How to Start a Food Blog in Five Simple Steps

Today we are going to switch things up a bit and talk about being a food blogger, and more specifically starting a food blog. It’s probably the question I get most often from folks and it’s a question that gets me really excited because I truly LOVE food blogging. Although its hard work, really hard work sometimes, and sometimes means your food will be slightly cold after you take the 100th photo of it – it’s really incredible and brings me lots of joy. I love sharing things from my kitchen and adore hearing from all of you.

So here goes! You love to cook, you love to read recipes, and likely in the back of your mind you have thought about food blogging before? Well – why not get started this weekend? It’s takes under 15 minutes to be up and running.

1. Find Your Food Passion

In my opinion, this part is the most fun. Start by brainstorming your passions when it comes to food. Do you love healthy cooking? Creating family friendly meals? Eating out and sharing your experience? Cooking on a budget? Foodie traveling? Find something that will get you excited. Blogging is really fun, but it is also hard work – so you want to choose something you love to write about and share.

2. Buy a Domain and Hosting

Now it’s time to come up with a name for your food blog. Get creative and find a name that suits you and your passion. Then head over to Blue Host (or another hosting/domain company, I personally love Blue Host and think it’s the most affordable) and click Sign Up Now. Then type the name you want into the box to find out if that domain (a fancy name for the address of your website) is available.

Once you find a name you love, you will need to purchase hosting.* Hosting is basically like renting space to house your website. There are all different types of hosting, but to start you just need a simple hosting plan. You can always upgrade later. One great thing about hosting with Blue Host is that they give you a free domain with hosting, and it starts for as little as $6.95/month for one year or 4.95/month for three years.

*You can also use free hosting through wordpress.com but your website will have wordpress.com in the domain name. For instance if I hosted Slender Kitchen on wordpress instead of my own hosting, it would read www.slenderkitchen.wordpress.com.

3. One Click WordPress Installation

Now that you have your domain and hosting, it is time to install WordPress. WordPress is a blogging platform that makes it incredibly simple to post and share your content. (There are also other blogging platforms but WordPress is by far the easiest to use and the most versatile.) And luckily Blue Host makes it very easy to install WordPress in just one click.

Make sure you are logged into your account and scroll down to the Sitebuilder section. Find the WordPress icon and click on it.

On the next page, simply click Install and Bluehost will begin to build your brand new blog! You will want to choose the latest version of WordPress.

Congrats! Your blog is now installed. Write down the password and URL for your blog and get ready to begin. Go there and sign into your very own WordPress blog!

4. Spice Up Your Food Blog

Woohoo! You now have your very own food blog. I already can’t wait to see your first recipe, foodie experience, or tip. Send me an email with your blog so I can check it out! Now it’s time to spice up your blog and add your own personal design touches. You have two options for themes with WordPress. You can choose a free theme from WordPress – there are thousands or you can buy a premium theme from a company like Theme Forest or Woothemes. Personally, I started with a free theme and then upgraded later on once I had more traffic. It’s completely up to you!