How I grew my Food blog traffic from 800 to 29,000 in three months?

Thank you for stopping by. If you are reading this post, then probably you are a blogger and possibly a food blogger and want to learn more about food blog traffic growth. Food blogging is lot of fun and definitely required with loads of hard work. I totally understand you if you ever feel frustrated and feeling to leave this work in the midway. Yes, it does need a hell lot of work before you see some revenue and income flowing in. And growing food blog traffic is definitely not an easy task. But, it's definitely doable.

After three months of blogging when I see a bit of income from my website flowing in, it keeps me motivated.

My Income from Food Blog after Three Months:

Here is an overview of my total income from this blog. Even though the amount is really low, but it keeps me motivating to go forward.

Income details:

Sponsored Posts: $ 99 (plus free products)

Gourmet Ad:  (Started working with them from June) $61.46

Affiliate Sale: $5.04

Total: $165.05

And, if you see a growth just as I am experiencing, then you should feel motivated to move forward. This post is definitely not for all those experienced bloggers out there. It is for those who have started a blog, want to start a blog and are in few months of blogging.

I started blogging in the month of March, and I am quite happy that I did so. My chief aim to blog was to share my low-carb vegan/vegetarian recipes. You can read about my reason to go low-carb here and here.

When I first thought of blogging, I hardly knew that I can make some money out of it. Slowly, I started venturing into a new world of blogging and saw bloggers making $$$$ a month. Then I narrowed the niche and searched for food bloggers who earn full-time from blogging. This is when I came across Pinch of Yum and Food Blogger Pro.

There is a lot to learn from these experienced bloggers and that definitely helped me a lot. Here are a set of tips especially for all new and serious food bloggers.

Join Food Blogger Pro:

This place is just like a university. You will learn everything that you need to know to grow your food blog. Want some codes and HTML knowledge, they have it. Or, looking for some help with sponsored post, they have it too. You name it, and the Food Blogger Pro or the Ultimate Food Blog University (As I call it) has everything that you need to grow your blog.

Good Part:

• You will learn a lot.
• You will have experts to help you at every step.(yes, all top industry experts and Food Bloggers)
• Many video training, podcasts and live sessions.
• Lots of discounts on blog related apps, accessories and programs.
• And a dedicated forum to help you grow.

Bad Part: It’s not free.

• They have a monthly and yearly program.
• I joined the monthly first, then upgraded to yearly.
• You can choose whatever suits you the best.
• And if you choose to join them, you can use my referral link here.

Sign up for Food Blogger Pro here!

and get this free eBook by downloading from here. FoodBloggerPro 10 Mistakes that Bloggers Make - Free eBook!

NOTE: They open for enrollment very few times a year. Don’t forget to join their waiting list and enjoy listening to some free podcasts and participate in boot camps, and enjoy some free video training.

Start a Self-Hosted Blog:

• First things first! You want monetize your blog, start with a self hosted blog.
• I am not going in detail about how to start a blog. But if you want information, feel free to leave a comment and I will create a post on it.

I use iPage as my hosting service provider. The reason I chose this company is because:

• They have cheaper plans than other hosting companies.
• It’s super cheap.
• Customer service is excellent.
• And they have some essential plans for growing blogs too.

Now the fun part! Top tips for growing food blog traffic?

This is probably the most important agenda to discuss in this post. The first time I posted content on my blog, I have some visitors. To be exact, there were 110 visitors and 128 views.

Then, the whole week went in a drought. I never ever had that many visitors coming to my blog even if I posted some awesome and super-healthy recipes.

Reason, no promotion! As I hate to say this but as a food or any blogger, your main focus should be on promotion.

Then came the Food Blogger Pro, where I joined and learned so many things. The best part that happened was a huge improvement in my photography.

Tip-1: Prioritize food photography:

• In my opinion, it is the most important step in food blogging.
• You need to pay attention to your food photos.
• Imagine seeing a picture that makes you feel hungry. This is what you should aim for while taking food pictures.
• Invest on a DSLR camera if you can. If not, mobile photography is okay too.
• But it’s highly advised to take food pictures through a DSLR camera.
• Then, I bought some food photography eBooks and learned how to take best pictures for blogs.
• And when I did, it helped growing food blog traffic.
• That’s because many of my pictures were accepted in food photography websites.

Check both of these pictures and see the difference.

After buying these ebooks and learning more about photography, my skills have drastically improved and eventually helped me growing food blog traffic.

My top Food Photography eBook Suggestions:

The Food Photography Book Click here to view more details

Tasty Food Photography Click here to visit Pinch of Yum - Tasty Food Photography eBook.

Tip-2: Submit food pictures to these websites:

Some of my top recommended ones are:

• Foodgawker
• Foodyub
• Healthy aperture
• And FindingVegan

There are tons of other websites where you can submit your food pictures too. But, I only do these four.

Tip-3: Social Media:

When it comes to social media, you have many platforms to promote your blog posts. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and Stumbleupon and so many other platforms.

But, I only do the first four and pay attention to Pinterest and Facebook the most. As of now, the majority of my social traffic come from these two platforms.

Pinterest is the number one and most popular platform for most food bloggers.

• To get the most out of it, sign up for the business account.
• Next, apply for the rich pin.
• Create quality and long pins. Remember, Pinterest likes vertical pins with bold captions. (I will create a post on how to create long Pins for free and by using Lightroom)
• Join as many group boards as you can in Pinterest.(choose group boards that are relevant to your niche)
• Aim for pinning 50-80 pins a day. Pin your pins and repin others too.

To make it easier, you can use a tool or app. I used Tailwind and Boardbooster in the past.

But, what gave me exceptional Pinterest reach is this eBook by Carly from Mommy on Purpose. Here is the link if you want to buy the eBook.

And guess what! I have a code for you now, which will give you 15 % off till 20th of this month. Use MOP15OFF while checking out.

The book teaches how to do manual pinning by applying a proven strategy. Plus, this book tells what time and strategy works best for growing Pinterest traffic and reach.

How it benefited me growing food blog traffic?

• Some of my pins did exceptionally well. In just a couple of days, these pins were saved in more than 1k boards.

• My Pinterest reach is way higher than before.
• Traffic from Pinterest was drastically improved.

Facebook:

Truly, I don’t like Facebook as much as I do Pinterest.

However, it does drive a massive amount of traffic. You do the right thing, and you can drive hundreds of blog visitors to your blog.

1. Things to do :

• Create a Facebook business page.
• Share your recipes, posts and updates here.
• Keep your fans busy and updated.
• Share other’s work in addition to yours.
• Build a network.
• Join relevant groups and share your posts.
• Find the right audience for your blog. For an instance, join a Vegan group if your blog is about vegan recipe

1. Things to Avoid:

• Don’t overdo and be genuine. People can sense fake from a mile. At a platform like Facebook, you are dealing with your audience directly. Share things that you genuinely like and be available to answer their questions.
• Be ready to take criticism positively and avoid negative comments sportingly.
• Don’t violate group rules or Facebook rules.

Google Plus:

• It is a good platform to connect with other bloggers and build a network.
• Create your Google Plus account.
• Join food based groups and share your work with a link back to your blog/website.
• Comment and like others’ contents.
• Add a G+ sharing icon in your blog’s social share options.

Tip-3: Study your audience:

This is indeed one of the most vital steps in food blogging.

• Watch closely and study what type of posts your audiences like the most.
• For me, it is the ‘how to recipe posts’ that are a huge hit among my readers.

For an instance, my Almond Butter recipe post with step-by-step instruction went crazy in Facebook.

Similarly, my ‘Three easy marinades using curry paste’ went quite popular in Pinterest.

• Both the posts have step-by-step instructions. Plus, both of these recipes seem effortless. After all, nobody likes to sweat in the kitchen to create a tasty and wholesome meal for their family.
• When you give your audience what they want, your traffic will automatically rise.

Tip-4: Be there when your readers need you:

Answer to their questions and guide them when they ask something.

I have seen bloggers just giving a link to their website in social media platforms for every question asked by readers. In my opinion, this is not a great approach. When you interact with your readers, you eventually establish a virtual relationship and trust with them. This is great to expand your online presence.

Tip-5: SEO, SEO and some more SEO:

Pay close attention to SEO or search engine optimization.

For that:

• Create keyword rich contents.
• Use Google keyword planner or any other keyword tool.
• Find the right keyword and long tailed keyword combination for your post.
• Include relevant keyword tags.
• Use a plugin like Yoast to optimize your website.
• Add a META tag and if possible include one H1, two H2, three or more H3 tags in each post.
• This will eventually help you get the maximum organic traffic in the long run.

Domain authority is another important parameter in SEao. Here is an excellent post on SEO by DublinSEO co. Find the post here.

Tip-5: Hard Work:

Blogging is definitely hard work. You need to be consistent, stay motivated and give your best shot every time. Remember there is no secret formula to make your blog a successful one.

Even after three months of blogging, I feel there is a lot for me to learn and there are a number of areas of improvements. Work around and find what works best for you. And don't forget to share your tips, thoughts and strategies in the comment section. I look forward to hear from all of you.