How To Start A Food Blog (2023 Guide)
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Updated: Mar 3, 2023, 6:58am
Table of Contents
Step 1. brainstorm your brand identity, step 2. secure your domain, step 3. host your website, step 4. design and build your blog, step 5. start posting, step 6. promote your site, how to monetize your blog, 9 best practices for successful food blogging, frequently asked questions (faqs).
According to a recent study , food blogs had the highest median monthly income out of the major blogging topics. If you have always wanted to share your culinary delights but aren’t sure how to start a food blog, you have come to the right place. In this guide, we will cover the step-by-step process to start a food blog, right from creating a brand identity and securing a domain name to monetizing your efforts.
There are more than 2 billion blogs in the blogosphere. This implies there is fierce competition in this niche and hence having a brand identity is essential to make you stand apart from the crowd. Brainstorming your brand identity must be the first step in starting a food blog.
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What Builds Your Brand Identity?
Brand identity is a mix of your niche, the ideal audience you want to attract, the message you want to share with your audience and how visitors experience your brand. You should also think deeply about what you want to achieve out of starting a food blog—not just the business outcome but what will make you happy.
Food is your blogging niche, but it encompasses many different aspects. Narrow down your specific angle by asking yourself a few questions:
- Are you going to post recipes, or talk about food in general?
- Are you going to focus on specific food cultures, such as Mexican or Mediterranean?
- Do you want to talk about food habits or specific diets such as vegan, keto or paleo?
- Do you want to talk about everyday food that is within reach of the common person or focus exclusively on expensive food?
You should also spend some time thinking about these how you want your audience to perceive you and your brand—are you speaking as a friend, a guide or a coach? What is your own story related to food that you want to share with your audience?
When you are thinking about your ideal audience, consider not just its demographics but also its behavior patterns, likes and dislikes, family values, common illnesses or health challenges, etc. And of course, you’ll need to come up with a name and tagline that accurately reflect your brand so that this audience feels a connection right off the bat.
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The next step is to secure your domain name. The ideal scenario is to have a domain name that matches your business name—but if it is taken, don’t panic. There are many businesses out there that have blog names different from their business names. Try to think of a domain name that is as close to your business name as possible and buy it.
Find Your Domain Registrar
To buy a domain name, you will need the help of a domain registrar, a service that sells domain names. When buying a domain name, you need to understand the difference between .com, .net, .org, etc. You also need to check how secure your domain registrar is. Our in-depth article on the best domain registrars includes some suggestions on how to choose the best possible domain name. But before you purchase, take a look at web hosts and website builders. Some of these services include a domain registration for free, saving you time and keeping services in one unified platform.
After you have the domain name secured, you need to find a service to host your website. Web hosting means you are purchasing an online space where your audience can visit your website and read your content.
A host is essentially a server where all the files associated with your blog or website are kept. There are many web hosting providers available such as HostGator, GoDaddy, Bluehost, Namecheap and more. Some will include domain registration free for the first year.
Next, you need to design and build the blog to give your visitors an awesome experience. While you could code the site from scratch, this is a resource-intensive and time-consuming process. Hiring a developer will make for a more polished product, but that comes at a high cost. When you’re just getting started, it is quicker and easier to use a drag & drop website builder or a dedicated blogging platform.
Use a Blogging Platform
Utilizing a well-known blogging platform such as WordPress or Drupal is an easy way to get a blog up and running quickly, since they come equipped with many of the tools you’ll need to market your site. As with web hosts, many blogging platforms allow you to purchase a domain name from within their interface.
Use a Website Builder
There are many website builders such as Weebly, GoDaddy, Squarespace and HostGator. These website builders usually offer a drag-and-drop interface so that you can create your own website quickly even if you have no coding experience.
If you want to (and have the budget for it), some of these platforms allow you to hire a professional website designer to build your blog.
Apply Your Brand Standards
After you have clarity on your brand identity , you need to convert it into tangible assets that can be shared on your website, social media handles and other channels you use to interact with your ideal audience. You need to think about color palette, font specifications and logo that you want readers to associate with your blog. Both website builders and blogging platforms give you a wide variety of themes to choose from.
Themes are design wireframes that include page layout, colors, typography, background, headers and footers, etc. Themes help you give your blog a consistent look and feel. Most modern themes are optimized for mobile devices, so you don’t need to worry about how your blog will look across devices.
You can choose a theme that matches your brand design and you are ready to go. Since you can customize these themes, matching them to your brand identity should not be difficult.
The one thing to remember while building your blog is that you will not get it right the first time around. Put out a first version of your blog and keep experimenting with the design to see what works.
Your food blog is ready and you can start posting. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you plan, develop and publish a post.
Post high-quality content
Always post high-quality content, whether it’s recipes, restaurant reviews, op-eds on food items or a journey down memory lane. And high quality does not only mean the value you provide in your posts. It also includes readability. Use headlines and subheads that hook the reader. Use a writing style that makes the reader want to keep reading.
Stick to a posting schedule
Fix a day and time to post, and stick to that schedule as much as possible. When you post at a fixed cadence, your audience is ready to consume the content you put out. Also, Google’s algorithm likes sites that post regularly. Of course, how regularly you post depends upon how quickly you can put together a high-quality post.
Use keywords
Keywords are essential for attracting organic traffic. Do keyword research and plan your posts around the keywords your target audience is using. This will help drive organic, unpaid traffic to your website.
Have a variety of posts
The jury is still out on the ideal length for blog posts, so try to mix and match short posts of 1,000 words or so with long ones of 3,000 words or more.
Initially, people do not know about your blog or the awesome posts you are publishing. Even if you are using the right keywords and SEO strategy , organic traffic takes time. So you must start promoting your blog from day one. Opinions are mixed when you ask experts how much you should promote a blog. However, one thing is clear—you must spend more time promoting your blog than you spend creating it.
Here are some tips to promote your blog:
- Pre-schedule your promotion in a social media management tool such as Buffer or Hootsuite
- On the day of publishing, promote your blog two to three times on each platform
- Promote the blog post more during the week
- Promote the blog post every month at least two to three times for the next six months
- After a year has passed, see if you can update the blog to add valuable information and repeat the promotion cycle
- If you have the budget, use ads on social media platforms
- If you have an email list, promote to your subscribers
- Partner with other newsletter writers and promote each other’s content
Studies have found that food bloggers have a median monthly income of $9,169, which is the highest among major niches. If you are launching a food blog, you must think about monetizing it in the future.
Some of the most commonly used channels of monetization include:
- Affiliate marketing: You can become affiliate partners of food brands and promote their products through your writing. Ads: You can build partnerships and run ads to earn money.
- Sponsored posts: You can create sponsored posts for food brands. Take care to ensure this would be of interest to your audience, otherwise, it may harm your brand identity.
- E-books: You can easily create e-books out of your expertise and sell them to your audience. Recycle your most popular posts or get the e-books written by someone else so that you don’t need to invest lots of time in developing these e-books. They can be a good source of passive income.
- Courses: Courses are another way of generating passive income by sharing your expertise with your audience. This is easiest to do if you post recipes or talk about diets.
- Selling products: A food blog is an excellent way to promote your own physical products, whether you sell on your own website or other e-commerce platforms.
You can actively monetize your blog only after your blog reaches a good number of unique visitors per month. However, you should start building partnerships, gaining a loyal following and developing e-books and courses to offer well in advance. The idea is to be prepared when you are ready to start monetizing.
Here are some best practices for you to follow if you want to build a successful food blog.
- Be authentic. If you are posting recipes, post your own. If you are reviewing restaurants or dieting trends or exotic foods, write from firsthand experience.
- Post regularly. Your readers should know when (day as well as time) to expect your blog post. And not just readers—Google’s algorithm also loves your site when you post in a regular cadence.
- Be patient. Growing a blog is a slow process even if you are publishing high-quality posts with awesome pics from day one. Continue posting on your blog even if you are not getting much traction initially.
- Be yourself. Showing your own personality in blog posts is the easiest way to stand apart from competitors.
- Be responsive. When you get comments on your blogs, always respond to them with more valuable content.
- Be courteous. Network with other food bloggers and give thoughtful comments on their blogs. Do not hesitate in promoting others’ content without being asked; soon they will be returning the favor.
- Be creative. Include high-quality pics with your blogs; studies have shown that including more than ten pics in a blog improves results. Including relevant high-quality images should not be a problem for a food blog.
- Be user-friendly. Visitors should be able to follow, share and comment on your blog easily.
- Be resourceful. If you do not already know, start learning search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a long-term game, so start applying its principles to your blog descriptions, page headings and post headlines from the very beginning.
Bottom Line
If the food industry speaks to your heart as much as it does to your stomach, a food blog may be a great way to monetize that passion. Use these five steps to get your culinary quest up and running with ease.
Do food bloggers get paid?
Food bloggers can monetize their food blogs and earn well. Some ways you can monetize your food blog are through sponsored posts, affiliate marketing, launching your own e-books or courses and running ads.
How do I start a personal food blog?
You can start your own food blog by following these steps:
- Identify a topic for the blog
- Brainstorm your brand identity
- Choose a domain name and buy it
- Host your domain
- Build your blog
- Start posting
Can I use other people’s recipes on my blog?
If you want to use other people’s recipes on your blog, provide a link to the original blog prominently. However, it’s better to recreate that recipe yourself, add your own flair, take original pictures and then post it on your blog as your own creation.
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Shweta is an author and freelance writer. She writes about technology and small businesses. Her writing has also appeared in NewsWeek and Huffington Post.
- How to Start a Food Blog
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Food Blog in 2023
Starting a food blog isn’t an easy task, but as long as you’re passionate about food and enjoy spending time cooking, it can be a piece of cake. All you need is some dedication, interest, and a little bit of guidance.
There are many aspects to becoming a food blogger, so it might feel overwhelming when you’re first starting. But don’t worry, that’s why this guide is divided into nine comprehensive steps that are easy to digest and follow .
From finding your food blogger niche to finally monetizing your blog, I’ll cover all of the essential steps that will make your blogging journey a breeze. So, let’s get right down to it and teach you how to start a food blog that drives clicks and attracts audiences.
Table of Contents
Step #1: Start by choosing your food blog niche
Step #2: pick your blogging platform, step #3: think of a domain name, step #4: choose your web hosting provider, step #5: launch your food blog on wordpress, step #6: select your food blog theme, step #7: create a content plan, step #8: promote your food blog, step #9: monetize your food blog.
The big question of the day is how to become a food blogger? Where do you start? Do you first come up with a good food blog name, or should you perhaps start browsing interesting WordPress food blog themes and start visualizing how the final result could look?
None of the above.
First, you need to find your blog niche and be very specific about it. There are currently over 570 million blogs on the internet , many of them food blogs. If your site is too broad, it might appeal to a slightly wider audience, but it will be challenging to break through and outperform the vast amount of competition.
By narrowing down on a specific niche, instead of competing with the whole of the internet, you’ll just compete with a select few blogs. You’ll find your target audience much more efficiently, and you’ll get your followers more involved.
How do you find your food blog niche?
There are plenty of different food blog types and niches that you can get into. Vegan blogs are incredibly popular today, and so are paleo diet, keto diet, and low-carb diet blogs. While you can always go for what’s currently trending, it’ll be easier to go for what you’re passionate about.
Whether it’s a hobby or a career, your kitchen Blogspot will require effort and commitment. If you’re not passionate about it, you’ll quickly lose interest in it, and running it will be more challenging than it should be.
So, what are you into? Perhaps pastries are your thing, or you enjoy making the ever-so-mesmerizing realistic cakes? If you follow a specific diet, it would be a good idea to focus on it as you’ll be more closely connected with the topic, which will subsequently make it easier to find a like-minded audience.
Think carefully about why you’re even considering how to start a cooking blog. Consider what you want to share with the rest of the world and what inspired you to check out this guide.
Types of food blogs
If you’re finding it difficult to hone in on your niche, you might want to look at all of the different kinds of food blogs and see what resonates with you:
- Recipe blog (easy recipes for busy people, health and fitness recipes, quick recipes, etc.)
- Sustainable cuisine
- Trending food blogs (vegan blogs, vegetarian blogs, gluten-free blogs, paleo diet blogs, etc.)
- Cuisine specific blogs (Italian, Greek, Chinese, French, Indian, etc.)
- Food or drink tasting blogs
- Cookbook review blogs
- Food and travel blogs
- Food photography blogs
These are just some of the examples that you can draw inspiration from. So, get creative, explore all of your options, and find a niche that’s the most suitable for you.
Luckily, if you want to learn how to create a food website, you don’t have to start from scratch and first learn how to code. You only need a reliable blogging platform , also known as a content management system (CMS).
As its name would suggest, a CMS enables you to manage, create, publish, edit, and organize visual and written content online, so it’s by far the best place to start a blog.
Our top recommendation that can suit both beginners and blogging pros is WordPress.org . WordPress is the most used CMS globally. According to information compiled by W3techs, WordPress enjoys a 63.6% market share
It powers about a third of the internet, and for a good reason. It’s intuitive and easy to use, it’s continuously updated to fix any issues, and its customization options are virtually endless.
But, regardless if it’s WordPress.org or another platform that’s got your attention, you’ll have two options to choose from:
- Free web hosting
- Open-source self-hosted blog
Free web hosting (free or freemium plans)
WordPress.com and Blogger.com are excellent examples of free web hosting platforms. Bloggers across niches commonly use both as they offer everything you need to get started on your first-ever cooking blog. But, there are a few downsides .
While you do have access to free themes and gadgets, free versions come with significant limitations . You’ll have to pay extra for choosing your domain name; you’ll need to pay if you want any useful plugins and gadgets – all these costs can quickly add up.
Of course, you can go without all that extra flair and pay precisely $0 for these blogging platforms, but you’ll only have access to the most basic features.
Open source self-hosted blog (free, open-source software)
If you genuinely want to be in charge of your cooking blog , your best option is going for the self-hosted setup – we highly recommend it.
You can simply download WordPress, then change and modify it as you like and customize your blog to reflect your vision.
Now, when you opt for a self-hosted WordPress blog, there are two essential things you’ll need to decide on: your unique domain name and your web hosting provider. As a new food blogger, you should try using Bluehost – a company that collectively hosts over 2 million domains.
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- Free domain name
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Getting your domain name right is one of the most crucial things for running a successful food blog. If you select just any random name, you could hurt your blog traffic, ranking on search engines, SEO efforts, even your blog’s reputation.
So, make sure to pick a good blog name. It should be:
- Short and sweet
- Unique and memorable
- Easy to pronounce
- Relevant to your niche
You’ll need to register your domain name, which will cost you between $10 and $15 a year.
Bluehost is our top pick that works great for food or any other blog domains. You have three options: choose your name for free, use an existing one, or come back to it later.
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Think of your domain name as your blog’s home address. When someone’s searching for you, they’ll find you there.
If your domain name is your address, your web hosting provider is your blog’s house. It’s the place where your blog ‘lives’ online.
Web hosting providers are companies that can make your cooking blog accessible online. They provide servers and data centers and keep your blog connected to the internet. Bluehost is the #1 web hosting company recommended by WordPress.org
The best web hosting provider that’s even recommended by WordPress.org is Bluehost .
It offers a free domain name in the first year and superior hosting services with a 30-day money-back guarantee . We have a special discount price of $2.75 for our readers.
Now it’s time to learn all of the technical details about how to start your own food blog. In this section, we’ll go over the process of launching your food blog on WordPress, step by step.
Go to the Bluehost homepage!
First, you need to go to the Bluehost.com website to get started. On the homepage, you’ll see the “Get Started Now” button.
Choose your hosting plan!
As soon as you click on the “Get Started Now” button, you’ll be taken to the next step. Here, you’ll choose your hosting plan.
All the plans’ features will be listed, so make sure to read through them to see which plan suits your needs best.
Set up your domain name
As previously mentioned, this is a highly significant step. Come up with a great domain name that will resonate with your audiences and clarify what your blog is all about. You can create a new domain name now, use your existing domain name, or temporarily skip this step and come up with a name later.
Register with Bluehost
Registering with Bluehost is nice and easy, and all you need to do is to fill in some basic information.
Select your hosting package
You will have the option to choose the length of your plan. You can select a 12-month plan, a 24-month plan, or a 36-month plan. The price of the 36-month plan will be the most affordable, so this will likely be the best option for your food blog.
Package extras
Take a look at your package extras. Not every extra is necessary, and if you uncheck some of the extras that you don’t want, your final amount will automatically be lowered.
Keep in mind that you can always add extras later if you find that you need them. I do suggest that you keep the Domain Privacy Protection box checked. This service will hide your personal contact information from the global database, which is publicly visible to anyone on the internet.
Enter your payment information
Fill in your payment information, and you’ll be ready to go. Read through Bluehost’s Terms of Service, agree, and submit your information to create your account.
Create your account
Now it’s time to create your WordPress account.
You can do so in a few easy steps:
- Click on “Create your account”;
- Enter your password and complete the account set up;
- Your account is ready to go. Click the “Go to login” button; and
- Fill in the fields “Email or Domain Name” and “Password”.
Great! Next, you can begin creating your food blog.
Launch your WordPress food blog with Bluehost
After you log in to the account, Bluehost offers a straightforward process with four simple steps to help you create a food blog. I suggest you go through that process if this is your first time building a blog.
You can also click the “Skip this step” button and create a blog on your own inside the Bluehost hosting account.
Step 1: You’ll first need to answer several questions about your new food blog site. Explain what type of site you’re creating and who you’re creating it for (your target audience).
Step 2: Choose what you’d like to add to your site. You’ll have several options to choose from, so consider each carefully.
Step 3: Choose the name of your site and its tagline. Consider these carefully, but don’t stress – you can always change them later.
Step 4: Select your theme. Bluehost offers you a variety of themes, so see which suits your style best. If you want, you can skip this step and come back to it later. You can also change your theme any time you like.
Launch your blog
If you’re all set, you can launch your blog by clicking on the “Launch My Site” button. You’ll go live, and you can start sharing your recipes, videos, and more.
When you’re learning how to be a food blogger, you also need to learn how to design a food blog. This starts with choosing the right theme. You’ll want something that’s visually appealing, intuitive, and user-friendly so that your readers can easily find their way around your site. And, you’ll also want something that makes sense for your niche.
WordPress.org has a wonderful selection of over 3,000 themes at your disposal, so you can take your pick. To narrow down your search and find a theme that works well for your food blog, make sure to:
- Pay attention to the features;
- Preview the theme; and
- Check its ratings.
Keep in mind that the themes will customize differently depending on their built-in features, your blog’s content, and its layout.
To find the themes, you’ll need to go to the WordPress dashboard, go to the “Appearance” tab, and click on “Themes.” There you’ll find countless free themes as well as many others with an affordable price tag.
What are good WordPress themes for a food blog?
What are good WordPress themes for a food blog? It all depends on your preferences. There isn’t a single theme that outshines all the rest, but still, some WordPress themes are better for specific purposes than others. Our favorites and some of their main features are as follows:
Foodica – Price: Free
A minimalistic theme excellent for adding banners and promotions. It can also be integrated with WooCommerce.
- Responsive design;
- Four banner locations;
- Visual customizer; and
- Gutenberg compatibility.
Lahanna – Price: $69
Highly customizable and ideal for any type of food blog.
- Recipe management system;
- Live customizer;
- WooCommerce support; and
- Different blog layouts.
Essence – Price: $49
Clean and feminine, great for creative food bloggers.
- 17 blog layouts;
- Instagram widget plugin;
- Customizable color options; and
- Featured posts area.
Neptune – Price: $69
Comes with a useful recipe creator that every food blogger needs.
- Recipe nutritional information;
- Country flags to organize cuisines;
- Integrated cooking timer; and
- Over 40 premium plugins.
Succulents – Price: $69
Natural and beautiful. Ideal for food and lifestyle blogs.
- Fully responsive;
- Built-in WPBakery page builder plugin;
- Recipe shortcode; and
- Social media widgets.
Add plugins to your blog!
Without the right plugins, your food blog would be just a simple static page. You need plugins that can help you to boost engagement on your posts, improve SEO, enhance your site’s speed, and add contact forms.
Some of the most highly recommended WordPress plugins for a food blog include:
WP Recipe Maker – Price: Free
A template that allows you to upload and organize new recipes easily.
- Convenient default recipe template;
- Recipe list widget;
- Nutritional label widget; and
- Countdown timer.
Recipe Card – Price: Free
Offers multiple recipe card styles to suit your brand’s aesthetics.
- Includes star ratings;
- Adjustable servings;
- Video recipe; and
- Nutrition facts.
Pinterest Pin It Button – Price: Free
Ideal for enabling your readers to pin your blog to their Pinterest.
- Hover over an image to see the Pinterest Pin It button;
- Include the Pinterest Pin It button in the post;
- Customize the button color; and
- Multilingual.
Yoast SEO – Price: Free
An essential plugin for helping you to rank higher on search engines.
- Meta title and meta description templates;
- Schema implementation;
- XML sitemaps functionality; and
- SEO analysis.
WP Super Cache – Price: Free
Ideal for producing static HTML files and speeding up your blog.
- Preloading for generating cached files for the posts, categories, and tags;
- Garbage collection – deletes old cache files;
- Custom caching; and
- CDN support.
Give these plugins a try, and you’ll see precisely why they’re so valued by food bloggers across niches.
If there’s one thing that internet users love, it’s consistency. Your blog readers will want to know what they can expect from you, and most importantly – when they can expect it.
If you’re inconsistent with your posts and skip updating your blog for weeks on end, your readers will get the impression that you’ve either abandoned the food blog entirely or that you’re not committed to it. Either way, they’ll have no reason to stay committed to you.
To ensure that your blog keeps gaining attention, it’s a good idea to develop a posting schedule. Prepare content at least a week in advance to make this task easier on yourself, and rely on simple tools like a content calendar to stay on track.
How to create a food blog calendar
While you can always use your regular calendar to stay on schedule, tools like Google Sheets or Coschedule can be lifesaving. You’ll receive reminders and notifications, and you’ll have a clear overview of your entire posting schedule.
Of course, knowing how to create a food blog calendar schedule is one thing, and it’s quite another figuring out exactly what to post on the due date. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to come up with relevant content. Take a look.
Try to find out what your audience wants!
Finding out what your audience wants is a simpler task than you may think. For example, you can make use of analytics tools or your blog’s performance metrics. That way, you’ll see which of your previous posts have generated the most interest and received the most views. This will help you to get an idea of what kinds of topics your readers enjoy the most.
You can also go an easier way and create a poll or a survey that your readers can complete. Ask about their preferences and interests, and about what they’d like to see from you.
Spy on your competition
Monitoring the competition is the most crucial aspect of any business, including your food blog. Watch what your competitors are doing, and see how their readers respond to their content. Keep an eye on what they’re doing right and wrong.
Just make sure not to become a copycat. You don’t want to steal your competitors’ ideas or copy their content – only use it for inspiration and checking out new trends.
Come up with a weekly posting plan!
As previously mentioned, having a week’s worth of content in advance is always important for a food blogger. You’ll find it easier to break through and garner attention when you have a regular posting schedule that you stick to. Try to post at least a few times a week, and avoid uploading all of your content at once. Spread out your posts to avoid becoming spammy.
If you’re posting to social media as well, you can make use of tools like Later , which is designed for Instagram, or Facebook Schedule , for your Facebook posts.
Own your niche – be an expert of your specialties
Coming up with relevant content is much easier when you specialize in your niche. If you’re interested in starting a vegan food blog, for example, make sure that you explore every aspect of veganism and try to bring something unique to the table.
Whatever the topic of your blog posts, approach it as an expert, and level up your skills in it.
Additional content tips
Textual content is essential for any type of blog, but if you present just huge blocks of text, your readers will quickly get bored. You need to retain their interest by introducing mesmerizing visuals that will help you to break up the text and keep the readers engaged. Photos, videos, and GIFs, for instance, should also be part of your content strategy.
Here are our top tips for spicing up your food blog with visual content:
Learn how to make appetizing photos
If you’re serious about your food blog business, sooner rather than later, you’ll also have to get serious about your food photos. Hiring a food photographer can be pricey, so go easy on your wallet by investing time into researching food photography. You’ll find countless educational videos for free. Just type in ‘food photography tips’ on YouTube, and you’re halfway to being a pro.
Keep the lighting uniform!
Lighting is everything in photography. It can help you to put more focus on smaller details, and it can set the mood for the entire photo-shoot.
The most affordable way to ensure excellent lighting is by shooting outside during the daytime. However, this is not the most reliable method, as the climate and weather conditions will dictate how your photo-shoots will go.
A better option would be using a photography lightbox and shooting indoors. You can easily make a lightbox yourself, or you can find affordable options on Amazon.
Learn about food staging
When you’re browsing your Instagram feed, it probably seems that virtually everyone is a pro at food staging. But it doesn’t take much to learn how to truly make your food pop in photos.
Again, YouTube will be your best friend here. There’s a number of high-quality tutorial videos on food staging that will tell you everything that you need to know. Check them out and learn a few neat tips and tricks that will make your audience drool at the sight of every food photo you upload.
Try to maintain consistency in visuals!
Everything about your food blog should be consistent. From the fonts and color palettes that you’re using to the way you write your content. And this includes your visuals.
If you have a cutting board that you love, include it in all of your photos. If you like how your kitchen counters look in the background, make sure they’re always present.
When everything on your blog is unified and in tune, you’ll develop a recognizable brand that your audience will love.
Videos are a great way to connect with your readers and keep them engaged. How-to and food prep videos are especially popular nowadays, so they’re an excellent tool to use for your blog.
You can also use Q&A videos or behind-the-scenes videos to connect with your visitors and establish a stronger relationship with them.
Make sure you’re filming in a well-lit room, and use a high-quality mic and camera.
Keep the editing to a minimum!
Editing is an important part of photography and videography, but it’s also important to know when enough is enough.
You’ll want to use editing software to enhance your visual content, not change it in its entirety. Make sure that your food looks real and genuine. A slightly burnt toast will be more appealing to your audience than a clearly edited slice of bread.
Once you’ve created your blog and started publishing, it’s time to build your audiences. People won’t just randomly stumble across your food website, so you’ll need to work on promoting your blog. There are several ways to do that.
Social media marketing
Social media will be your most reliable tool for promoting your food blog. Over 52% of online brand discovery happens in public feeds on social media. So, get to work. Create social media accounts for your blog and keep them active.
You need to update your accounts consistently, engage with your followers in the comment section and messages, and be responsive. If you’re inactive, you’ll seem disinterested and unprofessional. Facebook, Instagram, and/or Pinterest, being the most visually-oriented platforms, are a typical choice for food bloggers.
Collaborations with other food bloggers and influencers
If you want to gain exposure in your niche, the best thing to do would be to collaborate with others in your industry. Established food bloggers and influencers can help you to expand your reach and attract a wider audience.
If you don’t want to collaborate with your direct competitors, you can at least look for people who are as closely connected with your niche as you feel comfortable. If you’re an all-vegan food blogger, for example, you could work with a vegan food blogger who specializes in pastries, let’s say.
Reach out to different influencers and see which collaboration would make sense for your blog and brand persona.
Food Blog SEO
Focusing on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the best way to boost your organic marketing and make it easier for your readers to find you.
You could do many things to enhance your SEO efforts and improve your blog’s ranking on search engines. Take a look at some of the most important SEO tactics for food bloggers.
Use long-tail keywords
Keywords are the words that your target audience would use to search for content in your niche. If your content contains the keyword that your potential readers have googled, your blog will be more likely to show higher up on top of the search results.
However, your audience is very unlikely to find you by typing in just a single keyword such as “recipe,” for example. Firstly, few people will ever use a single word when looking for something online. And secondly, it will be more difficult for your blog to rank higher in the search results with such a general term.
So, you’ll need to use key phrases, aka long-tail keywords. The more specific you are, the more relevant your content will be to your target audiences, and the more likely they’ll be to find you.
Instead of focusing on the keyword “recipes,” for example, go for long-tail keywords like “easy vegan recipes for two.”
Make your blog mobile-friendly
Mobile optimization is crucial for your SERP ranking. If your site’s not optimized for mobile, engines such as Google will push you towards the bottom of the search results and make your blog more difficult to find.
Also, a vast majority of internet users use their smartphones for browsing the net. They won’t waste their time on your blog if it takes too long to load on mobile devices or if the text and visual content aren’t clear and legible.
Write long-form content (2000 words and more)
Google is a big fan of long-form content, so you can use this to your advantage to increase your SERP ranking. If possible, try to have most of your blog posts count to 2000 words or more to boost your visibility and enhance your organic marketing efforts.
Another good thing about long-form content is that it gives you plenty of chances to increase your keyword density naturally, and it allows you to showcase your expertise.
Finally, it’s time to reap the benefits of your food blog. Even if you’ve decided to learn how to become a food blogger simply because it seemed interesting to you, you’ll probably enjoy the money-making aspect of it.
There are several things you can do to increase your blog’s profitability.
Publish and sell your own cookbooks
Selling your cookbooks can be a very lucrative strategy, but you have to be smart about it. Wait until you’ve gathered enough blog readers who’d be interested in buying your book. You can sell hard copies or ebooks, or better yet, both. Make sure that you promote your new cookbook on your blog and on your social media channels.
Create a YouTube channel promoting your blog
Internet users love consuming videos, so it’s not surprising that YouTube is one of the most popular platforms.
If you want to increase your visibility and generate more followers and readers, create a YouTube channel, and use it for promoting your blog.
An added benefit is that you can start making money off of YouTube through ads and sponsorships as your account grows.
Sell ad space using Google AdSense
If you want simple passive income, selling ad space through Google AdSense is the best way to get it. AdSense will find suitable ads that match your site’s content and your audience, then present them in your food blog’s ad space. You’ll get money from the advertisers and enjoy some passive income.
Build your own email list
You can make money from your food blog by using it to sell products or services to your visitors. It’s the most sustainable business strategy that’s often the most lucrative. But for that, you’ll need a sales funnel and your own email list to reach out to potential customers.
Use an email opt-in tool to get email addresses from your readers and create your unique list.
Run Facebook and Instagram ads to increase website traffic
Every business can benefit from social media marketing, and your food blog is no different. While it will require an initial investment, social media ads can pay off by increasing your reach and helping you to generate more loyal readers.
This can be even more beneficial for your blog if you’ve started selling additional products or services. Social media networks such as Facebook and Instagram have excellent targeting features and can connect you with exactly the right audiences that would be interested in what you have to offer.
Try affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is the ideal solution for making your food blog profitable. The affiliate will be in charge of their own marketing efforts, and you’ll solely be responsible for connecting your readers with the affiliate company. You’ll normally be making money per each new customer you bring to the company.
Food blogging is incredibly popular today, and it can be an exciting and profitable endeavor for anyone with a passion for it. It requires effort, commitment, and dedication, but it can easily become well worth it. So, if you were wondering how to become a food blogger, what you need to do is:
- Choose your niche;
- Pick your blogging platform and come up with a domain name;
- Choose your web hosting provider and launch your blog;
- Create useful content, promote your blog and monetize your blog; and
Your food blog can become so much more than a simple passive income opportunity with a little bit of effort on your part. So, give it a try, and see where your blog takes you.
Do you have any questions or anything to add? We’d love to hear from you!
14 comments on “How to Start a Food Blog”
This is so helpful. I just finished a book about becoming a food writer (How to Write about Food by S.J. Sebellin-Ross) and now I wanted to take all I learned and start my own blog, so this was perfect!
Thanks Lynn. Let us know if you need any help with your new blog. Good luck!
White or light-colored background colors are best, so the focus is on the pictures of your food and the writing.
Good tip Jeffrey…thanks!
This is a really helpful blog for those who want to start their food blog.
Thanks Naina! Let me know if you need any help with your blog.
This is a great guide for setting up a food blog and getting started. It is a lot of information and a lot of work but if you are passionate about it, it could be a lot of fun too!
You’re right Scarlet…it’s all doable if you’re passionate about it! Have fun with your food blog and let me know if you need any help!
Thanks for your guide. I am beginner in creating a food blog. This blog is really very helpful.
I have done my research and I am going to start a food blog with your tutorial… If I need help how can I contact you?
Great to hear that Terrance. You can always reach out to me at [email protected] for any help.
Thank you, very useful article!
Glad to hear you like it!
I found your lovely site through the Horchata guest post you did for TurnTable Kitchen (I have almonds soaking in my fridge as I type this). I decided to sit down and dig through your blog as I wasn’t familiar with it. Oh. My. Gawd! What an amazing job you’ve done at compiling helpful tips for bloggers. As an off-again-on-again blogger I’m trying to get back up to speed and stick to a content schedule in the coming months. I just wanted to say Muchas Gracias for taking the time to put together such thorough posts!
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Food Bloggers Central
A free resource for food bloggers
Exactly What I Do: Creating Posts
September 13, 2015 by Nagi 84 Comments
This is exactly how I create new posts to ensure they are optimised for SEO, Social Media and displaying/layout on my blog (plus more). Lots of little things I specifically do which I believe add up and collectively help give my recipes the best chance possible to reach new audience and enjoyed by my existing readers!
This post is the first in an ongoing series called “Exactly What I Do (and why)” where I will share…well, exactly what I do for a particular aspect of blogging! It might sound like a strange series, but in all honesty, there is a reason behind everything that I do – or I wouldn’t do it.
So this post is the first in the series. A good place to start I thought!
EXACTLY WHAT I DO FOR EVERY POST
This post is quite long so I know “everything I do” will seem like a LOT of effort, especially if you are starting out. But honestly, once you get into the groove, it becomes second nature. I timed myself last night when I wrote the No Bowl Chocolate Nut Bar post that I published last night – starting from the moment I transferred the photos to my camera – and it was bang on 2 hours. Including editing photos and all the steps below.
So here is everything I do when I create a new post, starting with the photos I have edited (I use PhotoShop).
1. Prepare my photos
Before I start any post, I select and web optimise the photos that I want to use in the post. The reason is because I often find that I write around the photos I have so I want them in the post when I start writing. So, for example, if I want to describe the incredible sauce in a dish, I make sure the post flows so that I have a photo that “shows off” the sauce right before or after the paragraph where I describe it.
Here’s an example – for this Chinese Beef with Honey Black Pepper Sauce . (OMG seriously, the sauce is SO GOOD!)
This is what I always do for my photos. Note – I only use portrait photos on my blog (except for some step-by-step photos) because they display far better (because they are bigger) on both my blog and on social media.
- Resize the photos to 680 pixels wide which is the width of the body of posts for my theme ( Foodie Theme ). I do this in Photoshop.
- Then I save a web optimised file (File > Save for Web) and save them in a Dropbox Folder where I have all my food photos (so I can access them from anywhere, especially handy for doing social media wherever I am!).
- I make sure the file name contains the recipe name because it helps with SEO. I also append text and numbers to help with file identification. So for the Honey Pepper Beef photos, the file names were “Honey-Pepper-Beef_680px_1.JPEG”, or variations thereof. That’s the typical naming convention I use (because I also have full size versions of each photo).
- I create a Pinterest pin for the recipe (i.e. a long one with text). And I save that to the same folder. Here’s a post for how to How to Hide Pinterest Image Collages (Long Pins ).
- I create a 600 pixel wide photo of my “hero shot” (my best shot) for the purpose of the Featured Image . This is the photo that is picked up by MailChimp when new post notifications go out and is the thumbnail in recipe indexes. I resize the photo because images in MailChimp emails can only be 600 pixels wide – any wider and they appear stretched when the email is viewed in some browsers. (See point 6 for more information).
- I create a landscape photo which I upload to the post for nicer display for Facebook sharing purposes (more details below).
- I create a square photo because that’s what I like to use for Facebook when I upload the photo onto my Facebook page and drop the URL in (as opposed clicking the Facebook sharing button from my site). The photo is larger so I feel it looks better.
Here’s a snapshot of the folder containing the photos for the Honey Pepper Beef.
2. Choose a recipe name
See below for more information on SEO keywords. It strengthens the SEO to have the keywords in the recipe name.
3. Insert the Photos and optimise for SEO and Pinterest
Before I start writing, I like to insert the photos into the post because, as I mention in #1, I like to write “around” the photos I use in the posts.
Two key things that I do for every single photo I upload to my blog (at least, I hope so!) are the following:
a) Make the photo name the recipe name – This helps with SEO. Here are the Images search results when I google “Chinese Beef with Honey and Black Pepper Sauce”. Refer to the field marked “A” in the media upload step-by-step below for how to do this.
I don’t know about you, but every single person I know who Googles for recipes pretty much always goes to the Images tab when they are searching for something in particular. Myself included. So don’t waste this opportunity!
b) Insert Alternate Text (Default Description) – This is quite important and it’s a little trick that I think really helps with Pinterest in particular. By filling in the Alternate Text field for each photo, when a reader pins your recipes, the text in the Alternate Text box appears as the default description in Pinterest.
This is really important because it gives you an opportunity to insert words to “sell” your recipe (read more about that in this post – “ Sell” Your Recipes ). I think it is rare for people to amend that text when they pin your recipe – I know I very rarely do.
And even more important, if you do not insert default text , then the photo name will appear in the pin description field by default. And if you have not inserted a proper recipe name, it just appears as the file name which can be something like “DSC9127.jpeg”. If that is what appears in the Pinterest pin description field, it’s meaningless – and a wasted opportunity to promote your fabulous recipe!
Also, in the Google search results above, notice how there is description text under the recipe name. That is also from the Alternate Text field for each photo.
Step by step
i) Upload your photos onto your blog. The photo Title ( A ) will default to the name of the JPEG file.
ii) Change the Title ( A ) to be the recipe name (to optimise to SEO) and change the Alt Text ( B ) to be your “sell” about the recipe that you want to appear as the default text in Pinterest.
PS The reason why I repeat the recipe name in the description field is because the Pinterest search is a bit clunky and it seems to me that text in the description field is picked up better than the bold recipe name that is automatically picked up by Pinterest from my blog.
If you do not add Alt Text and if you do not change the photo file name to the recipe name, this is what happens to your Pinterest pins which you do not want!! The photo file name becomes the Photo name AND it is used as the auto filled description field in Pinterest pins because the Alt Text field is left blank. Wasted opportunity!
As a friend so succinctly put it – I’d have to like someone A LOT to go to the effort of completing the pin description. So make it easy for your readers and put a meaningful default description in the Al Text field for them!
4. Write the post and recipe
Then I do my verbal dump and write the post. I know there is a lot of chatter about tone and content, and I think that it’s very personal. Everyone should write in the way that flows naturally rather than trying to force it. It takes time – I think it was over 6 months before I found my natural tone. So don’t stress, just be yourself. You want readers to follow you by being you, not copying the tone of other bloggers!
For my recipes, I use the Easy Recipe Plug In because I know it is SEO optimised and I like the neat, classic design. The free basic version is a good one to start with but I bet you upgrade to the paid version fairly quickly ($25 one off) because the little extras you get (including more layout designs) are very handy! For example, my readers love it when I include small step-by-step graphics within the recipe. It helps them to have it on hand when they print out the recipe. And you need the pro version to insert images.
5. Post Layout
The way I lay out posts is a personal preference though I do have logic for it. My typical post layouts go like this:
a) Short (max 3 lines) intro text above the Hero shot. It’s where I put my “sell” of the recipe. I do this to catch the attention of the reader, especially for those who are “drive through” readers, popping in from Pinterest (or wherever) to grab a recipe. Take every chance to engage with readers!
And here’s the other reason I am very specific about putting a “sell” in the first lines of each post – because it is what gets picked up by Google in the search results under the recipe name. You can see in the snippet below they are the exact same words I use for the intro text in the post snippet above.
I have always been very open that I’m not a tech guru and SEO is something that actually does baffle me. I just figured things out by trial and error. I use the YOAST SEO Plug In to ensure my posts are SEO optimised. But I can sure tell you that the “meta description” that I complete religiously for every post (see box below) which I expected to be picked up as the snippets in Google search results is NOT what is appearing in the Google search results, it’s the first lines within the post!
Here’s the YOAST SEO field for this post. You can see at the bottom the description I put in and the Snippet Preview provided which I expected to see in the Google search results. I fill out the Meta description field anyway – just in case it does start getting picked up!
b) The Hero Shot – After the introduction / “sell” text, I insert my Hero Shot. My best shot because it’s the photo people see first.
c) Few paragraphs of writing. No rules here, whatever I want!
d) Photo #2.
e) More writing and sign off.
f) Photo #3 – I like to finish with a photo before getting to more words with the recipe. I just feel it breaks up the layout of the post. That’s a personal preference.
g) Recipe ( Easy Recipe plug in )
h) Nutrition table (I use caloriecount.com and insert a screen grab).
6. FEATURED IMAGE
Insert your Featured Image. This is the photo that will appear as the thumbnail in recipe indexes. Don’t forget to rename the photo and insert the Alt Text!
Here’s a tip for anyone who uses MailChimp for their newsletters – the default image size is 600 pixels wide. So for anyone like me using a theme that caters for wider images (I use the Foodie theme which uses 680px wide photos), make sure you resize your Featured Image photo to 600 pixels otherwise it will appear stretched in your newsletter emails in certain browsers and email apps. I had that problem for months and months – no one told me!
7. FACEBOOK PHOTO
This is a personal preference. And it is a pain. It is something I started doing recently because I’m a control freak. I invest time and effort into my photos so when someone shares a post to Facebook, I want it to look nice!
Before I started doing this, when someone clicked the Facebook share button on a post, one of 3 things would happen:
i) One of the photos (not always the Featured Image) is auto selected and cropped into landscape. Because I always use portrait photos on my blog, that means the centre cropped photo is usually not very flattering! Here is an example – and this is one of my most popular posts. See how the top of the copped up Rotolo is cropped? That’s because Facebook just centre crops the photo.
ii) An odd photo is selected, not the Featured image. Like for this recipe. Sometimes it even picks up an ad from the sidebar!
iii) The 3rd scenario is not as bad but it is not a preferred option for me. What happens is that the image is displayed as a small portrait photo, like this. While the photo doesn’t display badly per se, it is certainly NOT optimised for Facebook by having full width images.
Also, I haven’t tested how Facebook shares are displayed on different mobile devices and browsers.
So to take some control over what is shared on Facebook, what I do is upload a landscape photo for each recipe especially for the purpose of Facebook sharing.
A pain. Yes, for sure. But I’m a big believer in diversifying and while my Facebook traffic is still very small, I am committed to trying to grow it and one way to do that is to ensure my posts are optimised for Facebook sharing. So I do this extra step.
By uploading a landscape photo, this is how the image looks when it is shared from my blog.
To Upload an image for Facebook Sharing:
I use the Simple Share Buttons plug in for my social sharing buttons. At the bottom of every post, there is a Share Image field and I simply upload the landscape photo I want shared on Facebook into my Media Library then select it as the Share Image. Here’s a snippet.
This is how the photo appears using the Chinese Beef example I’m using in this post when shared to Facebook. Much happier with this rather than Facebook just auto cropping the Featured Image into landscape.
Note: Sometimes when the Facebook share button is clicked, it will show a preview like the above photo where there is a small portrait photo on the left and text on the right. But on Facebook, it will switch over to the auto landscape cropped image.
8. “READ MORE” Break
I always forget this. Always! By inserting a “Read More” break in my posts, this is how I ensure that the latest post is not displayed in its entirety at the top of my homepage. I am fairly sure that this is a Genesis specific thing, so if you don’t use Genesis as your framework then you might not have a problem.
See how there is a “Read More” button under the photo where the text is cut off? I do that by inserting the Read More break into my post where i want the preview to stop.
The “Read More” break is this button here on the WordPress toolbar. Just insert it where you want to cut off the words that display on the homepage. Note: This is only relevant to my latest post.
9. CATEGORISE AND TAGS
This might be down the bottom of this post but only because I do it last! But this is one of the most important things that you must ALWAYS remember to do for your posts – SEO Optimise them.
I use YOAST which is a plug in for WordPress for SEO Optimisation. It is as simple as choosing and inserting the SEO keywords into the YOAST SEO field which is under every post.
You can read more about choosing SEO keywords for your post in this post here: Best Google Keywords for your Recipes.
11. PROOF READ!!
I am lucky, I usually have family members available who I call upon to proof read most of the posts I do for my blog (not FBC – they aren’t interested!!). If no one is around, I come back to the post later and do a clean read.
I am really convinced that quality content that is written well makes a huge difference to make blogs stand out. I’ll be honest with you and tell you that I’ve had quite a number of comments from readers who have specifically made mention of the writing on my blog, thanking me for writing “well”.
Believe me, I have made plenty of errors though – hey, I’m only human! But I really try to make my posts as “clean” as possible.
That includes the recipes. Especially the recipes. I am extra careful to triple check typos in recipes. It gutted me when I made a major mistake and a reader had a disaster with one of my recipes. I felt so bad.
****************
Phew! That is WAY MORE than I expected to write! Sorry for the information dump but I thought it was useful to put everything into one post. Social sharing and promoting is a whole separate post!
Just to reiterate, I know this is overwhelming, especially if you are new to blogging. But I promise you, it becomes second nature. The more posts you do, the more practice you get, the easier it becomes. Everything I’ve explained in this post I do almost mechanically nowadays!
THE KEY TAKEAWAYS
In order of priority, here are the key takeaways from this post:
1. Never forget your SEO keywords for every post.
2. Always SEO optimise your photos by changing the title to the recipe name.
3. Always add a description of your recipe in the Alt Text field for each photo.
4. PROOF READ!!
If you found this post useful, share it with your friends!
Thanks for reading! Any questions, ask below so others can benefit from the response!
– Nagi x
February 22, 2018 at 8:35 pm
Hi Nagi, love all your tips! I added the Simple Share Button Adder plugin to my website but don’t seem to be getting the section at the bottom of my posts where I can choose the Facebook pic? Was this an extra set up in the plugin?
Thanks! Shanai
October 11, 2017 at 3:36 am
This is a super informative post! I was having such a hard time figuring out “alt text” and also how to make my images the right pixel size for the blog, Pinterest, etc.
Thank you for your tips. They are beyond helpful.
May 26, 2017 at 9:54 am
Thank you so much for this tutorial! You are awesome for sharing your tips with others. I’m new to food blogging and I’m so happy I found this!
April 11, 2017 at 11:16 pm
I agree, Nagi! Optimizing posts for SEO might be the last step but I believe the most important one!
January 5, 2017 at 2:25 am
Just wanted to say THANK YOU for writing this. I’m new to food blogging and it can be so daunting at times trying to figure out what the heck I’m doing. 😉 Thanks for laying it out step by step and explaining the rationale behind it. I follow this to the T now. Keep up the great work!
Rachel K Feedingdaniel.com
September 2, 2016 at 6:34 am
Thanks for that awesome lowdown on how to create the best posts. I had been adding a description in the alt text of only the longer Pinterest pic so you definitely straightened me out on that one. Thanks for the heads up!
February 13, 2016 at 6:23 am
January 4, 2016 at 11:44 pm
I just discovered this site no more than five minutes ago and I’ve already learned so much! Thank-you for sharing!
January 4, 2016 at 3:55 am
OMG Nagi This site is so useful and so much information generously given. Thank you. I shall be back again and again I’m sure. I started my recipe blog a couple of months ago but didn’t tell anyone about it until I had a small bank of recipes on it so have only just gone public. I have worked as a professional food writer and food stylist (but I am not a food photographer and have no experience of editing photos etc) in the UK for over 20 years but in old media, so the net is all very new to me and i do feel a bit like an old dog trying to learn new tricks.
December 10, 2015 at 5:32 am
Hi Nagi, I am relatively new to your blog, although I’ve been blogging about food for a while now. I started out reading your posts here on FBC and I’ve learned a lot from these concise, common-sense tips that you so generously share. Keep up the good work!
November 13, 2015 at 12:44 am
Hi Nagi, I’m recently new to this site and just want to say Thank You! It’s always so helpful to find suggestions and ideas from successful bloggers! I do have a question—you say that you insert your Featured Photo and that you resize it to 600 for Mailchimp—where and how do you do this? I’ve always just used the Featured Photo option in WordPress which allows you to set a photo that you’ve already uploaded as the Featured Photo. However, the WordPress doesn’t give you an option to resize. What am I missing? Thanks!
November 18, 2015 at 7:39 pm
Hi Lucy, you are correct you can’t resize your photos directly in WordPress you have to do that either in Lightroom or Photoshop, when you export your edited photos you can set the parameters such as dimension, meta tag, etc, and that’s where I change the height&width pixel size.
November 19, 2015 at 3:38 am
WordPress does have an “edit photo” feature that lets you resize to you desired pixel width. If you click on an image in your media library, there is an edit media button. I’ve used it quite often. Is it not really resizing properly?
December 3, 2015 at 5:54 am
It’s not a good idea to do that because you’re still uploading potentially huge file sizes (especially if you shoot in RAW format) onto your blog, and it can slow it down. It’s not really resizing the photo, it’s just displaying it the way you want it, if that makes sense.
November 26, 2015 at 2:28 am
Yes, I do resize before exporting my photos. I am just a little confused about what she’s doing with the Featured Photo. If I were to size the photo that I want to use as my Featured Photo to 600 p width, then it would appear considerably smaller than the other photos in my post. So I was wondering if there’s some way that Nagi is having it appear as 680 on her blog but then 600 for Mailchimp.
November 26, 2015 at 2:41 am
maybe someone else can help as I’m not sure if I understand correctly.
In the WP dashboard on the right sidebar in the Post Editor mode there is an option to add a featured image and an index image. This is where I upload the Mailchimp sized photo as featured image, and notwithstanding I upload the correct and bigger size (680) into the post. That way all photos displayed in the post are of the same size, and a separately uploaded featured image will be sent in my newsletter.
In the event you don’t upload a specific featured image, Mailchimp will simply take the photos from your post.
November 26, 2015 at 2:48 am
I think I get it—so you are saying you actually UPLOAD a separate image to be the featured image? I always just selected the Hero shot that was already uploaded as my Featured image. So you have two sizes of the same image, correct?
November 26, 2015 at 2:55 am
November 26, 2015 at 3:00 am
Got it! Thank you so much! I feel like an idiot now haha — duh!…
November 26, 2015 at 10:02 pm
October 17, 2015 at 9:24 am
Great post Nagi! Your workflow is very similar to mine. Thank you for teaching me about the Facebook share image. I actually use that same plugin but I didn’t know that was a feature. I just wanted to add- that in order for that field to show up, you need to “enable” meta tags. This option is found in the plugin settings. Also I *think* there might be a way to NOT have to insert the read more tag. Only because I don’t have to do that. It may be a theme thing? Or maybe it’s because I have “summary” checked in “settings”? Right where it says “for each article in a feed, show:”.
October 20, 2015 at 7:20 pm
Thanks so much for that tip Allie! I’ll check into it, clearly I don’t have it set up right!! N x
October 15, 2015 at 1:46 am
Hi Nagi, I have recently been debating with sizing my photos for retina display screens. I have learned that in order to do this, you save your image file as twice the size needed in your post then resize it after it is uploaded to your post. My problem is that the larger file size takes longer to load and I am hesitant to it. Do you worry about how photos display on retina screens?
October 16, 2015 at 7:51 am
October 7, 2015 at 3:12 pm
Great post, so informative. The organization info with dropbox and the resizing info was game changing for me. I literally did a happy dance when I saw my photos on my blog when they were sized correctly. I aspire to get the work done in 2 hours…. It took me 6, but I had to set up dropbox, learn to resize without photoshop and make a checklist for myself on coding the titles so all photos over the long haul are the same. I cannot thank you enough and am so looking forward to meeting you in November in California 😉
October 8, 2015 at 5:06 pm
YAY YAY YAY!!! I know what you mean, I used to have so many dramas with sizing my photos!!! I’m looking forward to meeting you too – it’s going to be so much FUN!!!!
October 1, 2015 at 3:02 pm
(Why did my comment default to my WordPress.com account and not WordPress.org, as it does for comments I leave on Recipe Tin Eats?)
October 2, 2015 at 7:20 am
October 1, 2015 at 2:55 pm
Nagi, this post is pure gold! I could go on and on, but no need; that sums it up. The three-picture concept made me rethink; the few posts i’ve written so far have more including step-by-step for things I thought might be tricky. (Plus I find them helpful in others’ posts with regard to technique or texture.) When I’m ready I’ll seek input. Moving forward, I will apply what you suggest in the post.
I’m so glad you found this useful Marlene! N x
September 23, 2015 at 2:50 am
Nagi, this site is amazing, thank you so much! I am a teeny tiny food blogger, who is trying to get more serious and get more views to her blog. It feels like so much work at times, but your invaluable (and free!!) advice has already helped me so much.
I actually just created a Facebook profile with the sole purpose of joining the food bloggers central Facebook group. I hope I can get accepted as I literally made my profile 10 minutes ago!
September 23, 2015 at 6:28 am
I will check the FB request list right now! You’re a doll Abida! N x
September 20, 2015 at 5:40 am
Hi Nagi, thank you for this awesome detailed post. I am a total newbie still building my blog. I used this info to fortify my “Before You Post Checklist.”
Quick question, is the Featured Photo for FB the first photo in your post?
Please keep these informative posts coming!
September 20, 2015 at 6:53 am
September 17, 2015 at 1:27 pm
Thank you so much for sharing this Nagi! I’ve printed it out and it’s become part of my “Bible” for blogging! I’m learning so much, I can’t wait for the conference in November!! 😀
September 18, 2015 at 9:20 am
September 17, 2015 at 1:21 pm
Thank you Nagi. I do a lot of this, but I will try your tips with Simple Share buttons. I am also interested in the tweet you added at the end.
September 16, 2015 at 6:54 am
Yes! Why do I always forget the ‘read more’ tag??? Also, the first thing I do is edit the publish immediately field to schedule for some future date. I once mistakenly published an unfinished post because I am rapidly losing my mind and it was only when I got a COMMENT (from a friend THANKGOD) that I realized I published the sucker instead of saving to drafts. Flustered doesn’t begin to cover it.
September 18, 2015 at 9:19 am
September 18, 2015 at 9:51 am
I feel so much better now 😉 PS bought your photo book today.
September 19, 2015 at 6:57 am
September 16, 2015 at 1:43 am
Hi Nagi, thanks so much for this helpful post, there was a lotr of things I didn’t think of/do yet (like the image naming and resizing, so I’ll do that).
I would have 2 questions/requests:
– I see in your SEO screenshot that almost all of the categories are red and was wondering if this didn’t hurt your SEO results?
– could you please make a social media strategy/schedule post to show us how and what you do to promote your content? I’m so lost when it comes to social media, and I have plenty of questions to which I don’t know the answers, like:
– how many times to post on FB/Pinterest/Twitter/Instagram a day? – what to post? isn’t it spammy if I post 5 times to FB reposting my old blog posts/recipes? Is there a ratio: some posts to be about thoughts, Real Life things and some about self-promotion? or how do you do it? – I read that there are programs/apps that post Pins in your stead, but that way how can you make sure a pin isn’t posted several times in the same group? Or is there an etiquette: you can repost old pins after some time has elapsed (1 week, 1 month?) or how do you make sure you do not violate the group’s rules?
September 18, 2015 at 9:18 am
Re: promoting my own content, yes I will do posts on it! I just need the time. I’m seriously lacking time at the moment!
September 15, 2015 at 3:12 pm
September 18, 2015 at 9:16 am
September 15, 2015 at 11:24 am
Thank you so much Nagi! You are a talented blogger and a wonderful person. You shared so many useful tips and always be helpful!
I’m happy to help Rika!
September 15, 2015 at 2:47 am
Nagi! This is great!!!! And I’m very happy to say I do about 90% of this!!!! The only thing I don’t do is insert the photo in Facebook through share buttons… But I will now!
September 15, 2015 at 12:38 am
What a wonderfully thorough look at all the parts of posting! I’m finally doing almost all of this (after going back and adding SEO to my initial dump of recipes when I was first getting started and had totally ignored that part!) I especially appreciate the in-depth look at how you organize your photos for different sites. I need to get on the LESS IS MORE train! Your photography book is helping me improve immensely and I’m excited for the recipes I’ve been photographing recently that will be appearing on my blog in the weeks to come. Now that the photos are better, I want to focus on using fewer in each post and doing more of these specific sizes. I use most of the same tech stuff as you, so this was particularly useful.
I’m also curious about your SEO titles not matching the recipe title and how that affects your ability to rank. I thought I had to get to “green” for it to have a chance. Would love to hear your thoughts! (Also read through your Google Keywords post – so helpful. I know I have lots to learn in this area.)
Thanks so much for all the advice and specifics – and the screenshots, too – such a help! XO
September 18, 2015 at 9:15 am
September 14, 2015 at 6:23 pm
Oh I kinda do most of this, but not always and it’s always a bit haphazard but after reading this through I had a couple of lightbulb moments – I need to get more organised!!!
I spent way too much time with editing my photos and I need to cut down to three like you do too. All good stuff – as always.
September 18, 2015 at 9:14 am
Photo editing can be such a time sucker. And photo sorting!! I faff around for ages trying to figure out which photos to use!!
September 14, 2015 at 10:55 am
Loved this and thankfully I am do most of this as well. So it looks like you leave the description field blank (in your photo) which I do too, but I always wondered if that is what Pinterest pulled for it’s description (rather than the alt text info). Obviously it’s not, I just wonder what that field is for. I hate that Facebook pulls the images wonky like that, but not sure I will commit to the landscape shot yet. At least now I know how to do it if I chose to. I also never noticed the issue with Mailchimp and the photo size because I don’t see an issue with the photos when I view them in my email. What a pain! Also ditto what Michelle asked about how your rearranged your key words. I thought they had to match the tittle to get the “green” stamp of approval.
September 18, 2015 at 9:13 am
September 14, 2015 at 10:51 am
Nagi, as usual, many thanks for your sharing.
We are definitely in sync in approach, which is fantastic to me as I learned to do it all on my own! To know it’s your technique for each post helps me know I am on the right track, great post.
Thanks for making me aware of the Google snippet and Yoast SEO plugin meta description. I never noticed that the first couple of lines “IN” the post are what’s picked up, not the Yoast SEO meta description! I still do that snippet, but will take advantage of that before-the-hero-shot-blurb from now on! Also, how you mentioned the ALT text and title is exactly spot on for what I do, too.
New tips for me were the different photo sizes you do (Mailchimp, Facebook), while I use landscape for Twitter and FB posts, I will start using the 600px for my Mailchimp and see the difference in making a square hero photo for Facebook now. While I used to include 5 or more photos per post, you and others have changed my view in doing that, and my posts recently have been less, with my photography getting better I feel, to 3 (different angles). Less IS more.
I always wondered about the calorie table, so thanks for that link for a screen grab!
As for the Simple Share plugin, I do use that too, but no where do I find the Simple Share Buttons Meta field you mentioned (screenshot) at the bottom of every post. I too use Foodie, but the Pro version, and after each post in Edit mode there is Layout Settings, Yoast SEO, Revisions, Comments, Related Posts and then Scripts. Could you elaborate for me on that I find that info valuable!
Thanks again, you’re Aces! Kevin
PS – my site is migrating this weekend to MediaTemple, so hopefully everything will be normal soon without those darn pop ups after my site was hacked! I am hoping by Wednesday to be back posting again.
September 18, 2015 at 9:10 am
September 14, 2015 at 7:45 am
Hey! Thanks so much for this well written post! I’m happy to say I’m already doing 98% of this (which actually made me feel great!) and I definitely learned a couple tips. =)
September 18, 2015 at 9:08 am
That’s great Christin! You’re all over it!! 😉
September 14, 2015 at 4:52 am
Amazing amazing amazing post! Thank you so much for putting all your work and time in to this!
Glad you found it helpful!!
September 14, 2015 at 4:30 am
Thank you Nagi! This is probably my favourite post so far. I’ve been trying hard to remember to take landscape shots just for facebook. In the past I took ALL portrait.. yikes! Thanks again.
September 18, 2015 at 9:07 am
Great post. Lots of great information. I wish I had read this a long time ago!
September 14, 2015 at 3:31 am
Genius !! I swear you live i my brain and just answer my thoughts lol I love you !!
Ba ha ha! You crack me up!! N x
September 14, 2015 at 2:19 am
Nagi, This is exactly what my husband and i were talking about this morning …(we’re deciding when to order your photography book) and he said “I wish she would share her ‘business’ thought process, too.” Then I found this post! I shared this link with him. We’re both going to use it as a reference!
I especially love the tips about “Featured Photo” as I have been struggling with that – having a hard time understanding when it shows up, why people use it and how come I can’t make it work lol.
Thank you, thank you from both of us! Noel
September 18, 2015 at 9:06 am
September 14, 2015 at 2:09 am
Back again! I have one question. What is the reasoning behind using Dropbox to store your photos instead of on your computer. Are they stored in Dropbox only temporarily (until you upload them to your website)? Or is that where you permanently store your photos? I need to get control of my photos before it becomes too big of a job to handle!
September 14, 2015 at 1:44 pm
Hi Nagi, I have the same question as well, are you using Dropbox like a cloud for all your photos or do you also back up your photos to another cloud? I need to organize my photos a little better for past posts in case I need to go back and find them and am wondering what other people do. Thanks!
September 14, 2015 at 1:56 am
Thank you! So helpful to read the “why” you do what you do. I will re-evaluate how I handle photos. I’m definitely not taking all the steps you’re taking. That’s now my No. 1 priority! Thanks again for taking the time to put this altogether for us!
September 18, 2015 at 9:05 am
No worries! Glad you found it helpful!
September 14, 2015 at 1:53 am
September 18, 2015 at 9:04 am
I’m so looking forward to meeting you too Raquel!!
September 14, 2015 at 1:23 am
Love this post Nagi! It also made me feel good because I do most of this already 😀 I definitely need to start adding a landscape photo for facebook though (yoast has a social tab to upload the facebook pic too). I also really need to organise my filing way better, you’ve inspired me to do that! I name all my photo files with the recipe title, but then they’re just numbered, so no idea what is what until I look at the “get info” – not very efficient!
One question for YOAST, I see you’ve just put the four key words in focus keyword box so Yoast hasn’t picked up that they’re in the title, content etc because they’re not in that specific order together – have you found that doesn’t matter? I’ve found myself editing how I enter my keywords so I get each bit checked off, but would much prefer to do it the way you have so I have more freedom with my choices!
September 14, 2015 at 12:59 am
Nagi, thank you!! This post is priceless to a beginner like me, I’m usually all over the place when creating a post now I have a step by step method to go about it. I’ve written everything down to follow through. You are the best in your generosity to share the knowledge. Now let me see if I can get my someone in the family to oroof read my post.
September 18, 2015 at 9:02 am
I’m so glad you found this helpful Jehan!
September 13, 2015 at 6:33 pm
I follow a pretty similar “creating posts” workflow, to yourself, but you have provided valuable information to me here, like using a landscape photograph for sharing on Facebook.
But most of all, I followed your link in this post to your explanation “Best Google Keywords For Your Recipes. I’ve been struggling for ages to understand how to set up an account, and why my account doesn’t look anything like the demonstrations of using the tool Google actually provide. It’s because I need to go through the part of actually setting up an ad first! Ah! Now I see, I didn’t like that part because I don’t like giving my payment details unless I’m actually buying something, but I see I can delete the ad after.
Thank you for giving me that “eureka moment” I’ve been trying to get to!
You have made my weekend. 😀
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How to Start a Food Blog in 2023 (And Make Money)
A re you an amateur foodie? Do you love baking or cooking? Want to share your food ideas with the world? It's time you start a food blog.
Food blogging is one of the best blog niches to get into because there are so many different topics you could write about – and everyone has to eat!
You could help people learn how to cook a specific type of cuisine with an instructional blog filled with how-to articles, recipe reviews, and technique demos. You could write a travel food blog that explores a part of the world through food. You could write a good food blog that explains how to reduce your carbon footprint through food. Or even the latest viral food and lifestyle blog!
In this guide, we’ll explain how to start a food blog and how food bloggers make money from it.
In This Guide:
Step 1: Choose a Food Blog Niche and Name
Step 2: set up your food blog, step 3: create the content and start blogging, step 4: promote your blog and grow your audience, step 5: monetize your food blog.
Before you dive into the nuts and bolts of your blog, like finding the best blog hosting , you’ve got to determine what you’re going to blog about.
If you want to build a successful food blog that’s profitable and sustainable, you’ll need to do a bit of homework upfront.
We go into the details on how to choose a blog niche here , but to see if your idea is viable, sit down and brainstorm. If you can come up with at least 20 blog post ideas in 15 minutes, your topic has potential! If not, it’s back to the drawing board.
Types of Food Blogs
Another way to find a viable idea for your blog is to look at the types of food blogs out there.
For example, there are…
- recipe blogs
- food or drink tasting blogs
- cookbook review blogs
- healthy eating blogs
- cuisine-specific
- location-specific
- sustainable cuisine
- …and more.
You could use one of these ideas as a starting point and then drill down.
Once you’ve chosen your main topic, you’ll want to name your blog.
Think about your topic, your target audience, and what your blog style will be like.
To come up with a name, try…
- Entering your main topic into a blog name generator
- Using a thesaurus to come up with different words
- Use techniques like rhyming, alliteration, or assonance (like “Smitten Kitchen” or “Budget Bytes”)
- Putting your own spin on a common saying or idiom (like “Gimme Some Oven” or “Oh My Veggies”)
You can read more tips and examples in our guide on how to come up with a blog name .
Once you’ve settled on a topic and name, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and set up your blog!
Setting up a new blog can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you’re not very technical, but we’ve got you covered.
Every blog needs three elements:
- A unique domain name : This is what people type into their web browser to find your blog. It’s usually the same as your blog name and should be easy to say and type. Learn more about choosing the best domain name here .
- A reliable web host : This is where all the files, images, and content are stored. Companies like Bluehost make it easy to set up your account and blog.
- A blogging platform : This is the software you use to write and publish your blogs, add the design and layout to your site, and more. We recommend WordPress, which powers 35% of the web including big names like Adobe, Microsoft, Rolling Stone, and more. It’s easy to use, flexible, and offers a wide variety of customizations with themes and plugins.
Many aspiring food bloggers get stuck at this stage because they don’t want to pay for hosting, especially at the start. So they may look at a free blogging option instead.
We advise against using a free blogging platform and instead go with a paid hosting option.
Why? Because it’s critical that you retain control and ownership of all the contents and assets of your food blog. The free options may disappear after a while, leaving you without any copies of your content and a disappointed audience.
Plus, free blogging platforms are very limited in features. Many of them won’t let you use your own ads to earn money from your blog.
If you want more flexibility and control, you need to use a platform like WordPress, and get your own web hosting.
We recommend Bluehost as a good starting option for new bloggers. You can get free domain name registration for a year and a discounted rate for being a Blog Tyrant reader .
Exclusive offer for BlogTyrant readers
We have partnered up with Bluehost to get 60% off for our readers! You also get to register a FREE domain for a year which normally costs around $14.99 per year.
Once you’re on the Bluehost site, click on the Get Started Now button.
New bloggers can get started with the Basic plan, which include 1 site. You can always upgrade as your site grows.
Then you’ll be asked to create a new domain.
Enter your chosen blog name and click Next . If it’s not available, you can use our domain name generator to get more ideas.
On the next screen, make sure to select the 36 months price if you want to get the best deal.
Once you’ve finished setting up your account, you’ll get an email with your login details. Once you’ve logged in, click on the the My Sites tab on the left.
Then click on Create Sites to get started with WordPress.
This will launch Bluehost’s WordPress installation wizard, where you’ll be asked to enter your food blog name and a tagline. The tagline is optional, and you can always change it later if you want.
After you click on the Next button to continue, you can select your domain name from the drop down menu.
Then click on the Next button to continue. This will start the installation and it will take a few minutes to install. After it’s done, you’ll see the success message with your website’s details.
You’ll also get an email confirmation with a login link.
And that’s it, you successfully installed WordPress on Bluehost and launched your blog!
You’ll notice that right now your blog looks very basic. That’s because we haven’t installed a theme or plugins to make look better.
Once your domain is secured, your hosting is set up, and you’ve got WordPress installed, it’s time to choose a theme for your blog.
Choosing a Theme for Your Food Blog
WordPress themes control your website’s design and appearance. There are thousands of free and paid WordPress themes that you can install on your website.
However, not all of them are suitable for a food blog. You’ll need one suited to a food blog, and that matches your ideas on design and branding.
Here are a few options you can choose…
1. Get a Free Theme
One advantage of a popular platform like WordPress is the number of free themes out there. People have created thousands of them that you can use on your blog.
Here’s a roundup of popular themes for recipe and food blogs to get you started.
2. Pay for a Premium Theme
Premium themes are designed by experts. They are usually visually more appealing than the free ones, have more features and functions built into them. They also come with support, so you can get help if you need it.
We recommend using Divi or Astra , as they’ve both got great free starter themes and lots of customization options that work well for food blogs.
3. Create a New Theme
If you want a unique and original theme for your food blog, you can pay for a custom-designed WordPress theme. This is an expensive option and can take months to complete. It’s a good future option for your food blog if it becomes a hit, and you have thousands of dollars to spend on an original theme.
Or, you can create a custom WordPress theme with SeedProd , which is affordable and easy (no coding required).
No matter the theme you choose, you’ll want one that reflects the style you want to convey. That means thinking about whether you can upload your own logo, change the color palette, font choices, and whether you can change the blog post layout.
Installing Recipe and Food Blog Plugins
Your food blog will also need a recipe or food blog plugin to give you the ability to add recipes easily. These plugins have additional options where you can enter recipe details and have them published in a reader-friendly way.
We recommend using WP Recipe Maker (start with the free option and then upgrade to the paid one if you want to use those premium features) and WP Tasty Recipes if you want to jump into a fully-featured premium plugin.
Aside from food and recipe plugins, there are other WordPress plugins that every blog needs to run effectively.
Here are a few:
- All in One SEO : Optimize your entire site for SEO to boost search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your blog.
- MonsterInsights : View your website stats from your WordPress dashboard. See where your traffic is coming from and who is visiting your site.
- WP Super Cache : Speed up your blog and improve the overall performance with this caching plugin.
- Sucuri : Protect your site from hackers and other vulnerabilities.
- UpdraftPlus : Create regular backups of your site so you don’t lose all of your hard work if something goes wrong.
Now you’re ready to start creating and publishing your food blog content.
First up, it’s your core pages and main menu.
WordPress lets you create two different types of content: posts and pages. If you’re wondering what’s the difference, here’s a detailed guide on posts vs. pages in WordPress .
We recommend creating these pages for your new food blog:
- Contact Page
To add a new page in WordPress, just log in to your WordPress dashboard and click on Pages » Add New .
From here, you can add your page title and your content in the text editor. Check out these WordPress content editor tips for more details.
When you’re done, just click the Publish button and it will be live on your site.
Let’s take a look at how to create these pages and what they should include.
1. About Page
On your “About” page, you should introduce yourself to your readers and talk about what they can expect from your blog. Link out to your other social profiles so that your readers can stay in touch with you.
2. Contact Page
A contact page is essential if you want your readers to get in touch with you. You can create a contact form in less than 5 minutes with WPForms , which comes pre-installed on your Bluehost site.
Here’s a tutorial on how to create a simple contact form .
The free version of WPForms is enough to get you started. But, if you want to create more powerful forms, you can upgrade to the Pro version .
The Pro version offers features like survey and poll addons, payment integrations, conditional logic, and more. You can even use the post submissions addon to allow readers to submit their own recipes to your blog.
And if you want to customize the layout and design of your pages, we recommend using a drag and drop page builder , our favorite is SeedProd .
With SeedProd , you can easily create custom landing pages for your blog in minutes. It comes with ready-made blocks like countdown timers, testimonials, WooCommerce featured products, optin forms, and more. Just drag and drop the blocks to create a unique page.
Now that your pages have been created, it’s time to add them to the main menu of your new blog.
To create a menu in WordPress, click on Appearance » Menus . Enter a name for your menu (I just named mine “Main Menu”) and click Create Menu .
Now you can add your new pages to the menu. On the left side under Pages , check the box next to the pages you want to add to your menu. Then click Save Menu .
To add the menu to your header, click on Manage Locations tab at the top. Then select your menu in the location where you want it to appear. Note that your menu locations will be different depending on your theme, but usually there’s a primary, main, or header menu area for you to add your main menu.
Next, you’ll want to write your first set of blog posts. You already brainstormed some blog post ideas earlier, so pull those out and start writing.
If you get stuck, check out our ultimate list of blog post ideas , plus our guide on how to write the perfect blog post .
We won’t worry about monetization until a little later. For now, you just need to get some content on your blog, so it gets indexed by search engines, and you can start building an audience. You can also create a blog strategy to keep the ideas flowing and your cooking blog stocked with posts.
At this point, your food blog is up and running! Congrats!
But you’re not done. You’ll need to promote your blog to create and expand your audience. After all, you want to keep people coming to your blog regularly, right? And if you want to earn some money from your food blog, it’s hard to monetize without a healthy-sized audience.
There are a few ways you can promote your food blog. Some are passive, while others are more active.
Search Engines
Getting traffic from search engines and growing your food blog audience is the first step. With search engine optimization (SEO) , you’ll take advantage of search engine algorithms to drive traffic to your food blog.
That means that whenever anyone searches Google for a topic you’ve covered, your blog will come up in the search results.
Social Media
Social media networking on Pinterest, Instagram , Facebook, and Twitter can be really huge for food blogs – especially if you have a lot of nice photos or content that is easy to digest and share. They can help you build and grow your audience, as well as increase your blog monetization options since you’ll be getting more views to your content.
So, how do you start a food blog on Instagram and other social platforms?
First, spend some time looking at the biggest blogs in your food niche. See what social media platforms they’re using and what content they’re posting.
For example, here’s the type of content that food blogger Dining with Chrissy shares on Instagram:
Then, dig deeper. Look beyond followers and likes, since those can be bought and faked. See how engaged their audience is, how much their content is shared, and what kind of interactions happen on the blog itself.
Then, start testing on your food blog. Pick one or two social media platforms and create content for them. Share your content on them and engage with your audience there. Ask people to follow you on those networks.
We recommend always engaging with commenters on your posts and adding one or two social media platforms to the mix.
We also recommend integrating your social media feed with your blog.
For example, you can easily add an Instagram feed to your blog using Smash Balloon .
By displaying social feeds on your blog you can boost your followers, increase engagement, and provide extra, fresh content to your readers automatically.
Smash Balloon also offers plugins for YouTube, Facebook , and Twitter feeds.
And if you’re on a budget, you can try out the lite versions for free.
Email Newsletter
Most professional bloggers use email newsletters to stay engaged with their audiences and generate an income from them. Email newsletters help you develop and sustain relationships with your audience better than any other marketing method you might use.
At least 99% of us check our email every day, with 58% of us checking it before even social media !
See our step-by-step checklist on how to do email marketing with your food blog and grow it like a total pro.
Want to know how to start a food blog and make money?
As with other kinds of blogs, there are plenty of ways to monetize your food blog to earn an income.
Here are just a few ideas:
- Sell Recipes : To sell your recipes, bundle them into eBooks , and sell them directly on your site. You’ll need an eCommerce plugin like WooCommerce to add an online store to your food blog.
- Sell Branded Swag : Once you’ve got a good audience, you could start selling branded swag on your site. Use a print-on-demand service like Printful , Gooten , or TeeSpring to manage the printing and shipping for your t-shirts, mugs, jewelery, bags, and more.
- Display Ads : You can set up Google AdSense on your blog to display relevant ads on your site and earn money whenever someone clicks on the ad. This would be a perfect solution for a food review blog or restaurant review blog.
- Affiliate Marketing : Many food blogs offer product reviews and How-To posts, so why not add in some affiliate links to earn a commission off the products you write about? You can start with Amazon’s affiliate program, and then branch into other food-related ones as your audience grows.
If you’re curious about how much money you can make from food blogging, just check out this shortlist of successful food bloggers. These people will inspire you to learn how to become a food blogger and be good at it.
Midwest Foodie Blog makes money by displaying ads on her site and also selling sponsored posts.
A Sassy Spoon made over $100K last year from a variety of different methods. They display ads, sell sponsored posts, and offer freelance services like photography and coaching.
Piping Pot Curry also earns an income from ads and affiliate links.
For more ideas on how to monetize a food blog, check out our list of the most proven and profitable ways to earn money on your blog .
There you have it, step-by-step instructions on how to start a food blog! You’ve gotten web hosting, chosen a WordPress theme, learned about recipe plugins, and started writing your first posts. You’ve even learned about some of the advanced steps to starting a food blog, so you can earn money from it.
Have you started a food blog? Let us know in the comments so we can take a look. We’d love to see what you’re writing about and hearing more about your experience.
Now that you know how to start a food blog, check out our article on how to get traffic to your blog next.
And be sure to sign up for our email newsletter for more helpful blogging tutorials like this one!
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Thanks Ramsay! I normally dont leabe combents but im teally thrilked with this one. I’m glad I checked your article first….it has just everything I was looking for to start rolling. I can’t wait to start giving feedback. Cheers! Keep up the good work.
Very informative, I liked…….
Your tips on food blog creation are quite illustrative. I believe people will benefit from your write-up. In fact, I am tempted to build a food blog of my own.
Your tips on food blog creation are quite amazing.
Amazing! I have recently started my food blog & this is really helpful . Thanks for the post;)
Nice! Now, I will try this in 22
Thanks for sharing! Excited to be grilling again! Looking forward to learning more.
This is a very informative & interesting article. Nice to read your blog post first time ever. I really appreciate this post. Thanks for sharing this awesome post.
Such awesome tips and information about various types of food blogs. This was truly helpful. Really appreciated.
amazing post. thanks for sharing with us.
After reading your blog I started to wright my blog and it was successful.
I love this list! I’ve also just started a food blog with very simple but showstopping home cooking recipes – check it out and let me know your thoughts!
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1. List ingredients in the order that they're used in the recipe. · 2. Write recipes in your own voice. · 3. Use both weight and volume
How to Start a Food Blog: Step by Step · Step 1: Name your blog and buy a matching domain name. · Step 2: Find a reliable web host. · Step 3: Install WordPress.
Recipe post anatomy · Establish yourself: what is your E-A-T (expertise-authority-trustworthiness) and why are you a credible source for this
Step 1. Brainstorm Your Brand Identity · Step 2. Secure Your Domain · Step 3. Host Your Website · Step 4. Design and Build Your Blog · Step 5. Start Posting · Step 6
How to Start a Food Blog in 6 Steps · 1. Identify your topic. Decide what type of food blog suits your interests the most. · 2. Brainstorm a blog
Calling all food bloggers! This video is for you. Let's face it, between coming. up with delicious recipes, cooking or baking the thing
Hi guys! In this video, I will be sharing my step by step process of uploading a recipe onto my blog. From brainstorming, to taking photos
The big question of the day is how to become a food blogger? Where do you start? Do you first come up with a good food blog name, or should you
In order of priority, here are the key takeaways from this post: 1. Never forget your SEO keywords for every post. 2. Always SEO optimise your
Step 1: Choose a Food Blog Niche and Name; Step 2: Set Up Your Food Blog; Step 3: Create the Content and Start Blogging! Step 4: Promote Your