How to start a Food Blog

Have you ever thought about How to start a Food Blog? Learn how to start a food blog and get up and running by the end of the day. I truly believe that anyone is capable of doing this and should go for it. If you think you are too late in the game, think again!

I always had a passion for cooking and sat around thinking “maybe I’ll start a food blog.” I was scared and intimidated by the process. Lets make sure you don’t make the same mistakes I did. I promise you will find this so much easier than you think and with my help, it will be smooth sailing! Keep reading if you are serious to know how to start a food blog.

Find a Domain Name and Hosting Company

Want to start make money working from home? I wish I knew how to start a food blog when I started, and hopefully this post will help you!

I started Food Blogging about a year ago and it has definitely impacted my life. The best thing is I was able to branch out on my website and social media as a Food Blogger, Recipe Creator, and Food Stylist. Blogging lets me be my own boss which is everything I ever wanted. Not to mention, the majority of my family lives in different parts of the world, so it is awesome to be able to work wherever I am in the world. If you are brand new and looking for an inexpensive hosting company, I recommend Bluehost for your first year. After that, I would move to Cloudways or Bigscoots.

You can start making money as soon as your first blog post, whether it be through ads, affiliate marketing, or promoting a product on your blog. Thanks to social media, it is easier now than ever to reach out to a company and pitch yourself.

Next, you will need to install WordPress. Make sure it is WordPress.org and not WordPress.com.

Find a WordPress Theme

I believe it is always best to pick a simple theme with a white background and black text. You want to pick a theme that will make your blog easy to navigate for yourself and your readers, and that is customizable, so be sure to test plenty out. We eat with our eyes, so it is important to pick a theme that allows many photos on the homepage. Some of these examples are the Kale theme, Foodica theme,  and Cookely theme.

Use Social Media the right way

The foodie community is amazing. Not only is everyone friendly, but everyone is willing to share their tips and tricks. Some people even live off the money they make in sponsorships and affiliate marketing on Instagram. Social media is a great tool to use to promote yourself, but your blog should be top priority. Make sure to use your social channels and driving traffic back to your blog. You don’t own your social media channels, but you own your blog. Think of your blog as your main hub and all social media channels (i.e. Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages) as roads that lead back to the main hub. Create pins with text overlay on Pinterest, share your blog posts on Instagram with the “swipe up” feature, and even hyperlink all your posts on Facebook! Make sure your branding and message is consistent across all your social media channels.

Find a Recipe Plugin

Having a recipe plugin as a food blogger not only makes you look more professional, but it helps with SEO tremendously. If you are wondering how to start a food blog and you do not think recipe plugins are essential, think again! You will never forget to include anything in a recipe ever again as you have to input everything in each field. Wp Tasty is the only plugin I recommend because it was actually built by food bloggers. My traffic immediately flew up when I started using it. WP Tasty makes your posts easily searchable on Google as well as Pinterest.

Email list

It’s time to start collecting e-mails. In fact, building an e-mail list is one of the most important things you can do for your blog. (if not the most important…)

I use and recommend Flodesk as your email service provider. They have stunning templates that are easy to use and the best-priced option! Click here to get 50% off your Flodesk subscription!

Other Plugins

Tasty Pins: Allows you to optimize your blog’s images for Pinterest and SEO.

Tasty Links: Automatically creates links for specific keywords across your blog. (it’s great to affiliate links and boosting affiliate sales!)

Yoast: SEO is one of the most important strategies to implement for your blog. Yoast optimizes your blog to make Google and other search engines happy. It works as a checklist and will let you know what you are missing before you post.

The Best Affordable Camera

I would start off with a Sony a6100 body and a Sony FE 50mm f/2.8 Macro lens. When you are starting off, it is so much more important to splurge on the lens than on the camera. Another good lens is the Sigma 30mm F1.4 lens, which works on a Sony a6100. The Sony a6100 with the 30mm lens is a killer combo for under $1k. I can attest to how great the lens is.

I totally recommend using the BH website. They’re based in NYC and are super well regarded for camera equipment. The thing about them is that they don’t charge sales tax so you save a lot of money that way. I use them every time I buy something for my camera.

Getting a mirrorless camera is by far better than any other camera. They are smaller, lighter, and better quality. When it comes to mirrorless, Sony is the best. Fujifilm is second best.

Why not a DSLR?

DSLR cameras have a mirror in them which is how the image is displayed to the camera, which makes the camera overall larger and heavier. It’s old school and nothing wrong with that. Mirrorless is the new tech which was introduced around 10 years ago where manufacturers were able to fit the same quality, if not better, into a smaller and lighter camera. Mirrorless cameras have more modern functions, like sending photos to your phone, ability to connect to computers easily, formats for social media, color profiles etc. When you are blogging and sending pictures to your phone to post on social media, you will want a camera that is tech savvy, TRUST ME. I still see people with DSLR cameras but it’s mostly because they spent a ton of money on that old gear and the resale value is relatively low for what they paid. Not to mention how heavy the camera is, the lenses are even bigger and heavier than mirrorless. Size and weight do matter for cameras. You’ll want to use them more because they have more modern functions and are smaller and lighter – on top of that, they are cheaper!

Lighting

Natural light is by the far the best lighting. I take most of my photos next to my favorite kitchen window. Test out your pictures by every single window in the house and at different times of the day. You will find the right time and place to take your photos. If you are taking photos next to a window, the other side of the dish will be darker. You can use this reflector to brighten the other side up.

Sometimes light is not an option if you live in NYC like me. I invested in this Light Photo Box on Amazon which has been killer! The box can easily break down and build back up and have 2 aluminum LED lights that was SO bright. The brightness can be adjusted as well. 

Photo Editing

I have been using Adobe Lightroom since I started my food blog. It is not complicated to use and make your photos look beautiful. I do not think Photoshop is necessary when it comes to food blogging. Lightroom is a must though!

Creating a Logo on Canva

Creating a logo isn’t something pressing to do, but if you choose to come up with a logo, I suggest trying Canva. It is free and so useful. If you decide to get Canva Pro, you will have access to unlimited storage for photos (this is important), access to millions of photos, illustrations and templates, creating pins for Pinterest and most importantly, a scheduler.

Scheduling on Canva

If you are anything like me, we have busy schedules. Upgrading to Canva Pro to use their scheduler will help you with your Facebook and Pinterest accounts. Social media like Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest reward accounts who post consistently.  Most of my focus is on my Instagram account, which leaves less attention to my Facebook and Pinterest. Scheduling pins and Facebook posts on Canva has been a life saver. I have heard other people other people use Tailwind for scheduling as well.