3 Ways to See Long-Term Success as a Food Blogger

If you’ve been blogging for any period of time, you’ve probably realized by now that your to-do list is always growing.

Even right now you may be thinking that you need to…

• Figure out how Pinterest works
• Learn about shooting recipe videos
• Find a theme for your blog
• Create a logo
• Start sharing content on Instagram and Facebook
• Learn about food photography
• Understand SEO and email marketing
• Establish your brand

… and feel like you should have had ALL of that done rightthisverysecond.

And that’s all on top of creating valuable, helpful, awesome blog content! 🤪

But I have some good news about your to-do list –– you have permission to choose what you do. This is your blog, after all. Just because someone has a podcast, works with brands, and posts 47 times a day on Instagram doesn’t mean that you have to, too.

So how do you choose what’s most important when it’s all up to you?! When you’re first starting out as a blogger, content creator, photographer, and recipe developer, how do you decide where to spend your time to set yourself up for long-term success?

If you’re looking for ideas, we definitely have some. 😊 We’ve worked with thousands of food bloggers on Food Blogger Pro, and we’ve found that these three factors are consistently found amongst high-quality food blogs:

1. Create Great Content ✅

Have you ever found a recipe online, made that recipe, and felt… less than thrilled with the results? And did you ever go back to that site? 😬 Probably not.

This kind of experience is why we put such an emphasis on quality content. We want your site to bring in new readers AND keep them coming back.

That said, it may seem like you need to be publishing content constantly in order to grow and establish your blog. It’s incredibly easy to fall into this trap because you love your blog! You want it to succeed!

That said… It will only succeed if you’re posting awesome content that your readers love.

And Google likes content that your readers love, too. High quality of content is one of their ranking factors.

The TL;DR is this: don’t give into the temptation of creating a ton of low-quality content just to get something (anything!) out into the world.

Take your time, test your recipes, and write helpful, entertaining, and informative posts that your readers will enjoy.

2. Pursue Beautiful Photography 📸

I know you’ve heard the saying that we eat with our eyes. And it’s true! When you go to find a recipe online, aren’t you much more likely to click on a recipe with beautiful and mouthwatering photos?

Photography is an art and craft that’s sharpened over time.

Lindsay, our co-founder, wasn’t a photographer when she first started Pinch of Yum. Here’s one of her earliest photos on the blog:

But she learned how to use her camera, honed her skills, and developed a love for the craft, and now she’s taking stunning food photos that millions of people see every single month.

Here’s a much more recent photo; don’t you just want to reach through the screen and take a bite?!

Time and practice can make a huge impact!

My advice to you is to spend time learning, practicing, and adjusting. It’ll take time, but you’ll slowly learn:

• How to style a food photo
• What kind of lighting is best for food photography
• How to edit, add contrast, and make your photos pop
• And more

Wondering where to start? Check out this blog post that covers our top seven beginner tips for improving your food photography. You should definitely check it out if you’re excited about really leaning into food photography as a skill.

And if you’re a more visual learner, Lindsay taught a bunch of different photography courses on topics like styling, composition, and artificial lighting for our Food Blogger Pro members.

3. Maintain Consistency 🗓

This one is probably a bit different from what you’re thinking.

I’m not going to tell you that you need to constantly be checking-in with your audience, hustling to make daily deadlines, and photographing five new recipes a week.

…unless that’s sustainable for you, of course. 😉

Showing up for your readers and giving them content to consume on a regular basis will form a certain level of trust between you and them.

If you’re there for them consistently, they’ll start to count on you and expect that content from you. It’s a great way to build an audience of loyal readers who are excited to see what comes next.

So what will you do to maintain consistency with your blog?

For some, blogging consistently means publishing once a day, being active on social media, and sharing snippets of their lives on platforms like TikTok or Instagram Stories.

For others, it means putting together one awesome, in-depth, comprehensive post per month.

When trying to define what consistency means for you, ask yourself how often you can be publishing that incredible, high-quality content we talked about above.

Write it down. Make it official. Use this as a guidepost to hold yourself accountable to a few good things consistently.

———–

These are the three, differentiating factors of nearly every high-quality food blog. And soon, they’ll be the foundation for yours too. 🌱

⬇️ Let’s chat in the comments:

• If you’ve been a blogger for a while, what quality or strategy has had the biggest impact on your long-term success?
• If you’re a newer blogger, which of the three qualities we talked about today resonated with you the most?