To start a food blog, or blog generally, may not be really difficult or expensive. Check out the steps below for economical ways to start an awesome blog!
I often get questions about starting a blog, or about food photos – this blogging resource page is for you!
I first started blogging about recipes in an attempt to keep a “recipe journal” online, documenting the various recipes I have tried from various awesome bloggers, websites or books 🙂
When I First Began…
I first started posting recipes on Blogspot, and honestly, it’s a really easy no-frills site to use. I enjoyed using it till Dec 2017, and decided to jump over to WordPress because I was feeling very frustrated from tweaking the blog’s layout.
So I have been reading about other bloggers who mentioned that they wished they were self-hosted from the start – and when I was doing the migration of the blog myself, I truly can identify with what they were saying!
It was really terrible trying to migrate all the posts and photos, and I am still trying to replace the photos from some of my older posts because the photos just cannot port over (lol IKR!).
So if you are wondering – “Why not I’ll just use the free blogging service from Blogspot or WordPress” – I’ll really say that go for a WordPress self-hosted blog 😉 It just offers you so much flexibility with their plugins and themes. Be rest assured that you would be creating a nice visiting experience for your readers!
5 Simple Steps to Create Your Own Blog:
1. Think of Your Blog’s Name
I know, I know… Names are always difficult to get started with! It is best that you get certain elements or words that represent you best. It is also good to go for simple words that can be easily remembered. For example, if you super super love sprinkles, you can consider using “sprinkles”. For me, I simply get my name “Cherie” + “Noms” because my blog is mostly about food, isn’t it?
2. Register a Domain
My husband helped me to register for the domain using Name Cheap (also check out the link for tips on domain name), and indeed, the cost of getting a domain per year is one of the cheapest I have seen around. The domain name should match your blog’s name, by the way! 🙂
3. Get a Reliable Web Hosting
Moving from a hosted site from Blogspot was scary for me! I have heard about the slow speed and down time from some bloggers, and I am really someone with zero tech knowledge! I told my husband about my concern, and we both searched for a good web hosting company together.
Though many bloggers promoted Bluehost, I have also found recent bad reviews, which made me decide to not go with Bluehost. However, it is worth noting that Bluehost gives free domain, so if you are just starting out, and wanted to try, you can consider Bluehost.
By chance, I came across SiteGround as highly raved by several bloggers. After reading up, I realised they have serveral data centres, with 1 in Singapore. Yay! That means I can get to choose an established web hosting company and don’t need to worry about speed, if the data centre were to be in the USA.
Furthermore, they have starter plans starting at $3.95/month. It seemed to be one of the cheapest options around!
In the end, I was glad to have chosen SiteGround because they offer live chat, and was most prompt and helpful while we did the transferring and migration.
4. Install WordPress
Registering for a WordPress account is really simple. You can also check out your web host for detailed tutorial.
5. Get a Nice Blog Theme Design
As I am an aesthetic person, I prefer something that can represent myself. So I chose to go with Restored 316‘s design – Savory theme. It is an excellent theme for food blogs with a touch of girly style. I really adore the clean and feminine layout!
This theme, together with various other themes are built on the Genesis Framework. So do note that you would need to get Genesis + Savory to work together.
Another great theme for food blogs must be their Divine theme! Take a look at it 😉
If you are in other niche or categories, you can also consider other designs, such as the Darling theme.
Other popular food blog themes that we commonly see, would be the Foodie Pro or Brunch Pro. They are developed by StudioPress, the same people behind the Genesis framework 🙂 Both of these themes feature clean layout, which is great if you prefer something not so feminine 🙂
What’s Next?
1. Plugins
There are several plugins which you can use; however, do not use so many plugins, since they may slow down the speed of your website. I am using those essential ones, especially those that can help in SEO:
Yoast SEO – Having a blog that’s search-engine friendly is important, so that you can generate traffic! Yoast has both free and paid version, it’s good to try out the free version first!
WP Recipe Maker – The Savory theme comes with Easy Recipe plugin, but I heard of good reviews of WP Recipe Maker for SEO purposes. I am still using the free version. The layout is great too!
Social Warfare – This is the social media sharing plugin, which you see in all of my posts here. This is one of the highly raved plugins, as most social sharing plugins may slow your website.
2. Food Blog Course
I am a member of Food Blogger Pro, which is a membership site by Lindsay and Bjork Ostrom. Their crazily successful blog, Pinch of Yum, draws many fans worldwide. So most of us are really thrilled by this course + forum site.
This membership site consists of many video courses which runs you through from setting up your blog, building traffic, improving food photography, creating videos, and to advanced topics like generating income, creating e-books etc.
I really can’t say more about how watching the video tutorials helped me in creating better photos, and I indeed have learnt a lot more than I could, on my own, through the forum.
I am really glad to have known of Food Blogger Pro, since I am such a zero tech person, which makes it possible for me to understand SEO, SSL, etc.
The membership fee is US$29/month, or US$279/year. If you are unsure, you can always opt for the monthly subscription to try out. You can cancel anytime, and they do offer a 60-days money back guarantee too!
The thing about Food Blogger Pro is that, it is not always open. Enrollment is only opened a couple of times a year, so do be sure to head over to put your name on the waitlist.
In the mean time, click on the images below to read some of the free e-books by Food Blogger Pro!
P.S.: Click here for the coupon code for some savings to the membership fee!
3. Photography e-Book
If cost is one of your concern, but you really, really want to improve on your photos, please consider getting Pinch of Yum – Tasty Food Photography eBook.
Are food photos important? You would know the difference in my food photo, from this:
To this!
So there! Now you have all the essential information and help to get started on your awesome blog 😉 If you still have any questions, please feel free to drop a comment or email me at hello@cherienoms.com
P.S.: I will also be updating this page as I take more courses that I feel would be useful for blogging. So do check back here, or join my mailing list.
