15 Tips for New Food Bloggers

People are always asking me how my blog grew so fast.  So I finally decided to write a post about it.  I hope it can help you all a bit.

tips_for_bloggers

1.  Be yourself – Just write from the heart and people will feel your passion.

2.  Write about what you love – This again will draw people in.

3. Build your social media network –  Create fan pages on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Google +…etc

4.  Take good photos –  Nicer photos get pinned and shared more, so it’s in your best interest to work on your photography.  See my post on Tips for Photography.  I am by no means an expert, but this is what I have learned so far.

5.  Submit your photos – Sites like Foodgawker, Tastespotting, Healthy Aperture and Finding Vegan, will publish your photos. These sites can help drive traffic to your blog.  They can be picky, so prepare yourself for lots of rejection.  To put it in perspective, I have 156 photos accepted on Foodgawker, but 250 photos denied.

6.  Try to get invited to group boards on Pinterest –   Those are key to growing.  These group boards often have huge followings.

7.  Network with like minded bloggers on social media – Find like minded blogs and pages on Facebook and introduce yourself.  The foodie community is pretty tight.

8.  Content is king – The more content you have, the more page views you will receive.  Also make sure to include links to other blog posts within your posts.

9.  Create an organized blog with a easy to use recipe index – This will encourage people to search beyond the landing page.

10.  Leave thoughtful comments on other blogs – I try to leave at least 3 a day.  Often, those bloggers will come back and comment on your blog as well.

11.  Know your audience – This is important.  You can use Google Analytics to figure out who your target audience is.

12.  Make it easy to share your posts – Make sure you have social media icons under all your posts.

13.  Be patient – Growing a blog can take time.

14.  Post only your best recipes –  If someone makes your recipe and doesn’t like it, they may not come back to try more.

15.  Do researchThis blog post from Recipe Girl is an amazing reference for anything to do with blogging.  Bookmark it and keep it near you.

Once your blog grow, be prepared for a lot of work.  Keeping up with comments, posts and social media can take a lot of time.  I am no expert, but these are some tips that helped me get to where I am today.  It’s great to be able to do what I love.

55 thoughts to “15 Tips for New Food Bloggers”

  1. Great post thanks. I just came across your blog and found it most helpful as I am new to blogging, loving the learning process yet wondering if anyone out there will find me?
    1. Glad you found it helpful! There are many ways to get yourself known. Submit recipes to sites like Foodgawker and Taste Spotting, network with other like minded bloggers, and comment on blog posts are just a few ways to get your name seen. :)
  2. Great tips, thank you! Do you have any suggestions on how to get invited to a group board on Pinterest? I'm pretty clueless about that. Also thank you so much for giving the number of rejections from Foodgawker. I only have 15 accepted so far and 64 declined! I was feeling like such a failure for the declined number being so large. I've only been blogging one year and learned so much about food photography. Your pictures are stunning by the way!!
    1. Thank you Vicky! I would just message the bloggers via Pinterest and ask them if you can be invited to the boards. That's what I did. Good luck! :)
  3. Number 5 is very important for all newbies. It is really the easiest way to get some real traffic for your website. Everyone wants traffic from Google from the very beginning but it is very hard to achieve. if you make a nice list of food photo submission websites you can get some really nice traffic.

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