Hi everyone! Hope you’re off to a good start this summer. I am happy to announce that after negotiation with the brains behind Openlab and The Buzz, I along with other bloggers will be blogging this summer. Hope you will enjoy reading our posts and find them interesting!

I know you’re all used to reading my posts about food and I promise we will get to it soon, but for the next four posts I will be discussing best blogging practices for those that are looking to start a food blog.

Image Credit to: blog.plush-media.com

Setting Up Your Content Menu

From interviews and podcasts to slide shows and reviews, you’re not limited to the variety of posts to feature on your blog. Regardless of the angle of your blog, remember that an assortment of content will appeal to a broader audience.

As a blogger, your primary responsibility is to produce original content for your site or any site.  Posts can be about cooking, eating, food safety, food-related travel – really anything. Here are a few forms your posts could take:

• Reviews:  Share your experiences and insights about restaurants, cookbooks, kitchen gadgets, and food brands to provide your audience with tried and tested suggestions for expanding their culinary repertoire.
• How To’s: Audiences love this! Go back to basics by featuring simple technique posts tied to your area of expertise such as: how to pipe rosettes, how to order from a restaurant wine list, how to choose a wine store, and etc. This concept also applies to providing step-by-step photos to illustrate the process of preparing longer recipes.
• Lists/VS.: Picking a topic and ranking things numerically is always an easy crowd-pleaser. It’s easy to read and gives people something to agree or disagree with. You could do a “Top Five” for almost any topic. A good list tends to kill on comments, so we’ll often save them for our last post of the day, which is the prime slot.
• Newsy Stuff: Any time you come across an interesting food-related article in the paper that might have broad appeal, consider linking to it for a quick post. Particularly if it’s something controversial, it’s a good way to get people talking.
• Series: Create a themed series for you blog by dedicating an entire day, week, or month to specific ingredient or topic. For example, dedicate the first week of December to foods that make great holiday gifts, post only about ice cream for the month of July, and etc.
• Interviews: Post a simple and straightforward interview with a notable food name or fellow blogger that’s both informative and entertaining. Address trendy topics such as their top five favorite restaurants or what foods are always in their fridge. Promoting your culinary comrades enhances the online community centered around your blog, is a great way to meet new people and introduces your audience to new faces.
• Recipes: These are the bread and butter of your food blog. Recipes can range from four-course meals to children’s snacks, but they are always better when accompanied by a short anecdote about discovering them, creating them, whatever. 

If you’re looking to start a food blog or any blog at all, I hope you found some of these content ideas helpful. Next up, I will be discussing about branding and promoting your blog.

What are some content ideas you can share with me or other bloggers?