Insider’s Guide on How to Start a Six-Figure Food Blog

[su_heading size=”21″]Step 1: Think of a Name[/su_heading]
When you start a company, you should come up with a name first. While coming up with a name might be hard, I urge you not to spend that much time on it. You can always change your name later if you want to. The important thing is to get your site live as soon as possible so that you learn everything you need to know. Once you have learned how everything works, you can change everything so that it’s perfect.When choosing a name make sure that it adheres to these four characteristics:[su_list icon=”icon: check” icon_color=”#3a9f21″]

• Descriptive: Your name should describe what you are going to write about. If you are going to write mostly about different brownie recipes, then your name should refer to it (Ex. BrownieBible.com).
• Memorable: Your name should be easy to remember since you want people to come back again and again. Don’t have a name like JKatesBrownieCookbook.com. It’s too long, and chances are people are going to remember it.
• Short: Your name should be relatively short. This is part of being memorable. How many websites can you remember that are longer than 15 characters (Ex. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com).
• Easy to Spell: If your name has words that are hard to spell in it, then you might want to reconsider. For instance, if your website is BrownieWeather.com, know that many people might mispel weather as whether.

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Like I said earlier, don’t spend too much time thinking about a name. Successful people know how to focus on the important things, like developing their skills and then adapting things later.

Websites usually end in .COM on the internet. Check to see if your name is available in .COM form at Bluehost.com. Keep in mind, you may want to register that name today, since someone else might be thinking of that same name and only one person can own it!

[su_heading size=”21″]Step 2: Choose a Reliable Web Hosting Server[/su_heading]

All websites in the world have their files stored on a computer or server that other people can access. This server is called a web host and you will need to purchase one to get your site up. Don’t worry too much about the technical terms, just know that this is something that you need.

When it comes to web hosts, I have learned that you really do get what you pay for. The two best options are outlined below:

[su_tabs class=”my-custom-tabs”][su_tab title=”Best Value: BlueHost”]If you want to get your feet wet, nothing beats BlueHost. BlueHost has some of the most affordable web hosting around and they will make sure that your website never goes down.

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[su_tab title=”Future Proof: WP Engine (What We Use)”]WP Engine is used by a ton of top six-figure bloggers. People trust WP Engine because it is future proof. No matter how much traffic your site gets, WP Engine will always work.

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Limited Time: We have learned that for a limited time WP Engine is offering six month of web hosting for only $4. They didn’t tell us how long this offer is available, but they have been known to make changes.

Whichever web host you choose, I highly recommend that you avoid GoDaddy. Their servers are slow – something that will cause issues later down the line when you start getting website traffic.

[su_heading size=”21″]Step 3: Install WordPress[/su_heading]As we mentioned earlier, WordPress is used by most of the world’s biggest bloggers to manage their websites. WordPress allows you to publish posts, upload images, design your site, and so much more, all for the low price of free. 

Chances are you may have heard of WordPress.com. What you need to install on your web host is the open source version of WordPress called WordPress.org.
You can usually install it with the click of a button. Depending on which web host you are using, the installation process slightly differs.

BlueHost: To learn how to install WordPress on Bluehost, click here after signing up for an account.

WP Engine: By default WordPress is already installed on WP Engine, so there’s no need for any setup.

[su_heading size=”21″]Step 4: Setup WordPress Theme or Framework[/su_heading]After you are done installing WordPress, when you visit your website it will most likely look like this: 

The basic WordPress site is pretty ugly, but don’t worry because within just a few minutes you can have a professionally designed site up.

The power of WordPress is that you can install a theme on your site. A theme is basically code that makes your website look and behave in a custom way in the click of a button.

Here are some basics that you want to make sure your theme has when you select one:

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• Responsive: : You want the theme that you select to be responsive. Responsive means that the theme works for all devices – laptops, PCs, phones, tablets, et cetera.
• User-friendly: You want your website to be as user friendly as possible. The content should be easy to read, the font should be fairly large, and it should be well-structured.
• Easy to Work With: Generally, it is safer to go with frameworks that are flexible. This will allow you to customize the themes to fit your site and style. Many web designers use frameworks on WordPress to build websites for their clients. You could go hire a web design company (we have done so many times for other projects), but be prepared to pay a few thousand dollars for a good-looking site. Instead, you’re better off with a powerful framework that you can get for less than $100.

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Since a theme is going to be responsible for the way your website looks, it is a good idea to spend time and money looking for the right one. This step is one of the most important ones.

Here are two places that I recommend searching for themes at: 

Genesis Framework: The Genesis Framework is used by a lot of WordPress food bloggers to enhance the power of their websites. It has a ton of features. Have a look around at their themes and buy it here.

Elegant Themes: Elegant Themes has a really high-quality selection of WordPress themes for you to choose from. Click here to look at their themes.

If you still haven’t found a good looking site, visit the world’s largest selection of WordPress themes here. Click on WordPress in the navigation bar and type in food in the search box. This will get you the best choices.

When setting up your website, there are some important things to keep in mind. You want to keep your website as clean and uncluttered as possible so that people stay focused on what you write. You also want integrate social media on your site so that people can like and follow you on Facebook, Twitter, and more. If you keep these two basics in mind, your website should work pretty well.

[su_heading size=”21″]Step 5: Analytics & Basic Tools[/su_heading]After you have your website setup, you want to install some tools so that you can get an understanding of how your site is growing. Two must have tools are Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools.

Google Analytics 

Google Analytics tells you how many  people have visited your site over a period of time. For instance, you can find out how many people visited your website, how many times they visited, where they came from, et cetera. It is really powerful and 100% free.

Visit this link to learn how to set it up.
If you work hard, your analytics dashboard could like look this very soon as well.

*We had over 6 million hits to our website in a two week period.

Google Webmaster Tools

Search engines are one of the biggest sources of traffic for most food blogs. For instance, if someone types in “barbecue chicken recipe” into Google, Yahoo, or Bing and your website ranks at the top, chances are the person will visit it and read your article. The process of ranking high in a search engine like Google is called search engine optimization (SEO).

Google Webmaster Tools gives you information on how many visitors are coming to your website from Google.
You can learn how to install it here.

[su_heading size=”21″]Step 6: WordPress Plugins[/su_heading]Once you are up and running, you might want to add some plugins to your site. A plugin is an easy way to add functionality to your site. Usually, you just click the install button and configure a few settings, and your site then gets some new powerful functionality. Most plugins on WordPress are free.

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• WordPress SEO by Yoast: This plugin will help make sure that your site has good SEO. As mentioned before, SEO is the process of getting traffic to your site from search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
• Recipe Card: This is the plugin that we use on our site to add recipes to it. It is the best WordPress recipe plugin.
• Hover Pin-It: This plugin adds a pin button to your images so that when someone hovers over a photo on your website, they can instantly add it to their Pinterest board.

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There are tens of thousands of WordPress plugins out there. If you want your website to do something, chances are someone has probably made a WordPress plugin that you can install to do it.

[su_heading size=”21″]Step 7: Taking Photos[/su_heading]I wouldn’t obsess too much about the quality of your food pictures in the beginning, but if you want to step up your game, I recommend the Tasty food Photography guide.

The guide is only $19. It was written by Lindsay over at Pinch of Yum. She takes high-quality photos and I can vouch for the quality of her course.

Personally, I know people who take world class food pictures with their iPhones, so I wouldn’t stress that much about your equipment. It’s all about how you use it.

[su_heading size=”21″]Step 8: Publishing Your First Post[/su_heading]Publishing your first post in WordPress is straightforward. I recommend watching this video if it is your first time.

If you want to have step-by-step instructions on how to setup WordPress, there’s also a course called WP 101. While you can easily learn WordPress without a program like this, it will jump start your learning and help you get up to speed super fast.

[su_heading size=”21″]Step 9: Setup Social Media[/su_heading]What is a food blog without social media? Social media will probably be the most important source of traffic to your site when you first start out. Lucky for you, it is free for you to setup an account and start promoting your recipes, images, and content on nearly all of the top social media platforms.

Here are the social media sites we recommend you use to promote your new food blog:

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• Twitter
• Create a Facebook Page
• Pinterest
• Instagram
• FoodGawker
• TasteSpotting
• Foodie.com
• Yummly.com

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Note: Consistency is key when using social media to promote your new food blog. Building a community is hard work, but it is a very valuable asset for your new food blog. It’s best to focus on just a few social media sites to remain consistent, since hyperextending yourself is never good.

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