Wandercooks

Sarah Lawrie and Laura Turner, Co-Founders

Adelaide, South Australia

2023

From Australia - to the world

Sarah and Laura, the couple behind Wandercooks, share their passion for cooking and travel through their recipes and stories.

Wandercook's continental journey

Sarah and Laura created a new recipe every night for 6 months straight to bring their food blog, Wandercooks, to life. Spurred on by their culinary creations, they traveled to over 35 countries and stayed with locals through couchsurfing whenever possible - or as they liked to call it - "cooksurfing." With every new person they met, Sarah and Laura learned to cook food that inspired their dishes and recipes. They infused novel ingredients and flavors into their culinary creations, offering their readers a global gastronomic experience.

The first article they posted was from their trip to Singapore in 2015 where they shared the best local foods they discovered. "Since launching Wandercooks in 2015, we've traveled through over 35 countries, lived in Japan, and stayed with locals to learn what they really eat for breakfast," says Sarah. "Our passion to discover new cuisines and recreate delicious world recipes has led to over 5.5 million people cooking our recipes annually now."

Unlocking cultural barriers through food

Their goal is to share their passion for cooking and grow their community of foodies. They share recipes that are easy prep, batchable and freezer friendly like Choo Chee Chicken, a Thai-Adelaide fusion dish, or Vietnamese Chicken Curry, which is as popular with little kids as it is with adults. "I can't believe that our recipes are tried and tested by various people around the globe and it's rewarding to get feedback from readers that our recipe has become a staple in their household, " says Sarah. "There's no feeling that can describe this moment and it makes us proud of the work we do," adds Laura.

“Our main source of revenue is through ad monetization. As a food blogger residing in a relatively small blogging community like Australia, this holds significant value for us.”

Transforming a passion for cooking into a viable business

Today, the blog has evolved into a successful full-time business for Sarah and Laura, garnering 800,000 monthly views and counting.

When Laura and Sarah left their successful graphic and web design business to become full time bloggers, they didn't know if blogging would be sustainable. But they kept going, inspiring their readers with fresh new food ideas from their favorite Asian, European and Australian cuisines.

To start earning money from their recipes, the duo started placing ads on their website. "Our ad revenue has allowed us to both work on Wandercooks full time since January 2021, a true dream come true," explains Laura. As bloggers from Australia, that was something Sarah and Laura didn't necessarily think was possible. "Our main source of revenue is through ad monetization," says Sarah. "Coming from a relatively small blogging community in Australia, this holds significant value for us."

Navigating the ads ecosystem can be challenging, so Laura and Sarah turned to Google Certified Publishing Partner, AdThrive, for some extra help."We originally learned about using an ad partner through another food blog, but some of the tools can be pretty complex for a small business to manage. Luckily, AdThrive helps take a lot of that work off our plate," says Laura. Wandercooks leverages AdThrive's expertise to cater to their demographic and substantiate their Australian traffic while letting them maintain control, explains Sarah.

Ad revenue hasn't just enabled them to run the business, it's also allowed them to develop their own careers and skills. "Our income from ads allows us to reinvest in the business and in ourselves," says Sarah. "With the added time and flexibility spent on the site, we've been able to upskill ourselves across a diverse range of skills including videography, photography, SEO and writing. This is essential for better reader experience, and allows us to build a strong foundation for our content and make sure our readers cook our recipes right the first time." Sarah and Laura are both equally invested in developing the website but Sarah is the master chef and food photographer, while Laura writes engaging recipe content, edits their delectable food videos and makes sure all their users have access to helpful cooking tips. Their complimentary skills make Wandercooks a mouthwatering destination for foodies.

As their business grows, Sarah and Laura use Google tools like Analytics to understand their audience by analyzing how their recipes are ranked and where people find them, and Google Ad Manager to serve ads via AdThrive. "Google has opened doors for individuals like us to become self-employed through more passive means, and enjoy the freedom to lead the life we desire through online work. Google has helped us have a huge lifestyle shift that we didn't expect to be so rewarding," adds Sarah. The Wandercooks team has also started building its YouTube presence to attract audiences worldwide. Laura adds, "YouTube and Google have changed how we blog, because we don't have to rely on other social media channels."

From Wandercooks to world cooks and beyond

Sarah and Laura hope to continue traveling to new countries to inspire their readers to explore new cultures through unique dishes, demystify cooking, and integrate ingredients that tend to sit at the back of your fridge and pantry into your everyday cooking. "Cooking, traveling and trying new things are all part of our daily lifestyle," says Sarah. "So coming up with more recipes is easy because we love it, so it doesn't feel like a job."

About the Publisher

Sarah and Laura are recipe developers, writers and photographers over at Wandercooks.com. They are also the authors of "Eat Your Words" and "Unscramble Your Stats," which educate food bloggers on all things SEO. They're currently renovating their dream home in Adelaide, Australia, alongside their office mascot, Bonnie the Cavoodle.