Food blogs are blogs on a variety of subjects related to human food – recipes, cooking tips, nutrition, restaurants, raw material availability, drinks, anecdotes about cookery, table manners, cookware, weekly challenges and competitions…
Food blogs, as we mentioned in this post on the variety of Indian blogs, are as a category exceptionally well composed. Many of them not only write detailed posts, but also give spruce up their posts with photos taken by them. Some maintain a huge resource base on recipes, spices and so on. In fact, we would keep this category of blogs higher in blogging terms than blogs on blogging itself! That holds good not only for Indian blogs but such blogs all around. There are over 50 food blogs in the Directory of Best Indian Blogs and 5 in the platinum blog rankings.
Food blogs are mostly written and maintained as personal blogs by cooks. The bloggers could be people who cook for the family or experts / chefs. Some dieticians and nutrition experts also write food blogs. As compared to food blogs by westerners, Indian food blogs have a wide range of recipes but very little about drinks.
We list below 9 important aspects that prospective food-bloggers should keep in mind [and existing bloggers should introduce if they’ve ignored these]:
You need to decide beforehand whether you want the blog to focus on one narrow subject [e.g. Coorg cuisine, baking, table manners] or a slightly bigger theme [e.g. South Indian cooking, spicy food], or to talk of everything relating to food / cooking. This is very important, because many other decisions depend on this. It is better to concentrate on areas on which one has expertise.
One problem we found with some Indian food blogs was poor English. If you have a problem with the language, write less and write in short, simple sentences.
Write short paragraphs and don’t make a post too long.
Separate different segments of a post [e.g. steps of a recipe; different aspects of a restaurant] by giving them a bullet point or number. Put a small photo where relevant at the end of a segment.
When using local terms and ingredients, give their English equivalent in bracket. Do the reverse for too technical or rarely used English expressions.
Use grams and ml for measurements and give their approximate value in commonly used terms [e.g. 100 ml (about half tea-cup) water].
It is a good idea to give one or two sentences at the end of posts with a caution [e.g. if some step in cooking might lead to oil catching fire] or health warning which might otherwise go unnoticed [e.g. if a dish contains high quantities of salt].
Give your blog a nice top photo and/or a photo or slideshow a few lines below: both should be relevant to your theme(s) and should appeal to good taste. If you post recipes, give photos of main steps [but don’t put too many and too big photos as they will slow down the blog]. Reduce the pixel size of photos before putting them. If you review restaurants, take photos to show ambiance as well as the table / meals, with prior permission. Have at least one key photo with each post and place it on top of the post [e.g. the dish arranged on the table]. You can see here ITB's tips on putting photos on blogs.
You must enrich the blog with information [e.g. types of glass for drinks, ingredients of standard spice-mixtures, restaurant list] and advice [e.g. how to lay table, grill meat, prepare cocktails, preserve cheese, select spices]. This should be in addition to the posts and should serve as the blog’s reference library.
Talking of library, we are reminded of the ‘catalogue’. Like books in a library, you must categorise all your stuff into user-friendly categories. You can choose to have sub-categories [e.g. seasonings> spices, herbs; bakery>cakes, pastries,…]. You can also have very narrow stand-alone categories such as ‘traditional Rajasthani sweets’. Take care that the categories are distinct and they take the viewer to the area he is looking for. You can see here ITB's post on using labels and blogs effectively in blogs.
Food blogs tend to be resource rich and it is a challenge to keep them clean. One good way, as suggested above, is categorization. You can keep the main categories on the home page and sub-categories either on the linked page or as drop-down menu. One good way is to have left sidebar with main categories, another column that gives sub-categories when you link on an entry on the left sidebar, and the main column to the right. A menubar under the title and a sidebar - the standard blog design – can also accommodate all categories if used with imagination. We've discussed basic blog layout aspects in this post on ITB.
Though a design with photos tiled all over the blog-space looks picturesque, it is usually not as functional as the standard design with menubar and sidebar(s). Similar is the case with various ‘dynamic views’ presented by Blogger.
Indian food bloggers do not usually try to monetize the blog. Established food blogs present good possibilities of making some money from restaurants, bakeries, grocers, makers of spices and packed food, and mainstream food and beverage industry. While a popular blog can get direct advertisements, anyone can get ads through affiliate networks. Food blogs are also excellent platforms for promoting one’s own books on culinary subjects.
Popularity
Food blogs are usually quite popular. They also often join one or more communities of food-bloggers. Most food bloggers are good networkers, even if among family-members and friends. This takes them naturally to social networking on the net. Yet, some food-bloggers ignore search engine optimization (SEO) and socializing on the net. While popularity is important for making their culinary creations known to others, it is imperative if you feel you will one day monetize the blog.
Whatever you give on the blog should be authoritative. When you give something experimental or you depended on others’ inputs, say so in clear terms. Do not fake expertise when you don’t have it [e.g. on nutritional / medical aspects]. We are neither chefs nor dieticians, but common scientific knowledge tells us that many a times, even good cooks experiment without keeping health aspects in mind and their combinations of ingredients and/or procedures result in untested / undesirable chemicals in foods. If you must tread into such unknown territory for the sake of taste, do check with a nutrition expert before making the recipe public.
You can start a food blog on popular free platforms such as Wordpress and Blogger, but over time you should go for your own domain. It has many advantages, as discussed sometime back on IndianTopBlogs.
Food blogs, as we mentioned in this post on the variety of Indian blogs, are as a category exceptionally well composed. Many of them not only write detailed posts, but also give spruce up their posts with photos taken by them. Some maintain a huge resource base on recipes, spices and so on. In fact, we would keep this category of blogs higher in blogging terms than blogs on blogging itself! That holds good not only for Indian blogs but such blogs all around. There are over 50 food blogs in the Directory of Best Indian Blogs and 5 in the platinum blog rankings.
Food blogs are mostly written and maintained as personal blogs by cooks. The bloggers could be people who cook for the family or experts / chefs. Some dieticians and nutrition experts also write food blogs. As compared to food blogs by westerners, Indian food blogs have a wide range of recipes but very little about drinks.
We list below 9 important aspects that prospective food-bloggers should keep in mind [and existing bloggers should introduce if they’ve ignored these]:
1. Scope of blog's subject-matter: variety or niche?
You need to decide beforehand whether you want the blog to focus on one narrow subject [e.g. Coorg cuisine, baking, table manners] or a slightly bigger theme [e.g. South Indian cooking, spicy food], or to talk of everything relating to food / cooking. This is very important, because many other decisions depend on this. It is better to concentrate on areas on which one has expertise.
2. The writing part
One problem we found with some Indian food blogs was poor English. If you have a problem with the language, write less and write in short, simple sentences.
Write short paragraphs and don’t make a post too long.
Separate different segments of a post [e.g. steps of a recipe; different aspects of a restaurant] by giving them a bullet point or number. Put a small photo where relevant at the end of a segment.
When using local terms and ingredients, give their English equivalent in bracket. Do the reverse for too technical or rarely used English expressions.
Use grams and ml for measurements and give their approximate value in commonly used terms [e.g. 100 ml (about half tea-cup) water].
It is a good idea to give one or two sentences at the end of posts with a caution [e.g. if some step in cooking might lead to oil catching fire] or health warning which might otherwise go unnoticed [e.g. if a dish contains high quantities of salt].
3. Illustrations add significantly to a recipe
Give your blog a nice top photo and/or a photo or slideshow a few lines below: both should be relevant to your theme(s) and should appeal to good taste. If you post recipes, give photos of main steps [but don’t put too many and too big photos as they will slow down the blog]. Reduce the pixel size of photos before putting them. If you review restaurants, take photos to show ambiance as well as the table / meals, with prior permission. Have at least one key photo with each post and place it on top of the post [e.g. the dish arranged on the table]. You can see here ITB's tips on putting photos on blogs.
4. Food blogs must have a mix of information and advice [=American: advise]
You must enrich the blog with information [e.g. types of glass for drinks, ingredients of standard spice-mixtures, restaurant list] and advice [e.g. how to lay table, grill meat, prepare cocktails, preserve cheese, select spices]. This should be in addition to the posts and should serve as the blog’s reference library.
5. Have you catalogued resources on the bloggie?
Talking of library, we are reminded of the ‘catalogue’. Like books in a library, you must categorise all your stuff into user-friendly categories. You can choose to have sub-categories [e.g. seasonings> spices, herbs; bakery>cakes, pastries,…]. You can also have very narrow stand-alone categories such as ‘traditional Rajasthani sweets’. Take care that the categories are distinct and they take the viewer to the area he is looking for. You can see here ITB's post on using labels and blogs effectively in blogs.
6. Design decides a blog's display and navigability
Food blogs tend to be resource rich and it is a challenge to keep them clean. One good way, as suggested above, is categorization. You can keep the main categories on the home page and sub-categories either on the linked page or as drop-down menu. One good way is to have left sidebar with main categories, another column that gives sub-categories when you link on an entry on the left sidebar, and the main column to the right. A menubar under the title and a sidebar - the standard blog design – can also accommodate all categories if used with imagination. We've discussed basic blog layout aspects in this post on ITB.
Though a design with photos tiled all over the blog-space looks picturesque, it is usually not as functional as the standard design with menubar and sidebar(s). Similar is the case with various ‘dynamic views’ presented by Blogger.
7. Your blogging effort can earn you dollars
Indian food bloggers do not usually try to monetize the blog. Established food blogs present good possibilities of making some money from restaurants, bakeries, grocers, makers of spices and packed food, and mainstream food and beverage industry. While a popular blog can get direct advertisements, anyone can get ads through affiliate networks. Food blogs are also excellent platforms for promoting one’s own books on culinary subjects.
Popularity
Food blogs are usually quite popular. They also often join one or more communities of food-bloggers. Most food bloggers are good networkers, even if among family-members and friends. This takes them naturally to social networking on the net. Yet, some food-bloggers ignore search engine optimization (SEO) and socializing on the net. While popularity is important for making their culinary creations known to others, it is imperative if you feel you will one day monetize the blog.
8. To earn respect, be genuine
Whatever you give on the blog should be authoritative. When you give something experimental or you depended on others’ inputs, say so in clear terms. Do not fake expertise when you don’t have it [e.g. on nutritional / medical aspects]. We are neither chefs nor dieticians, but common scientific knowledge tells us that many a times, even good cooks experiment without keeping health aspects in mind and their combinations of ingredients and/or procedures result in untested / undesirable chemicals in foods. If you must tread into such unknown territory for the sake of taste, do check with a nutrition expert before making the recipe public.
9. Why not have a food website that's fully your own?
You can start a food blog on popular free platforms such as Wordpress and Blogger, but over time you should go for your own domain. It has many advantages, as discussed sometime back on IndianTopBlogs.
Do you know a less costly way to own an independent blog? I have already a blog on Blogger and I experimented to export to another blog but it messed up. Is there a better way to do that?
ReplyDeleteFor Blogspot owners there is a simple and very inexpnsive way to own 'custom domains'. Go to 'settings' and then under 'publishing', there is a blog address given. Edit it. You can buy a desired domain name from Google there itself. Then, the blog will have two domains - one your abc.blogspot.com name and the other - the new name. In this setting option, you can redirect your blogspot blog to the new name!!
ReplyDeleteIt costs only Rs. 500 [$10] or less for this entire process. However, you will need to renew the domain occupancy every year [or you can go for a long-term plan].
Hope it helps.
Very good advice about the blogging.
ReplyDeleteenrich the blog with information [e.g. types of glass for drinks, ingredients of standard spice-mixtures, restaurant0''