As with this beautiful congregation of eggplants, more is always merrier.
For a fairly new blogger, there’s nothing more exciting than logging into Google Analytics to see a big spike in traffic.
After only seven days of having this little ol’ blog up and running, I actually brought in 916 unique visitors in a single day. I swear I’m not bragging. There is a point to all of this.
How does such a new blog attract so many people? Pull up a chair and listen closely.
1. FoodGawker, TasteSpotting, PhotoGrazing and other “food porn” sites. I discovered these sites early on and immediately realized their power. Here are a few things to keep in mind when using them:
– These sites can be very picky with the images they accept. I’ve already spoken about the virtues of having a good camera, and it’s my belief that if you are serious about food blogging, you should invest in one. Food and aesthetic are directly related—it’s no coincidence that the most popular and well-known food blogs have beautiful pictures. I use a Canon Rebel XS, which is a great digital SLR starter camera.
– The more interesting your submission, the more traffic you will receive. One of my biggest traffic drivers was my Top Ten Photography Tips post that appeared on TasteSpotting. People see a million recipes for banana bread (mine included), but this particular article caught their eye because it was unique and helpful.
– If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. If your submission is declined you have three choices: a) sulk and beat yourself up for being an awful cook/photographer; b) get back on the horse and submit your post again with a different image; c) Submit your image to TasteStopping. TasteStopping is a blog that accepts all the food-porn site rejects and pairs them with clever little headlines.
Don’t get discouraged. I thought these were pretty good, but the editors at TasteSpotting weren’t so convinced:
2. SEO, SEO, SEO. I repeat it thrice because this is very important. Thanks to Dave’s SEO-guru coworker at Cars.com, I’m getting a significantly higher amount of traffic from search engines. SEO should really be a post in itself (and hopefully it will be soon), but here are the basics:
– First and foremost, if you host your blog through WordPress, download the All-In-One SEO pack. SEO is a piece of cake with this plugin, and you can use it to do almost everything you need in terms of basic SEO.
– Check your title tag. This is what showa up in the frame of your browser when you are on a site. It should be your blog name, as well as a few descriptive words. Mine is “Better With Butter, A Blog About Adventures in Food, Recipes, Eating Out and Entertaining.”
– Update your meta description (I did this with the All-In-One SEO plugin). This is the sentence that you will see in Google when your blog comes up in a search (after the title tag). By default it’s usually the first few words that appear on your home page—not ideal.
– Make sure your URL structure is optimized. By default, your permalinks, or the links that go to each individual post, will usually start with your blog URL and end with a series of numbers/letters. Google and other search engines use these URLs, along with meta descriptions and title tags, to decipher the content of your blog. You can typically change your URL structure in the settings area of your blog admin page. Change it to “title” or “date and title” for best results.
Here’s an example: http://betterwithbutter.com/guac-it-out/. This is a good example of a post that has a more inconspicuous headline. In this case, I’ll add a more logical title tag to the individual post so Google will see “Guacamole | Better With Butter,” rather than “Guac it out” which, needless to say, probably isn’t an oft-searched phrase.
– Name your images accordingly. For a while, I was adding images with the file name “Image 1234.jpg,” for example. Naming photos, I soon found out, can be good for SEO when it comes to Google Image searches. An image titled “Guacamole” will come up in an image search for the term, where as “Image 1234.jpg” will not. And to think, all this time you thought that Google was actually SEEING your images.
3. Blog communities. I am a FoodBuzz featured publisher, and I also contribute to Yahoo Shine’s Food Blog—both offer additional exposure for my blog by allowing me to publish my posts. Putting your content on other sites may seem counterintuitive, but it can actually drive traffic. Especially if you try this little trick: link to back to your blog within the content you publish on other sites. Because most of these sites do not have your blog name and link in plain view, readers would actually have to click on your name and read your profile to get your blog’s URL. If you have a link back to your blog within the post however, you are much more likely to get traffic.
See that “food pick of the day” below? That baby got me more than 200 unique visitors in one day. There’s no telling how much less that would be if I didn’t have a link to my blog in the post.
Oh, and the “Gorgeous” part of the headline came from the Shine editors. OK, now I’m bragging a little.
4. Social Networking. Yes, it’s an overused buzz phrase. But you may be surprised by the amount of traffic you can get from sites like Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Delicious and more. Add social media buttons to your posts so readers can easily add your posts to these sites, and don’t be afraid to be a little self-promotional. “A LITTLE” being the operative words. I use Twitter and Facebook to occasionally, but only when I have a post I’m really proud of that I think other people will actually enjoy.
5. Comment on and link to other blogs. The foodie blog community, like most niches in the blogosphere (Did I really just say “blogosphere?”), is fairly tight-knit. I find new blogs through Tastespotting and blogrolls/links on blogs I read.
Start commenting now. And don’t stop. You’ll not only get traffic from the blogger, but they may return the comment love.
So what are you waiting for? Go get blogging.
262 Comments
Cherie
Hey! Thanks for the great tips. Is this strategy applicable to geo-specific sites? I’m a starter and really need of some great tips. I’ll definitely look into those submission sites and get back to you.
hellosheena
Simple yet helpful. Thanks a bunch!
James Morrish
Great post, thanks for the tips!
James
http://www.isnapfood.co.uk
Pingback:
Gordana
Thank you for great article.
Cherie
Thank You for the valuable inputs.
You’d mentioned FoodGawker website.
Does this site take submissions on a regular basis?
If time permits, Could U please have a look at my site?
http://foodrecipeseasy.com/
Vladimir
Thanks! Great tips!
Donna Barstow
This is great, and as the commenter above wrote, the details are helpful.
Do you have that article on SEO up yet? Also, how about one on how to resume food blogging when you’ve totally given up, and forget the original goal? 🙂
viens
thank you great share but what is much better all in one seo or seo yoast? Viens from http://foods-delicious.com
Tiffany @ This Season's Table
Awesome article! I already fixed a few things that you suggested. Thanks!
Best Foods To Eat
Amazing Article for Food Bloggers like me and just in time and i really enjoyed the content you have 🙂 Hope you will enjoy my video too
https://youtu.be/1B0zzc9JOV4
Visit my blog
http://www.bloomedge.com/25-best-foods-to-eat/
Maria
Thanks for the tips!
I’ve been collecting healthy, tasty salad recipes for a couple years. I share them with family and friends so I finally decided to put them up on my blog to see if anyone else enjoys them!
Thanks again!
Maria
Kristine
No kidding, this is so helpful!!!!
ohmydish
These are all very good points, we followed all of these tips from the start of our food blog, and it’s really paying off! Thank you for sharing
Taboon Bakery
Thanks for the tips. I’ve been going for a while and still not much traffic. So surely I will try out your tips. Thanks again.
Vipin
Thanks for the post, its really excellent.
A Spoonful of Spain
Great helpful tips! Thank you!
Pushpa Nayak
Nice post……….to get traffic
David
this was really useful. Thanks for sharing this guide. I’ve taken a few tips away. 🙂 http://www.bakingbar.co.uk
Sarah Hopwood
Thank you so much for this post. I just got started about a month ago and my unique visitors number seem to have hit a plateau. But today I just got my first two Tastespotting submissions published! Already I’ve had 41 visitors directed from Tastespotting… I’m suddenly feeling like the hard work might start paying off! Thanks again for the tips and encouragement!
-Sarah
Irena
thanks from Taste actually
http://www.tasteactually.com
Mishael Witty
Thanks so much for these tips. I’m just getting started in food blogging, so I’m looking for ways to build traffic. I love your eggplant picture. Makes me want to run out and get some right now! 🙂
Maya
Great post! I’m just starting out blogging and this was very helpful!
-Maya from WholesomeYum.Com
Jacqueline Bouchier
Hey!
I love your humor in your writing. It was quite refreshing to hear how you are able to give wise words and help other bloggers out. I’ve only just started blogging and extremely thankful for your advice.
Cheers
Arunima
what an useful piece of information this is!
Keep coming with more of these kinds to help new bloggers like me!
Thank you so much !
Socratis
Great post, thank you! Just started my blog and there is a lot of work to be done, including cooking!
Ryan
I’ve found that the Allthecooks app and website are a cool way to help build traffic. It’s still small enough that a quality recipe posted to the app will get a lot of exposure. They just started a new website too.
Pooja
Thank you very much. Please check me out at http://www.poojascookery.com for all sorts of cuisines.
gillsana
thanks for this blog. blog posting is not the end but posting it on social media as well as you can do link wheeling for the same content so by this your keywords will boost up and site visibility will increase in SERP.
http://www.therangolirestaurant.com/
Eatosaurus Rex
This site hasn’t been updated in a year and this is still a top search result. You clearly did a few things right.
Rawr! http://eatosaurusrex.com
Michelle LaRose
This is a great post! I especially like the advice on naming your pictures and commenting on other food and health blog posts such as this one! I’m on my way to becoming a holistic nutritionist and enjoy posting yummy recipes and health tips on my site! I also LOVE taking food pictures! Let me know what you think? http://www.laroseylife.com
Shirin Mehrotra
Great post. i really need to start implementing the last point 🙂
Julie
Thanks for the advice; my husband and I are rather new to this. We’re having a lot of fun, but I never knew there was so much to blogging!
http://buzzedbites.blogspot.com/
Julie
Daniel Grimes
Great post. We better get started!
The Flavor Of Green
The post is very useful. I’ve learned a lot and hopefully I’ll be able to have improved visibility and more visitors.
Hannah Pease
Thanks so much for this! Even though you posted about a year ago, it’s so helpful. Much appreciated 🙂
Raksha
Loved the blog and this post.
kavi
great post. really helped me a lot.
have a look at my food blog -kaviipriyaa.blogspot.in
Olga Riofrio
My cooking blog is in Spanish with google translation hope you guys liked.
Thank you for the information is really helpful.
Olga.
Olga Riofrio
My cooking blog.
Nico
The tip about naming photos is great and something I have been guilty of. Better back track and get changing. It makes so much sense too. As for food gawker and co, I definitely need to keep trying. I let the rejection stop me from uploading but optimism and persistence.. or maybe just better photos!
Thanks again! 🙂
Mohd Ozer
I never understand about SEO. Tried a lot to bring the traffic on my blog, but never helped. I need more precise information or may be I need to practice and work on SEO a lot.
I Just Want To Eat
Great post. I guess time and patience are also important…
Swati
Really helpful tips. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
My 8 submissions were rejected by food gawker before I got accepted for the first time. I kept trying and trying.
Aparna
Thanks a lot for such unique and interesting inputs..I have this vegetarian food blog for an year now..and trying to get more serious about it..would definitely bookmark this post for reference…thank-you and do check out my recipes 🙂
Gillian
Hi! I’m a new food blogger! Thanks for this post, it was really helpful. Wish me luck! 🙂
http://www.misscleaneats.com
Ivory
Thanks for this post. Very helpful. I am launching my own food blog in a few weeks but for now I have a cover page to collect emails. You post makes me confident that my blog FOOD BY THE PEOPLE will be successful!!
http://WWW.FOODBYTHEPEOPLE.COM
chicken recipe ideas
Thank you for the helpful post.I am a new food blogger.How can I increase social share?
Suresh Verma
Nice post..
Amanda
Love this, I had never heard of tastestopping, I think I’ll try it out!