The Basics of Launching a Food Blog

Last week, I walked you through the first stages of planning for your food blog. I bet you’ve got lots of great ideas now. I’d love to hear about them!

I also promised that this week we’d get down to the nitty gritty, the nuts and bolts, the sugar and spice of launching your food blog. I’m going to be honest. This first bit can be intimidating, especially if you don’t consider yourself to be a technology maven.

First, I want to quell your concerns. You are perfectly capable of this. There’s no such thing as a technology jinx, no matter what your boss, kids, or local Geek Squad may try to tell you. Using technology well means using technology confidently. Unlike an egg, you can unbreak a computer. (OK. There are limits. Don’t throw it out the window, for instance.)

Second, I want to congratulate you. I know already that your blog is going to be a huge success, and here’s how you’re going to make it happen.

Buy your domain name

Imagine that your blog is the cozy little home where all of your friends come to gather round and listen to your tales of kitchen mayhem. It sits on a parcel of imaginary land called a domain. Just like the property upon which your real home sits, your blog’s domain has an address that is entirely unique from every other blog. That’s your domain name.

You purchase your domain name from a registrar, and you must re-register your domain name each year to keep it as your own. If you neglect to re-register your domain name, someone else could snatch it right out from under you!

GoDaddy is one of the most renowned registrars, but there are many others just as good or better. I personally like NameCheap a lot, and it’s generally one of the most popular, affordable registrars.

Secure hosting

Speaking of hosting, if you’re planning on monetizing your blog, making it stand out with unique themes, and giving it increased functionality, you’ll want to self-host.

While you can open up shop on WordPress.com for free and without worrying about hosting, you’re stuck with whatever ads they want to run, and you don’t get a cut. You’re also limited in terms of the appearance of your blog and the ways you can use it.

Self-hosting means that you’ve decided to choose a more professional online presence. Flywheel offers hosting that’s easy for both beginners and advanced users. Their helpful, knowledgable staff and comprehensive features makes setting up a food blog as easy as boiling water.

Install your software

Or don’t. If you decide to use Flywheel as your hosting provider, they do the installation for you so you don’t have to.They’re been known to go the extra mile for whatever question you have – from permalink to plugins. And it’s free. That’s a hard deal to beat.

You’re all set to starting posting to your food blog!

It’s really that easy to set up your food blog. If you’ve taken time to develop a content strategy, then you’re ready to post, publish, and share your culinary genius!

If you’re still feeling unsure of yourself and you’d like a little extra guidance, get in touch with us at Once Coupled. We love technology as much as we love food blogs, which is why we customize blog themes and templates that are perfect for food bloggers just like you.