There’s a blogging niche for just about every topic, with some topics dominating popular interest more so than others. People flock to certain things once they get trendy, right? It’s like fashion turns into lifestyle, which then morphs into travel—you know what I mean? It’s all about finding what’s hot and making it part of your day-to-day.
While some niches are trendy, others are timeless. The perfect example is like, food blogging, right? It’s like, always a hit because there’s this totally into it audience of peeps who just love to eat and read about food. It’s like it never gets old!Everyone’s gotta eat, and many flock to the internet to seek out information regarding how to do it, with regards to dietary restrictions, allergies, and ideas for improving on dishes they already know.
Thanks to the popularity of food blogging (both in terms of available resources and audience size), those with specific dietary needs and preferences don’t have to settle—they can consult the blogosphere to empower the creation of a meal that tastes amazing, regardless of what restrictions they have.
Let’s go through the process for how to start a food blog, beginning with the all-important why.
Why Start A Food Blog
It seems clear why someone would want to read or follow a given food blog… but why start one?
The decision to kick off a food blog, well, it’s really about how much you love food and how eager you are to share that love, because let’s face it, blogging is a bit of a grind. But if you’re totally into food and cooking, then it might just be your jam. So, here are some reasons why you might want to start one:
- You love to cook: It’s your passion, and you want to share it with the world.
- You’re looking to challenge your skills: You can only post about a certain kind of cuisine and the things you already know before your audience will start to get bored. Maintaining a food blog will push you out of your comfort zone, learning new things to keep people coming back for more. This can include learning new recipes or techniques, as well as how to use WordPress, be effective with social media marketing, and take great food photography.
- Be part of a community: The food blogging community is huge, and the people who make it up are very welcoming and helpful, especially to newbies. Being an active member will help you make friends and find collaborators.
- Gives you a creative outlet: Whether you have a specific end goal or not, a food blog provides an outlet for channeling your creative energies in multiple ways: cooking, writing, and photography (to name a few!).
- Build credibility and show off your know-how: Your food blog can be like your personal online scrapbook of foodie awesomeness. If you’ve got some street cred in the food world, maybe you’ve worked in a restaurant or know your way around a kitchen, share that stuff! It’ll help you look like a total pro when you’re giving out tips and tricks. If you don’t have that experience, you can still build credibility—especially as your food blog becomes popular. People may come to you for your expertise, offering opportunities like writing a cookbook, freelance gigs, or even consultancy positions.
- Earning potential: Besides the reasons to start a food blog already listed above, you can also earn from affiliate marketing and sponsorships. Of course, if your main motivation is to earn, you’ll probably lose interest in maintaining it long-term.
Whatever your motivations, let’s dig into how to start a food blog.
How to Start A Food Blog
There are four major steps to start a food blog:
- Research: Choosing your topic, niche, and determining what makes you different from what’s already on the market.
- Setup: Technical steps like choosing your domain and hosting provider, setting up WordPress, and customizing your WordPress theme.
- Content creation: Creating articles and other content/media that will populate your blog.
- Promotion: Getting the scoop to more peeps in the crowd you’re aiming for.
How to Start a Food Blog: Research
Though people love them, food blogs are a dime a dozen.
Try to think of ways to make yours stand out from the pack while working through the initial steps. It’s best to pick a very specific niche because a food blog that covers too wide of a variety of topics will have a hard time holding attention and driving traffic from search engines.
Food blogs that have their own special thing going on usually rock it when it comes to SEO. So, ya know, if you’re thinking of starting a food blog, find that one cool angle that makes you stand out from the crowd. It’ll help people find you on the big ol’ internet!. When people search for a recipe or cooking technique, they use very specific terms that general blogs can’t deliver with authority. Picking a niche and weaving in your story will make it more compelling to follow over time.
Food Blog Sub-Niches
“Food blog” is a very all-encompassing term.
A food blog can document anything from recipes the author wants to try or experiment with, restaurant reviews, or even a journal-style delivery about personal life choices. A blog is personal—there’s no right or wrong content focus.
Here are some suggestions for sub-niches of food blogging:
- Recipes: ~99% of food blogs incorporate recipes, usually accompanied by personal stories. Sally’s Baking Addiction, for instance, focuses specifically on sweets. Variations include general cooking adventures (like Budget Bytes) or blogs that focus on a certain cuisine.
- Restaurant and food product reviews: Detailed dining guides and reviews of packaged food goods. This could also be a niche in itself.
- Super niche: Focusing on very niche subjects within food itself and sometimes incorporating lifestyle advice, such as Paleo or vegan food blogs.
Questions to Ponder When Kicking Off a Food Blog
While working on your concept, these questions can help guide your decisions:
- What do I love about food?
- What are my strengths and weaknesses?
- What blogs inspire me, and how can I be better/different from them?
- How can I help my target audience?
- What is the end goal of this blog?
A great way to guarantee success? Find a gap in the market. Before you start setting up your food blog, get your branding and unique value proposition down to guide you through the long-term.
How to Start a Food Blog: Setup
Once you’ve figured out your content, keep the momentum going by setting up your blog.
Elements of a Professional Blog
If you’re creating a blog for an audience, your setup should convey professionalism. Here’s what you’ll need:
- A reliable and flexible blogging platform: WordPress.org is the most flexible option. Free platforms like WordPress.com and Blogger are fine to start, but not truly a long-term solution.
- A unique domain name: A domain is your blog’s main identifier. Although free blogging platforms provide connected URLs (e.g., yourname.WordPress.com), having your own domain shows commitment and comes across as more professional. Ensure your domain is easy to spell, recall, and not too long.
- A reliable web host: Web hosts store your blog’s content and images. If you choose to go the self-hosted route, find a reliable one.
WordPress Themes and Plugins
After setting up your web host, domain, and WordPress, focus on your blog’s design and functionality.
- Select a WordPress Theme: Choose from paid and free options, with many themes catering specifically to food blogs. Don’t overthink it if you’re new—starting with a free theme is fine. You can always upgrade later.
- Install Plugins: Plugins add specific functions to your site. If you’re starting a recipe blog, consider recipe plugins that improve readability and SEO. Other useful plugins include image optimization, unit converters, and social media sharing buttons.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
SEO is the process of increasing website traffic quality and quantity through search engine rankings. Here are a few SEO basics:
- Install the Yoast plugin: This plugin provides tips for making your posts more SEO-friendly.
- Make your site mobile-friendly: Choose a mobile-responsive WordPress theme as mobile-friendliness is a key Google ranking factor.
- Create great, relevant content: Google values relevancy when ranking content.
- Use proper schema: For recipe blogs, use the correct schema markup to ensure your rich snippets display properly in search engines.
Content Creation
Content is the most important part of your food blog. It doesn’t just have to be articles—content can include photos, videos, or audio. Focus on these two things:
- High-quality, original content: Work to create evergreen content that drives traffic over time because it’s useful. Always add a unique take or story and never plagiarize.
- Food photography: Readers must be able to see, smell, and taste your food through pictures. Good photography performs well on visually-centered social sites like Instagram and Pinterest.
Food Blog Promotion
Page views are important, but follower count is the metric to grow.
Here are a few ways to drive traffic to your food blog:
- Search engines: The best way to get traffic but difficult due to competition. Improve your chances by employing SEO tactics.
- Traditional media: Newspapers and magazines can still provide exposure for your blog.
- Social media: The easiest way to share your content with your network and a broader audience. Utilize platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest to grow your blog’s visibility.
Social Media Promotion Ideas
Install social share buttons on your blog to make sharing easy. Here’s what you can do on some of the most popular social media networks:
- Facebook: Join relevant groups, start a blog fan page, and invite friends & family to follow.
- Twitter: Find like-minded individuals, share relevant articles, and respond to inquiries.
- Instagram: Share beautiful food photos and engage your audience.
- Pinterest: Use it as a visual search engine to link back to your food blog.
Making Money with Food Blogging
Once you build up traffic, you can start earning. Some common options include:
- Google Adsense: Earn by showing ads on your site.
- Affiliate marketing: Earn by promoting products.
- Sponsored content: Brands pay you to review products.