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How to Start a Food Blog?

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I don’t know about you, but for me, food is more than mere sustenance. My emotions sometimes dictate my food choices, and we all know that the food we eat has a big impact on how we think. It is no surprise that I love visiting food blogs of all kinds, including healthy food blogs, vegetarian blogs, dessert blogs, and more!

If you have the passion for food and have some knowledge to drop, you must have been, at one time or another, been plagued by the question – how to start a food blog and make money. In fact, many food enthusiasts have managed to create some of the most popular food blogs and have monetized them by creating an app for their blog.

Now, there have been multiple misconceptions about mobile apps. The two biggest concerns are about the cost of creating an app and about the complexity of the app development process. However, with Appy Pie, you can easily create a recipe app on your own in minutes, that too without any coding.

Introduction

Starting your own food blog can indeed be an intimidating and challenging task. However, if you are genuinely passionate about food and enjoy cooking, it will all be worth it. Of course, you need dedication and a whole lot of effort from your end, but more importantly, you need guidance.

So, here I am with some wise words and a step-by-step guide on how to become a food blogger.

However, before we start talking about the process in detail, I would love for you to spare a moment and take a look at the infographic below.

How to start a food blog?

There are multiple nuances that you must be aware of before you start your food blog, and yes, it can be a little overwhelming. The guide below is written, keeping in mind people like you and me who have no prior knowledge of website development and hosting.

If you want your blog to feature among the best food blogs, there are several things you need to be careful about. For example, finding the right niche, a good web hosting provider, and eventually finding the suitable monetization model for your food blog.

Let’s take a look at the step-by-step process of starting a food blog:

1. Choose a niche for your food blog

The first step towards creating a food blog involves choosing a niche for your food blog. There are multiple types of food blogs like cooking blogs, vegan food blogs, healthy food blogs, dessert blogs, recipe blogs, food photography blogs, and more.

Of course, you can make your entire blog generic and cater to a broader audience, but doing so can also present a challenge for you to break through and outperform your longstanding competitors.

There are always some categories like vegan food, keto diets, paleo diets which are in trend. However, it makes sense to go for a niche that you are passionate about.

2. Select the blogging platform

If you want to learn how to create a food blog, you need not learn to create a website from scratch. Instead, look for a blogging platform or a CMS like WordPress.org. Though there are a few other such platforms, there is a reason why WordPress enjoys about 5% of the market share.

Once you have chosen a platform, there is a crucial decision for you to take:

• Free web hosting offers bloggers everything they need to start their first cooking blog. However, you will have to pay for your domain, any plugins or gadgets you may need. Eventually, these costs do add up.
• Open source self-hosting lets you customize your food website as per your preferences. You get to choose your own domain name and find a web hosting provider.
3. Find the right domain name

A domain name is more than just a fancy set of words you may enjoy seeing on your blog. If you are not careful while choosing a domain name, it may end up hurting your overall blog traffic and SEO efforts.

Here are a few things you must consider when choosing a domain name for your food blog:

• It should be short and sweet.
• It must be unique and memorable.
• It should be easy to pronounce.
• It should be relevant to your niche.

Choosing a domain name can be intimidating, but I am linking an easy-to-follow guide here for you to consult before you register a domain name.

Your domain name is essentially the address of your food blog. It is with this address that people would find their way to your food blog.

4. Pick a web hosting provider

Just like a domain name is your address, the web hosting provider is your blog’s home, as this is where your blog lives in the online realm.

A web hosting provider makes it possible for you to take your food blog online, alongside all the other top food blogs. These companies provide you with servers and data servers so that your food blog can stay connected to the internet.

One of the most popular web hosting providers is Bluehost, and it is even recommended by the king of self-hosted blogging platforms – WordPress.

5. Launch your food blog on WordPress

If you decide to go ahead with Bluehost, you need to first go to their site and choose a hosting plan. Next, set up the domain name you registered earlier. Now register on Bluehost, then select the hosting package based on how many months you want to pay upfront.

Check out all the extras before you fill in your payment information. Next, create an account on WordPress, and once you log in, Bluehost practically holds your hand through the process of launching your WordPress food blog.

6. Choose a WordPress theme

It’s time now to focus on the way your food blog is going to look like. WordPress has some brilliant themes for you to choose from. However, before you select the WordPress theme for your food blog, make sure that you do some research on the theme features and reviews and take a look at the preview of the theme on different devices.

There are multiple free themes available on WordPress that you can use for your food blog, but the free ones may have limited features and customizability.

7. Create a content calendar and strategy

Your readers would definitely appreciate consistency in quality and the quantity of content you put out through your food blog. Even the most famous food bloggers make sure that they put out content exactly when their customers expect it.

If you fail to publish any content for weeks, your blog visitors will eventually give up on you, assuming that you gave up on the blog or are not entirely serious about maintaining it.

How to promote your food blog

Now that you have a basic blog up and running, it is time for you to take your game up a notch and come up with a plan to promote your food blog. Just because you created the best food blog, it does not mean people will make their way to you on their own.

Here are a few ways in which you can promote your blog.

• Social media marketing

Everyone is on social media, and most people use these platforms to stay updated. Reach out to people within your network, join relevant communities, and share relevant content with your target audience. You can also think of running ads on social media, should you find it effective.

• Create a recipe app

Creating an app for your food blog can be a great way to reach a broader audience. It might have been a challenge to create an app from scratch earlier. However, now with no-code app builders like Appy Pie, you can create a recipe app in minutes or even convert your blog into an app in just a few minutes!

Find out more about converting your food blog into an app by clicking on the button below.

Convert my food blog into an app now!
• Search Engine Optimization

SEO is one of the most important parts of making your food website more visible on search engines. It is an essential aspect of organic marketing and can do wonders for your food blog to drive traffic and get you higher visibility for your target audience.

Some of the most effective SEO tactics for food bloggers include long-tail keywords, making your blog mobile-friendly, and creating long-form content.

• Influencer marketing

Networking and collaborations help you gain exposure to a broader audience. If you can collaborate with influencers or established food bloggers, you will gain immense exposure to the right audience.

Even if these people are your direct competitors, collaboration can be designed to benefit all the parties involved and is quite a common strategy used by food bloggers.

How to monetize your food blog

This must be the most awaited part of the entire blog. I have actually gotten a lot of queries asking me the question – how to start a food blog and make money. Yes, passion and fun are all good, but if you are investing so much of your time (and some money) into your app, it has to have some kind of incentive for you as well.

Let’s discuss the different ways in which you can make money from your food blog.

• Write, publish, and sell your cookbooks

If you have a cooking blog and a recipe app already, it is time to compile all your recipes and write a cookbook. You can self-publish your book, write eBooks, or even create audiobooks and sell them through your blog and other marketplaces.

• Create a YouTube channel to support your blog

Not only can you promote your blog through a YouTube channel and pull more traffic to your blog, but you can also monetize your YouTube videos to earn more revenue from the same content.

• Use Google AdSense to display ads on your blog

Running ads on your blog is the best way to make passive income. AdSense makes sure that only suitable ads run on your blog which are targeted specifically to your audience.

• Create a recipe app or convert your blogger blog into an app

Once you have an app to go with your blog, you can monetize it and have an additional channel to promote your content and another platform to run ads and sell your products, e.g., cookbooks, ebooks, branded kitchen equipment, and more.

• Get into affiliate marketing

Yet another great way to make money from your blog is affiliate marketing. Here, you are not responsible for any marketing efforts but only meant to use your platform to help people discover the affiliate and their products.

• Build an email list

Place a lead capture form or a simple subscription form on your blog to collect the email addresses of people who love your content. Next, you can use email campaigns to approach them and sell your merchandise.

Do you think I missed out on a critical element here in the blog? I would be happy to read about it in the comments section.