Whether you realize it or not, food is the core of our lives. Some people use it as fuel, while others present recipes as an art form. If you belong to the latter and want to create a food blog to share your passion, then WordPress is a top platform.
Almost every topic has a blog niche, and some topics attract more public attention than others. When certain niches become fashionable, people flock to them. When it comes to fashion, sometimes Liji evolves a new meaning. Fashion becomes a way of life, it becomes travel-you know.
Some niches are fashionable, others are timeless. Food blog is a good example. Because hungry diners are so receptive, food blogs never seem to be out of date. Everyone has to eat, and many people are flocking to the Internet for information on how to solve certain dietary restrictions, allergies, and how to improve dishes you already know.
Thanks to the popularity of food blogs (whether in terms of available resources or audience size), people with special dietary needs and preferences don’t have to be satisfied with this-they can check the relevant information in the blogosphere to produce delicious meals. no matter what restrictions they have.
With the number one content management system (CMS) around you, you can work on your website and publish it immediately. More importantly, it can be extended with themes and plug-ins.
Let’s start with the most important “what is & why ” and learn how to create a food blog.
What is a food blog?
On paper, the concept seems simple. A food blog does what it says on the can. You will post about food regularly, although you can go here in several different ways:
- Blogs are probably all about cooking. Recipes will be an important part of your content.
- You can check out restaurants and other places. This will not feature too many recipes, and will account for a large proportion of the text and the media.
- The blog can comment on kitchen gadgets. In most cases, this will use affiliate links to profit from your blog.
There are many other types of food blogs, but we will focus on this article’s cooking blog. However, once you have the basics, you can apply them to any type of site you want.
Why do you make a food blog?
In short, you will want to create a food blog because it will interest you. This may seem obvious, but you should be enthusiastic about food-related subjects first.
The decision to start a food blog ultimately depends on enthusiasm and motivation, because any type of blog requires a lot of energy to maintain. In a little more detail, consider the following reasons for setting up a food blog:
- You love cooking, that’s your passion, and you want to share it with the world.
- You want to challenge your skills. Before your readers start to get bored, you can only publish articles about a certain food and what you already know. Maintaining a food blog means getting yourself out of your comfort zone, learning new things, and making people linger. It’s not just about learning new recipes or techniques. Running a food blog also means learning other skills, such as how to use WordPress, how to effectively use social media marketing, and how to take great food photos.
- Become a member of the community. The food blog community is very large, and the people who make up this community are very enthusiastic and helpful, especially for novices. Becoming an active member of the community will help you make friends and find partners.
- To provide you with creative exports. Whether you have a specific ultimate goal or not, the food blog can provide you with a channel to be creative in many different ways: cooking, writing, and photography (just to name a few! ).
- Build credibility and expertise. Your food blog can also be used as some kind of online portfolio. If you have worked in a food-related career and have some tips or insights to teach, you will look more professional. If you don’t have such experience, you can still build credibility-especially if your food blog becomes popular. People may turn to you for different opportunities because of your expertise, such as writing your own recipes, freelance, or even consulting positions.
- Potential to make money. In addition to the above reasons for starting a food blog, you can also make money through food blog alliance marketing and sponsorship. Of course, if your main motivation for starting a food blog is to make money, then you are likely to lose interest in maintaining your blog for a long time.
If you like these ideas, then creating a food blog using WordPress will be right for you. In fact, let’s take a closer look at it.
What is a top food blog?
If you look at some of the top blogs in this field, they all have a lot in common. Of course, food blogs have different market segments, but for recipe-based sites, there are some consistent elements:
- Readable text and good typesetting options.
- Gorgeous images are usually taken by professionals (even enthusiastic enthusiasts).
- A dedicated recipe format, usually as part of a theme or plug-in (described in more detail later).
It’s a simple scale, but if you have these, it’s enough to get started. Depending on your exact requirements, you may want to add relevant articles and social media feeds.
However, food blog is a simple concept, and your content and media cover complexity. WordPress is an ideal choice when it comes to some of these core elements.
Why WordPress should be your preferred platform
Before we start talking about how to create a food blog, we should talk about the website builder of your choice.
We introduced many other platforms on our blog, such as Wix and Squarespace. However, so far, WordPress is our first choice. The reasons are as follows:
- It is the most popular CMS on the market.
- WordPress is open source and free (just like in voice and beer).
- Given the right skills, themes, and plug-ins, you can extend the platform in any way you choose.
- WordPress is safe and stable.
- The community of developers, users and volunteers is very rich.
We can express why WordPress is amazing in the next 10000 words. Instead, you should check out our article to understand the context of WordPress itself.
What do you need to create a food blog?
At this point, we begin to get into the “details”. Now that you understand the scope of the food blog, you can begin to collect the necessary tools and services. Think about this for your website.
Most of the following are essential, but if an element is optional, we will remind you in advance. Of course, if you need something specific to your vision, please feel free to add it to the list.
However, to create a food blog using WordPress, you need the following:
- A domain name.
- Appropriate web hosting.
- WordPress .
- A theme that suits your goals.
- There are some almost essential plug-ins to cover security and contact you.
- More plug-ins can help you build your site and add functionality according to your needs.
For the last one, you may want to add many aspects to your blog. For example, you may want to enhance comments or add social media feeds. You can even connect email marketing services to your blog.
Although food-related functions should be the main concern. The format and sections of recipe articles will be important on your website, so you may argue that if your topic does not cover such content, it is also essential.
In the next few sections, we will outline some of the more popular and valuable options, although our blog has a lot of articles on these areas.
How to build a food blog
There are four main steps to create a food blog:
- Research: choose your theme and positioning to determine the differences between you and the products already on the market.
- Settings: technical steps for setting up a food blog, such as selecting a domain name and hosting provider, setting up WordPress and customizing WordPress themes.
- Content creation: create articles and other content / media to enrich your blog.
- Promotion: promote to more readers in the target audience.
Research
Although people generally like food blogs, food blogs are the same at present.
As you complete the initial steps of how to start a food blog, try to figure out how to make your blog stand out among many blogs. It’s best to choose a very specific market segment, because a food blog with too much coverage will be difficult to attract people’s attention and get traffic from search engines.
Food blogs with a unique niche perspective tend to do better at SEO, because when people search for recipes or cooking skills they are interested in, they often use very specific terms, while general blogs do not provide authority. Choosing a niche market and weaving your story will make your blog more attractive and attract long-term attention.
Food blog Segmentation Market
“Food blog” is an all-embracing term.
A food blog is a blog that records anything, including recipes that the author wants to try or experiment with, restaurant reviews, and even journal deliveries about personal life choices. Blogging is a personal matter, there is no difference between right and wrong.
Here are some suggestions for the subcategory of food bloggers:
Recipes: about 99% of food blogs use this form, and recipes are usually accompanied by personal stories. Sally’s Baking Addiction is a popular blog in this form, specializing in sweet recipes. Another variant of this form is a food blog that records general culinary adventures (such as Budget Bytes) or a food blog that focuses on certain cuisines (such as The Hungary Buddha Eats the World).
Food blog example
Restaurant and food reviews: detailed catering guidelines and consumer reviews of packaged food, such as Chritiques or Urban Cheap Ass.
Dining guide
Super niche: catalogs topics that are very niche in food itself, and sometimes even includes suggestions on lifestyle choices, such as the Paleo Food blog (S é bastien’s Paleo Leap is one of the most popular blogs), vegetarian blogs, and so on.
Paleo Food blog
Ask yourself questions when setting up a food blog
These questions can help you make a decision when you think about this concept in the first steps of how to start a food blog:
- What is my love of good food?
- What are my strengths and weaknesses?
- Which blogs inspired me and how can I do better?
- How can I help my target audience?
- What is the ultimate goal of this blog?
What is a good way to ensure success? Look for gaps in the market. Before you start your own food blog, you must define your brand positioning and unique sales / value proposition to help guide you in making long-term decisions.
Set up
Once you’ve figured out what to write, start building your food blog and keep up the momentum.
Elements of a professional blog
If you are creating a blog for readers, you must make sure that your blog settings are professional. Here are what you need to be the boss of a food blog:
- Reliable and flexible blog platform. A blog platform or content management system is where you write and store all your articles. As far as we are concerned, the only thing worth considering is WordPress.org. WordPress.org has the greatest flexibility compared with other competitors. Free options like WordPress.com and Blogger are good for starters, but they are not really successful long-term solutions. In addition, WordPress.com does not even allow you to earn advertising revenue. If you spend some money on a self-managed version of WordPress, you can start at the right starting point.
- A unique domain name. The domain name is the main logo of the blog. Although there is a free blog platform that can provide you with a linked URL (such as yourname.WordPress.com), having a domain name can show your determination and eventually appear more professional. When deciding on a domain name, make sure it is easy to remember, easy to spell, and not too long. If you are looking for a domain name registrar, here are some suggestions.
- A reliable virtual host. A virtual host is a place where files, content, and pictures are stored. When you register on a free blog platform, the platform stores files for you, but if you choose self-hosting, you need to find one (preferably with a good WordPress-specific option).
1. Select host and domain name
Our first step consists of two tasks, but you usually sort them together. This is because hosting is similar to your house, while the domain name is the address. One is not ideal without the other.
We have a lot of hosts to choose from, and we will use Bluehost as an example in this article.
In short, it is a recommended WordPress.org host with a very cheap plan. This is a good entry point for using self-managed WordPress for the first time.
Registering Bluehost is as simple as clicking the correct button and completing the registration steps. However, the first choice you need to make is to focus on your domain name.
Select your domain name
Bluehost will ask you in advance if you have your own domain or if you want to buy one from its registrant.
We think it’s a good idea to use a third-party registrar because if your host fails, your domain is still valid. Even so, the choice at this stage is up to you, and registrants using Bluehost are easier.
If you want to take a third-party route, Namecheap is our choice based on price and ease of use:
Similarly, according to our recommendation, the process of registering a domain name takes only a few minutes, although a third-party registrar requires you to make some additional settings.
two。 Install WordPress and set it up
Once you have set up the host, the registration domain, and connected them together, you can install WordPress.
Because WordPress is so popular, most hosts have a quick way to install and set up the platform. Bluehost allows you to do this through its dashboard– especially the “My Sites” & gt; “Add Site” page:
After clicking the option to install WordPress, you will complete several steps, such as selecting an administrative user name and password. By the way, we recommend choosing a user name other than admin as the user name, as this makes it more difficult to crack.
After confirming the settings, you will have a shiny new WordPress site ready. To test it, go to your WordPress management screen. You can access it from the My Sites screen by clicking the Manage site button:
The next screen will give you many options, but the login WordPress button will take you to your administration screen:
On the login screen, enter your credentials and you will go to the WordPress dashboard.
You will work in almost all ways on your website every day. However, one of your first tasks is to choose the right theme for your food blog.
3. Choose the right theme
The default setting for WordPress is a simple operation. The idea is to enhance functionality and features through themes and plug-ins. We’ll introduce plug-ins later, but themes determine the appearance of your site and sometimes provide functionality.
Choosing the right theme will take you into the well-known “rabbit hole”. For example, you can search the list of topics to find the right topics, or carefully study those topics according to your needs.
However, if you are overwhelmed, pressed for time, or want a recommendation, you can consider choosing-Florentine:
The theme costs $59 and is perfect for recipe-based blogs. It has some tips to help you create things that readers will like:
- Recipe format to help show your recipes in the best way.
- No interference mode, so that your visitors can follow without losing their attention.
- The built-in communication module can help you collect the e-mail addresses of visitors.
Once you have bought a theme, installing it is a piece of cake.
In addition, the MH Magazine theme from MH Themes is also an advanced theme commonly used by many food bloggers.
MH Magazine theme for Food blog
Set your theme
After installing the theme, you need to set it up. Many advanced topics require you to enter the license key found in the welcome email. For Florentine, you can enter in the relevant fields on the appearance & gt; theme Welcome screen:
This will give you access to updates and support, so this is the recommended step.
Next, you need to design the layout according to your preferences. This happens in the administrative panel, but it can be customized depending on the theme you choose.
By default, the theme will be customized using a dedicated screen in the customizer-WordPress, located in the appearance & gt;.
In the case of Florence, there are many options related to many aspects of your website. We suggest examining each one carefully to see what they have done. When you use the customizer, no changes are saved, so you can play until you are satisfied.
However, once you are ready, you can publish your changes and view your plug-in.
4. Use plug-ins to achieve basic functions
If you plan to create a recipe food blog, you can consider using various recipe plug-ins. These plug-ins can help show your recipes, make them stand out, improve readability, and some have built-in search engine optimization features.
WordPress recipe plugin
As we pointed out, plug-ins fix additional functionality to your site. Therefore, you will need them to fill in your feature settings.
In addition, you can find thousands of plug-ins for free in the WordPress.org plug-ins directory, and there are many advanced solutions. You will be able to find a plug-in for almost every use case.
In fact, some WordPress plug-ins are almost essential. Here are some steps to take when creating a food blog:
- Plug-ins such as Wordfence help protect your site from malicious users, even though WordPress itself is powerful and secure.
- Users need to contact you, so a good form plugin, such as Simple Contact Form Contact Form, should be on your list.
- The search engine Optimization (SEO) plug-in-Yoast SEO is preferred-will help you optimize the content of your search engine.
- Caching can help you maintain the speed of your site, so WP Super Cache or WP Rocket is good value for money.
Before you search for other plug-ins, return to the appearance & gt; theme Welcome screen in WordPress for Florentine, and then check the plug-ins section:
Many advanced topics also have dependent plug-ins, which can handle custom meta-boxes, contact tables, optin tables, and so on, for Florentine. Before continuing, you should install these according to the theme welcome screen.
5. Launch your website
By now, you should have set up hosts and domains, installed WordPress and themes, installed the correct plug-ins, and put your design where you need it.
The last step is to launch your website! This can be unique to what you like, although we recommend that no matter what your goal is, be prepared for some aspects:
- Set up social media channels on sites that are appropriate for your target user group. If a social media site doesn’t fit your vision, don’t be afraid to skip it.
- Use social media to promote your new site and set a schedule for regular releases.
- Collect the user’s e-mail address to send regular communications. This will provide you with a direct way to interact with your users and hopefully sell to them in the future.
Most importantly, make sure you post new articles on a regular basis. There is no substitute for wonderful content, so please make it a priority.
In addition, remember to interact with visitors in your article comments. This is another area where you can meet users directly, so cultivating a community on your site and in your comments can be a winning strategy.
Content creation
The most important part of the food blog is the content.
Content is not limited to articles (or text), but can also be photos (graphics, infographs), video, and audio (podcasts). Don’t feel pressure to do all this at once (or forever), but as your food blog starts to grow, you can explore a variety of media according to your interests and audience.
If nothing happens, focus on these two points:
- High-quality original content. Relevant content helps with search engine optimization and is one of the reasons why readers are attracted to your blog. Strive to create evergreen content (also known as cornerstone content) that can generate traffic at any time because it is very useful. Try to add unique ideas or stories to some content, but in any case, don’t plagiarize, or you will be punished by Google.
- Another highlight of the food blog is photography. People eat with their eyes, so readers should not only be able to see, but also smell and taste the food in your blog. Good photography is very important, especially during the blog promotion phase, and does well on vision-centric social networking sites such as Instagram and Pinterest.
When creating content, try to look forward and backward. Many bloggers write and post at the same time, which makes them lose motivation (especially when they can’t figure out what to post). Some people suggest that you post at least 15 articles before you start a blog, so that you have enough buffer time to post articles so that you can continue to post content before posting more articles.
If you know that you need someone to maintain your food blog after you start, consider outsourcing content writing to a third party. IWriter is ideal for fledgling and budget-constrained users. If you need higher quality content and are willing to pay for it, WriterAccess is a good solution for matching selected American contributors.
Food blog promotion
Page views are not everything-the number of followers is the most important indicator of growth.
Consider the following three ideas for bringing traffic to your food blog:
- Search engine: the best way to get traffic, but due to fierce competition, it is difficult to start from scratch. You can improve the ranking opportunities for related queries through search engine optimization strategies and PPC advertising.
- Traditional media: although most people say that newspapers and magazines are out of date, the blogs of food bloggers published in these media can get a lot of exposure.
- Social media: the easiest way to share content, especially to your own direct network. There are several social media sites, and most people use them. Social networking sites also have a paid targeted advertising function that gives you access to the audience most relevant to your content.
In general, installing social sharing buttons on blogs makes it easier for audiences to share your content on their networks. Specifically, you can share blog content on the four most popular networks:
- Facebook marketing: the largest social network, with more than 2 billion monthly active users. Use it to join relevant Facebook groups, create blog fan pages, and invite friends and relatives to like it. You can also consider using targeted advertising.
- Twitter Marketing: this is a microblogging site known for its ability to engage in two-way conversations with almost anyone. Use it to find like-minded people, share relevant articles to build industry expertise, and respond to inquiries from potential customers and partners.
- Instagram: this is a visual social networking site with more than a billion users that can be used to share beautiful food photos. Many food bloggers claim that this is their most engaged major social media platform-although users can only get a link to their site in their profile.
- Pinterest: visual search engine; the largest source of traffic for bloggers. Use it to create pushpins that link back to your food blog. For more tips, be sure to check out our Pinterest marketing guide.
Several ways to get traffic / followers
In addition to social media, consider the following promotion strategies:
- Email marketing. This is your own medium, even more direct than social media marketing. General bloggers recommend building your list before you need it, even if you’re not ready to send email updates yet. Create a compelling clue magnet to attract people to sign up for your list (“sign up for updates” itself doesn’t seem very eye-catching).
- Publish contribution articles on other relevant blogs. This helps you build your own network, build backlinks (which helps with search engine optimization), and reach new audiences with the same characteristics as your target audience.
Make money through food blogs
Once your food blog has accumulated a certain amount of traffic, Google AdSense and these AdSense alternatives may be one of the simplest and most reliable moneymaking mechanisms. Ad-Inserter is a good WordPress plug-in that can help achieve this. Ad-Inserter allows you to create ad blocks anywhere on the site, conduct A-map B testing, rotate between different options, and so on.
Ad Inserter plug-in
Amazon native shopping advertising is also a magic weapon for food blogs to make money. These ads will scan the content of your website and then display similar products (which can be food) on Amazon. Because Amazon’s conversion rate is very high (according to Millward Brown Digital, the conversion rate of Prime members is 74%, and that of non-Prime members is 13%), it will be a killer combination if used with AdSense.
If you want to link directly to Amazon products, consider using WordPress’s Amazon Alliance. It creates a simple graphical user interface that quickly adds any Amazon product to your WordPress posts, pages, and sidebars.
Amazon Affiliate plug-in
Finding a good alliance in the food sector and focusing on how to generate traffic for them can be a good source of extra income. For instance? Freshly is a food delivery company. Sign up for their alliance plan, post some banners in the high-profile area of the site, and pay attention to the circumstances in which you can bring the most registrations.
If you don’t like the alliance approach, you can also charge for ad locations on the site. Third-party platforms such as Gourmet Ads or BuySellAds make it easy to sell advertising space on your food blog.
In general, be sure to choose an alliance plan that is particularly relevant to your food audience. Alliance programs usually pay large commissions, not just a few cents or a few dollars for a click.
Last but not least, once you have a solid visitor base, sponsorship posts can generate more one-time income. Rest assured, there will always be companies looking for blogs to promote their products, and food bloggers will get comments after trying their products.
Summary
Blogs are at the heart of WordPress, so you can quickly share your ideas, opinions, and passions with others. The platform is ideal for almost any type of website you can think of. Food blog is a big business, and you can join the trend immediately.
The food blog provides you with an ideal opportunity to unleash creativity and learn-not just cooking, but also photography, web design, writing and social media skills. In addition to a sense of personal achievement, food blogs can also help you build meaningful relationships and even provide opportunities to make money.
