Ever wondered how to start a food blog? Let me tell you my story of how we got started. It doesn’t seem that long ago when I was a full-time website designer, I took a break due to ill health and never returned. As I was recovering, I decided to make some positive changes by starting a food blog — after all, who doesn’t love food? We aren’t excluded; we love extravagant foods.
Cooking extravagant, indulgent foods started when I left the Navy and started a family. I was so used to eating out and having food cooked for me on the ship and in restaurants that I didn’t know how to cook at all.
Raising a family means you’ve got to cook; there’s no getting away from that one! And I wanted those restaurant-style dinners and desserts on the table, so I dug deep!
Let’s go into more detail!
What’s The Cost?
To start a food blog, the cost can vary depending on what you’re looking for and what your goals may be. You will need to buy a theme, hosting, and maybe a couple of plugins. The average starting cost can be $300–$500, but after that, you will only need to buy hosting every 2–3 years. There could also be monthly costs depending on how you purchased your hosting and yearly costs depending on which theme you buy.
Making Money – Monetization

Your first year is all about building content, such as recipes. Google will barely recognize you until you have at least 100 recipes; this isn’t actually bad because the last thing you need is to be overwhelmed. Steady is best, so your only focus for the first 12 months or so should be publishing high-quality recipe posts.
During that time, build up your social media presence to drive traffic to your website. Once you start getting traffic, you can monetize your website by adding ads and creating ebooks to sell.
Which CMS Platform?
You first need to consider which WordPress platform you want to use — there are two types, a ‘.com’ and a ‘.org.’ From experience, you will need the self-hosted ‘.org’ to monetize your site and have full customization control.
Wordpress.org is free and allows you full control of your website. Wordpress.com controls what you can do; it’s much more complicated, and it can be much more expensive. I know because I had the privilege of helping dissatisfied website owners move over to .org.
Assuming you’re going to choose .org, don’t be overly concerned about how you’re going to install WordPress on your website. Hosting companies these days now provide a few simple clicks to set it up.
Themes and plugins are simple to upload and activate as well.
What’s Your Niche?
A ‘food blog’ is quite a broad niche, so it needs to be narrowed down to something specific, such as a specialty. For example, we specialize in extravagant and indulgent bakes; this is what we want to be known as.
What do you want to be known as?
Whatever you choose, it should reverberate throughout your website and, if possible, be incorporated into your tagline. A tagline is a slogan in small print, usually at the bottom of your logo.
Choosing A Domain Name

You will need a domain name for your site. Many hosting companies these days offer a free domain with a hosting package.
How quickly you create a domain name depends on your creativity. Sometimes, it means getting a pen and paper and doing a brainstorming session. When I mentioned to Steve about creating a food blog, he instantly thought of Feastiful. I thought it was a great name, so I went to see if it was available across all social media platforms.
A great tip to remember is to keep your domain to two words, three maximum. And the name isn’t referring to another name, such as:
▶︎ WhoRepresents.com — WhorePresents.com
▶︎ TeachersTalking.org — TeacherStalking.org
▶︎ TherapistInABox.com — TheRapistInABox.com
▶︎ ChooseSpain.com — Choosespain.com
It doesn’t stop there either; before buying your domain name, you’ll also have to check its availability on social media such as Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok. There are many others as well.
You don’t have to use all of those platforms, just the ones you feel you can maintain and would work for your website. Your website name should be identical or similar on social media so people can recognize you instantly.
Choosing A Hosting Company
You will need hosting (sometimes referred to as a server) to store your website and for people to read your content. Some hosting companies are better than others, while others are more expensive. The more posts, images, and traffic you have, the more speed you’ll need. You only need a small plan with a good company to get started.
When it comes to hosting your blog, you get what you pay for; this is why I only recommend Big Scoots. These guys have a phenomenal reputation; as far as I know, they don’t have one bad review.
They’re the best; they have everything you’ll need, including consistent five-star reviews, great customer service, zero downtime, protection, super fast websites, free SSL, and CDN. You can start with the lowest plan, and as your website grows, you can easily upgrade.
▶︎ BigScoots specializes in managed WordPress and has experience managing and supporting thousands of sites. They also have your best interest at heart when protecting your site with DDOS protection, firewalls, monitoring security exploits, malware scanning, intrusion cleaning, and more.
This removes the need for performance-degrading security plugins and overly technical, complex configurations that come with them.
Since you are not a security expert, I believe hiring a good hosting company specializing in security management is far better than wasting time attempting to manage it yourself.
▶︎ CDN — content management system (CDN) stores copies of your website on multiple servers worldwide. It allows your posts, images, videos, and backups to load faster, no matter where people access your website.
If you’re starting a food blog, you’re going to be uploading many images, so the faster your website is, the better it’ll perform.
CDN can be complicated to set up, so it’s probably best to choose a hosting company that offers it. With a click of a button, it’s installed, and with another click, you choose your preferred main location.
▶︎ Hosting Backups — Backups are incredibly important for any website. Your hosting company should provide this, but you will also need a backup plugin installed on your website.
Why do you need both?
Usually, your hosting company performs backups every few days and rotates old for new every 21 days. Every company is different; some perform hourly or daily backups and rotate less or more frequently.
Imagine you’ve been working on your theme and post all day. You save all your work and log out of your website. The next day, you’re ready to start again, but you log on to find your website isn’t functioning properly. Something is wrong, and you can’t fix it.
You pop over to your hosting company to restore your website, but that last store point was three days ago, and you’ve now lost all of yesterday’s work. If a backup plugin is installed on your website and you created a backup the previous evening before logging off, then you can easily restore your website.
THE BIG HOSTING DON’T’s:
Do not choose free hosting because there is no guarantee that the provider will stay in business; if they liquidate, you will lose all your hard work.
Also, I won’t call out any hosts specifically, but if you’re paying under $10 p/m, then you’re on a garbage host. Some of the recommendations found on the web are not genuine and/or are recommendations by people who don’t know what they’re talking about. Or, you’re seeing affiliate links from people who are trying to figure out how to make money online.
Choosing A WordPress Theme

Choosing a theme can be fun but also overwhelming because there are so many to choose from.
So, where do you start?
You will need a theme for your website to stand out in the crowd. There are some pretty wishy-washy themes out there, but I will tell you which WordPress foody themes are the best for performance and help you ace Google Page Speed Insights.
Are free themes okay?
Back in the day, I built themes from bare bones, but you will need one that can be installed and ready to go with as few customizations as possible. This means it’s better to buy one than opt for free versions. Free versions have limited customization options compared to bought themes, which have more customization options and are built much better with performance in mind.
Here are my recommendations:
Anyone running a food blog needs to consider Genesis or Kadence. They are stable, will never break your site, have minimal coding, and are the fastest you’ll find.
You will need a child theme to work with the Genesis and Kadence framework. A child theme runs on top of the framework and is never updated. Only the framework is updated. We recommend Feastdesignco or Kadence to buy your child theme. Both have equally impressive designs, speed, optimization, and much more.
Let’s get into the details:
▶︎ Glamsy Designs — Years ago, they used Genesis, but now they use Kadence, Thrive Themes, and others. Their themes are sassy with a delightful blend of functionality, colorful aesthetics, clean with modern designs, user-friendliness, and intuitive interface. can be exciting for site owners who want their site to be unique.
Feastiful uses their Delicious theme; one of its standout features is its recipe card integration, it enables you to display your recipes in an organized and visually appealing manner. Customization is easy, allowing you to personalize your site’s colors, fonts, and layouts to match your unique style and brand. We couldn’t be more pleased.
Kadence uses its own framework, you can use its free version or Kadence Pro. You don’t have to buy Kadence Pro to use Glamsy Designs Delicious theme because they created free page alternatives to the pros. However, the pro pages are easier to design and less limited.
We recommend Glamsy Designs because they have unique designer themes. They’re super elegant, pretty, mostly feminine, and classy, and you don’t need to buy Kadence Pro. Your theme will look tailored to suit you, they’re designer themes without the designer price tag and no yearly fee.
Glamsy Designs will provide email support for one year from your date of purchase; however, they do include free support on their FaceBook on their website.
▶︎ Kadence Pro — Because Glamsy Designs uses Kadence, I thought giving you some insight would be a good idea. Kadence offers premium WordPress products for a beautifully effective website. Your website performance will be high, and you can make as many customizations as you want using the block builder.
Included are an array of child themes, which they call starter templates, powerful page building blocks, lightweight popups, banners, slide-ins, and much more.
You can use their free products, purchase the Essential Kits, or upgrade to the Full Bundle. We’ve found enough resources to start a website with their freebies, but as you grow, you may need to buy one of their paid packages.
Choosing Plugins

You won’t know which plugins to use until you’ve bought your hosting, domain, and theme. Themes particularly require different plugins, so we are recommending what use. Below is a list of plugins that we’ve tested and used:
▶︎ Backups — we use WP-Staging; their pro version is outstanding, and it is incredibly easy to use compared to others that we’ve tried. We discussed earlier why backing up your website frequently is essential and does not depend on your host. You can download the free version from your WordPress dashboard.
▶︎ Spam — we highly recommend Antispam Bee. We have used it for years, and we’ve never had a single issue. This free plugin is a gem and can be downloaded from your WordPress dashboard.
▶︎ Grow for WP — this is an awesome piece of kit; it provides a filmstrip at the top of your website, optins and popups to grow your email list, bookmarks, likes, loves, and saves, and much more. This free plugin can be downloaded from your WordPress dashboard.
▶︎ Cookie Notice — we use Lightweight Cookie Notice. It’s very light and doesn’t bloat your website compared to many others, and it’s easy to set up. This free plugin can be downloaded from your WordPress dashboard.
▶︎ Images – we use Shortpixel to reduce the size of our images and Regenerate Thumbnails Advanced to prevent the resized images from becoming pixelated. Not all websites need this plugin, but you’ll soon know if you do because your images will be out of proportion and blurry. Both plugins offer paid options, but their free versions can be downloaded from your WordPress dashboard.
▶︎ Social Icons — we recommend Simple Social Icons and Hubbub (Social Pug). Both are necessary to gain social media shares, followers and likes. Both plugins are light in code so that they won’t bloat your website. These free plugins can be downloaded from your WordPress dashboard; Hubbub also has a premium version. If you’re using Kadence Pro, they have their own simple social plugin.
▶︎ SEO — known as Search Engine Optimization; we use Rank Math because it’s very easy to set up compared to other SEO plugins. It offers robust SEO optimization, essential features that facilitate Google recognition, especially their schema and generator, top keywords, and easy-to-follow setup wizard, so it takes all the guesswork out of setting the plugin up. Compare their free and premium, and you’ll be surprised by what this plugin can do.
Performance — We use Perfmatters. It’s an incredible plugin that can increase your website speed with just a few clicks. Your site will run much faster when using this plugin. Unfortunately, this isn’t a free plugin, but it is very cheap and worth every penny.
Cache — We use Litespeed because it is much more than just a WordPress caching plugin. Most other caching plugins don’t do an adequate job and lack the dozen other features Litespeed has. Its greatest features are that it’s free, it’s easy to use, and it’s usable straight out of the box without having to customize it.
Post Duplicator — We use Yoast Duplicate Post plugin It’s a very handy plugin that allows you to easily clone posts and pages in one click. It is simple to use and free. We only activate it when we need it; otherwise, it remains deactivated. The free plugin can be downloaded from your WordPress dashboard.
Security — There are many security plugins, but most bloat your website, which impacts performance. To overcome this, it’s best to buy good hosting that offers this type of service. We highly recommend Big Scoots for this.
Analytics — We use Site Kit by Google because it does all the hard work with just a couple of clicks. It’s an incredible plugin because setting up your analytics would otherwise take hours of work. You’ll be able to set your site up without having to leave your website. The free plugin can be downloaded from your WordPress dashboard.
Recipe Card Plugins
I understand there are so many recipe card plugins that it’s hard to know which to use. For a food blog, they’re a must, and because you need to please Google, it’s almost impossible not to use one. Here are the few that we’ve tried and, of course, the one we’ve settled on:
▶︎ WP Recipe Maker — Is it any wonder this plugin has 5-star reviews? It has everything you need and more. It has a slight learning curve, but it is worth the process. It has endless functions and various non-borning recipe cards to choose from that can easily be customized. Customizing isn’t possible with many other recipe cards, so this is a plus for those who like designing or making little tweaks. We’ve found it thoroughly comprehensive and worth every penny. Check out our recipes to see how the cards can be customized.
There’s a free version, but for what it costs, you’ll have better functionality with their premium. A free basic plugin can be downloaded from your WordPress dashboard, or you can purchase the premium, pro, or elite version from their website.
▶︎ Recipe Card Blocks—The plugin offers beautiful, non-complicated modern styles, and the settings are easy to follow. It works with any theme, and you can customize the colors to match your current theme or brand. The PRO version includes recipe roundups, equipment, a footer call-to-action, and nutritional values to curate and showcase collections.
A free version can be downloaded from your WordPress dashboard, or you can purchase a premium version from their website. Their premium is very much worth it because it offers so many great options compared to their free version, which has few options.
▶︎ WPTasty — It’s very easy to use and set up. It has five pretty recipe cards to choose from, and has nutritional section for Nutrifox which is a paid optional extra. WPTasty recipe card is easy to set up and looks professional, but it lacks customization options. You also need different plugins for each setting ie.; Tasky Links, Tasty Pins, and Tasty Roundups, which we didn’t like. It’s a great recipe card that’s loved by many bloggers because of its simplicity and elegance. Unfortunately, there isn’t a free option, but there’s a 14-day trial to test it on their WPTasty website.
Writing Your First Post

Just like baking, having a post-formula (or recipe) to follow can save you time and headaches.
Writing your first blog post and trying to attract readers can be exciting, daunting, or even challenging. However, it’s an exciting endeavor that sets the tone for your entire blogging journey. Whether you’re establishing a personal blog or a professional website, writing an engaging post will set the tone.
In short, things to consider are grabbing readers’ attention, interlinking posts, brainstorming keywords, using keyword searches, post layouts, visuals, social media, and sharing your new post on social media after publishing.
Email Marketing
Companies such as Convertkit, Mailchimp, Brevo, and Constant Contact offer newsletters as a separate service. These services are specifically for acquiring subscribers and sending them new recipes, seasonal content, and freebies/offers.
We highly recommend Convertkit because you can add up to 1000 contacts before paying, and even after that, their prices are low. They offer many features, including creator networking, unlimited landing pages, beautiful email templates, trigger email sequences, organized subscribers, and setting up your ideal customer journey with their Visual Automation tool.
Contact Details
You can use a hosted email to provide a newsletter service or, as many bloggers do, use Gmail. To set this up, you’d use your website name, i.e., yourwebsite@gmail.com. It is much easier to use Gmail compared to a hosted email. However, the downside to using Gmail is the possibility of spam. If this should happen, then using a hosting email would be a better option.
Summary
I hope none of this looks daunting. Once you get started, you’ll soon realize how easy it is to start a food blog or any other niche. In no time, you’ll be set up and ready to go! If you have any questions, please comment below, and I’ll reply within 1-2 days.
Your Questions Matter
Do you have a question? If so, let us know in the comments and we’ll reply within 24-48 hours and add your question to our FAQs if relevant. If you don’t already follow us, head over to our Twitter or Facebook to keep up to date with all our new recipes and articles.
For food safety top tips, check out USDA.gov.

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Sharon – Foodie Blogger
I’m a full-time food blogger, mother of 3 grown adults and 3 huskies. Most days you can find me in the kitchen creating new recipes, I love cooking indulgent bakes and love sharing them. I am lucky to connect with and inspire people from all around the world and help you on your cooking journey so you can eat in style!
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Disclaimer: The themes and plugins that we recommend are just a small part of the overall effort involved in running a food blog. Nothing on our website constitutes legal or financial advice.