Are you wondering how to monetize a food blog?
In this post, I’m sharing how to make money with a food blog.
Starting a food blog doesn’t have to be difficult, especially when you understand how to make money with recipes!
How Do I Earn Money by Posting Recipes
There are all of these “influencers” and “cooks in the kitchen” that seem to be making loads and loads of money online but exactly how are they doing it?
Are they pressing publish on a piece of content, sitting by the computer and thousands of dollars come rolling in? Probably not, my friends. In fact I’m here to tell you it’s hard work but it is indeed done everyday.
There is an exact science that goes in to how to get paid blogging, and how to make money with recipes and a blog.
The great news is that you’re in the right place to learn how to get paid for recipes.
We’re going to be answering this very question right now.
How to Get Paid for Blogging:
For starters it’s probably best if we jump right in and talk about what is a blog. I’m guessing you already know what a blog is since you’re here, but for those who don’t let’s dig in.
What is a Blog?
A blog is a series of articles written and published on the internet. A blog can be written about anything and everything.
I enjoy cooking, so my blogs are based on mostly cooking and recipes, although I also write about free baby stuff, Great Wolf Lodge deals and more family focused content over on my other blog.
If you’re here wondering what you should start a blog about, may I suggest starting a blog about something that you love? When you have a passion for something it makes it a lot easier to write about it in detail.
You’ll have loads of content since you know your topic inside and out and you’ll be able to help people, which is 99% the goal of a blog: helping the world understand your topic better.
How to Create a Blog?
In the sake of time and getting you straight to the content that you came here for (how to make money online), I won’t go in to exactly step by step how to create a blog, but I talk all about how to make a blog in my article here on How to Start a Food Blog.
Whether it’s food, crochet, makeup or photography that you want to write about, the rules of that post still apply.
How to Make Money From a Blog:
Long story short: bloggers make money by sharing their opinion. It’s that easy. (Ha! Don’t we wish it was!)
There are several ways to break down how to make money blogging. I’ll do it in a list format and then elaborate further.
How Do Blogs Make Money: 5 Main Ways
- 1. Ad Revenue
- 2. Affiliate Income
- 3. Freelancing
- 4. Sell Your Own Products
- 5. Sponsorship
Okay, now to break these down:
1. Ad Network Companies
As you first start out blogging you might be on your own as far as an ad network goes. I know that that’s probably not what you wanted to hear, but here’s the deal:
You’re not going to be there long, ok? Before you know it you’ll be earning $25, $50, $100 and $200 per day just from your ad network.
Top ad networks that can make you money blogging:
- Google AdSense (once you have 20-25 posts up you can apply)
- SheMedia (once you have 20-25 posts up you can apply)
- Mediavine (25k sessions to apply)
- AdThrive (100k pageviews per month to apply)
I highly recommend focusing on creating killer content as you’re just getting started blogging. The money will come, but creating content for your audience is the most important thing to do in the beginning.
Focus on these six things to get your pageviews high enough from your audience and Google to start earning money from an ad network:
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- 1. Interlink your post to other posts that you write on your site and reciprocate
- 2. Getting social shares as soon as your blog post is published.
- 3. Use your keyword in your (shorter) URL
- 4. Build your content using related keywords but with your customer/reader in mind first (always)
- 5. Use a sticky blogging technique
- 6. Send a newsletter (weekly atleast)
- 7. Share and reciprocate in blog groups and Tailwind Tribes
Read why I started a recipe blog here.
2. Affiliate Income
When you click on a link in (almost!) any blog there’s a good chance that that link is an affiliate link. What this means is that that blogger is making a small commission when you buy through that link.
The great news for you (since you’re researching how you can be blogging for money) is that you’ll make a commission anytime anything is purchased through that link, not just the item that you are linking to.
And, in some cases the blogger makes money from anything purchased from that site for up to 30-45 days depending on the retailers affiliate rules.
Wait, what???
Yep! You heard me right. If I link to a mixer on the “xyz” site and you click on that link but don’t buy the mixer, but a refrigerator instead, I still get that commission.
Better yet, with some online retailers if you come back days and days, and sometimes even weeks later and go to that retailer and buy something I still get that commission.
There is a window of time that is allowed that is set by the retailer but this is the way that affiliate marketing works.
So, you can see now why sometimes on my recipe blog I’ll link out to my favorite products because I might make a few pennies off your purchase.
And, lucky for us bloggers, pennies add up.
What Does Setting Cookies in Affiliate Marketing Mean?
The process of affiliate marketing is often called and referred to as “setting cookies”.
When you “clear your cache” on your computer that erases all of the cookies that might have been set for that blogger with that retailer so that’s why setting cookies often is a good idea.
As a blogger making money on blogs, you want to set as many “cookies” as you can with still being uber helpful to your reader.
Remember, reader experience always comes over making money.
You will make money when you build trust, are helpful and truthful.
Top Affiliate Relationships to Start Now:
Although the Amazon cookie only lasts for 24 hours, it’s still a fantastic cookie to set. The reason is that anything can (and is) purchased on Amazon millions of times per day, so you want to get a cut of that if you can.
There are a lot of rules that come with the Amazon affiliate program. Most importantly:
You may never use your affiliate link outside of an approved website that is not your own (forums, etc) and you must never use your affiliate link in a newsletter.
You cannot buy through your own affiliate link and make a commission. Before you purchase anything on Amazon I recommend clearing your cache.
I’ve seen many Amazon affiliate accounts shut down completely with no warning for breaking these rules. Oh, and they will keep the commission.
Never, ever break Amazons Terms of Service.
We’re not getting rich from Amazon but pennies add up to dollars.
How you link to a product on Amazon:
- 1. Sign in to your Amazon affiliate account
- 2. On the site stripe at the top of the page click text. That is your affiliate link that shows up in the box
- 3. Highlight the text in your blog post that you want to link to one
- 4. Press the link icon in wordpress and paste in your affiliate link
You can also make ads designed to go inside of your blog post. This is also a great idea if you’re looking to set Amazon cookies once you’ve developed some trust with your readers.
How you set up an Amazon affiliate ad to post in your blog post:
- 1. On your Amazon SiteStripe go to earnings
- 2. Product linking > Native Shopping Ads
- 3. Custom Ads
- 4. In the search box type what you want to have in your ad box – in this sample I typed “colander”
- 5. Choose one with a good price and high reviews
- 6. Press “add”
- 7. Add three more items
- 8. Highlight the code
- 9. Press on the “html” tab on your wordpress post dashboard
- 10. Paste the code where you want the ad to show up when the post is live.
- 11. Done!
* I recommend maximum two native ads per post and definitely farther down the post, gaining the trust of the reader first.
On Shareasale you’ll find smaller companies. Jane.com, Groopdealz, Proozy for example. These are all on ShareaSale.
Commission Junction has a ton of retailers to link to, big and small.
Impact Radius houses Target, Stitch Fix and other retailers of all sizes
Awin has a good mix of big and small retailers
ShopHer Media offers most programs on a flat rate basis. This means that if you sign up and refer a product that is being promoted through ShopHer Media, you’ll receive up to $125 per lead.
In the ShopHer portal there are several niche specific offers so this is a great affiliate to join.
How do I Find Out Where Each Retailer Affiliate Program is?
One trick that I still use if I am looking for an affiliate program is Google.
Let’s say I am looking for the affiliate program for Walmart. In the Google search bar I type these words:
Walmart AND affiliate program (or the retailer of your choice)
That will take you to the link to sign up for the Walmart affiliate program.
How do I get an affiliate link to use?
While every affiliate program and portal is different, when you join the program and your application is approved you will receive an email. If you are not quite sure how to get your links, I highly suggest emailing the affiliate manager back and developing a relationship with them.
This is a relationship that you’ll want to foster as they’ll be very helpful when it comes to getting links but also heads up on sales and eventually possibly even vanity codes and personalized offers.
A vanity code is a code for just your readers (ie: MOMSCRAVINGS) that ties your reader and commission to you at times even if they don’t use your affiliate link. That’s huge!
3. Freelancing
Are you an impeccable photographer? Do you create rockstar menu plans? Do you have an eye for design? Maybe public speaking on your niche topic is what you kill it at every time. Can you whip up a blog post in 30 minutes??
When you are an entrepreneur, your time is for sale. You’ve heard the saying that time is money, right?
Places you can sell your services:
4. Sell Your Own Products
When you think of a blog as a business it’s easy to think about something that you can sell. People will give an expert money to teach them what they know.
So, whatever you are an expert on, this is what you should be thinking about in the back of your mind. Don’t put the cart before the horse though. Get some trust built up with your audience, allow them to see that you know what you’re doing and from there they’ll be willing to consider you their expert and pay for your expertise.
5. Sponsorship
Some bloggers rock at working on sponsored content. Some bloggers prefer not to do it at all.
It is a viable concept though as companies pay $250-$1000 per post when you use their products and give your honest opinion on what you thought.
How Much Money Can You Make Blogging?
To be honest there have been months when I was just starting out where my blog made $300. On the flipside, there have been months where I have made $24,000, of which $16,000 is from just one recipe!
Blogging is a 100% commission position. There is no hourly rate, but there is no cap on your income either.
Like any business, when you figure out what works and what you’re making money at, you duplicate that process if at all possible.
How to Make Money from a Blog Fast:
There is no easy way to make money fast. But the great part of blogging is that as you see there can be several income streams which can all pay off in the longrun.
Here are my tips to the best way to make money fast and start making money blogging:
- 1. Make a business plan with a content calendar mapping out what you will write about
- 2. Always have keywords set prior to starting your post
- 3. Develop an audience and gain their trust
- 4. Blog about something you know and are passionate about
- 5. Make great headlines
- 6. Link to your favorite products using affiliate links
- 7. Market your posts the correct way after hitting publish
Is It Hard to Make Money From a Blog?
It can be hard to make money online. Of course it can, right? But, I can promise you that when you make a plan and stick to your plan your consistency will pay off.
Make a plan and stick to your plan your consistency will pay off.
So, if you’re wondering “can you really make money blogging”? The answer is yes, you sure can!
