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How to Start a Profitable Food Blog

How to Start a Profitable Food Blog

If you have a passion to not just eat but try out new recipes and learn about it, food blogging can become your forte. Food blogging is becoming highly popular and demanding over the years. According to recent statistics, the US food retail industry prospered up to $6.2 trillion in 2019. Food blogging encompasses exploring different food joints, experimenting with different recipes, reading about them and reviewing. Nowadays, food photography is becoming highly popular and a career choice for many. 

Just like starting any new business, starting a food blog needs extensive planning to ensure what you are providing to your readers. You must be well-read yourself and have the passion and determination to go through this time- consuming process. Do not expect monetary returns in the being itself as starting and running a food blog can take a much longer time to establish. Now, dear readers, with your hopes high, let’s begin!

#1. Plan your niche

Food is a vast category and it can become difficult to target your audience if you have a wide niche. Select a specific topic rather than a general one. By narrowing down to a specific category of the blog, it becomes easier to grasp the attention of the audience looking particularly for the topic. Some of the trending niche ideas are vegan blogs, keto- diet blogs and diet- plan blogs. Remember to choose your niche according to your passion so you are comfortable writing about it. 

Also, plan your food blog type. It can be a recipe blog, food photography blog, cuisine specific blog (Italian food, Indian food, Chinese food, etc), review blog or a travel blog. 

#2. Select a name 

When it comes to selecting a name for your blog, it must be the most relevant and should describe well, your blog to your readers. You will need to purchase your domain so make sure the name you choose is available. Make sure your blog name includes all the sort of categories you are showcasing. If you are a dessert based blog, the name ‘chocolate food blog’ will outcast cookies, cakes and other dessert items you might be writing about. 

#3. Choose your platform

You do not have to learn coding to start your own blog website from scratch. Instead, you can choose a content management system where you can create, manage, edit and share your content online. Some of the free- web hosting platforms are WordPress and Blogger.com. You will have access to all the themes and gadgets but you have to subscribe to a premium version to avail your domain name and other useful gadgets. CMS holds a good viewership so your content is exposed to a large audience on the internet. Be wary about the requirements and read their terms and conditions before you select the most appropriate one.

#4. Prepare a content plan

Next, it's time to plan what and when will you post your content. Readers love consistent contents. If you are inconsistent with posting your content, it gives the readers a view that you are not committed enough. Create a schedule to add new recipes/ articles every week. Plan your schedule a week in advance so there is no rush for you to start writing in a hurry. 

Along with a good write-up, it is very important to take appealing pictures with it. You should have the basic photography skills and editing to go along with your content. You can also add videos as a way to create excitement or simply present a topic you really want to talk about. For example, a behind-the-scenes session or a tips and tricks session can be very interactive. Try coming up with diversified ideas and new variations so that you are able to cover up the whole category. Provide sources for images and avoid plagiarism. 

How to Start a Profitable Food Blog

#5. Promote, promote, promote! 

After you have set up your blog and published your content, it is time to reach out to your audience. Marketing your blog on social media is a significant strategy to promote your blog without any charge. According to research, about 55% of brand awareness happens on social accounts these days. You will start by creating social media accounts in your blog’s name. Post interesting content along with high-quality, appealing pictures to attract people. Use relevant hashtags to show up on people’s feeds and to get noticed by users looking specifically for the related topic. 

Update your feed regularly. Be interactive to your followers and create a two-way discourse with them. This builds trust. If you are unresponsive, it looks unprofessional and inconsiderate. 

Build connections with other food bloggers and endorse influencers. Find groups that also offer what you offer. Well-established food bloggers and influencers who have a good appearance on social media can assist you in getting a good exposure. If you do not want to partner with a competitor under your niche, you can look for a blogger in a different niche. For example, if you are a chocolate specified blogger, you can collaborate with a blogger who creates content on gluten-free food including chocolates.

#6. Build SEO 

SEO can help you reach heights if done strategically. You can organically grow your business and appear on the top list whenever a reader searches you. Some important tactics that bloggers must use are:

Relevant keywords: using relevant keywords. Instead of using general keywords like ‘food’ or ‘recipe’, use keywords like ‘gluten-free vegan recipes prepared in less than 30 minutes’. The more specific your keyword is, the more reach it gets. 

Add an alt tag to the images using these keywords. Image alt tags make your image more descriptive to crawlers making them index the image correctly. It helps visually impaired readers who use screen readers and if the image does not load, alt tags support it by presenting its description. 

Writing long-form contents can help you increase your ranking and develop your overall content quality. Try writing blogs with 1500- 2000 word counts. This gives in more space to incorporate keywords and images and helps you showcase your creativity. 

The takeaway

The ultimate step will be monetizing your food blog. Once you are well-established, you can even publish your cookbooks and promote your blog on even larger paid-platforms.

Food blogging can be exciting and profitable for anyone who has a passion and dedication for it. All you need is a good plan and a strategy you can rely on. 

Author bio:

Anushka Bhargava (Gravatar ID: [email protected])

Anushka is a passionate writer and a poet pursuing a degree in media and communications. She regularly contributes to F and B Recipes on Shamballa Reiki and Intuitive Energy Healing.

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