How to start your own cooking blog
In these uncertain times, keeping our emotions in check is more important than ever. How can you best manage your feelings? Start a cooking blog!
A lot of people start blogs because they want to be recognized. And that’s great! But right now, we need to keep those ego-driven dreams on hold. Instead, think about blogging as a way to channel your energy into something productive—a way of gaining control over at least one aspect of your life.
After all, what better way to take the edge off than by spending a nice chunk of time learning how to make the perfect egg salad? If I've learned anything from my own cooking blog (Check it out: https://www.eatthegrits.com), it’s that there’s nothing like the feeling you get after posting an awesome recipe for lemon meringue pie and seeing all the comments roll in! Even if I'm stressed about work or the state of politics or whatever else, I know my emotions around those things are safely out of my head and onto my screen for everyone to see.
Choose a topic for your blog.
If you love to eat, and are passionate about cooking, you may be considering starting a food blog. This is a great idea! There's no shortage of people who enjoy reading food blogs, especially if yours has engaging content and a unique voice. If you're interested in starting your own food blog, the first thing you'll need to do is choose a topic for your blog. It's best to narrow down your focus to a specific niche. For example, if it's pizza that really gets you excited in the kitchen, consider making your focus all things pizza. What makes this approach better than writing about all foods? Two reasons: 1) You will be able to create high quality content much faster because you will have expertise in one area instead of trying to write about everything (which would take more time); 2) You will attract an audience quickly if this blog is focused on something specific (and not just "food").
The next step is figuring out who your target audience is and what they're looking for from your food blog. The best way to figure this out is by simply asking them! Send out some emails or post on social media about what sort of ideas people are curious about when it comes to the topic of pizza (or whatever). Once you've identified some areas where there's interest from other pizza lovers like yourself, start creating content around those topics. Remember: always keep the interests of your target audience in mind!
Choose a blogging platform.
After you've decided to start a cooking blog, the next step is to choose which platform you'll use to launch it. Blogging platforms are tools that make the process of setting up and running your own blog much easier.
There are many different blogging platforms available, but we recommend WordPress because it's free to use, simple enough for beginners to get started with, and allows for customizations as your blog grows. Other popular blogging platforms include:
Weebly
Wix
Blogger
Tumblr
Get your domain name and hosting.
Your hosting is where you will store all of the files and folders that make up your website. It’s also where your domain name is connected to your blog. This makes choosing your hosting extremely important because it has a lot to do with how your site performs and how people are able to view it.
When choosing a hosting company, make sure you are going with one that is reliable, secure and scalable (meaning it can grow as big as you want). Additionally, if you need help setting up or maintaining your blog, be sure to choose a hosting company that provides excellent support. It’s frustrating when you have to figure out everything on your own – so choose a host that takes care of its customers!
Install WordPress.
Login to your hosting account
Find the WordPress icon in the cPanel page
Click on it and start installing WordPress
Add your website name, username, password and email address during the installation process
Complete the installation process and login to your WordPress dashboard
Pick a theme for your blog.
Whether you opt for a free theme or a paid theme, make sure it's responsive to mobile devices. A responsive theme adapts its layout automatically to look great on desktops, tablets and phones. If you're unsure whether a particular theme is responsive, just check out the demo site and see how the theme looks on different devices.
I recommend you go with a premium WordPress theme that is built specifically for food blogs. Here are some good ones:
Foodie Pro by StudioPress – This is my personal favorite. It's super easy to customize and has every feature you'll need in your blog (slider, homepage layout options etc.). You can run your website on this WordPress theme forever without ever paying another dime (unless you want extra styles or child themes).
Foodica by WPZoom – Very similar to Foodie Pro above but if you like the design better then go with it. Both have 5-star reviews from customers so either one will be great for your blog!
Add essential pages to your blog.
Now that you have your domain name and hosting, it’s time to start building your blog.
First you need to add essential pages to your blog. You don’t have to have them all set up at once but I highly recommend setting up the about page and contact page as a minimum.
These are the essential pages for a website:
About page
Contact page
Privacy policy, Disclaimer, Cookie policy, Terms and conditions (if you’re accepting ads or affiliates) Affiliate disclosure (if you plan on using affiliate links)
Make your blog easy to navigate.
It's important to make your blog as easy to navigate as possible. For example, if your content is focused on food and wine pairings, you should be able to link content about different types of food (e.g., Italian, Mexican) or different wines (e.g., white, red). You want the user experience to be intuitive and seamless—people shouldn't have trouble finding what they're looking for. It’s also smart to create an About page so your readers can learn more about why you started blogging and what you hope to accomplish through it.
Design a visually appealing blog.
To design a visually appealing blog, here are some best practices you can use:
Use a great theme. Picking the right theme can set the tone for your food blog. You'll want to pick something that's easy to use and is customizable, which usually costs money. You'll also want to make sure it's mobile-friendly since many people do most of their internet browsing on phones now.
Use photos and videos. This should be obvious, but I've seen blogs where there were no images at all! Photos and/or video are important because they help convey what you're trying to say better than words alone can. It's also good if they're high quality so they don't look grainy or pixelated on different devices with different screen sizes like laptops vs smartphones vs tablets etcetera etcetera ad infinitum."
Create content that attracts readers.
Use keywords. The best way to attract readers is to write content that people want to read. Keywords are words that are relevant to the topic of your content and will help readers find your content. For example, if you're writing about food and the keywords you want to use would be food, cooking and recipes, chances are people searching for this topic will find your article.
Images. There's no better way to support your content than with images that complement it and add value or interest . Images also make it easier for readers to visualize what your topics are all about, making it easier for them to get interested in it.
Use headlines. Headlines should grab the attention of readers and inform them about what they'll see on your blog post. For example, if you're writing about a recipe you made on Valentine's Day , try something like "My Double Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake" or "How I made a Heart-Shaped Ice Cream Cake". These catchy titles can definitely help readers get interested in reading what's written below it! For more ideas of how you can creatively use headlines , check out our article " How To Write Great Headlines ".
Short posts with few words/paragraphs will work better than long ones filled with lots of words/paragraphs because most people prefer reading shorter posts as opposed to longer ones since they have less time on their hands ! Also, remember that when word counts are low each word matters which gives added weightage so keep creating powerful yet short content!
Unique topics will work well: If there's not much competition out there right now then think of having new ideas and fresh opinions related to whatever topic you're blogging about (examples: news items on current affairs , interesting facts about subjects etc.). You can blog about subjects that don't relate directly with what other people tend too but still contain quality information or advice based around those subjects . Content should always be unique and original
Share engaging, unique stories on your blog.
To keep readers engaged, you must share compelling stories that make them feel something. You want your blog to stand out and be unique. The best way to accomplish this is by telling unique stories in a compelling way.
This is where vulnerability comes in. You need to be honest with your readers, which may not come naturally at first. But the beauty of blogging is that you can get feedback from your audience on whether or not they find your stories interesting. By being vulnerable and honest with people, you’re more likely to connect with them genuinely. As well as keeping an eye out for reader feedback, remember that it's always good practice to get a second opinion on what you've written before publishing it—and making sure it’s visually appealing never hurts!
Stay up-to-date with the latest news in your industry.
I have a particular passion for food and cooking, and I’m sure most people with similar interests do as well. Whether it’s an interest in a particular cuisine or just a general love of cookbooks, I often find myself drawn to learning about the latest trends in the industry. The Internet has made it easier than ever to keep up on these developments, but if you don’t already follow a website for your specific area of interest, then you may not be aware of all the good news happening around you.
To start my own blog, I used Blogger as my platform—and while this site is easy enough to use and allows me to make posts quickly using either text or HTML code, it doesn't really provide much in the way of features that would help it stand out from other blogging platforms (which is what I was looking for). For example:
Blogger lacks any sort of search function; therefore, finding blogs with topics that interest me is like searching through dusty boxes at an antique store;
It's difficult to customize whatever style my blog uses;
I can't use custom domain names or even choose whether or not to have one.
Connect with others in the food blogging space via social media to grow your audience and build community over time.
I'm a huge advocate of social media for new food bloggers, especially Instagram. I think picking one or two platforms and building a community around them is the way to go. The good news is that you don't need to build it all yourself (in fact, I recommend not trying). Instead, join existing communities on social media and share your work with others.
There are several ways to do this: look at the hashtags on your posts and follow the people who use those same tags. Like their posts and comment on them when appropriate! In time, you'll start to build a community of your own that's built with authenticity in mind instead of spammy numbers (which don't really mean anything).
Another great way to get involved in Instagram communities is through an Instagram pod (or "comment pod"). Find a few people with similar tastes and numbers as you, then agree to make sure you each like and comment on every post that everyone makes. This can help boost engagement rates for everyone, which will lead to more growth down the road if it's done authentically.
Blogging can be the antidote to feeling trapped right now, helping you gain control of one area of your life while my emotions around other things are out of my head.
Blogging can be as fun and creative an outlet as you want to make it. The best part is, it's easy to get started. Just follow these simple steps:
Pick a blogging platform
Write your first post
Build your blog community
Make your blog look good
Learn all you can about blogging
