Are you here to learn how to start a food blog and make money from it? If yes, then this step by step guide will help you to start your own Food Blog and turn it into a source of income.
This post is only for those who are FOOD LOVERS and can make good food because You’ll have to share your best food recipes and talk about food you love to run a food blog and earn a living from it – If you can COOK FOOD then you can run a FOOD BLOG as well and turn it into a lucrative side hustle or maybe develop your blog into a Big Brand Identity.
Starting a food blog is quite simple and straight forward so I am here to show you how you can setup your own food blog and how to monetize it.
But before that..
Table of Contents
What to expect from a Food Blog?
A question that always come into mind before getting into Make money online thing is Can I really earn money from it? Or How much money can I make from a food blog? Or is there anyone else earning from this module? Well you can expect to earn a fair bit money but If you want to run a prosperous food blog you have to put your heart and soul into it and blog seriously.
Although amount of money depends on the niche you opt, As a food blogger you can expect to make as much as 5 figures monthly or nada – all rely on your input.
What I can tell is you will see results in three to six months if your Roadmap is right and you are working on your blog.
Here is an overview from start to finish of all the steps I walk you through in this post.
Brain Storming
It is essential and most important step for an entrepreneur to take before starting a new project, Brainstorming can be as detailed as making a mind map for starting an online business.
For a blogger it’s all about creative ideation to come up with and provide education to the audience and solve their problems. Give yourself a calm environment to put yourself in a creative mind. Grab a pen and notebook, find your whys and whats, filter your ideas, do research and name your brand –Write down all that come to your mind related to your topic and brand, add and remove points if needed.
If you want to start a blog/website but you are not sure what model to use and which path to follow, you can work with me and I will show you the roadmap for your online business.
Set realistic Goals
After brainstorming now it’s time to set your short-terms and long-term goals but keep in mind don’t go over board and keep your goals that are achievable otherwise you will be overwhelmed in no time and you end up doing nothing.
Take your short-term goals as a motivation in order to reach your long-term goals – only way to achieve your long-term goals is to work daily with patience and commitment.
Make a list of daily, weekly and monthly goals. For example decide how many posts you will write in a weekend and set yourself a target, how much money your Food blog will make in a particular month – be realistic in setting your goals and make up your mind you need to work on your blog and you won’t procrastinate, that’s how you will see results.
Create a blog
Creating a blog is simple and easy job. First choose a domain name keeping your niche in mind, for example cravingsandbites, cozykitchenmenu and biteofsecrets these domains refer to a food blog (these domain name ideas came to my mind when I was writing this post and i checked they were not taken, see here if these domains are available while you reading this post, you will have the option to check domain availability when you select the hosting plan) .
After deciding your blog name now it’s time to choose a hosting company that provide good services and is also affordable. I use and recommend Blushost as it offers free domain for 1 year, free SSL certificate and charge $3.95/month, also I am satisfied with their 24/7 customer support. Don’t be afraid to invest in the right hosting platform!
If you want step by step guide on How to start a blog and register domain+get hosting you can read my post here.
Setting up your blog
If you are using Bluehost then you will have the option to install WordPress, there are many reasons why WordPress is popular among bloggers and website owners.
After installing WordPress now it’s time to customize your blog but before that make sure to install most important plugins: iTheme security, I use to secure my website,
Yoast SEO to rank higher in search engine and Google Analytics by MonsterInsights.
You can add other plugins with time as per your blog need but these are the top most essential plugins to have in your WordPress site, make sure to activate them and edit settings if need.
I researched on plugins that are specifically for food blogs and I am happy to share them with you!
Next step is to choose theme carefully there are hundreds of free food blog themes designs available in WordPress, your theme will showcase your work – just keep it simple and clean!
Best Free Food Blog Themes are listed for you!
SIGNATURE BRANDING – 3 things come in my mind while branding a blog: Logo and Favicon, Slogan and About page that describes yourself or your blog/business.
If you need a helping hand on setting up your blog you can work with me 🙂
Make content
To engage your audience make good quality content with persistence, come up with different recipe ideas and solutions to their food related problems to gain trust and build a relationship with your readers.
Research what’s hot in market and follow the trend, make a list of topics and recipes prior so that you can focus more on making content – when I started a blog I already had 10 blog posts in line and a list of 20 topics (related to my niche) to posts in next month.
Use social media to get traffic
Marketing got easier with social media, after SEO it is the best way to promote your content with free or paid traffic. Luckily, getting traffic is actually easier than you think although You don’t need a whole ton of traffic to start monetizing your food blog you just need to figure out your audience needs.
You just need to strategically use the right methods & tricks to promote your blog in places where your target market already lies.
Pinterest is best for newbies who wants to drive traffic to their new blogs in a short amount of time. The best tip to get success in Pinterest is be consistent in pinning relevant content everyday.
If you have 5000 followers on Instagram you are considered an Influencer. You can easily drive traffic to your blog through Instagram.
Luckily it’s becoming easier and easier to be social on Instagram and get followers. Just Follow other foodie accounts, use relevant hashtags and upload mouth-watering pictures.
Facebook is another great platform to drive free or paid traffic to your new blog and having your blog page on facebook is important as you need to show your blog existence there.
Participating in Facebook groups are also a way to get more clicks to your blog. Also I recommend creating a Facebook page and posting time to time to drive clicks to your blog posts.
How to Monetize a Food Blog
You can try several ways to earn passive income from your food blog or you can use all of them to monetize your blog and turn it into a money making machine.
My favorite ways to earn money with blogging are listed
Ads – Earn passively by placing ads on your blogs.
Affiliate Marketing – Recommend products that you use and like and earn commission.
Sell Ebook – Another way to earn passive income, write an Ebook cookbook, set the price and promote it.
Sponsored Posts – An easy way to earn extra money through sponsorship, post Sponsored Articles on your blog for $200+ each, price may vary according to your monthly visitors.
Services – You can earn money by offering services through your blog.
Pro tips to run a Successful Food Blog
- Come up with new unique delicious recipes for your readers.
- Give useful incentives to your readers for free such as printable weekly meal plans or 5-minutes recipes eBook.
- Click your own unique and attractive food pictures, remember people are drawn to bright colors.
Final thoughts..
A Food blog is a fantastic way to showcase your talent and passion, you could be creative and can experiment with food recipes with your creations while turn your love for food into a source of income, plus you cam socialize with like minded people and build a community around your niche. I will definitely suggest blogging to those who want to share ideas with world and are willing to earn from their passion – So, Why not to start a food blog when it’s easy and affordable?
