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
Kate Alix
A someone who has literally only just started food blogging, this was a really great post to read! Thanks for all the advice 🙂
Charles
Thank you very much for the simple tips.
http://www.nativepot.com.ng
Regards,
Charles
Native pot (food promoter)
Charles
Thank you very much for the simple tips.
http://www.nativepot.com.ng
Regards,
Charles
Native pot (food promoter)
Krysten
Thanks for the tips! Do you know anything about Squarespace SEO? That is what I am using and I get so confused. I really need help, I’m a new blogger and would really like to succeed!
Thank you!
Krysten
Admin
Thanks for the tips! We are a new recipes blog where we publish recipes along with their nutrition chart.
https://www.yumzen.com
Mindy Boyd
Thank you for all of this valuable information!
Big Al
This article really helped us out! Thank you – we’ll totally cook you a nice dessert if we ever meet!
Big Al from InsaneCooking.com
Riya
Thanks a lot for the information… I am also agree with you that SEO matters a lot…but other ways can provide you some extra traffic also…
Gemma
THANKS! This was so helpful, I’m just starting out and these tips are awesome 🙂
little gingers & co.
Victoria
I appreciate all of this new advice! I’m a newbie food blogger and so far I’ve found it really hard to drive traffic from anywhere other than my little Facebook support circle, so thanks for this!!
http://www.itscheatdayeveryday.com
NAte
Thanks for the great tips. I’m wondering if you’ve tried Snapchat for promoting your blog? It seems to be growing at a massively fast rate.
Nate
http://www.creamish.com.au
Kay
Great tips. Thank you! Definitely need to try them out.
William
Thank you for your informative post. I have a question though, what if the food blog is on other country that does not have a lot of traction and community like in the U.S. ?
Just like mine, a baking recipes based on Indonesia: https://www.tokowahab.com/resep/
Vivian
Thanks for the tips! The All-in-One SEO plugin is super useful. Hopefully I’ll get more readers soon!
http://www.flesshe-bon.com
pooja@poojascookery.com
Thanks for the tips. How to become featured publisher on dailyfood buzz?
The Kitchen Flamingo
Thank you for the tips! They were really helpful!
Kitchen Treasures
Great post.I have added a lot of recipe,easy and delicious.
http://www.kitchentreasures.in
Dishant Sipani
Hey there, lovely steps and instructions.. I think this is an amazing article for any amateur food blogger. ? – Dishant from dishantsfoodieblogs.com
La petite poire
Thanks so very much for your insightful article. I have recently started a food blog which focus on catering for both vegetarians and omnivores called, lapetitepoire.com , although the SEO’s are very challenging. Thanks again I really appreciate your tips 🙂
Manpreet Kaur
Thanks for this post. I recently started looking for how to grow traffic on your food blog (read ‘today’) and I am glad I stumbled on your post.
Even though I have been into blogging for 3 years and I am a full-time blogger, I haven’t heard of the food porn sites you mentioned. Probably because I haven’t been that much into food blogging. Thanks for sharing the sites and trying to warn about the discouragement one might face. Will implement these and hopefully see a spike of traffic on my food related posts.
Scott
Great post on how to drive some traffic to a new food blog website! Thx for posting!
Ellanor
Thanks for the insightful tips!
I’ve just started my food blog and I have no idea most of the sites you mentioned existed. I’m going to try them out right now. And naming my photographs – would have never thought of that. Excited to see the difference. I really appreciate that detail that went into this post – it’s not as vague as most.
It’s seem I’m being too casual and I really need to up the ante from now on.
All the best
Ellanor
Quick comment –
Your post says to submit to TasteSpotting as it takes all the food-porn site rejects. Yet in the next paragraph, it says that your photos below where rejected by the admins there. It’s a bit contradictory and confusing – sorry to be fussy and point it out, but thought you might like to know. 🙂
Baisali
Very helpful tips. However some links in the post like photogazing and Yahoo shine are redirecting to different sites. However it is really helpful.
Barbie
Very helpful, especially about the all-in-one-seo pack
Ali
This is so helpful! Thanks so much for posting this for newbies like me!!
Joyce
Thank you so much for this great information. I fixed a few errors at my food blog as a result! 🙂
Afreen Zia
Thanks for the tips.
http://www.afreenskitchen.com
Paarul
Useful tips,As a new blogger its helpful .Thanks
http://www.paarulzkitchen.com
cuisine de matthieu
thank you for this article.
it will help me.
Komal
Really great post. I have just started my food blog and I am sure this will help me a lot. Thanks.
amy
Very helpful article. Thank you
Rachel
Thanks so much for this post!! I just started my blog, feedingdaniel.com, and have been so overwhelmed by all that there is to learn and figure out. It’s a bit intimidating, but I’m excited to dive in! This post was so helpful. I know I definitely need to work on my photography quite a bit!
loganayaki thamilselvan
very useful tips for food bloggers. thanks for sharing.
Loganayaki Thamilselvan
I just started food blog two months back. Very useful tips for me. Thanks for sharing
Economical Chef
Thanks for the article! Useful for a new blogger to the high level strategy.
-economicalchef.com
Charlotte | Porridge and Pillao
Thanks for the help! I just started food blogging, and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made so far! I’m really enjoying it! I create healthy recipes inspired by world cuisine, so if anyone is interested please check out my blog at http://www.porridgeandpillao.com
Charlotte
Thanks for the help! I just started out, and food blogging has been the best decision I’ve made so far! I’m really enjoying it!
I create healthy recipes inspired by world cuisine, so if that sparks anyones interest please check me out at http://www.porridgeandpillao.com/ 🙂
See you there!
Charlotte
Beth
Great hints for a new blogger like me. I really like your website and the appearance.
Regards
Beth
http://www.kidsrecipeworld.com
Jean
very help content for a newb food blogger such as myself. THANK YOU!!
Mejwani recipes
Good article. I was searching something like this only.
I will implement the tactics into my mejwani recipes blog and will see the improvement.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Ashley
I finally got to officially starting my food blog today and this was so helpful! I also use WordPress so I’m definitely going to download the All-In-One SEO. Thanks so much for your help!
Barbecue Malta
Excellent tips thanks!
Komal
Thanks for the great information. I am a new blogger and this is a very valuable information for me.
namrata
helpful it is
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Balkan Food
Very helpful post. Thanks!
londoncafe
London food blog
Great article, thanks for the tips! Your tips are really useful. Working for her, I’ve also made an in-depth review article of the 10 best WordPress themes for food blogs and recipes websites which can be found at:
Read more at http://www.london-cafe.com
Carolyn Eddie
Hi
Just emailed myself your post so I could find later when I have more time. Thanks for the tips. Blog started whilst I had a catering company hence name and it is meant to be tongue in check!!
Carolyn Eddie
That would be cheek!!