It’s officially the end of this year and 2022 is just a few days away. So, why not make complete use of this shining opportunity, and start your own food blog in the coming year?
Oh, Wait!
Have you been skeptical about food blogging because you are clueless about the technicalities? Well, we are here to your rescue folks!
This step-by-step guide is going to help you build your food blog from scratch.
Here, we will be solving everything from picking the right niche to monetizing your blog.
You won’t have to invest thousands of dollars in website designers if you trust and rely on the process.
The only essential elements that are required for building and growing an amazing blog are passion, patience, and consistency.
Yes, that’s it.
If you are really into cooking and want to showcase your talent to the world (along with earning some cash), then starting a food blog is the best choice.
For starters, you need to choose a specific category of foods that fascinates you the most and something that you could possibly never get bored of.
Table of Contents
- Below you can see 8 Easy Steps to Start a Food Blog and Make Money Online.
- Decide Your Niche
- Choose a Domain Name
- Select a Web host / Hosting Provider
- Install WordPress
- Install a Beautiful theme
- Install Plugins for Your Food Blog
- Get Started with Your Blogging Journey
- Keep an Eye on Your Competitors
- Promote and Monetize Your Blog
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Verdict
Below you can see 8 Easy Steps to Start a Food Blog and Make Money Online.
- Decide Your Niche.
- Choose a Domain Name.
- Select a Web Host/Hosting.
- Install WordPress.
- Select a Theme and Install.
- Install Plugins in Your Food Blog.
- Keep an Eye on Your Competitors.
- Promote and Monetize your Blog.
I have explained each step thoroughly to Start a Successful Food Blog in detail so that you can easily start working on it.
Decide Your Niche
Now, why is it crucial to niche down before starting a food blog?
If you narrow down your food niche…
It has a higher chance of getting ranked on the first page of search engines.
You probably won’t be able to overpass your competitors if you have a wide food niche.
Here are some food blog niche ideas that you can choose from:
Recipe Blog
If you like to try out new dishes then this niche could be the best for you. You can share anything from your favorite cookie recipes to your golden family recipes.
Cookbook Review Blog
This is a fun yet critical niche to choose as you need to do a proper analysis of everything before writing a review.
Make sure to go through all the recipes and then put forward your genuine reviews. Don’t forget to give credit to the author of the cookbook.
Food Photography Blog
You need to have a fair idea about photography, lighting, and editing for this particular niche.
As it is a mixture of both writing about a recipe and capturing the same, you need to be extra cautious and specific (as you don’t want to mess up either of them).
Trendy Recipes Blog
Yes, you can definitely write about the popular recipes that are in trend. A great example of this would be, vegan dishes.
People are inclining towards vegan recipes more and more these days. And so, writing about all healthy, green, vegan food could be a good option.
Cuisine Oriented Blog
If you have a special affection for recipes from a particular location or culture, then you can easily start a cuisine-specific blog.
However, take complete care to not shift from the cuisine you start with, as that may confuse and even shoo away your readers. (We definitely don’t want that to happen).
Choose a Domain Name
A food blog domain name must be easy to comprehend and relate to the content of your blog.
It is the name that pops up before your readers and so, it needs to be something that your audience can instantly connect with.
The name of your blog and your domain name is usually the same ( except that the domain name ends with ‘.com’.
For finding the right name, you need a blank sheet, your favorite pen, and some hot chocolate to ring the bell of your creativity.
Brainstorming names, shortlisting ideas, and then producing a relevant domain name for your food blog will be much more fruitful than choosing some random words which do not depict the essence of your blog.
However, if you can’t come up with the perfect idea, you can borrow some help from domain name generators.
Once you’re done with selecting a name for your food blog, it is crucial to check its availability on Bluehost. If the name you have chosen is not already taken…
BINGO…
You have your domain name ready.
Select a Web host / Hosting Provider
A web host is basically the storage house of the data on your website. It also makes sure that the visitors entering your site get the desired information with just a click.
We highly recommend Bluehost as a trustable web hosting provider since it is one of the most cost-effective web hosts.
How to Get a Bluehost Plan?
Now, if you’re confused about how to buy the domain name and set up a web host, then follow the steps given below to ensure that you’re on track!
Click on the BlueHost website link and you’ll find a page like this…
There are 4 hosting package plans that Bluehost generally offers. And I would suggest you buy the basic plan if you are just starting out with blogging.
You can get the beginner pack at $2.95 for 12 months and it will have all the necessary features that would help you get started.
However, you can choose any of these plans from basic to pro as per your needs. For instance, if your website has a ton of media, then choosing a choice-plus plan would be the best.
Choose the plan that suits your expectations and tap on the “Select” option. You will then have to enter your domain name in the space. 
Apart from the features already summed up in your pack rate, you can also choose to add some extra features which would cost you additionally but will be worth it.
You get Codguard basic, Domain privacy, Sitelock security, and much more. I’d recommend the latter two add ons.
And VOILA!
You can move towards installing WordPress.
Install WordPress
If you are purchasing a Bluehost plan, then you’ll automatically get access to WordPress for writing and publishing your food articles.
- WordPress is the most extensively used blogging platform.
- The core reason is its affordability and easy-to-use functions.
- You can also customize the features and even add free themes and plugins to enhance the functionality.
For installing it, you’ll need to click on the WordPress icon and then the “install” button.
You will then receive a message which would confirm your installation.
Once it’s done, you want to fill in the details carefully and log in.
Install a Beautiful theme
For attracting and make readers engaged with your blog, your content should not only be written beautifully but also be visually appealing.
To make your blog look stunning, sophisticated, and satisfying to your audience, you need to add some themes that clearly depict your idea without too much complexity.
When a reader clicks on your blog, he must be able to comprehend the picture and feel an instant connection with your food blog.
Your theme should fascinate the audience to the level that they actually start to sense and smell the delicious recipes written and captured in your blog posts.
For your help, WordPress offers over three thousand themes, some of which could match your blog’s aesthetics.
You just need to spend some time, analyzing and selecting the best one for your food blog.
We have listed down 9 really amazing WordPress food blog themes that are relevant and beautiful:
- Foodica Theme
- Foodie Pro Theme
- Neptune Theme
- Cook’d Pro Theme
- Salt and Pepper Theme
- Cupcake Theme
- Astra Theme
- Food Recipes Theme
- Cookely Theme
You can also customize your design (but that will cost you extra dollars).
Although, if you are not in the space to invest a lot, the above-mentioned food blog themes will serve the purpose.
While choosing a theme, you also need to take care of user-friendliness.
If the blog interface is different on desktop and mobile, then readers would find it complex to comprehend. And eventually, they might skip engaging with your content and google also hates that.
Install Plugins for Your Food Blog
When you are all set with deciding the theme for your food blog, it’s now time to get some useful plugins. They are used for enhancing and upgrading your WordPress features.
WordPress offers a multitude of plugins that you can install and use very easily.
Some WordPress plugins that I would suggest you get are:
RankMath
This is a super functional plugin that helps with the SEO of your content. It filters and shows your SEO scores. The red color stands for bad SEO and green shows the opposite. To increase your score, you need to make the changes spotted by this tool.
WP Recipe Maker
You need to install the WP recipe maker if you own a food blog. This recipe plugin is extremely simple to use and you can even make alterations in the appearance according to your ideas of the content.
Pinterest Pin It
The pin it functions will be useful for your audience to pin your blog on their Pinterest. They will also be able to share it along with saving.
MonsterInsights
This is another essential plugin for your WordPress blog. With MonsterInsights, you’ll be able to view all the stats and engagement rates of your website. You can see most of your google analytics data in your WordPress dashboard.
UpdraftPlus
UpdraftPlus is used for backing up your site data and so, is a mandatory one to install. Backing up your site can be very handy sometimes.
Apart from the above-mentioned recipe plugins, you can also use some free tools like Google Analytics (GA) and Google Search Console.
And…
I personally feel that you should have GA and GSC.
Get Started with Your Blogging Journey
Now that your blog is ready to work upon, you can get started with pouring your creative juices and designing fantastic recipes!
The stage is all yours to use and create some fresh content.
To ease up the process, go through the following pointers that will lend you help in your food blogging journey.
Prepare a Content Calendar
Prepare a content calendar and stick to the plan. You can make a rough idea of the monthly posting dates and prepare a blog strategy.
This way, you’ll already know what is coming up and what needs to be done beforehand. A content calendar will also help you in staying organized and up to date.
There are a plethora of calendar tools available that you can use for scheduling your posts.
Maintain Consistency and Clarity
Once you have a plan for the month, the next step would be implementing it effectively.
You can’t post 10 articles a day and then 1 article after 20 days.
Maintaining consistency and clarity will keep your target audience hooked and they would know the pattern of your publishing.
When taking pictures of your dishes, do not overdo editing as that is not something your audience would appreciate.
You need to be as genuine and authentic as possible to build a sense of trust among your readers.
Keep an Eye on Your Competitors
This might seem like an obvious task, but you really need to get the hang of analyzing and taking inspiration from the successful food blogs in your competition.
Make sure that you know the real difference between exploring and copying.
You don’t want to write the exact same ideas that your competitors are writing. All you need to do is compare your content with others and fill in the gaps that you’re is lacking.
Let’s say you’re writing a cookbook review, and your competition does the same.
See if you can tweak out unnecessary fluff from your writing and include some crucial points that your competition has included.
This will make you aware of the trends and the way you need to present your content in order to match up to the expectations of your readers.
Apart from checking their content and pictures, make it a ritual to go through the kind of audience that is drawn towards their blog.
Have a look at their engagement ratio, their response to the comments, posting schedule, and mark the points that would make you different and better from them.
Promote and Monetize Your Blog
To get recognized and drive traffic on your cooking blog, promotion is a crucial step.
You cannot expect readers to dream and supernaturally step over your food blog. You’ll need to put in some effort to build the identity of your blog in the market.
Dive in further to get a fair idea of how you can promote and monetize your food blog:
Social Media Channels
Being on a social media platform is the most lucrative way for marketing and it will build a brand for you.
Since food blogging has a visual aspect for attracting the audience, building social media accounts on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and Pinterest could be of great help.
You could post some amazing pictures, reels, shorts, and long videos of your recipes, with access to multiple filters and sounds.
Sprinkling a pinch of your creativity in the existing social media trends will fetch you the right traffic.
To get discovered by your potential audience, you should attach the right hashtags as well. This might seem really non-significant but actually plays a supreme role in gaining visibility.
When you use hashtags related to your food niche under each picture or video, you are most likely to appear in the search results.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for driving organic traffic to your food blog.
SEO is a vast concept but some basic techniques that will fulfill your need for the relevant crowd will be discussed in this section.
These are some of the fundamental SEO practices that you must follow:
- You should focus on inserting keywords in a natural manner without overdoing and stuffing the content with them.
- Follow the right pattern and take care of the header placement( H1 > H2 > H3…).
- Write engaging content to keep the readers hooked till the end. If they skip your article within seconds and move to other pages, search engines will automatically lower your ranking (and trust me, that is not what you want).
- See that your website loads fast and do not lag, as that could annoy your potential audience and they wouldn’t want to wait for long.
- Try to write long-form content (at least above 1000 words). Not only will this allow you to explain and educate the readers clearly but will also keep them engaged. This would increase the time spent on your website, eventually making you rank high.
Google AdSense
Our main aim is to generate revenue through the content we write. But the primary source for that does not purely reside in your written content.
Once your blog starts ranking high and you have a considerable amount of visitors per month, it is then time to display ads on the website.
Google AdSense program allows you to place relevant ads on your site. When someone clicks on the ad, you get some money and this develops into a source of constant revenue for your blog.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing basically means earning through commission. For this, you can easily join one of the several affiliate programs in the market.
My recommendation would be amazon’s affiliate program for starters.
What you need to do is, attach some relevant affiliate links in your articles and when your readers click and make a purchase, you receive a small commission.
These links are known as affiliate links and the concept is called affiliate marketing.
As far as your food blog is concerned, you can attach links to the ingredients, utensils, or even the setup that you are using to capture the pictures of your recipes.
Email Newsletter
Email marketing is another effective way to promote your blog. When you constantly stay connected with your audience and keep them updated about what’s coming next, they will be highly interested to stay engaged with your blog.
However, neither do you want to overwhelm your audience by sending 2 newsletters every day nor would you like to underdo it and seem inactive.
Scheduling the content of your email newsletter and then publishing it at a constant pace is likely to make your audience hooked.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to Start a Food Blog?
Starting a food blog is very simple. You just need 8 easy steps:
# Decide Your Niche.
# Choose a Domain Name.
# Select a Web Host/Hosting.
# Install WordPress.
# Select a Theme and Install.
# Install Plugins in Your Food Blog.
# Keep an Eye on Your Competitors.
# Promote and Monetize your Blog.
Which Hosting is Best for Food Blog?
Bluehost is one of the best hostings for food blogs.
How Does Food Blogger Make Money?
There are different ways a food blogger can make money online like:
# Affiliate Marketing.
# Selling Recipe in PDF.
# Advertisement.
# Sponsored Post.
# Selling Courses.
How Can I Start my Own Food Blog and Make Money Online?
You can follow the step-by-step guide explained in this post and Start your Own Food Blog and Make Money Online.
Verdict
We have plated the A to Z of How to Start a Food Blog.
To sum everything up in a nutshell, the most crucial thing that you need to have is patience and constant motivation to work.
The first step would be to choose the niche that matches your interest.
Next, you want to buy a domain name and web hosting service to store all your data. Since we use Bluehost for the past many years, we’re inclined towards the same for suggesting you.
You get to create a free account on WordPress if you choose Bluehost as your web host.
WordPress is a highly functional blogging platform that allows you to choose from multiple blog themes, color schemes, and plugins.
After you are set with everything, gather all those recipes and start writing, promoting, and monetizing to generate blog traffic.
You also want to gain inspiration from the successful food bloggers of the industry and try to mold things your way.
