Wondering how to create a food blog in 2020, but have absolutely no idea on how to start one? You’re at the right place then!
Apart from being a basic human need, food is an emotion for a lot of us. A lot of relationships even start with a cup of coffee or over a dinner date! Anyway, talk on food and food-lovers are ubiquitous. And starting a blog on food can be the best passive income stream that you want to choose. Or with a little bit of more effort and hard work, you can even take it a notch higher and know how to start a food blog and make money. If you are passionate enough about food, then this might be a piece of cake for you! So without any further ado, here is everything that you want to know on how to start a successful food blog.
First things first:
1. Choose a Domain Name
The domain name is the first step towards building your blog. Before getting started, think about a good domain name. Now you don’t have to have any previous awareness of how to create a food blog to choose a domain name. If you’re wondering what a domain name is, it is your online address or your identity online. That’s how people are going to find your blog online. So when you choose a domain name for your blog, you need to keep certain things in mind.
Keep it simple
Now your domain name doesn’t have to sound like some sort of encryption from Christopher Nolan’s movies. Keep it as simple as possible. People won’t bother to memorize a complicated domain name. Rather they’ll go for the simpler ones which are easier to remember. And using numbers or any other symbols is not recommended as it will only make the name more complicated. Keeping it simple also means, easy to spell, and easy to pronounce. A name easier on the tongue is easier on the fingers as well.
Keep it short
Like I said above, along with keeping it simple, keep it short. A short name is easier to think of and is always handy. Also, one doesn’t have to rack their brain to come up with a short name.
Are you a food blogger looking for a unique and catchy domain name ideas for your food blog? Here is a list of ideas to help you generate a great domain name! #foodblogger #foodie #foodblognames #fandbstories https://t.co/6bwD2hAapm
— Surbhi jain (@Surbhi498) August 27, 2020
Be specific.
Your domain name should directly represent the content of your blog. Don’t be too poetic if you’re not building a blog for creative writing. Remember, you’re here to know how to create a food blog and not a poetry blog. So make sure the name simply discloses the content of your blog.
Use synonyms
Don’t panic if the domain name you had in mind is already taken. Try its synonyms. You can use thesaurus.com to find synonyms on the go. Or even grammarly.com gives you synonym suggestions instantly. Who knows you’ll end up with a better name by a synonym!
Choose a good extension
Some of the popular extensions are Generic Top Level Domains (gTLD). Such as “.com”, “.net”, “.org” etc… Among these, the most recommended would be the .com extension. Because .com is the most preferable, widely used, and one of the oldest domain extensions used across the globe. Even when you search for how to create a food blog, most of the ranked page might have a .com extension. This extension helps you increase traffic and provide you with global audiences. If you are targetting for an international audience, then .com is what you should go for.
Consider Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLD)
Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLD) represents a country or a state. If you target a national audience, then you can go for .in (Indian Domain), .cn, .eu. And the list goes on.
Use a domain name generator
If you are not in a mood to rack your brain for a domain name, then go for a domain name generator. There are plenty of them online. Some of them are even free. blogtyrant.com is one such free domain name generator that you can go for.
Once you find a domain name, then it’s time to move on to the next step.
2. Choose your niche.
As you’re looking forward to how to create a food blog, this is the second most important step you should consider. Having a niche will always turn out to be a boon when it comes to content creation—thinking how? If you’re wondering how, here you can find professional content creation tips tailored to your niche.
According to a study conducted by Hosting Tribunal, there are more than 500 million blogs by December 4, 2020. ( https://hostingtribunal.com/blog/how-many-blogs/#gref ). Out of which many are food blogs. So rather than competing with such wider competitors, choose your niche and narrow down the competition. Choosing a niche will also help you to gain your target audience. Surfing through sundry blogs can be a bit tiring. But having a niche will help your target audience find you interesting. Also, remember, Jack of all trades, master of none!
Some of the niches and micro-niches you can consider when creating a food blog are:
Recipe Blog
You can never pass a “how to create a food blog” question without this suggestion. You can choose any type of recipe. It can be 10-minute recipes, Fitness recipes, Vegan recipes, Gluten-Free recipes, etc… Choose the one you’re most confident in.
❤️ Creamy Tomato Spinach Chicken Pasta ❤️ a quick, easy and delicious meal that everyone in our house loves ❤️
Recipe ➡️ https://t.co/rySrJhIUdn#recipe #FridayNightFeast #foodblog pic.twitter.com/O3vEIqMOFa— Sammie (@sammiefeasting) January 8, 2021
Cuisine type
Who doesn’t have a favorite cuisine these days? From Chinese to Italian, we all have our go-to cuisine for every occasion. So find your expertise grade yourself up to the top food blogs.
Food and travel blogs.
This is another interesting niche that has become everyone’s favorite recently. For those who are avid travelers, such blogs always come to the rescue. Even for some of us who don’t travel that often, these blogs never fail to entertain.
Preparation techniques
That’d be such an enthralling niche to choose. There’s a lot of food preparation techniques that you can choose from. But make sure you create uniform content sticking to your niche. Wondering what techniques I’m talking about?
▪ Baked food
▪ Steamed food
▪ Grilled food
▪ Fried food etc.
Review blogs
Review blogs are always a savior for those of us who are picky. So make sure you use it well. When you do review blogs, have a niche in it as well. It can be restaurant reviews or certain recipe reviews. You’ll choose, as you’re the master here! But you can’t even think of how to create a food blog without stumbling upon this suggestion.
3. Choose your blogging platform and web hoster
Creating blogs have become one of the easiest tasks in the 21st century. Now when you consider creating a food blog, no more coding is required to build it from scratch. Everything’s at your fingertips, and you just need to launch it. There are a lot of other types of no-code platforms like SurveySparrow to help you with all kinds of online surveys. Here’s an online survey created using SurveySparrow for an online donut store.
To create similar online surveys, you can create a free account on SurveySparrow.
Blogging platforms are otherwise known as Content Management Systems (CMS). It helps you to publish, edit, or manage your content online. One of the most popular blogging platforms to recommend would be WordPress.org. It is the easiest and convenient blogging platform for beginners as well as for advanced bloggers. You can either go for the free web hosting option, web hosting free trial option or an open-source self-hosted blog.
So what is web hosting? A web hosting provider provides us with the server space our website needs, to store its files on the World Wide Web. Keep in mind that free web hosting may not be the best idea for your website as you’re a beginner and are pondering on how to create a food blog. Because when you opt for a free domain, it can be unstable and less secure. And you’ll only be provided with a subdomain which you don’t own in reality. Your subdomain will then be attached with the host’s web address, and that might look unprofessional. (For example, foodblog.wordpress.com)
Cloudways
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform built to deliver exceptional hosting experiences. It gives you the liberty to opt from any of the top 5 IaaS providers, provides automatic backups, and offers managed security. With Cloudways, you can instantly launch your food blog and have your website up and running at all times.
A food blogger’s focus should only be on posting new recipes and culinary blogs and not dealing with any hosting technicalities. Cloudways helps the bloggers to go live in minutes and scale up or down at any time, ultimately helping them reach their full potential. Shall you find yourself stuck at any point? Contact their active support team, available 24/7 for instant support.
Bluehost
If you are opting for a professional-looking unique domain name, then you can go for a web hosting provider such as bluehost.com. Bluehost is a hosting service certified as the best hosting service by WordPress.org. You can choose from the three plans they offer on their website, starting at $3.95 per month for the basic plan. And free domain name for the first year. With such a reasonable price and offer, you’ll be able to create a blog with a unique domain name of your own. And have a premium experience.
HostGator
You can go for HostGator for medium traffic. That is an audience below 100,000. They also provide three plans, starting at just $2.75/month, providing the first year of the domain for free.
Hostinger
Hostinger is one of the most affordable web hosting providers. Their basic plan starts from less than a dollar a month. Although the price is super low, they make sure to provide a premium experience for the user. What more can a beginner searching for how to create a food blog can ask for!
A2 Hosting
They have four plans starting from $2.99 monthly. They claim to have 20 times faster Turbo Servers and offer a Money-Back guarantee, free account migration, etc.
Once you choose your web host and a plan, it’s time to launch your food blog on a CMS. As I mentioned above, WordPress is the best CMS you can go for. So the next step goes:
4. Installing WordPress
If you’ve chosen Bluehost as your web host, then the steps are pretty simple. You can either go through the four questions that they ask about the details on your blog or skip this section. And launch your blog. And you’re almost done on your quest of how to create a food blog.
5. Installing theme and plugins.
Themes enhance your food blog and make it more appealing to the reader. The right theme makes your food blog user friendly and may attract more audience to your website. WordPress.org offers thousands of attractive themes that’ll help you make your blog more appealing. Make sure you choose the right theme for your blog niche.
On the other hand, plugins are equally important in making your food blog more attractive. Plugins allow for extra customizations apart from the customizations offered by the website. It also helps in better Search Engine Optimization as well. Some of the popular plugins include,
- Yoast SEO
- Wordference Security
- Jetpack
- Contact Form 7
- WooCommerce
- Elementor etc.
And now you’re all set to go! But last but not least;
6. Content Planning and Execution
As you’re all buckled up to take off, it’s time to sit and plan your content for at least a month. If you can’t come up with a dozen of content ideas in your niche, then you need to rethink your chosen blog niche. Before you get started, take away some food bogging tips as a bonus
Be consistent
That’s rule number one. Don’t leave your audience in uncertainty and make them lose interest. If you’re not consistent, they’ll probably think you’re not committed enough, which is not a good impression to have, especially when you start. Have a strict schedule in posting content on your blog. Be it twice per week or any number according to your pace.
Food Photography
Avoid running to Pinterest or google for food photographs. That might perhaps give you some copyright headaches. Post genuine photographs, your own if possible. Make it aesthetically pleasing with good lighting and props.
How to make your pizzas look delicioushttps://t.co/X7Lv3tYULO…#foodblog#pizza#pizzaphotography#foodphotography pic.twitter.com/7taR1kFDR3
— Stephen Conroy Photo (@stephen__conroy) September 7, 2016
Be innovative
Instead of following the same old recipes and repeating cliches, try something new. Nobody wants to spend time reading an ordinary dish or cliche recipe. Create a signature style that is unique to you. Give the readers reasons to visit your blog regularly.
Wrapping it Up..
Food blogging is indeed an interesting and entertaining passion. But if you manage to cash in your passion, you don’t have to ‘work’ in a sense. So that was our a to z guide on how to create a food blog. Now get yourself up and time to make some content!
