I wish I had some magic secrets or shortcuts to share, but the truth is that blogging about food is hard work. I get questions about it quite often, so I I sat down to compile my best tips for food bloggers and ended up with a couple of twenty. You’re more likely to build a successful food blog if you follow these guidelines.
1. Be authentic. Post about what you love and produce the best content possible.
2. Don’t give up. Blog growth is slow at first and gains momentum as time goes by, assuming you stick with it and do the best you can.
3. Post original content. If visitors like what you do, they will keep coming back for more.
4. Show your personality! Enthusiasm is contagious, so don’t be afraid to show it. One of the great things about blogging is that you can connect with people who share your undying love for, say, avocado on toast.
5. Make friends and help each other. In other words, network! Connect and cultivate friendships with other bloggers who share your interests. Leave thoughtful comments on their blogs, chat with them on social media, and promote their content.
6. Make yourself accessible. Be present and responsive on social media to the best of your ability.
7. Keep your site design clean and easy to navigate. Clutter detracts from your content.
8. Make it easy for visitors to follow your blog. Place links to RSS/email subscription and social networks prominently on each page.
9. Make it easy to comment on your blog. No CAPTCHA or required logins please. Find a way to let your commenters know they are appreciated, whether it’s sending them an email privately, replying to their comment publicly, or commenting on their blogs.
10. Make it easy to share your content. Provide social sharing buttons at the bottom of each post. Say thank you when others promote your work.
11. Only post great recipes. You don’t want visitors to invest their time and ingredients into a recipe and end up disappointed, do you? It’s better to leave the blog silent for a few days than to post a recipe you can’t follow.
12. Cite your sources. Always. Not OK: Reposting word-for-word recipes, posting photos of other bloggers without permission. Great: original recipes, share links to your inspiration, links to more resources on the topic at hand.
13. Don’t sell yourself out. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to make money from your blog, but don’t align yourself with a brand or project that isn’t a good fit. You are the company you keep. Focus on producing your best content and building your audience and the opportunities will follow.
14. Post regularly. Whether it’s every day, once a week, or once every two weeks, don’t let your blog feel abandoned.
15. Get your own domain name. If you want your blog to be taken seriously, do it. You can buy a domain name for less than twenty dollars a year through GoDaddy (affiliate link).
16. Create a self-hosted WordPress blog. That is, if you want full control over your design and content and plenty of room to grow. If you don’t know how to do these things, pay someone nice to do it for you, or shower your geeky friend with homemade cookies until he agrees. Find a step-by-step guide (and web hosting and food blog design tips) here.
17. Learn about search engine optimization. SEO isn’t black magic; it’s all about making your quality content findable. It is important to understand and implement the basic concepts. Here’s Google’s SEO Getting Started Guide [PDF].
18. Submit your posts to recipe submission sites. When you’re starting out, submission sites can be a good source of new visitors. In the past, I have submitted my posts to Foodgawker, Tastespotting, Tasteologie, and Finding Vegan (where applicable). Keep a text file containing the shipping information so it’s easy to copy and paste to each site. If your photo is rejected the first time, edit it or choose a different photo and resubmit. Don’t forget to pin your new recipes on Pinterest too!
19. Learn how to take mouth-watering photos. People are much more likely to want to eat, prepare, share, and pin your recipes when they’re featured alongside attractive photos. Find my food photography tips and equipment recommendations here.
20. Do what your mom told you. This should go without saying, but be kind, be constructive, be respectful, be grateful, be humble. Work hard.
More resources for food bloggers at Cookie and Kate
- Step-by-step guide to starting a food blog
- Food Photography Tips
Questions? Feel free to ask them in the comments section below.
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