How to Earn Money as a Food Blogger? (A Complete Guide)

I was completely surprised when I learned that an old friend (tech blogger) is now running a very successful food blogging channel on YouTube.

I was surprised when my friend, who always stays busy with her profession and stock trading, is now running an Instagram page to post recipes and content about ready-to-cook food items. She is even working in a career that requires time and effort.

Feeling excited? Yeah! I felt the same way when I learned that many of my friends are now having a side-hustle related to food and earning money from the same. Making money from food blogging has helped many friends choose food blogging as their full-time career.

Every friend of mine now wants to know how to set up a food blog, drive quality traffic, monetize a food blog, etc.

Note – This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if a purchase is made using these links.

I’ve been doing part-time content writing and blogging for years.

Hahaha. I never thought that the craze for food blogging would increase so much.

You can start a food blog or channel by going through this food blogging guide.

Food blogging is now one of the best ways to earn money online. You can be a part-time food blogger or even a full-time food blogger.

Grammarly tool is helping food bloggers; hence, you should try using the free version or invest in purchasing a premium account.

Foodies will definitely read your blog or follow your YouTube channel if you can publish quality content.

I will publish crucial information for the new food bloggers to succeed like some friends.

I won’t waste your time. I’ll immediately start with my complete guide to help you make money as a food blogger.

You should read this food blogging guide to start your journey as a food blogger.

How to Start a Food Blog?

Here are the steps to follow to start a food blog:

• A Unique Domain Name.

I believe branding is the most critical aspect for food bloggers.

If you don’t have a unique blog name, you won’t brand your food blog uniquely.

An excellent unique name can give your food blog a unique proposition in the very competitive food blogging world.

• Affordable Shared Hosting for a Food Blog.

You need to find the best hosting provider to run your food blog.

Your food blog’s traffic may increase quickly if you focus on improving your social media reach.

Bluehost offers good hosting to new bloggers. You should check my post “Bluehost’s affordable shared hosting for your first blog” to know why I recommend Bluehost for your first food blog.

• A Premium WordPress Theme.

You’ll need a premium WordPress theme if you’re going to focus a lot on branding.

A premium WordPress theme with a unique look will even help you attract many advertisers and sponsors.

You can check out the GeneratePress theme if you’re looking for a very lightweight theme.

• Food Blog Niche and Content.

The food blogging niche is very competitive.

You have got the opportunity to cover a lot of things.

You can focus on covering recipes, new food items, restaurants, food stalls, etc.

Some food bloggers focus on a particular type of content, whereas some focus on covering everything. Some food bloggers also cover destinations like travel bloggers.

You need to decide what is more suitable for your food blog and your food blogging journey.

How to Drive Quality Traffic to Your Food blog?

Here are the different ways by which you can drive quality traffic to your food blog:

1. Search Engine Optimization.

Yeah! Search engine optimization was one of the best ways to drive quality traffic constantly, and it still is one of the best methods to drive quality traffic.

If you’re good at SEO, you won’t need the help of any SEO expert.

If you think you’re ready to invest money, you can hire an SEO expert for your food blog and channel.

Search engine optimization will help you rank your blog posts and videos at the top of the Google search engine.

The benefit is that if you can maintain your search engine rankings for the long term, you’ll make a lot of money from your food blog.

Special Tip – You can use the popular WordPress plugin WP Recipe Maker to write SEO-optimized blog posts. This plugin will help you to rank your posts about recipes.

2. Instagram Page.

Instagram is one of the social networking sites where you’ll find the maximum number of food bloggers.

You can use your Instagram Page to drive more traffic to your blog.

Also, some food bloggers are wholly focusing on their Instagram pages.

By focusing on their Instagram Page, they can gain the maximum number of followers and even earn money by collaborating with different brands and restaurants.

3. YouTube Channel.

Who doesn’t spend time on YouTube?

It is a must for food bloggers to have a YouTube channel.

I have noticed that YouTubers are getting a maximum of advertisers and sponsors.

Previously, YouTubers who used to review restaurants used to gain a lot of popularity.

Nowadays, YouTubers who’re covering new food stalls selling new food items are gaining a lot of popularity.

You can also grow faster by covering some new exciting food stalls and food startups on your YouTube channel.

4. Facebook, Linkedin, and other Social Networking Sites.

Most people focus on YouTube and Instagram, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t gain followers on Facebook and LinkedIn.

You can establish your presence as a food blogger and a food content creator on Facebook and LinkedIn.

You can establish your Facebook Page and use the power of paid advertising to grow your Facebook page.

5. Collaboration with Other Food Bloggers.

You can collaborate with other food bloggers to grow more and grow faster.

Collaboration on different platforms is helping many food bloggers to maximize their reach.

Even the best food bloggers are using the power of collaboration to grow their Instagram pages and the followers on their YouTube channels.

    6. Email Marketing.

The power of email marketing is unlimited!

Yeah! Email marketing is becoming more powerful day by day.

You need to focus on 2 things to use email marketing to grow your food blog:

• Have a good email list.
• Learn copywriting to make your readers feel happy after reading your creative emails.

Foodies will love to get some secret recipes by email. You can definitely try out this and let me know if your readers feel happy.

How to Monetize Your Food Blog, Instagram Page, and YouTube Channel?

The main benefit of being a food blogger is that you’ve numerous opportunities of making money online.

You can monetize your food blog and your Instagram Page built for food blogging, and your YouTube channel where you might be covering various restaurants and food stalls.

Here are the different ways to monetize as a food blogger:

✔Google Adsense.

You can use Google ads to monetize your blog and your YouTube channel.

If you can drive a lot of traffic to your food blog using the combination of SEO and your social media presence, you’ll be able to make money continuously by using Google ads.

✔ Sponsored posts and Reviews can make you earn the Maximum.

If you’re getting a lot of comments and shares and the followers of your Instagram page and YouTube channel are increasing very fast, you can expect to earn a lot.

You’ll be able to attract sponsors and restaurants, who may pay you to review them in the best way.

You can be paid a whopping amount for sponsored posts and sponsored reviews.

Once your blog’s traffic reaches a peak and your following on social media grows, you’ll definitely start earning a lot of money by utilizing this way of monetizing a food blog.

✔Advertisements.

You can get the opportunity to run advertisements on your food blog or your YouTube channel.

Advertisements will bring you constant income.

Earnings from advertisements will depend on your blog’s growth and the number of followers on your different social media profiles.

✔Affiliate Marketing.

You can join the Amazon affiliate program or any other popular affiliate program to earn a commission by selling some food items and other products through your blog.

Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways of earning passive income online.

✔ Long-term Association with Brands

If your blog has good traffic and you’ve got many social media followers, this should work for you.

You can approach a famous brand in the food blogging niche to work with you.

If you’ll keep providing them good results, they would also love to stay associated with you for the long term.

As food blogging is popular, brands value bloggers who create quality content.

Negotiation is an essential skill that you need to learn if you want to go for long-term deals with brands.

✔Selling eBooks.

You can write eBooks covering your secret recipes, revealing some of the secrets of your food blogging journey, etc.

If you don’t want to write an eBook, you can even write a physical book.

Your book can make you gain more popularity, and it may eventually increase your followers on social media and your earnings.

Why do I recommend you to try out food blogging?

👍 It can be your side-hustle or even become your full-time business in the future.

👍 You get the opportunity to enjoy tasty food regularly. If you’re a foodie, this work should make you feel the happiest.

👍 Food blogging will make you improve your photography and video editing skills.

👍 It also helps to build contacts in the blogging industry.

👍 Opportunity to make money in different ways.

👍 You may become popular online. You can use your popularity to start more YouTube channels in the future to make more money online.

👍 You meet people having similar interests.

👍 You get the opportunity to attend events.

👍 Some of the best collaboration opportunities.

👍 Food bloggers are considered entrepreneurs. They’re getting more innovative day by day.

👍 You get to travel to different cities and even other countries. Your travel trips can be sponsored by restaurants that may be waiting for you to review their restaurants. Isn’t this exciting?

👍 Believe Me! You can become the most incredible food blogger. This is possible.

I hope you’re excited to try out food blogging after knowing the pros of food blogging.

What are the cons of food blogging?

👎 It requires a lot of time.

👎 There is a lot of competition.

👎 The income can be variable.

👎 You need to become perfect and more creative to stand out as a food blogger, as the number of food bloggers increases daily.

👎 Taking pictures, shooting videos, editing videos, etc can become a very hectic task if you’re doing everything yourself.

👎 You’ll realize that new food bloggers are advised to invest more when you get a collab. This may not be possible initially.

Why Food Bloggers May Earn More Money in the coming years?

• Instagram reels and short video Apps are gaining popularity.
• New food startups and brands are increasing.
• New food dishes and new varieties of food items are something which everyone loves.
• Video content is attractive; hence, restaurants and startups are trying their best to use this marketing opportunity.
• Even school and college students try out food blogging as a hobby or for some additional income.

Premium Tips for New Food Bloggers to Make More Money

• Improve your photography skills.
• Make a list of the best stock photo sites having the best photos related to the food niche.
• Learn new strategies from other bloggers doing food blogging.
• Never reduce the price you charge for sponsored posts and influencer marketing campaigns.
• Focus on quality traffic and have patience while growing as a food blogger.
• Start freelancing to generate continuous income. You can do freelancing for magazines and publications, and work for other food bloggers as a freelancer.
• Create your own product line. You can sell pickles, vegan food items, special teas and coffees, etc. You have a lot of options that you can explore as a food blogger. Your popularity will help you to sell food items easily.

Food bloggers are now earning a decent amount of money annually. Many food bloggers have left their job and currently working full-time as food bloggers. Many never thought that food blogging would change their life, but it did.

You can make a lot of money from blogging. You can motivate your foodie friends by sharing this post on your social media profiles.

Are you encouraging your friends to start a food blog to make money online?