For most people, we recommend using WordPress with Hostinger to start a blog because it’s easy to set up and comes with lots of user-friendly features and tools. You can get started with Hostinger and WordPress for as little as $1.99 a month.
If you love cooking, photography, and teaching, then starting a food blog has probably crossed your mind. You get to build a community and an audience while doing what you love and, hopefully, make some money.
But starting a blog can feel overwhelming unless you have a clear guide and the right tools. In this post, we break down everything you need to know, from setting up the tech to the market research you need to do. Keep reading to learn exactly how to set up your own food blog in 10 easy steps.
The 5 Best Blogging Platforms For Starting a Food Blog
When you set up your blog, you’ll need to use a blogging platform with hosting and a domain name. We’ve spent hours researching the best platforms for starting a food blog and put together a detailed review of our top picks.
- WordPress with Hostinger — Best overall
- Wix — Best for beginners building a professional blog
- Squarespace — Best for artists and designers
- LinkedIn – Best for Networking
- Medium – Best for Writing to a Built-In Audience
You can read the full reviews here to choose the best blogging platform for you and your goals.
Start a Food Blog in 10 Easy Steps
Setting up a blog can seem complicated, but it’s easy if you take it step-by-step and use tools to help you. Here are the steps we’ll be breaking down in our tutorial:
- Get Signed Up With WordPress on Hostinger
- Choose a Niche
- Choose a Blog Name
- Set Up Your Site and Activate Your SSL
- Set Up Your Social Media
- Customize Your Blog
- Add Copy To Your Blog
- Add Plugins
- Add Legal Pages
- Create Your First Five Posts
For this tutorial, we’re using Hostinger with WordPress as our blogging platform because it’s affordable and easy to use for newer bloggers and has an easy setup with WordPress. Plus, Hostinger runs sales throughout the year, and right now, you can get started with a plan for as little as $1.99/ month.
Step 1: Get Signed Up With WordPress on Hostinger
The first thing you’ll need to do before you start your food blog is to set up web hosting and get your site up and running.
If you head over to Hostinger’s home page, you’ll be able to sign up for an account by clicking on Hosting in the menu bar and then WordPress Hosting.
Then, choose your hosting plan. Hostinger often does discounts and sales on their plans throughout the year, so check to see if you can get access to a deal.
We recommend choosing the WordPress Starter Pack because you’ll get access to a free domain for the first year, and it has everything you need to run a blog.
Then, add your choice to the cart, and choose how many months you want to subscribe for. You get a bigger discount the longer your plan, but it’s fine to start with just one year, as you don’t know if your blog is going to be a success.
Then, add your payment information and purchase your plan.
Now, you’re ready to get started with WordPress and set up your blog. You can log in to your Hostinger account and your dashboard, where you’ll see your plan and the option to Set Up.
We’ll cover that in just a second. First, there are a few other steps you need to complete.
Step 2: Choose a Niche
Before you set up your blog, you need to spend some time planning.
This includes working out what your niche is and who your target audience is. Although a food blog is already a niche, it’s still a broad category. If you want your blog to succeed, you need to narrow it down further to attract an audience.
For example, you might want to focus on vegan food or baking. The clearer you can get on your niche and sub-niche, the easier it will be to build a recognizable brand and connect with an audience.
Once you’ve decided on your niche, you need to think about what kinds of people will be interested in it. So, for example, if you are writing about luxury restaurants, you might expect chefs and food critics to be more interested than families.
The more you know about your audience and your niche, the easier it will be to brand your blog and market yourself on social media. Once you’re clear on your niche, move on to Step 3.
Step 3: Choose a Blog Name
Once you have a niche in mind, you can choose your blog name. This will also be your domain name, and it’s how people will find you online.
You want to choose a good name that reflects your niche and brand, but there are other things to consider.
Here are the main things you want to think about when choosing a blog name:
- Choose a name that is relevant to food and your niche
- Choose a name that is short and easy to remember
- Choose a name that is easy to spell and type
- Choose a blog name that has an available domain
- Choose a .com domain name because it’s easier to monetize
- Choose a blog name that is available as a social media handle on all platforms
- Don’t choose a name that is similar to any other blogs or business names online or on social media
Hostinger has a domain name search that will tell you if your domain is available.
It can be tempting to use a domain name similar to another blog if you really like the name and it’s available. However, we recommend against this because when you want to monetize your blog, you can get into issues with copyright if your name is too similar to someone else’s.
It’s better to avoid this at the start and create your own distinctive blog name, so you don’t have to change it later and risk losing the audience you’ve built.
Once you’ve decided on a domain name and know it’s available, go to Set Up in your Hostinger dashboard and claim your free domain. Then, choose Build a New Website and move on to the next step.
Step 4: Set Up Your Site and Activate Your SSL
Now that you’ve done the groundwork for your blog, you’re ready to actually set up your site.
In your Hostinger Setup, once you select Build a New Website, you’ll be asked to choose a hosting platform. Choose WordPress, then create a login and password for your WordPress account.
You’ll then be asked to choose a theme or a layout. You can use the search bar to look for blog layouts. You can edit your layout later and change your theme, but starting with a premade theme will make everything much easier, especially if you are new to blogging.
Once you choose your theme, you’ll get to a page that says your site is ready. Before you go to your WordPress Dashboard, you’ll want to ensure your SSL certificate is installed. Go to the option that says Control Panel and click Manage Site.
If you need to set up your SSL, you’ll see a yellow button that says Finish Domain Registration. Click on it. You’ll then just need to add all your details like name, address, phone number, etc. Once you’re finished, click Set Up, and then Continue to Control Panel.
Then, go to the Hosting section of the top menu bar, and select Manage next to your website. You’ll be taken to the Hosting Account page, and you need to scroll through the different options and icons until you reach the advanced section, where you’ll see the SSL icon. Click on it.
Then, click Set Up, then Activate, then Install. Your site is now set up and ready to be customized. Once you’ve finished this step, move on to the next one.
Step 5: Set Up Your Social Media
Before editing your blog, you’ll want to set up social media with your blog name.
Even if you don’t think you’ll use every account (you might prefer Instagram over Twitter, for example) you should still set up a free business account on each.
This is to avoid anyone else taking that name and help create consistency across your branding for when you need to market or monetize your blog.
Most social media give the option to set up free business accounts, which make you look more professional and allow you to measure stats about your blog and business. You’ll also be able to add your blog directly to your profile once you’ve got it up and running.
Once you’ve got you’ve created social media accounts for your blog, you can go back to your Hostinger Dashboard and move on to Step 6.
Step 6: Customize Your Blog
Now that you’ve gotten all the technical setup out of the way, you’re in a position where you can start editing your blog.
If you use a template to set it up, you can go and look at your site by typing in your URL. This will give you an idea of what you do or don’t like about the template so far, and what you want to change.
Next, go to your WordPress dashboard by adding /wp-admin to the end of your URL. From here, you’ll be able to edit your blog, choose a new theme, and add plugins.
If you go to Appearance, you’ll have the option to choose a new theme. You don’t have to do this, but if you don’t like any of the themes Hostinger suggests, you can choose a theme here.
You do also have the option to purchase a premade theme either through WordPress or through a third party and then upload it. This is only if you don’t want to customize your own theme or build it out, but you want your blog to look really nice.
You can find lots of affordable themes that you can download and upload on sites like Etsy. When you purchase the theme, they’ll give you detailed instructions on how to add your theme to your WordPress site.
Whether you choose a WordPress theme, a builder like Elementor, or a paid theme, you need to update the colors, the font, and the text to fit your own brand and your blog. You can also add your own images or free stock images from sites like Unsplash to make your site unique.
Once you’ve updated the appearance of your blog and you’re happy with it, move on to Step 7.
Step 7: Add Copy To Your Blog
Once you’ve set up your blog’s appearance, you need to go ahead and update the copy for your blog.
This just means updating the content (excluding the blog posts, which we’ll cover later).
Your template might not even come with copy examples, so deciding what to write might require a little research. You’ll need to add copy to your homepage introducing people to your blog, and you’ll also need to add content to your About Page and your Contact Page.
To decide what copy you want to add, go and take a look at some of your favorite blogs for inspiration. What kind of information do they include on the homepage? What do they tell you about themselves on their about page? What kind of copy do they have on the buttons or the menus?
Of course, copy and pasting is a huge no-no. You can get in big legal trouble for this, but you CAN use other blogs to inspire what kind of things you can write. Don’t be scared to let your personality shine in your copy because people like to get to know an author’s voice when they visit a blog.
Once you’ve added copy to all of your pages and spell-checked it using a free tool like Grammarly, you can move on to Step 8.
Step 8: Add Plugins
Next, you need to add some plugins to your blog.
Plugins are basically little tools that you add to your site that help you with smaller functions like having an email subscriber form, stopping spam comments, or speeding up your site. Chances are, when you first set up WordPress, some plugins are already included.
To see your active plugins, go to your WordPress dashboard and select plugins. You’ll then see a list of the plugins you already have and a button at the top of the page that says Add New.
If you click through to Add New, you can search different plugins, or upload your own. There’s no set rule on which plugins you need, but it’s a good idea to include:
- An anti-spam plugin, like Akismet Anti-Spam, to avoid annoying comments on all your posts
- A cache plugin, like WP Fastest Cache, to help keep your blog speed optimized
- A backup plugin, like Updraft, so that you never lose your blog, even if it crashes
- Yoast SEO, which will help you create optimized posts for search engines
- A cookie banner plugin, like Cookie Notice, so you can stay compliant with internet laws
The other plugins you add are up to you, depending on what features you want to add to your blog. If you want help choosing plugins, we have an extensive guide to the best WordPress plugins here.
Once you’ve added your plugins, you can move on to the next step.
Step 9: Add Legal Pages
The next step for starting your food blog is to add legal pages. These are pages like your Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions that are required by law on any website.
These sound scary, but they are really just to protect you and your readers from any trouble. A Privacy Policy lets users know how their data is handled, and which third-party plugins they use. This is required by law for many countries and states, so make sure you have it and add the link to the page somewhere obvious, like your footer menu.
Many countries also require your terms and conditions, and these just let your audience know what rules you have for your blog, like how old someone should be to access it or whether your pictures are free for public use.
To get these pages, you can easily use a generator like Termly, or Terms Feed to get templates, where you can then add your details. However, as a disclaimer, these are not the same as getting official pages drawn up by a lawyer. If you want to be sure your legal pages are correct, you should always consult a legal professional.
Once you’ve set your legal pages up and linked them somewhere clearly, like your footer menu, you can move on to the last step!
Step 10: Create Your First Five Posts
The last step is to actually start creating content!
You can launch your site without content, but it’s better to try to get 5-10 pieces live on the blog before you start marketing it or sharing it with friends and family.
This is the fun part because you get to sit down and brainstorm ideas based on your market research and niche about what content you want to write about. A good idea is to start with one topic and create a map of posts that are related to it for the other pieces of content.
For example, if you write one blog post about a tomato soup recipe, you could write another post about five comforting winter recipes. These posts can then link to each other, which will make it easier for your audience to navigate your blog and encourage them to stay on there longer.
Once you’ve planned five pieces of content, there’s nothing left to do but sit down and write them. You should edit them a few times and get some high-quality images of food to go with them before you upload them onto your blog.
To upload the posts, just go to Post in your WordPress dashboard, and Add New. Then, you can add your content and images and publish the posts. And then – you’re done!
Congratulations! You’ve officially started your very own food blog. And if you want to know what next steps you should take, you can read our guide of what to do once you publish a blog post here.
Final Thoughts About Starting a Food Blog
Starting a food blog doesn’t have to be hard, and once you get the setup out of the way, all you have to worry about is cooking good food and writing great posts. The hardest part of starting a blog is navigating the technical side of things, so now you have that out of the way, you can sit back and enjoy becoming a bonafide blogger.
And who knows? Once you’ve put out a few posts and built a community, you might even be able to start thinking about monetizing your blog, selling ebooks, and growing your brand into a cooking empire.
Source: quicksprout
How To Start a Food Blog in 10 Simple Steps