How to Start a Crazy Profitable Food Blog

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So, this is a bit of an unusual subject for me, but people have been asking me how to go about this, so I figured I’d start writing a monthly article about the actual business of blogging.  And not just any blogging, but, specifically, for starting a food blog.

Food blogging is its own animal.  And, for me, The Hungry Dater is really its own animal since food is only half of it.  There are so many things that one needs to consider before starting a food blog.

A Twist

There are so many great food blogs out there.  So the first thing you need to think on is a twist on the food subject matter that will set you apart.  I got lucky this way. I wanted to start a food blog, and it was my friends and family who actually requested a food blog sprinkled with my dating stories since they enjoyed those stories so much.  Once I realized how connected food and relationships actually are, I understood that the dating stories which revolved around food actually gave my food blog a very specific niche and something to set it apart from the millions of other food blogs out there.  Not only that, it gave me a specialty to rely on and write about.

When you officially come up with  a niche within the food world for your blog, you’re giving it a personality…  and you’re giving yourself a louder voice among “the many.”

Name & Type

Once you find a niche for your blog, you next want to find a name which conveys both your niche and your personality.  I find that names which are playful, expressive, and easy to remember are the best for a blog name.  You don’t want to confuse people and you don’t want it to be too difficult or long.  But you also want to make sure it is memorable and unique.

It’s also not a bad idea to research your name for a bit.  You want to make sure the name is not taken by anyone else or that it is not overused or generic.  After all, if you eventually want your blog to become a business, the name will become your brand, and it’s better not to have to change it later.

This is the name you’ll end up giving your blog, your brand, and, most especially, your domain, or your “.com” internet address.  That’s when you need to start looking into purchasing your “domain name,” and considering how you want your blog to be “hosted.”

Hosting: Self or Platform

This is where you put the pedal to the metal.  You’ve decided on a name and the type of food blog you’re going to publish.  Now you have to decide how you’re going to publish it.

There are two main ways of publishing a blog: hosted and self-hosting.

Way back when I was still in law school, I already had an inkling I wanted to write about food on the side.  So I started a hosted blog under WordPress.com.  I think it was called “Courtroom by Day, Kitchen by Night” (this is actually the title of another “blogging” post coming up).  I can’t tell you how easy WordPress.com was.  There were several plugins that you click, post, and use; and the site went live in mere minutes.  But one thing I didn’t realize when I was loading my WordPress.com site is that, while it was easy and user-friendly, there was a major trade-off with that: I didn’t have nearly the control I wanted over my platform.

Later, after I started my work and decided to try doing a blog again — and this time make a real go of it — I did some research and learned what I wanted was a self-hosted site.  This means that while I pay an annual fee to own my name and have the site hosted by a hosting company, I get maximum control over the site, which meant I had tons more opportunities for distribution, and, eventually, monetization.  I immediately purchased my domain name and signed up for hosting with a major site that’s promoted heavily throughout the blogosphere.

Choosing a Hosting Company

I will give you all the true breakdown of my experience with this first hosting company in another post.  It’s much too harrowing to describe here.  But suffice it to say it was terrible.  There were many tears, lots of sleepless nights, and so much yelling on my part that those in my office heard it through my door and asked what was wrong–not my finest moment.  I decided this year to switch companies and it was the best thing I ever did for my blog.

Bluehost Saves the Day

Who did I switch to?  Bluehost.  I realize some people say not to go with Bluehost because they are so heavily promoted and are a “large company.”  Well, I’ll tell you, I did all that research for myself.  And I never  wanted to deal with my current situation again.  I craved reliable service, friendly customer support, and, while it sounds terrible, native English-speaking technical staff.  My previous company had a difficult time helping me because there was a language barrier, and that created nothing but frustration for me.  After I did all the necessary research, I decided to give Bluehost a try–and boy, am I glad I did!

Not only did Bluehost make the set up process ridiculously easy, but I was in contact with the same staff person for several days while my site was being migrated from my previous hosting service, making the process streamlined and assuring I didn’t have to repeat my story 8,000 times to 7,000 different people while trying to get the help I needed. It was glorious.

***Click HERE to start your own Bluehost account.

Easy Transfer for the Tech Illiterate

As if that wasn’t enough, Bluehost told me about a service they have for people migrating previously-existing websites from one host to another.  For under $150, your Bluehost team will migrate your entire site for you in under a week.  Now, while a week might seem like a long time, I promise you it’s worth it.  I am so not tech savvy.  It would have taken me daaaaaaays of blood, sweat and many many tears to get that site transferred, and Bluehost had it done for me so completely that I never even noticed the change (with the exception of the better service and nicer personnel).

Trust me, do the research for yourself, but I would wager to guess you’ll come back to Bluehost just like I did and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the wonderful service this company provides.

***Click HERE to start your own Bluehost account.

Design

After you get your blog named and hosted, then the design must be completed.  Many people will tell you to get the design professionally done.  I think this is a mistake, and I am speaking from experience.  Professional design has its place, and it will be something you absolutely want to do eventually–when you’re established and making a steady income.  And if you have no eye for design and plan on doing everything you can to make that money back straight away, by all means, go ahead and hire a designer.  But I will tell you, my experience with a designer as a new blogger was not a great one.

What I will say, though, is purchasing a blog theme that is more specialized and designed is a great investment.  After I had my blog initially professionally designed, I realized I hated what the designer had provided.  At that very same time, my previous hosting company lost EVERYTHING.  I took that as a sign I needed to start over.  So the design you’re seeing today is actually my own.  But I had huge amounts of help from the Foodie Pro Theme.  It is definitely one of the best things I ever did to make my design look professional, put together, and accessible.

Food Specific Aspects

As I said above, a food blog is its own animal.  Some of the specific aspects of food blogging that are different or more involved than in other niches include Photography and Seasonal Posting.

Photography

If I were to say the single most important thing to a food blogger (other, of course, than the recipes have to be tasty and edible), it would be photography.  Good writing is a big part of blogging, but in food blogging, stellar photographs are an absolute necessity. When you’re considering developing a food blog, make sure you understand that food photography is the number one best way to make people WANT to try your recipes.

At this point, my biggest lessons are regarding equipment.  So, for now, I can only show you what I use.  Find all my favorites here.  I’ll try and go into more specifics in the coming months.

Recipes & Seasons

Another food blog specific attribute is that of “Seasonal” recipes and postings.  Now, I’m not suggesting that other niches don’t do their best work when creating posts that are relevant to the current seasons.  However, I will argue that there are very few other niches which essentially require seasonal posting.

When you believe like I do, that natural living is the key to health, there is no better way to help both the health of

your readers and the health of our environment than to “eat with the seasons.”  While many other bloggers are subject to seasons for their posting regarding holidays, shopping habits, or weather projections; food blogs must be attentive to the foods specific to different times of year, as well as the consumption habits of their readers.  In other words, you readers won’t connect with you as well if you’re posting strawberry ice cream recipes on Christmas Eve.

Believe in Yourself

Finally, I don’t know that there’s anything more important when starting a food blog for profit than believing in yourself (other than maybe working your ass off.  Lol).  If you don’t believe in yourself, you’re far less likely to keep going when the going gets tough–and trust me, it will.

Blogging is just like any other job–there are ebbs and flows, trials and tribulations.  And every once in a while something will happen technologically that will make you think the entire universe is telling you to quit–just like those awful first dates that encourage you to make the conscious choice to retire to cat-lady-dom.  But being a food blogger is also extraordinarily rewarding in completely unexpected ways.  You’ll meet great people, exercise your creative skills, and bring wonderful food and happiness to more people than you ever could have believed.

Believing in yourself will get you through the tough times.  And, more importantly, how can anyone else believe in you when you can’t believe in yourself?  Believe in yourself and the rest will come.

Stay hungry, daters.  For food, for love, and for the connection we get from putting ourselves out there in this crazy cyber space world of food blogging!