For those of you considering starting a blog, I highly recommend reading my guide on How to Start a Food Blog in 30 Minutes (Or Less!). I included all of the nitty gritty details there, but I’ve summarized most of them here — and added in a few new things too!
- Less expensive options. These are great for bloggers just beginning or with a little less traffic. You don’t pay much money, and they still offer fairly good customer support.
- BlueHost (I actually started with this hosting company!)
- JustHost
- Web Hosting Hub
- Fat Cow
- iPage
- More expensive options. Switching to one of these is a really good idea when your blog receives hundreds of thousands of visitors per month. You pay more, but you don’t have to share resources like with the less expensive options, so your site will rarely be slow or inaccessible.
- BigScoots (My current host, as of May 2020! I absolutely LOVE them!!)
- Servint
- Liquid Web
- WiredTree
- WordPress.org. The themes offered here are free to download! They have limited customization options, but if you know a tiny bit of CSS, you can easily change the colors, fonts, and more.
- Designers. You can also hire a designer to customize your blog and avoid the HTML and CSS headaches. They vary in price, and they offer anything from creating logos to entire theme frameworks.
- Askimet. Every blog needs an anti-spam plugin, and this one catches most spam comments that appear on your blog posts.
- RSS No More. Instead of sending readers your entire blog post in an email, this plugin truncates the text wherever you insert the “More” tag. It’s like a little teaser, and readers can click the link at the bottom to visit your blog and finish reading the post.
- Better Notifications for WP. This plugin can send an email to any commenter when someone responds to the message they left beneath your blog posts. It really helps create a community feel and lets readers know you care about what they think!
- All-in-One SEO Pack. With this plugin, you can enter specific SEO keywords to help increase search engine traffic to your blog.
- Cache Enabler. Caching plugins like this one help reduce the load time of your blog and help them run faster.
- Easy Nutrition Facts Label. Many of my readers request the Nutritional Information for recipes. With this plugin, I simply enter the values, and it displays them in the standard format seen on the sides of boxes and packages.
- Email. I currently use Flodesk, and I’m absolutely OBSESSED! It’s so simple straightforward to use. Creating email newsletters in Flodesk is literally as easy as posting on social media! They have tons of gorgeous templates, and customizing them is SO simple to do. Also, unlike almost all other email service providers, they don’t charge based on your number of email subscribers! Right now, Flodesk is offering 50% off their monthly price of $38 for your entire first year. Yes — it’s just $19 a month! {Other services include ConvertKit, Mad Mimi , Mail Chimp, and quite a few others.} Regardless of which you pick, make sure you install something right away. Your email list is worth its weight in gold!
- RSS. This service is usually included along with email, and it provides readers with a more “newspaper” style of staying updated while freeing their inbox from clutter. (Here’s mine!)
- RSS Reader. This is more for you than your readers! An RSS reader is one of the easiest ways to stay updated on your blogger friends’ feeds. I personally use Bloglovin’ (here’s my feed!), but Feedly is another great option.
- Facebook. Create your own fan page (like mine), separate from your personal page, as a way for readers to stay connected. Facebook has its own internal feature to schedule posts ahead of time, and I highly recommend you use this so you aren’t glued to your computer all day long!
- Twitter. Create a handle that’s similar to or exactly the same as your blog name (like mine), which makes finding you easier for your followers. Although Twitter lacks its own internal scheduling feature like Facebook, HootSuite and Buffer are two programs that allow you to do so. (They also allow you to schedule posts on other social media sites too!)
- Pinterest. As a blogger, register for a business account instead of simply a personal one. (Here’s mine!) This grants you access to better analytics to track your repins, likes, visits, and more for everything you pin. Tailwind (starting at $10 per month, as of June 2019) is my favorite scheduling tool!
- Instagram. Completely visual-focused, this social media is perfect for food bloggers. (Here’s my account!) Just like with Pinterest, I recommend switching to a business account for access to analytics to track your Instagram’s performance (reach, impressions, audience activity, and more!). For more tips and strategies on Instagram, read my blog posts here and join my exclusive Instagram VIP List here!
- Food Blogger Pro. Run by Lindsay and Bjork of Pinch of Yum, Food Blogger Pro is incredibly helpful in answering questions and bringing your blogging game to the next level. The FBP Team sends out free weekly emails and also hosts a weekly podcast, but if you sign up to be a part of the community, you get access to 350+ videos explaining how to build traffic, earn an income, shoot better photographs, and more. You also get exclusive discounts on tools and services made specifically for food bloggers. I highly recommend signing up — it’s worth every single penny!
