If you are passionate about food and writing, this is a natural fit. Maybe you want to get into food blogging to have a personal and meaningful conversation with the people you interact with. Or list some recipe details.
Regardless of why you want to start a blog, there’s a few things you’ll need to know.
What is a Food Blog?
A food blog is about its namesake. But these can be about different topics like restaurant reviews. Or you can write about different food in different cultures and or recipes.
Wondering how to start a food blog? Here’s a few easy steps to get going.
Why You Should Start Your Own Food Blog
Let’s start with 5 reasons for a new food blog.
Challenge Your Cooking Skills
Posting on a regular basis motivates you as a cook. Getting feedback from other food bloggers provides new techniques.
Meet Like Minded People
This blogging platform attracts like minded people. You’ll meet a community quickly.
Express Your Passion
Your own blog about food is a chronicle . Keep it up to date. Add helpful tips on cooking. Or even multiple recipes.
Make Some Cash
Set up a food blog and make money. Build up followers and sponsored posts will follow. A free ebook helps you to get noticed.
Put Together A Cookbook
Post recipes on your blog and then put favorites into a book. Take pics that leave space on the plate. That helps to frame the food up.
How to Start a Food Blog and Make Money in 17 Important Steps
Follow these steps to set a blog up and monetize it.
1. Choose a Food Blog Niche and Research Other Food Blogs
Your cooking blog can also be geared to a target audience. Following are 6 specific ways to choose a lane.
1. Food Photography.
Here’s a good tip, learn how to take food photos, and take pics under natural light.
2. Name Your Blog
The blog name matters. So does SEO. The best traffic uses long tail keywords. A recipe blog can have a generated title. Acronyms work too.
3. Create a Food Blogger Business Plan
Business plans are important. Identify the competition. That can actually help with seo keywords research too.
4. Purchase a Domain Name
A good web address is critical for food blogging platforms. Choosing your own domain name means being descriptive and catchy. Get a free domain name here. Or pay for one from places like this.
5. Choose a Reliable Web Host
Web hosting needs to be reliable. Learn terms like data transfer and bandwidth. Make sure your choices have good uptime. Does the hosting provide cloud services?
6. Install WordPress
Everything you need to know is at this site. Choose a free theme or pay for one. Your WordPress dashboard will display widgets and WordPress plugins.
7. Choose a Successful Blog Theme
Choose a food blog theme . There are free themes. Or pick a WordPress theme you pay for. Look for theme customization and responsive design. Here are some of the best food blog WordPress themes:
Julia
This wordpress theme is mobile responsive. Put ads on your blog.
Florentine
This one has a wp recipe maker that formats.
Cookely
Create an online shop. Cookely is WooCommerce enabled.
Lahanna
There are four versions to choose from. It’s user friendly too. You can tweak fonts.
Gourmand
The responsive design is perfect for high quality images.
Finally, consider Ranna. This is another mobile friendly theme.
8. Sign Up for Google Analytics and Search Console
Your food blog needs Google tools. Like this one. To track site visitors and traffic. And Search Console. To gauge where you are in search results. Add your new Google Account to get started.
9. Improve Your SEO
Then there’s technical stuff like seo. Get more blog traffic by matching client searches with keywords. Read this.
10. Install WordPress Plugins
A WordPress plugin can be free or you pay for it. They’re available on a self hosted WordPress blog. Of course you’ll look for good recipe plugins.
Here are some of the best food blog plugins:
- Recipe Hero. Get a responsive image gallery.
- WP Rocket. This caching plugin speeds up your blog.
- ShortPixel. Great for tackling speed issues that come from images.
- SumoMe: Get great opt in forms and social sharing tools.
- Vaultpress: Automatically back up your files.
- WP-Copyright-Protection. This is open source software to protect your site. Prevents people from copying and pasting.
- WP Ultimate Recipe: This one is formatted for Google Recipe Search.
11. Create a Food Blog Content Plan
The search engines rank your blog. A good blog plan includes search engine optimization. Research keywords relating to your own recipes. Incorporate them into content for optimal google traffic.
Here’s a list of ideas.
12. Publish Your First Post
Your first post comes next. A good food blog has text plus food photos. Find blog post ideas here.
13. Promote Your Blog
Promoting food blogs is about more than sharing on social media channels.
Here’s some other ways to promote your blog.
On a YouTube Channel
Mention your content and add a link to it.
Use Your Email
Link your signature to a new blog post. A personal address works better than a generic one.
Make sure to add a URL to your blog in your profile. Your Instagram feed will draw traffic.
Use Keywords
Specifically long tail ones.
Optimize Images
Use keywords in both the alternate tag and title tag sections.
Finally, linking to other authority sites works too. Make sure they are both credible and relevant.
14. Start Making Money
You can monetize your blog. Here’s how to make money blogging a few ideas on how.
Google Adsense
Display ads, get paid by clicks or impressions.
Sell Books
Sell physical cookbooks based on the content on your blog. Self publishing is one option.
Put Up A Membership Site
Charge to be part of a foodie community. Get recurring income.
Sponsored Content
Feature different brands in your blog. They get content about their product, you get a fee.
Offer Cooking Classes
Here’s a few examples to get you started.
An Affiliate Program
Promote a food related product, get a commission.
15. Diversify Your Income Streams
Branching out is always good. Sell merchandise like shirts. You can even earn extra money by being part of or organizing events.
16. Continue Posting Fresh Content and Recipes
The more content you post, the more Google takes notice. You become more of an authority. And that means more traffic.
17. Be the Owner of a Successful Food Blog Business
A successful business in this niche needs a box of digital tools. Like a good hosting provider that can tackle spam comments. And a WordPress site with an excellent recipe plugin. Plus your skills as a foodie and a dedication to the business.
How do food bloggers get paid?
There’s quite a few ways to make money with a food blog. Here’s a few we haven’t tackled yet.
- Social Media Promotions. Start with an advertise page on your blog.
- Guest Blog . Here’s a few places to consider.
- Collaborate on Social Media. Reach out to other brands and propose ideas.
- Offer Services. Contact restaurants and offer to take pics for them.
- Put on Workshops. Work on your own or with another blogger.
- Help With Branding . Put together photos and recipes for other brands.
How much do food bloggers make a year?
This depends on several things. Some bloggers report five figures a month. That depends on diverse income streams. Other part timers report $20,000 a year.
The national average is $41,058 a year.
Image: Depositphotos
This article, “How to Start a Food Blog” was first published on Small Business Trends