Starting a personal blog is like creating your first original recipe. You feel inspired and passionate about it, and you definitely want to make it special. But if you look at the culinary niche websites and blogs, you’ll see that there are many resources about cooking already, and it’s very hard to become the one that will stand out.
There’s a huge bunch of blogs that are overloaded with banners and pop-up ads. And when you try to click on a recipe you want to check out, there are even more ads showing up in new tabs. Annoying, isn’t it? Getting the real audience to your blog is important. But how do you get such an audience for your culinary site without tiring the readers out with ads? As a blog enthusiast in the cooking niche, I’d love to share some tips with you in this article.
Ways to Attract Users to Your Cooking Website
Chefs and cooks are not really into digital marketing, but they don’t have to be. There are different ways to attract people to your cooking blog without doing many SEO promotions.
There are several ways to develop your newly-created culinary resource:
- Unique Style
- Content Marketing
- Social Networks
- Partnering
Now let’s see how it works more closely.
1. Unique Style
The easiest place to start is to see what your competitors are doing. Search Google to find blogs and sites that have similar topics and analyze them. Rivalry and a competitive spirit have always fostered development. But how to determine your blog’s distinct style of writing?
Keep in mind that your website is your original dish, so people have to remember it by its ’taste’. Think about what you can offer. Can you write a mouth-watering article? You have to decide which ’ingredients’ you can mix to achieve a perfect result.
If to speak about articles, there are some basic culinary blog topics to cover. You can take them as a basis and create something new, or mix old and new together.
A short guide on the cooking blog article types:
Recipe article:
An article with a recipe is divided into two types: a step-by-step guide of cooking and a general recipe. But in both cases, the text should be written in your own way.
Review article:
The form of a review article can cover topics of kitchen devices, diets, table setting, and products used for cooking. It should be noted that the texts in the diet section must also cover healthy food topics.
Dictionary entry:
These publications contain several mandatory sections: the benefits and nutritional value of the product, calorie content, use in cooking, how to choose, how to preserve, and etc.
FAQ article:
This article should answer the most popular question searched on the web. Do your research and see what people want to know about cooking and how you can help them.
It’s not enough to just throw some recipes at random and wait for positive reviews. Any culinary blog should be at least accurate and coherent. Since a cooking blog belongs to the category of blogs offering some practical skills and advice, in addition to the simple correct speech, you also need to pay attention to details.
Details are like your secret ingredients: they make your writing more attractive and memorable. If you want your readers to successfully prepare a delicious dish according to your recipe, it should be described in as much detail as possible so that even the most inexperienced chef can understand.
2. Content Marketing
Content marketing means the promotion of interesting and useful content from your website. If you already have your own style and create unique and attractive posts, people read it and share it with friends; therefore, you get more readers. But this is a very simple and perfect case. For getting more readers steadily, you need regular and complex work.
Most people tend to click on the top first links on Google when they search for some information. So, let’s see how you can bring your blog on top.
Some ideas to keep your blog on good positions in Google search:
1. Retain readers;
Ideally, your website should be designed in such a way that people would spend as much time on it as possible. This will directly affect your number of site views;
2. Create a section with the top publications;
If new people find your website, top publications will help them to quickly understand what kind of content you provide;
3. Link articles to each other;
For example, if you wrote a post about cooking a barbecue, and you already have an article about how to choose a good brazier for a barbecue, put the link to this article on the new post.
4. Give your best publications a second life;
There are “eternal” topics that do not depend on recipes or cooking trends. For example, a post about ’how to choose fresh meat’ is always relevant. Review statistics of your posts and pick up those that collect the most traffic. They can be updated, supplemented, and re-posted. Just do not pass them off as fresh materials; it can play a cruel joke with you.
5. Pack content in different formats;
Create a checklist from an article, post a review, share some real-life pictures about your cooking experience. This will also give additional views and attract people to check your site out.
The process of preparing food is actually a form of creativity. Today it is an improvisation, tomorrow a well-thought-out and verified process with a beaker, but yesterday there was simply no inspiration, and your pancakes just burnt. Products for a chef are like paints for an artist. Simple food and gourmet masterpieces are born from the same products. You can cook a cutlet from a piece of meat, put it in a roll, and this will be a simple recipe. But, if the same meat is cut into thin strips, fried to a light crust, drowned in honey dressing, and sprinkled with large peanut crumbs, this is a form of art.
We get pleasure from cooking special dishes, both in the process and in the end. However, the beauty of the finished dish is fleeting. And your task is to record the miraculous birth of a masterpiece. Use all your imagination, breathe life into every ingredient, and create your own unique painting.
The content should not always include long-read articles and monotonous describing the cooking process. Each of these content types serves a different purpose and is applied at different stages of your blog development. Don’t get hung up on just one look. Make different posts, mix them until you get a perfect ratio. Also, don’t forget to motivate your readers to give you feedback and share the post with their friends.
3. Use Social Networks To Get More Readers
Now let’s talk about social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., are the places where you can get the most of your potential dedicated fans. Advertising your content on social networks is really helpful. Especially, if your photos are as delicious as the meals you cook.
How social networks can help:
You can see what your potential audience likes;
Likes, hashtags, and keywords are your best friends. Check out some posts that have a big amount of likes and comments and see what people are interested in. Reviewing cooking gadgets? New vegan nutrition recipes? Seasonal culinary? Social networks are amazing to get inspiration from!
You can give a reason to visit your blog;
Write a small post on Facebook or Twitter, including the link to your website, and ask your friends to do the same so that a larger group of people will see it. Make an intriguing headline, share only part of the article content, and watch the views of your site rise;
Work on your photography skills;
Cool photos are what people see before they decide to read the article. It works the same as with the menu of the restaurant. A beautiful picture generates a desire to try a dish. You can take pictures by yourself, or hire a professional photographer. Investing in this content will definitely pay off.
If you decided to take photos by yourself, here’s a checklist:
- Think over the style of shooting - What will make your photos different? Do you take photos on a minimalistic background? Or using a special plate?
- Find a place to shoot - This is not difficult: you have to find the lightest point in the apartment (with natural light), where you can sit with the background and props.
- Choose equipment - It all depends on your financial capabilities and skills. You can make a "delicious" photo both with a professional camera or iPhone.
- Find a background - You can buy a professional one, or you can create it yourself. The simplest thing is a white sheet, which you can decorate the way you want.
- Select an attribute - The most photogenic plates, forks, pans, pots, napkins, etc. should be in your shot.
- Master graphic editors - Whatever you shoot, the photos need to be processed. If possible, purchase Adobe Lightroom. It has enough functions to process photos for a blog with high quality.
Don’t be afraid to experiment. The experiment is the key that unlocks a delicious blog. Even a business like blogging requires constant development and healthy curiosity. Why not check out popular food blogs for inspiration? Why not try dishes that are slightly different from your usual choices? The possibilities are truly endless, the main thing is not to get stuck in one place.
4. Partnering
I’m sure that you more than once have seen how different bloggers on social networks advertising each other to find and expand their audience. This is a pretty good-working way because a person with an audience of 50,000 people will definitely have 10-20 thousand people who will come to you.
How can you arrange a partnership?
First, you need to find a blog that will agree to cooperate with you.
I would, for example, target websites where you like the content. If you have favorites, don’t hesitate to repost their articles, write them comments and emails. You should be recognized. Never ask a large site to partner with you from the doorway because it will never work.
Second, come up with what you can give in return.
Some blogs may ask for a fee to post on their site, and that’s okay. Can you offer reciprocal advertising? Discuss the terms with the author of the site, you will probably be able to come to a common denominator.
Third, you can create a collaboration.
You have a very small audience but specialize in cool gluten-free desserts for athletes? Find a blog that writes about healthy eating and offer to help each other. You will get new readers, and the blogging partner will get the content they are missing. You can work on an article together, exchange healthy eating knowledge, etc.
Quick Mind-Blowing Tip for Beginners
Many people create simple websites. All they do is post articles after articles, and that’s it. Nowadays, almost anyone can create a culinary website. Not everyone can make a culinary project more interesting than others. Do not get hung up on ordinary articles, develop and achieve more from the site. Make the project as useful and convenient for people as possible.
A culinary blog is more about work than fun. It takes more time to prepare food for the blog than we usually spend. Shooting a video, taking a photo, writing a post, and editing takes hours, but all these are parts of the process which you cannot escape. Learn to do it all with pleasure.
Think about your blog as a dish or a menu of your restaurant. Attractive and well-designed cooking websites look tasty, and, therefore, more people want to try the recipes they offer. Design helps to drive the appetite for the best recipes, chef services, and culinary publications you provide. It is important to make your menu diverse and informative. If you make quality content with nice visuals, people will discover you quickly.
