I know monetizing any blog is really hard. 8 out of 10 bloggers never make a penny from their sites. The #1 reason behind it is they don’t know what tactics to use to make money from their blogs. If you’re one among them, this post can be so much helpful for you. In this detailed post, you will find out:
how to make money from food blogging few great tactics to make your food blog successful
Are you curious to find them out? Let’s get started.
6 Easy steps to make money from food blogging
6 Easy steps to make money from food blogging
Step 1: Understand your audience
The very #1 step is to understand who your audience are. Without knowing your target audience, it’s impossible to make money from food blog (even if you’re good at cooking or selling!). This is important not just for starting a blog but for monetizing your blog too. If you want to deliver a positive user experience from the outset or want to attract or convert or promote your products or services, then you must know your audience first. There are many sources that you can get information on your audience from site statistics to actual conversations with real-life customers. You need to observe how they are interacting with your online presence.
Observe your site analytics: Inside your site analytics, you can see where your visitors came from, what keywords they used to find you, and how long they spent once they clicked any post on your blog. Social media research: You can use social media mostly Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and Instagram to find your potential customers by asking questions or by explaining problems your product can solve on. Ask your audience questions: Surveys and interviews can reveal deep insight into your customers since you can really dig into their answers and follow up with the goals, values.
Google considers users’ engagement when deciding how to rank a site on its search engine.
By reaching much wider audience, you can gather a larger sample size. By understanding of the end user’s experience, you can adapt the online experience accordingly.
You should know exactly the type of information you wish to obtain from the survey. User surveys help to quantify the assumptions you have made from the insights gathered in above steps. 5. Perform A/B testing: Put into practice what you have discovered from your user behaviour research. Through tools like Google Analytics and Crazy Egg, it’s easy to assess the impact like a change to a button, introduction of a new colour or a new menu item. Even if, it is just a sense check on your new design, you can consider using WhatUsersDo tool to test a beta site before launching. Customers’ behaviour constantly changes and you should adopt all these steps as part of your marketing strategy.
Step 2: Research what your competitors are doing
Hands down, Semrush is the go-to tool for doing competitor research. If you have not started spying on your competitors, it means you are probably losing much traffic. Spy on your niche competitors and see what works and what doesn’t. Semrush is one of the most useful tools that you can use to know about your competitor data. You can set key performance indicators and determine which online channels are truly worth investing in. First create a list of all the websites you are going to do competitive analysis for and then start analyzing on Semrush. Go to Semrush and give any URL from the list you created. Here, let’s use “quicksprout.com”. At a first glimpse, you can see a quick overview of important metrics to begin reviewing. First, look at the number 26 k (organic search) which tells the number of people arriving to the website per month organically. Remember, traffic estimate changes based on the software you use. This is because you don’t have access to their Analytics. You can check SimilarWeb.com to know the number of visitors per month. You can also know the amount of clicks the website receives per search queries performed. With this information, even competitors will have the chance to start bidding on certain keywords that could give them an advantage over quicksprout. Usually many people will have concerns about spending money on AdWords.. If you are not on first page of Google, then it’s almost very difficult to enhance your brand in the online world. Using Semrush, you can see “Top Organic Keywords” and “Main Organic Competitors”. Make the best use of the data to your advantage, spend your time and efforts to convert more customers. Right next to the keywords, You can also see insights into the search volume opportunity as well as an estimated Cost per click. On the right hand side, the graph demonstrates keyword distribution and performance. It will help you to understand how to shift keywords that don’t rank well towards optimal position. Here is the step by step guide how you can do research:
Go to Semrush and enter your own website and gather 5 competitor’s URLs. Open up Excel or a CSV and download their keywords. Filter by Search Volume or Traffic Determine how those keywords rank and gather the best Compare them against the keywords on your website by clicking on “Find Duplicates”. Gather all the keywords that the competition is using, but your website is not using Create a roadmap to determine how and where those keywords will be implemented on your site using “Advertising Research” and “Competitive Positioning”.
You are able to understand how the competition is spending their time, budgets and marketing efforts. Observe loopholes in your competitor’s website and rectify that in your website to attract visitors to your website.
Step 3: Build engagement with your readers
Email list is the #1 way to build engagement with your audience. It’s all about trying different things like listening to feedback from your readers and then tweaking those things until you find the best way. You can keep your email list engaged with these simple steps. Did you know that email has the BIGGEST ROI?
Tell your subscribers what to look forward to in your communications. If you don’t win them over right away, there are chances that they will either stop opening your emails or they will unsubscribe altogether. When it comes to crafting great subject lines, don’t be so formal and make them wonder.
Make sure you keep these two tips in mind every single time when you craft your subject lines. 2. Find your unique voice: How can you make your readers subscribe to your email list in the first place? If you are able to uncover your unique voice, then you will start to connect with your readers on a whole new level. Ask you readers. You can find their biggest pain points and struggles are by just asking them. You can ask them like, What do you like most about our emails, and what would you change? Increase your engagement by giving your readers exactly what they want. Make them feel a part of it, and show them you are there to serve them by just asking. 3. Segment your list: If you want to increase engagement, segment your list. What does segmenting mean exactly? You could have separate lists for several different categories based on what your subscribers are most interested in. When you know exactly what people are interested in hearing about, segment them to send very targeted content based on their specific interests. Keeping your email list engaged is not a rocket science, if you can successfully follow the above, you will figure out how to best keep your email list engaged. Here are 5 types of emails that will help you build engagement and rapport with your email subscribers.
Don’t just tell your subscribers and list of clients what you sell. Make that information available on your website somewhere. Share your approach to problems. Talk about how you help your clients. Don’t just sell products, share what makes you different from other sales people and your competitors. Don’t just share what you can do well. Let people in on your weaknesses and they will like you that much more because they know that they can trust you.
When entrepreneurs and business owners sign up for your email list, send them a list what they can expect from you. 3. The “WHEN” email: The “When” emails can cover a variety of things as well so get creative. Send an email to tell people when you are open for walk-ups, when you got started or when you began your business. Tell people when they can expect your emails. 4. The “WHERE” email: Let your subscribers know where you will be and when you can get together for dinner, drinks or a meetup. You could also send a “Where” email to let people know where you will deliver your products. Tell them where you are going to hold your next event or where other blogs have featured you. 5. The “UPDATE” email: When people know you are trying to connect with them and show your humanity, you will stand out from every other salesperson vying for their time and who just wants to sell, sell, sell. Try to be creative with your emails. Don’t try to sell all the time.
Step 4: Network with other food bloggers
If you are relying on a single traffic source, then that is the biggest mistake you are doing. Do you know from where does all your website traffic come? You may say from social media, search engines, ad campaigns, referral traffic… But, if you are focussing on one platform to promote your content and drive traffic, then you should read this. If you observe any successful blogger, they will have multiple sources of traffic. If you want to build such diversified traffic then you should do Influencer marketing because influencers have an effect on multiple traffic channels. If you connect really well with influencers, you will get traffic from search engines and other platforms as well. Instead of chasing traffic, you should let it chase you. Never ever see influencers as an opportunity for backlinks or re-tweets, instead see them as an opportunity to connect and become their friend. When you are just starting out, you need to know how to network with other bloggers in your niche properly. Here are the few things that you should keep in mind before networking with others:
Never ask a vague question. Nothing is more irritating than receiving an email from someone you don’t know, asking you a vague question. Ask thoughtful questions that shows you have done your research. Never reach out to huge bloggers with massive followings. Instead, reach out to bloggers with a slightly larger following than you. Never send cold, poorly worded emails. If you don’t spend time in composing a professional email, then you will never get response. And it is much easier for a blogger to forget an email from a stranger. It is always good to cultivate friendship with other bloggers first and then you can send a professional email later.
Here is the step by step process that will help you to connect with influencers:
Their name Their email Their website Their Twitter handle Last time you have contacted them Your status with them. For example: Close, acquainted, cold, etc.
Find top blogs to be featured on. Outreach to 10-20 top blogs in your niche Visit one of those blogs and request for a guest post with an amazing content. Write an epic article. Mention 3-5 bloggers of your niche within that article. Once it get published, email those bloggers. Get featured on their blogs. Repeat steps 5-8.
Look for an influencer you would love to speak to. Send them video or podcast or mention them in your post to connect with them. Get them on your podcast or interview them for some other reason Build a stronger relationship. Publish and email the influencer when it’s out.
You will be recognized as a connecting ninja. You do something 99% of people don’t do. You follow up and you do it like a pro. You are sticking out to these influencers. Most of the people give up after a few weeks or days. And soon, you will be the very influencer you have always looked up to.
Step 5: Use these 3 monetization strategies
There are many food bloggers. However for those who are just getting started, there will be a confusion on how to generate an income from a food blog. Here are the three monetization strategies you can use.
Step 6: Start a YouTube channel
In reality, video is becoming much easier and cheaper to create. This means there’s a huge opportunity for your business on YouTube. Starting your YouTube channel will help increase your ability to make money from your great content. The first step towards YouTube success is to create a professional looking channel that will ensure more visitors.
Use the same name and color scheme as your blog. Make your channel’s niche immediately apparent. Include a tempting description of your blog in a prominent location with a link back to your site. Cross promote your other social media pages.
Here are some of the great reasons to start a YouTube channel to monetize your food blog.
Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Although making money from a food blog is hard but you can quickly increase your sales and revenue if you have the right strategy. That’s the reason why I wrote this detailed post by covering everything about making money from food blogging. Do you have any more questions? Did you find this post on monetizing a food blog useful? Share your experience of earning money from your food blog in the comments section.
