned that she noticed one while surfing. "I was on somebody else'ssite and I liked the simplicity." When she found the original template source, she downloaded it and started to mold the simple template.

So simple, in fact, that she did the blog's header and colors herself. She admits that this site isn't a pure
do-it-yourself project, however. That's because LaTara, who is also a freelance writer and used to dealing with editing, got her design proofed by a professional graphic artist.

While this cook may be budget conscious, with the foresight to supplement her work with professional insight, she is resource rich. "I belong to a membership site for women called
MomMasterMinds.com and we have a wonderful network there of women. It's a very welcoming and secure environment. And I have Twitter where I can also connect with a lot of people. I might go on Twitter and say 'I need someone to proof my page for me.' I use social networking to find folks."

This self-proclaimed novice techie also credits social networking for her web site traffic. "It grows at a steady pace. Every month I get more visits," she added.

Monetizing your blog to make money with fruits and vegetables is possible and cooking coach, LaTara Ham-Ying has the chops to prove it.

STATS
Blog Name: The Vegan Meal Helper
Blog URL: http://www.veganmealhelper.com/
Blogger(s): LaTara Ham-Ying, vegan cooking coach
Platform: WordPress 2.5.1
Age: 3 months
Feed: http://www.veganmealhelper.com/feed/