We, at Tastemaker Conference, want to share with you the top 6 tips for starting a food blog like a pro.
Do you love food (creating, eating, dining, all of the above?) Are you ready to share your yummy recipes or delicious food finds with the world wide web? Sounds like it is time to start a food blog! We know that food blogging can be challenging, especially when just starting out, so we think you will love our discussion with Susie and Todd Bulloch on overcoming challenges.
You’re going to be a great blogger.
Our 6 Simple Tips
- Focus on photography
- Learn your platform
- Make blog friends
- Learn from the pros
- Use social media
- Attend a blog conference
1. Focus on Photography
It’s no secret that photography makes a food blog. I wish I could say that it’s the recipes and the blogger, but the photography is what draws people in initially. If you only focus on one thing on this list, focus on photography.
If it’s in the budget, invest in equipment that will make taking great pictures easier. And learn how to use that fancy DSLR and follow these tricks for taking great pictures.
If you’re not there yet, get really good at taking phone photos.
Find Your Style
Study other food bloggers photos and take note on what you like about them. What is the lighting like? How is the food staged and styled? What is in the background? What is in focused/out of focused.
Do you like white and bright or dark and moody? Hone in on your own photography style. Fun fact: I can spot my favorite food blogger recipes on Pinterest just by the photography style.
To learn more, sign up for our photography tutorial freebie here!
2. Learn your Platform
What do I mean by platform? When I say platform, I’m referring to the tool that you will be using to post your recipes and food finds/tips online. The most popular are: WordPress, Blogger, and Squarespace. Alternatively, a lot of foodies are using Instagram or Facebook to microblog, or Youtube to food vlog.
Do some research and pick a platform that is the best fit for you. I found that my best fit is WordPress because of the functionality, designs, and control you have over your site. WordPress is the friendliest platform for recipe cards (the printable recipes at the bottom of food bloggers posts). With the help of a recipe plugin, it is easy to add a description, ingredients, and directions into a recipe card for your readers!
There are also a plethora of beautiful food blogging themes on WordPress that are designed to make your recipes stand out and make it easy for your readers to find more recipes.
You don’t have to be a tech genius to start a food blog, but get familiar with your platform of choice and set it up like a pro.
3. Make Blog Friends
Next to photography, making blog friends is probably the second-best thing you can do.
Making friends with the competition sounds a bit contradictory, doesn’t it? In the blogging industry, it’s one of the best ways you can experience growth. Sonia explains it this way,
“You find it {your tribe} by identifying individuals who have the audience you want, then cultivating relationships with them to better serve their audience … and grow yours while you’re at it.”
So, find some food blogger friends. Comment on their posts – blog posts, Instagram posts, or Facebook Posts. Share their recipes on your social platforms – make sure to tag them! As you establish relationships with bloggers, they’ll engage on your posts too.
Having friends that understand what it’s like to be a food blogger is very rewarding. They speak your language. They understand the level of dirty dishes food bloggers have. Your food blog friends will understand the struggle to get the perfect angle/lighting while you photographing food.
The support and encouragement you get from food bloggers will make the job easier.
4. Learn from the Pros
The pros got where they are at for a reason, right? Pay close attention to how and what the bloggers you admire are doing. Read through the advice they share.
A Sampling of Food Blogging Tidbits from Real Life Food Bloggers:
- “Post fantastic recipes only. You don’t want visitors to invest their time and ingredients into a recipe and end up disappointed, right? Better to let the blog go quiet for a few days than to post a recipe you can’t stand behind.” Cookie and Kate
- “Have a vision for your blog that feels representative of you. Come up with a name, design, and photography style that embodies what you love.” Savory Simple
- “Submit your photos – Sites like Foodgawker, Tastespotting, Healthy Aperture and Finding Vegan, will publish your photos. These sites can help drive traffic to your blog. They can be picky, so prepare yourself for lots of rejection. To put it in perspective, I have 156 photos accepted on Foodgawker, but 250 photos denied.” My Whole Food Life
- “Be there for your readers. Offer your readers alternatives to ingredients, take their suggestions, listen to them, offer giveaways. They take the time to read your blog, so take the time for them.”
Sallys Baking Addiction
- “As a younger Instagram account I am still learning a lot as the days go by but early on there were two things I did that weren’t in my best interest. 1) Do not use the preset filters on your pictures, if you’re going to use the photo editing tools within Instagram adjust it manually instead of using a preset. Ideally you use an external photo editing suite but whatever you do, do it manually. 2) Be sure to use all the hashtags you can, early on I would only use a couple hashtags but that limits your reach and if you have a young account like mine that’s not beneficial to you. Max it out!” John Kulow
- “Include more of your personality in your posts and content. I assumed no one cared about me as a person, but my levels of engagement have skyrocketed since I started doing so. It’s so humbling.😊 ” Panko Bunny
5. Be Present on Social Media
Social media will help you connect with your audience and send people to your blog and recipes. The big three for food bloggers are Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
When you think of your Facebook feed and food, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Did you think food videos? Those quick little recipe tutorials. Or maybe FB live videos from your favorite food bloggers.
Use Facebook to share amazing recipes from around the web, create your own videos or gifs, and if you’re comfortable pop on a live video and say hello! Sharing is another big win for Facebook and bloggers are groups. Facebook groups allow you to communicate in more intimate settings than a page wall. Join food blogger groups related to your niches and join foodie communities that are open to all.
Facebook is still the most used social platform out there, so make sure to get on there too.
(Read this post for a simple trick to growing your Facebook audience.)
Ahh Pinterest. Pinterest is my favorite platform, as a marketer and as the head chef of my household.
Pinterest is the place that your audience will go to plan their lives.
To plan what they are going to eat for dinner. Breakfast. Thanksgiving dinner. Football Sunday. Planners are people that will take action. That means that they will try your recipe. They could then review and recommend it. If they love it, they’ll make it again and try your other recipes. Pinterest will help you grow an audience that loves you and your food.
(Read this post all about recipe rich pins and how they benefit your food blog growth and traffic!)
Top 7 Pinterest Tips for Beginner Bloggers:
1. Create images for Pinterest that are vertical, beautiful, and inspiring
2. Include text when needed, but keep the food the star of the image.
3. Use a business Pinterest account and use recipe rich pins
4. Use keywords in your pin descriptions
5. Join niche group boards for your recipes
6. Encourage existing readers to save your post/recipes to Pinterest
7. Pin consistently
Instagram is the platform many food bloggers are using to reach out and connect with their audience, while showing off their work to a potential 500 million people every day. Your food pics can inspire and connect with them.
I’m not going to lie, I am the last person that should be giving you Instagram advice. However, I do know that Instagram is a great place to be for foodies! I asked the famous Shannan Monson to share her best Instagram tip with us:
“Write a text, not a caption. You know how sometimes you’re reading a caption and it feels like a robot literally wrote this, and sometimes it feels like you’re reading a text from your best friend? Yep. That’s the one you’re shooting for. (The second one, I’m talking about the second one.) Every. Single. Time. No one opens Instagram and thinks “oh I hope I’ll see something super professional in my feed today.” No. People open Instagram to be entertained, to be inspired, to get smarter, and sometimes just to escape reality. Give them an escape. Delight them. Inspire them. Or make them smarter. Be their smart, funny, inspirational best friend.” – Shannan
Check out Shannon’s Instagram for more!
As a new food blogger this could be your life too!
6. Attend a Blog Conference
Phew. That’s a lot to work on as a new blogger!
Might I suggest you attend a food blogging conference? Attending a food blogging conference is hands down the best thing you can do for your brand new food blog.
Why?
At the Tastemaker Conference you will able to check off all of the first 6 pro blogger tips in one weekend.
- Photography and photo editing workshops
- Blogging, SEO, and other technical classes.
- Panel discussions with thriving, pro bloggers
- Workshops, classes, and panels on all the popular social platforms: Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube
- An opportunity to meet, connect, and collaborate with bloggers just like you.
- Bonus: there will also be great food, and you can mingle with sponsors.
More about Tastemaker Conference
Tastemaker Conference is a one stop shop to help you master all of the above tips for starting a food blog like a pro, including how to monetize your blog. Hope you’ll join us there! You can learn more on how to stand out in today’s saturated markets here with Tiffany Han.
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Wishing you the best of luck as you start your new food blog!
Article By: Kristie Hill – the guru for you all who dream of making their blogging debut!
(Image via foodanddating.com)
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Annie @ World Recipes says
I believe you missed the most important one. Be unique, start doing something differently then others and people will notice you. Competition is so crazy these days that you just have to be as unique as you can. I noticed that those who are unique enough get a lot of links from other blogs and start getting some real traffic from Google (and other search engines) very fast.
Abbey says
Yes, this is a fantastic tip! Thank you, Annie!
Ghulam Mohyudin says
This was really interesting to read! I love the range of posts, there is really something for everyone, great post!
Ghulam Mohyudin says
Good to know that works too! I learn so much from you as well! Keep it up great post.