How I Started A Food Blog and started making money in 90 days
In this post you will find 9 easy to follow steps which will guide you on how to start a food blog make money online.
Hey There, I’m Maryam, The Maryam from maryamsmenu.com
For many, one of the hardest things to do is to take the first step and get started on any journey.
The New Year is just around the corner with all the new promises, goals, and commitments. This is the perfect time to make a new year’s resolution. I’ve got the perfect new year’s resolution for you which is easy and achievable.
Start your very own food blog.
Being a stay at home mom of 2 young kids. I always wondered how I could make some income on the side until I took the first step and bought a domain name and web hosting.
I started posting recipes and before I knew I was already making money within 90 days of starting my food blog.
Take The First Step
In my opinion the first step is to do a little homework before you start a food blog because this will help make your blog more sustainable and profitable.
In this article I’m sharing my experience on how I started maryamsmenu.com and started making money 90 days after launching my blog.
You will need to be consistent, patient and a little bit of help in the form of a guide, which is exactly what you will find in this article.
Do Your Homework
A lot of people feel they can’t start a food blog because they don’t know how to code or don’t have experience in web development.
I want to prove those people wrong by giving my example. A Housewife with no prior experience in this field whatsoever. I started this blog myself and within 90 days of launching it started making money already.
All this technical stuff may seem overwhelming and intimidating but these days setting up a blog is probably as easy as it gets, with tons of free tools available to create a professional looking blog.
Do It Yourself
Well you can always hire someone to make a blog for you but everything has a cost. A lot of people who want to start a blog have little or even no cash in hand to start a blog. I know this was the case with me when I started off with maryamsmenu.com
My suggestion to people who want to start a blog is to go the Do-It-Yourself Route.
Today there a lot of tools available like free site builders which use the simple drag and drop method to help you make a professional and stylish looking blog.
The trick is to start off making a simple looking blog and not get too ambitious when starting out.
This article has been divided into 9 easy to follow steps so that it will be easier for you to follow and set up your very own food blog and start making money online.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- Take the first Step and Start
- Do Your Homework
- Be Consistent
Step 1 - Choose your food blog niche
Food blogging is probably one of the best niches to start blogging on. Every one’s got to eat right! There is such a wide variety of topics you can start a food blog from
- Cooking Recipes
- Restaurant Reviews
- Country Specific Cuisines
- Vegetarian Food
- Sea Foods
- Gluten-Free Foods
- Food for Weight Loss
- Low Carb and Dietary Foods
- Travel Food
- Trending Food Topics
- Food Photography
- Super Foods
- Cooking and Kitchen Tips
and the list goes on.
You want to narrow down your food blog into a specific food niche so that you will be targeting a specific audience interested in your particular food blog niche instead of the whole of internet with a general interest in food.
let me tell you the competition is tough with over 600 million blogs, many of them food blogs.
You will have a hard time getting engaging audience and followers if you don’t have a specific food niche. And that’s the whole idea of blogging, to break through and outperform the vast competition out there.
How do you find your food blog niche?
Choosing a food niche can be very confusing for many. You tend to think that I can start a blog on any food niche as I like pretty much anything related to food. But you are wrong here.
The idea is to pick a niche you are passionate about and can write about consistently Otherwise you will quickly lose interest and running the blog will become a challenge for you.
There are so many different types of food blog niches that you can choose and draw inspiration from to start your very own food blog.
You have to explore your options and see what inspires you and resonates with you, what you are passionate about and want to share with the rest of the world.
Key Takeaways
- Explore your options
- Choose a specific food niche you love
Step 2 - Choose your Blogging Platform and Hosting
A blogging platform is basically a service or software which is used to publish content on the internet in the form of a blog.
And a blog is basically a website which is regularly updated with articles usually written in an informal style.
And a blog is basically a website which is regularly updated with articles usually written in an informal style.
Free Hosted Vs Self-Hosted Blogging Platform
There are so many companies that offer free (free hosted platforms) or paid blogging platforms (self-hosted platforms) you can choose from.
Some of the popular free blogging platforms include wix.com, WordPress.com, Blogger.com, Weebly.com, Tumblr.com, and Medium.com.
What you have to keep in mind is that these free blogging platforms have their limitations. Your blog name will be a subdomain.
Which means your website address or URL will be a subdomain (example maryamsmenu.tumblr.com and maryamsmenu.blogger.com) instead of maryamsmenu.com and you will be subject to the regulations and restrictions of the free blogging platform.
I personally would never put my time and effort into a free blogging platform simply because I will not own it and there might be a risk that my content can even be deleted.
Invest in Paid Hosting and Domain Name
So if you want to start a food blog just to explore the blogging world or want to share your content as a hobby then the free blogging platforms will work just fine.
But if you are really serious about blogging in the long term and want to make money online then avoid the free blogging platforms and go with the self-hosted blogging platforms where you are fully in charge of your blog and its contents.
The cost of the Self-hosted platforms is not a lot. With only a few dollars a month you can have a customs domain name web hosting and the blogging platform WordPress comes free when you buy the webhosting or web space.
WordPress.org
The number 1 self-hosted blogging platform today is wordpress.org Powers about a third of the internet. Most web hosting provides you a free domain for the first year when you buy webhosting from them.
The domain name is renewed every year for about 10 dollars per year. Basically you lease the domain name and the hosting and not necessarily own it as you have to renew the registration each year.
To make it easy to understand let’s think of your Doman name or your blog URL as your address and the internet and the web hosting is your house where you keep all your content accessible to your visitors.
There are a number of hosting companies you can choose from to buy the web hosting and most of these will provide you a free domain for the first year.
Popular hosting providers
Keep an eye on deals and special offers from these hosting providers before you start a food blog and you can save a lot if you buy their services during special offers .
To get a special discount on hosting, you can click my hostinger affiliate link which will earn me a small commission but will also unlock a special discount if you go ahead and make a purchase.
Key Takeaways
- Avoid free blogging Platforms
- Bias towards WordPress
- Explore the special offers from hosting providers before deciding
Step 3 - Choose your Domain Name
Picking the right domain name is one of the most important steps to start a food blog because it will define your food blog and what’s it all about.
Your Domain name is your address on the Internet. Also called a web address or URL. This is the name people type in the address bar of the browser which takes them directly to your food blog
You will be known by this name on the internet irrespective of what niche you choose. This is why it’s important to choose a domain name that fits well with your food blog niche.
How to Choose a Domain Name?
Ideally your domain name should immediately give new visitors an idea of what your food blog is all about.
A short, unique and memorable domain name has more chances of being remembered easily by your visitors and encourages them to return to your blog regularly.
You can also use one of the many online domain name generators to help you get ideas on choosing the perfect domain name for your food blog.
Get a TLD (Top-Level-Domain)
I will recommend anyone who wants to start a food blog to get the .com because the dot com is the undisputed king of domain extensions. It is a TLD (Top-Level-Domain) and is the most recognized and most accessible TLD which people will remember the best
With the internet explosion, getting a quality .com domain name can be almost impossible to find it’s getting harder and harder to find quality .com domain names.
Select Relevant Keywords
If you find that the .com domain you want is unavailable, you might have to go back to the drawing board and brainstorm. Just work around the food blog niche you are targeting and select the relevant keywords and you will eventually come up with a domain name which will make sense to you.
But if none of the available dot com domain names will go with your food blog niche then the next option would be to go for the .net, .org or .co extension which are some of the popular non-.com top-level-domains.
Avoid hyphens, numbers and special characters in your domain name as they do not really sound like a brand and you need to make your food blog stand out as a brand.
Ideally your domain name should have under 9 characters and make sure it is easy to pronounce as this makes it easy to remember.
Now, after you have decided on the hosting and domain name the next step will be to install WordPress.
Key Takeaways
- Go for .com TLD if available
- Keep domain name between 4-9 characters
- Should be pronounceable
- Avoid hyphens, numbers and special characters
Step 4 - Install WordPress
This step is based on choosing wordpress.org as your blogging platform.
Once you get yourself webhosting and a domain name, you would be assigned login details by your hosting provider to access the admin panel. After your login, I highly recommend the first thing you do is change your password.
Every hosting provider has a different interface after logging into your account. Some have the blogging platform pre-installed and for some you might need to install it manually. You have to look for the apps tab and find WordPress and install it.
You will be asked to add your website name for example “Maryams Menu” on your purchased domain and the installer will automatically set up your WordPress site, which will take a few minutes and then you will be taken to your brand new website or food blog.
Step 5 - Choose a WordPress Theme
Selecting a theme will depend on how you want your food blog to look. Your food blog should look appealing to your visitors and should be user-friendly so that your visitors can easily navigate around your blog.
One of the many advantages of WordPress is that you have thousands of free themes to choose from. You have to narrow down your search and look for a theme that fits your preferences.
free vs paid WordPress themes
The biggest edge of a paid theme over a free theme is that you get more features and customization options which can make your food blog truly unique from rest of the blogs.
Today due to the high competition, many theme providers are always trying to offer more features at lower prices and you can get a great theme at a very reasonable price.
For those who are just starting out blogging I will recommend to go for a free theme as these days you can find a lot of great themes that can be customized as per your need. You will need to spend a little time exploring the various customization options and you can build a truly unique looking theme.
To find the themes you need to go to the WordPress dashboard and go to the “Appearance” Tab and click on “Themes” and you will find all the themes including the paid ones.
how to choose a free WordPress theme?
As a beginner whos wants to start a food blog, you can get overwhelmed by the choices of free WordPress themes to choose from. You need to keep in mind the following factors when choosing a free theme.
1- Simplicity is Best
You want your food blog theme to user friendly so that your visitors can easily navigate through your food blog.
A confusing and difficult to use theme is likely to put off your visitors and they won’t stay long or your blog and might not even return. Make a simple looking blog so your visitors can easily find what they want on your food blog.
2- Check the Ratings and Reviews
One of the best indicators of the theme performance and reliability is the reviews and ratings provided by their users. Spend some time reading the reviews and this will be of great help in making your decision.
3- Preview the theme
When you hover your mouse over any theme. You will see a blue “Live Preview” button. When you this live preview button it will show you how this theme will look in your blog without activating it.
If you like how it looks and functions, you can activate it otherwise simply go back to your current theme.
4- Responsive Theme
A responsive WordPress theme will automatically adjust itself to the user’s screen size which means that your users will have an equally good experience browsing you blog on a desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
Today around half of the global internet traffic is on mobile devices, which means half of your visitors will access your blog from a mobile device.
Thankfully, most of the modern WordPress themes today are fully responsive so make sure that the theme you are installing on your blog is fully responsive.
5- Good for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
You Should choose a WordPress theme that is SEO-friendly as it will optimize your SEO site functionality and will help your blog rank well on the search engine result pages (SERPs). This will help in driving more organic traffic to your blog.
Once you have decided on the theme, select, install and activate it.
If you are wondering which theme I use on my blog. I have installed the Free OceanWP theme on my blog because of its excellent styling and customization options.
Step 6 - Install Plugins
WordPress plugins are basically add-ons that increase your blogs functionality.
There are thousands of plugins you can install on WordPress for your food blog but don’t get too ambitious and stick to what you really need.
Having plugins, you really don’t need can slow down your site and impact your blogs ranking. As the case with themes, each plugin on WordPress is given ratings and reviews by its users so make sure you go through the reviews before installing and activating a plugin.
Below is a list of plugins which I recommended are must haves on your food blog.
Yoast SEO will optimize you blog pages and blog posts for SEO (Search Engine Optimization), which makes your blog more discoverable by people in search results, resulting in increased traffic and revenue
Google’s Site Kit is One of the must have plugins to have on your WordPress blog. It gives you reports of google products for optimizing and monetizing you website in a single window.
In a single click you can get summary of your website traffic, popular content, search funnels, page speed data and your google AdSense revenue.
Ever since google started giving priority to sites having an SSL certificate (sites with https prefix or a lock icon next to your domain name).
The process of migrating from http to https can be difficult for someone who is has no prior experience in tech and coding. This is where Really Simple SSL comes in and will take care of migrating your blog from http to https automatically.
Elementor is a free WordPress page builder which you can useto build your own unique blog with elements you can drag and drop anywhere you like withour having to code. Another great feature of elementor is its wide varieties of ready to use templates to choose from.
Imagify will compress your newly uploaded images as well as images currently in your blog to help make your blog load faster.
This plugin does this automatically and you won’t have to worry anymore about your images sizes.
Step 7 - Must Have Pages on a Website
Now that you have chosen a theme for your food blog, installed the must have plugins, it’s the time to start writing your blog post.
Well almost. Before you start writing your food blog posts you need to do one more thing which will help your food blog look more professional and will eventually help in getting your blog monetized.
The first must have page to build on you blog. This will give your visitors information as to what this blog is all about and what can they expect to find on your blog. This will help build your credibility on the internet. You name this page “About Me” or “About Us”
When your food blog gains a following and starts to get a decent amount of regular traffic, you can expect different opportunities from your audience. People might want to ask you for help of your blogging topics, collaborate with you or even pay you for sponsored content.
A privacy policy page is vital to your blog specially if you plan on monetizing your blog through Google AdSense. Without the privacy policy page, your blog will not be approved by google AdSense to display ads for revenue.
The privacy policy is there to basically inform your blog visitors about the data you will collect from them on your blog and how and where you or any third parties might use this collected data.
You can find a lot of privacy policy templates and generators on the internet.
You can also have a look at my privacy policy page to get an idea on creating your own privacy policy.
Step 8 - Promote your food blog / Social Sharing
After you have set up your blog and started publishing articles, you need to build you audience and get the word out.
Social media is one of the most powerful tools out there to get discovered on the internet. Create social media accounts and promote your posts regularly. Engage with your audience and reply to comments.
Don’t forget to your start a YouTube channel increase your visibility as majority of internet users love watching videos.
If you want to start a YouTube channel and upload cooking videos you will need to get yourself a decent video camera. I will recommend the Canon EOS 80D.
The second thing you will need is a tripod to mount your camera on. and last but certainly not the least, a decent lighting setup.
You can even run ads on popular social media networks like, Instagram and Facebook. You can target exactly the right audience through ads who will be interested in your specific food blog niche.
Be consistent in publishing content. The followers you already have can be discouraged from visiting your blog regularly if your blog remains inactive for a while.
Step 9 - Monetize Your Food Blog
Finally, the part most people start a blog for, to make money online.
You can sell ads though google AdSense once your blog qualifies for google AdSense, Google will automatically place suitable ads on your blog targeting your audience generating revenue for you from advertisers
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