Want to start a food blog to share your culinary experiences with the world?
You're certainly not alone! In fact, over 230 million blogs exist on the internet today, and a good chunk of them are food blogs. So, why not you? (Especially when you see the billions of page views blogs are getting each month!)
Creating a food blog might seem daunting, especially if you're a beginner. But don't worry! Our step-by-step guide will walk you through the process of setting up your very own food blog on WordPress, one bite at a time.
So, are you ready to cook up a storm and spice up the blogging world with your unique food experiences?
Let's get started!
1. Get a domain name & WordPress hosting
Ready to take the first step in creating a food blog?
Excellent! Start by securing a domain name and finding the best web host for your food blog.
Our video creator has been hard at work with WP Tasty's series for creating a food blog. So, if you're more of a visual learner, watch the video below. 👇🏻
Then, head over to WP Tasty's YouTube channel for the next seven videos in the “How To a Food Blog on WordPress” series.
Choosing your domain name
Think of your domain name as your blog's address on the web.
It's what your readers will use to find and connect with you. So, it needs to be memorable and reflect the essence of your food blog.
Here are some tips when picking your domain:
- Pick a unique name: Your domain name is your identity on the web. Make it catchy and relevant to your content.
- Go for a .com: While there are many domain extensions available (.net, .org, .co), a .com is more trustworthy.
- Keep it short and simple: Shorter domain names are easier for your visitors to remember and type into their browsers.
It's also not a bad idea to include one of the keywords you'll target. For example, having “food”, “chef, or a similar food-related word in the name often helps (but it's not necessary).
Choosing your web host
Once you have your domain name, it's time to find a home for your blogging platform.
This is where your web host comes in. A reliable web host ensures your blog is always accessible to your readers, and it's lightning-fast! ⚡️
We recommend BigScoots as your web host.
People know BigScoots for their excellent customer service and super fast hosting. Plus, they are incredibly easy to use, even for beginners!
- Reliability: BigScoots offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee. This means your blog will always be live and ready for your readers!
- Super speed: No one likes a slow-loading blog. With BigScoots, your blog will load in the blink of an eye!
- Customer support: If you ever run into issues, you want a host that is there for you. Bigscoots offers 24/7/365 support to ensure your blog runs smoothly.
Now that you're equipped with your domain name and a reliable web host, you can start building your food blog!
2. Install WordPress
WordPress is good for a food blog!
It powers around 40% of websites on the internet, and that's because it's perfect for beginners. So, the next step is to install WordPress.org.
Luckily, many web hosts make it easy to build a WordPress website, which makes the process super simple and quick!
No matter what web host you're using and no matter your level of experience, installing WordPress should take less than five minutes.
3. Choose a theme
A high-quality theme is a critical aspect of your website design, especially for food bloggers.
They define your website's appearance and are responsible for features like fonts, colors, layout, and more.
There are plenty of options to choose from, including free WordPress food blog themes and premium WordPress themes. Let’s cover the pros and cons of each.
| Free food blog themes | Premium WordPress themes | |
| Pros | Quick and easy to set up Provides a basic framework for your site | More features and flexibility More design options Offers advanced features for better website functionality |
| Cons | Limited design options May lack advanced features | Requires investment |
If you want something specific to your food blogging niche, Foodie Pro is the way to go.
This theme comes with pre-designed blogger templates and features that cater to the needs of food bloggers. Plus, they can save you time and effort that you would otherwise spend on web design. Premium themes can also save you from spending more on expensive website templates or blog templates.
4. Install WordPress plugins
The best WordPress plugins make your life easier.
They add extra features, help you understand your audience, and even make your website prettier! But you don't want to overdo it. Too many can slow your website down.
So, here are a few plugins we recommend for your food blog:
WP Tasty
Wondering why food bloggers strongly recommend WP Tasty's plugins?
Besides the fact that we have the best WordPress recipe plugin, its supporting cast can help any blogger.
Well, let's dive in and explore the benefits:
- Tasty Recipes: Easily create beautiful and SEO-friendly recipes to rank better in the search results.
- Tasty Pins: Optimize your blog's images for Pinterest, which is a major traffic source for many.
- Tasty Links: Helps you to auto-link certain keywords to predefined URLs. (More on this in a bit!)
- Tasty Roundups: You can easily create and embed beautiful roundup posts on your blog.
With WP Tasty, you're getting all the food blog tools you need in one plugin.
All in One SEO (AIOSEO)
AIOSEO makes it easy to boost your search engine rankings.
The easier it is for people to find you, the more visitors you get. And who doesn't love more visitors, right? From optimizing your meta information to connecting with social media, everyone's an SEO expert with AIOSEO.
WP Rocket
Ready to take your WordPress site's speed to the next level?
Say hello to WP Rocket!
It's a caching plugin, which means it stores your website's data in a temporary storage space. So, when someone visits your blog, they can access your yummy recipes faster! But it doesn't stop there; WP Rocket also helps with file compression and image loading, which makes your blog even faster.
And faster sites also rank higher in search engine results, which means more people see your blog.
MonsterInsights
If you're curious about how your food blog is performing, MonsterInsights is a must-have.
The best Google Analytics plugins for WordPress, it gives you easy-to-understand stats about your website. This includes where your traffic is coming from, which pages are most popular, and even what your readers are clicking on.
5. Start blogging ✍️
With your hosted WordPress site set up and your blog design in place, it's time to start writing food blog posts!
As someone running a food recipe blog, Tasty Recipes is here to help you create engaging and organized content. Here’s an example of one of our 6 recipe card themes used by Pinch of Yum:
Tasty Recipes makes your content more shareable with social sharing buttons built into your blog posts. These buttons make it easy to share your content on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Now that you have your food blog all set up, there are a couple of optional tools you can add:
Try looking at other food blog examples to get inspiration for your own content. You can also try different types of posts, such as recipe roundups, or product reviews.
6. Monetize your blog
As a food blogger, there are several ways you can monetize your food blog and make money from your passion.
Affiliate marketing is a great way to earn some extra cash by promoting products that you love. You can use Tasty Links to create and manage affiliate links within your blog content. If someone clicks on the link and makes a purchase, you'll earn a commission.
Plus, there's also Tasty Recipes, which has Instacart as a built-in feature for your recipes. If someone clicks on your recipe’s Instacart link, you will earn a commission for every order they place. The Instacart affiliate program offers members a 5% commission rate.
This is what it looks like on your recipe cards:
Another way to create a successful food blog is through ads.
Services like Google Adsense and Mediavine help you earn money by displaying ads on your WordPress food blog. One thing to note is that ad revenue is generally lower than other forms (like affiliate marketing).
Ready to start a food blog?
That’s it! You've learned how to start a food blog on WordPress. And you can turn your passion for food into a profitable business and share your love of cooking with the world.
Ready to start your food blog today? With WP Tasty's plugins, there's no risk to give them a try. We're so confident in their quality and effectiveness that we're offering a 14-day money-back guarantee.