How To Start A Food Blog: Free Crash Course

SO, YOU WANNA START A FOOD BLOG?

Well you’re in good company. There are plenty of foodies like yourself who want to share their recipes, showcase their cooking techniques, or promote their food-related businesses through a food blog. The problem for most people is where to start?

Don’t fret, I’m here to help you through the process!

This step-by-step crash course will show you how to start a food blog and have it up and running within a few short hours. These are the same steps I followed to create the CraftySnax Food Blog. 

WHAT IS A BLOG?

Basically, a blog is a website started by an individual, group, or organization to solve a problem, educate, and/or entertain. Your may want your blog to focus on one or all three of these. You should write your blog in a conversational style so it reflects your personality. In other words, just say it like you mean it!

WHAT IS A FOOD BLOG?

There are many types of Food Blogs. For example, CraftySnax is a food blog dedicated to helping people break into food service within the entertainment industry. It features how to’s, recipes, and tips.

Other food blogs share recipes, showcase the latest in kitchen gadgets and appliances, or demonstrate unique cooking techniques. You may want to start a food blog for one of these reasons or to showcase your catering company or food truck business.

The possibilities are endless. As author, Andrew Murphy once said, “You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.”

So let your imagination soar and let’s get started!

STEP 1 – DEFINE YOUR FOOD BLOG

The very first thing you must do is to ask yourself a few questions, “What’s the focus of my food blog?”, “What’s unique about my idea?”, “What’s the point… to educate? to share? to entertain?” Only you know the answers to these questions. You know what you’re so passionate about that you’re ready to write about it on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

STEP 2 – DECIDE WHO WILL BUILD YOUR FOOD BLOG

Once you’ve decided what your food blog will focus on, you have to figure out if you will build it yourself or hire a web designer. I created this crash course for those who want to build their own blog. It’s really not that difficult. If I can do it, you can too! However, for those of you who aren’t into DIY, I suggest you check out a website like Fiverr to find an affordable web designer to breathe life into your idea. You can also hire writers through Fiverr to create blog posts for you too.

STEP 3 – NAME YOUR FOOD BLOG

Now that you’ve decided what your food blog is about and that you will build it yourself, you need to come up with a name for your blog. The name of your blog is known as its Domain Name. Your domain name will generally end in .com but it may also end in .net, .edu, .org, .gov etc. Your domain name is also your world-wide web address. The domain name and web address for this blog is CraftySnax.com.

Most domain names have fees associated with them. The fee is usually under $20 annually with some a low as 99¢ for the first year. I bought the CraftySnax domain name from a company called GoDaddy. You may have heard of them or have seen their commercials because GoDaddy is one of the largest domain registrars in the world.

When you go to the GoDaddy website you can test out your domain name idea for free. If your preferred domain is available (meaning no one is using it) GoDaddy will tell you how much it will cost to secure it. See example below.

If the domain name you want to use isn’t available, GoDaddy will tell you that also and make alternative suggestions as in the image below. P.S. please don’t use any of the alternative suggestions for CraftySnax!

HOST YOUR FOOD BLOG

After you’ve purchased your blog’s domain name, the next step is to find a Hosting Service. You need a hosting service to make your food blog accessible on the world-wide web (internet). It is through a hosting service that you and everyone around the world with internet access are able to view blogs like this.

Some people choose to buy their domain name and hosting from the same provider which is something you may want to do for convenience. However, when I was creating this blog I learned that wasn’t such a good idea. The reason being is that if I ever decided to change my hosting service it’s far easier to point my domain name to another host than it is to try to change both host and domain to another service.

I’ve been using IPower to host this blog and my previous website for more than 10 years. I can honestly say I’ve been extremely happy with the service. When I have problems or an issue that I don’t fully understand, their customer support has been helpful.

IPower also has a very extensive online Knowledge Base to answer any question you may have. You can even search the Knowledge Base before you purchase their service.

IPower offers three hosting plans for you to choose from. For a starter food blog I recommend choosing the PRO PLAN. If offers features that you may not use right away but as your blog and web presence grows, you will almost certainly put them to use. For example, with the PRO PLAN you get unlimited disk space, point an unlimited number of domain names to that one hosting account (in case you decide to start more than one blog), and commerce services connectivity like PayPal if you want to monetize your blog.

The cost of the PRO PLAN is $3.95 a month for the first year. The 12-month renewal rate is $12.95 mo. billed at $155.40 for 1 year. The rate drops to $11.95 mo. if you renew for 24 mos. and drops further to $10.95 mo. for a 36 mo. term.

Want to use IPower to host your new food blog? Click here to get started right now!

INSTALL WORDPRESS

After you’ve purchased your Domain Name and Hosting, you need to install the WordPress Content Management System. WordPress is the easiest blog creation tool around. You don’t need to know HTML or CSS coding because it’s all done for you behinds the scenes. Best of all, it’s included in your IPower hosting plan and IPower shows you how to install it!

Easy WordPress Installation with IPOWER

 WORDPRESS THEME

Without getting too technical, a Theme is the way your blog displays on the internet. Basically, it’s how it looks… the typeface, colors, graphics, photos, etc. In the above video you learned how to install and modify the Free default WordPress theme but you don’t have to use it for your blog. In fact, I recommend you search the internet for a theme better suited for your food blog.

For example, CraftySnax uses the Food Blog Theme by Nimbus. Although other bloggers use this same theme, we each use it differently. Click here to check out how other food bloggers use the Nimbus Food Blog.

You can buy the Nimbus Food Blog theme along with access to nine other Nimbus themes for only $49. Click here and “Join the 994,993 WordPress users who have picked Nimbus Themes!”

START BLOGGING

There you have it! A crash course on how to start a food blog today! Come back soon for more advanced food blogging information like monitoring stats, installing plug-ins, and monetizing to name a few subjects.

MEANWHILE…

Good luck! Send me an email with your new food blog address so I can check it out!

You may also be interested in Getting Started In Craft Services. Here you’ll all you need to know about this unique food service career.

Sign up for the CraftySnax Craft Service Bulletin and I’ll send you a free copy of “Get More Craft Service Jobs This Year”

This post may contain affiliate links. See full disclosure here.

 

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