I was once told that the most common language on earth is ‘food’ and almost 99.9% of the world’s population, can relate to it. If you are reading this article, you are probably a food enthusiast just like me. Have you ever thought of using this passion to make money with a food blog?
Let me share the four secret ingredients that can help you get started.
How To Make Money With a Food Blog
Ingredient #1 – Choose a Blogging Platform
The first thing that you will need is a blogging platform. It is where you write, publish, and share your blog with food enthusiasts. Most blogging sites are free to use at a basic level. Some are easy like the drag-and-drop Wix while others are customizable like WordPress.
I personally like WordPress better because it gives me more control over my webpages and design layouts. For example, this page that you are viewing right now is built on WordPress with my own choice of theme. No other websites look like this 🙂
Some people might argue that WordPress is technically challenging to use. Well, that isn’t entirely true. The best way to find out is to try it yourself. Simply use the SiteRubix platform to create a WordPress blog for free.
Ingredient # 2 – Identify Your Income Source
You have probably heard that writing can make money. As a food blogger, there are two ways to achieve this goal.
(1) Sell Your Products
Anything that you can create – a digital cookbook, an online cooking course, or even a new kitchen tool – you can sell them on your blog. Now, what about physical food? If you operate an eating outlet, you can promote the food menu or even better, set up an online delivery service.
“But I don’t own any food products!” No worries. That’s where the second method comes in.
(2) Sell Other People’s Products
Find out who has a popular cookbook, a great kitchen utensil, or a delicious food outlet and promote them through affiliate programs. Most companies like people to write good things about their products and if they offer a good commission fee, you can promote them on your blog.
Learn the criteria for choosing good affiliate programs here or search for them directly on affiliate networks.
Ingredient #3 – Write for Your Audience
It doesn’t matter that you’ve never scored A in English essay or that you are better at holding a saddle over a pen; if you are passionate about food, the words will come naturally. Start by selecting a product or recipe that you like or one that you’ve personally tried before.
And then imagine that you are in the kitchen, sharing some great meals with your friends and family. Everyone is having a good time just talking and drinking. Now, translate that enthusiasm into your own words. I assure you that your readers will enjoy reading your blog post or even try out the stuff that you recommended.
In reality, not all good products will convert since everyone has got different taste buds. So here is where you can come in as a food blog reviewer. Look at all the food magazines out there; aren’t they always giving ratings for different products and services? Readers like this kind of information because it gives them knowledge value as consumers.
Essentially, you want to create good quality content based on proper keyword research techniques. This will make your blog stand out from the rest of the crowd.
Ingredient #4 – Promote Your Blog
After you publish a yummy content, you need to promote it for two main reasons;
- A good blog needs engagement from online readers.
- The search engines need to know about your blog post for indexing.
The more you share, the more your blog gets passed around the web, bringing in more readers (and income) to your site.
So, how do you go about doing this?
- The most common method nowadays is through social media. In case you don’t know, there are tonnes of food-loving people tweeting, pinning through Pinterest and Google Plus-sharing all day long. Be part of these communities and share your blog.
- When you start getting some loyal readers, have them subscribed to your newsletter for weekly updates.
- Once you know which blog posts are more popular, advertise them through paid search to get more targeted readers and better conversion.
- Don’t feel like blogging? Then learn to make money on YouTube by creating your cooking channel like Laura. Her delicious recipes attract thousands of viewers every day!
Ok, Now That the Secret Is Out…
It’s your turn to use these four ingredients to create your food blog, or video blog if you like. Sprinkle a large dose of passion and you’ll not only make money but also get to do what you love most – exploring all things food.
So grab a pen and paper and start writing down your ideas. Once you have done that, hop over to my recommended training site to see how to get started on your online business. You’ll get to learn from the experts all about good content writing strategies, affiliate marketing techniques, and most importantly, creating a profitable blog.
Do you have any thoughts or questions about making money with a food blog? Feel free to leave your comments below and I’ll get back to you.
Hi Cathy, loved this article. It sounds such fun. Food is the common denominator for us all and spreading the love of food should never fail. There is so much diversity within this subject that you could literally write forever. I have been thinking of adding something like this to my site. I have a question. Are cookbooks a better product to promote than something like a juicer? Or maybe both would be ideal. Thanks.
That depends Simon,
Cookbooks, according to Google Trend has got a downward trend. Probably because people have better access to online recipes these days and they are way cheaper to acquire, sometimes even for free.
The juicing niche, on the other hand, looks more promising and I’ve certainly seen more people doing juicer reviews over promoting cookbooks.
Hope this helps.
Hello Cathy,
How right you are that food is a common language of the world.
I think having a food blog is a fantastic idea for anyone who is an expert blogger or for beginner, due to the fact that we all need to eat and people are finding a huge variety of techniques and styles in the cooking process, and the presentation of the food.
I like the different avenues that you offer your readers, giving them different options and ways to get started on their blog process.
Now this is interesting. People are making money by selling ‘cooking books’ and making ‘food cooking television programs’. Hence, making money via a food blog is an awesome idea.
I like your ingredients here to go about making money using a food blog. I am a little intimidated though with writing part. As you said, it’s about having passion and imagine that you are talking to a friend.
I would like to give this a go. It sounds a little overwhelming, but if things are broken down into steps, I guess I could do it.
Hi there Roopesh,
With the kind of web technology we have these days, one call sell cookbooks and teach through cooking videos all in one website. So that is one way to concentrate all your income sources on a single platform.
As for writing a blog, I would advice that you start by understanding what keyword research is all about. Once you get hold of the concept, the writing task can be easily broken down into small segments. Of course, having a passion on the topic would help, but your desire to learn as a blogger would bring you further in your online business.
I’ve had a lot of people show interest in this particualr niche and I always advise them to go for it. I think, since the launch of Pinterest, this type of topic can really take off, if approached correctly.
The image side of recipes seem to do really well in social media networks, don’t they?
Hey Chris,
Pinterest is certainly the social platform for food bloggers, largely because more than 80% of the users are female. Food boards/pins get shared a lot because the imagery is just so enticing. For those who are thinking of using Pinterest to grow their online business, here’s an article to help you out.
I do not think I will ever write about food. But I know that there are many other things I’m really interested in writing about.
I even started using Pinterest for my business, but as with other social media, I lose interest very quickly. I am happy that you provided a link for that though. I have certainly been inspired to do more with my account there.
May I ask, are you going to write about food in the future?
Welcome back to my blog Steen.
You gotta love Pinterest! Start with your own interest first. Check out for boards relating to your hobbies and gradually create boards for your business. It’s all about visual interaction really, nothing too serious or taxing to the mind. So give it a go, Steen.
As for your question, yes, I might venture into food blogging in the future as I really has a passion for all things yummy. Plus, I look forward to becoming a work at home mom so food is really on the top priority list here 🙂
To be honest I love working on my blog.
I have also been single parents for many years and I must say that my son has always been my first priority. But I will never be a real work-at-home dad kind of person. This is something I have made up my mind a long time ago not to say that my site is only a hobby.
But to come out every day and meeting people and provide a service just is not something I can totally escape. So for me food a necessary evil I deal with every day, it will be something I will never come to love making.
Hi Cathy,
That shrimp looks absolutely gorgeous, but unfortunately I am allergic (Lol). The cool thing about this blog idea is that if I want to make a new dish and I am not sure how to, I look it up and I’ll be able to find a lot of stuff, especially recipes.
As you rightly stated in your opening paragraph, the majority of us can identify with food and sometimes it can become a bit expensive eating out all the time. In addition, it’s most likely much healthier to make something yourself, as opposed to buying processed food. Not to mention the fun you can have trying to make something new and the satisfaction you get when it comes out just right.
But there’s a sense of satisfaction as well even when you think your new meal does not turn out the way it should, because you’ve learned how to do it differently next time. So, I think that this is a great opportunity for anyone who has a passion for food and your 4 suggested ingredients are spot on. The cool thing is, they can get started easily with the training at Wealthy Affiliate.
Now, I think I need to eat something. All this talk about food is making me hungry.
Aww Vanessa, you are allergic to shrimp? I hope you are not to chocolate. Those are my favorites 🙂
I think recipes is the number #1 item in most food blogs and YouTube videos. They are probably the most shared ‘food stuff’ on social networks as well especially if you are using Pinterest for your business. Every food blog has a potential to become unique because there’s really no restriction when it comes to food creativity, is there? New recipes, just like fresh blog content, always attract viewers and I would encourage more food bloggers to explore on this area to spice up their business.
Thanks for sharing this with us, Cathy!
Man, that chart is really interesting, I may need to join an Ad Network to see how it works, any recommendations? Good to see affiliate marketing there too, I’ve been doing it for a year and its really easy to do since everything is provided by the product merchant. It saves you loads of time, money, and all those stuff product creators go through.
Hi Riaz, that’s quite an interesting chart, isn’t it? I wonder what it’s like for other niches.
To answer your question, I have a love-and-hate relationship with ad networks such as Adsense. I like the idea that they help to make some money (more like pennies), but I also find them annoying for the readers sometimes. I will eventually come to accept and involve in some advertising myself, but at this point of time, I much prefer to focus on creating good content and quality traffic to my site first 🙂
Totally agree with you on the content creation Cathy! I love writing new posts and engaging with my readers too and I spend the majority of my time trying to write quality content every week, sometimes up to 7 hours!
No worries on the ad network thing! I have the same view on them too as I find them really distracting for my readers plus they also make my site look ugly, but I guess the money makes up for it. Thanks for your quick reply Cathy, much appreciated and I look forward to reading your future posts 😀
Cathy,
Really great post on how to create a blog and learning how to make money from it as well. I know people who want to start writing about what they are passionate about, but don’t want to leave their regular jobs. It is possible to start making a living through blogging, and one way is affiliate marketing. I will share this with my friends.
Hi Abraham, you brought up an interesting point.
Not many people are willing (or able) to quit their day job to do what they love doing. That’s why I encourage people to start on a part-time basis so that they get to experiment what works and what doesn’t. Affiliate programs are easy to find online and it doesn’t take long to apply. You can always work within your own hours or treat it as a weekend job and gradually grow that into a business where you can manage from home.
If you like to learn more, check out the training at Wealthy Affiliate.
I can use the same principles on my strength training blog, but the one thing that I was always wondering was promoting with Pinterest. Can that really help me to build traffic to my website?
Hi there Lyubomir,
Social media – if done right – is a good source of online traffic. Pinterest is just one of them. Blogs that are so called viral and highly shared are no more than just articles that produce good and captivating content. So before the traffic talk, I think the focus should be more on creating content that are trending in your niche. The more you write and share socially, the more traffic you get.
If you like to know how to create a good quality content, Kyle from Wealthy Affiliate has some good training about it. Do check it out.
Cathy, I love how you share your secret ingredients for making money with a food blog! I am doing the same thing with a juicing blog, and I simply love sharing with people all the things I know, and am learning. Plus, I get to make money doing it 🙂
Good to know that you are enjoying your blogging. Juicing is also a popular niche to get involved with as more people are shifting towards a healthier and happier lifestyle. I love trying out different juicing recipes – it’s a lot of fun!