How I Make Money as a Food Blogger

How I Make Money as a Food Blogger

Starting a food blog can be a fun and rewarding way to share your love of cooking and connect with like-minded people. It can also be a great way to make money online, something that I knew nothing about and only discovered through trial and error.

Once you have quality content with original and informative recipes, you can monetize your food blog, or any blog for that matter, and start earning income. Monetizing a blog takes dedication and time, but with the right strategy, you can turn your passion for food into a successful online business.

Here are the five main ways I generate income with my food blog:

(1) Sell Advertising Space

The most popular way to monetize your blog is to sell advertising space. This is my biggest and most consistent stream of income. And the best part? It's completely passive once you set it up.

Selling advertising space involves working with ad publishing platforms to display ads on your website. These platforms streamline the process of finding and working with different brands. You simply insert the needed script on the backend of your website and then watch the magic happen. Ad publishers take a cut of the ad revenue earned and what is left is paid out to you.

Google Adsense is an ad publishing platform that can be a great option for new bloggers and the only option for YouTube videos. It has no requirements and it is easy to get started with. However, it has a much lower pay scale compared to other platforms.

AdThrive and Mediavine are two popular options for more established blogs. These platforms have a selective process, requiring a minimum number of page views and/or sessions on your website. In return, they offer a dedicated team to work with you to achieve a higher ad revenue per thousand impressions (RPM).

I currently work with Adthrive after using Google Adsense my initial year of blogging.

(2) Sell Your Own Products and Offer Consulting Services

Selling your own products and offering consulting or coaching services is another way to monetize your food blog. If you have a unique product, such as a cookbook or kitchen gadget, you can sell it directly through your blog using a commerce platform. I currently offer an ebook of some of my recipes, using my website provider's commerce platform.

If you have a lot of expertise in a particular area, you can offer consulting or coaching services to your readers. These could include helping with meal planning, teaching cooking classes, or providing personalized coaching on a specific aspect of cooking or food. I am a big-time introvert who hyperventilates at the thought of public speaking or talking to humans in general so I choose not to pursue this path.

(3) Use Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a way to monetize your food blog by earning a commission when you recommend products or services to your readers. When a reader clicks on an affiliate link and makes a purchase, you earn a small percentage of the sale.

To get started with affiliate marketing, you sign up for affiliate programs with companies that sell products or services related to your niche. Some popular affiliate programs include Amazon Associates, CJ (Commission Junction), and ShareASale. Once you are approved, these programs provide you with affiliate links that you can include in your blog or social media posts to promote the products or services.

I have tried all three of these affiliate platforms on my blog, and I prefer to use the Amazon Affiliate program, also known as Amazon Associates. I use Amazon personally and a lot of the items I feature on my blog come from Amazon, so it makes sense to link to them directly. Not only does this benefit me through the commission earned, but it also helps my readers by providing them with a convenient way to purchase the products I recommend.

(4) Partner with Brands

Partnering with brands is another way to monetize your food blog, especially once you have become an established blogger with a strong following. Brands may reach out to you through your blog or social media, or you can initiate contact by pitching your ideas for sponsored content.

Sponsored content can include recipes, product reviews, or other types of content that feature a brand's products or services. In return for creating this content, you are paid by the brand through a mutually signed contract.

When working with brands, it is important to be transparent with your readers and disclose any sponsored content, as required by law. It is also essential to maintain your editorial integrity by only partnering with brands that align with your values and mission.

There are two types of partnerships when working with brands: gifted partnerships and paid partnerships. Gifted partnerships involve receiving a brand's products in exchange for a review or featuring them on your blog or social media. Paid partnerships include the gifted items and a payment for creating sponsored content. As your blog grows and become more popular, you can request paid partnership over gifted partnership.

I have worked with a few brands, and some have been better to work with than others. It involves a lot of back-and-forth communications, but brand deals can be extremely lucrative if you are in a position to negotiate.

(5) Social Media

If you have a large social media following, you are eligible for the creator fund, which is another way to earn income. Big social media companies such as Tiktok, Instagram, and soon YouTube in 2023 use the creator fund to pay creators for their short video content. The payout from these funds is not significant compared to the other previously mentioned monetization strategies, yet it requires a significant amount of time and effort. You have to constantly produce content to maintain and grow your following.

These are the reasons social media is at the very bottom of my preferred income stream and it is the first to go whenever I feel overwhelmed. But if used strategically, it's a fantastic tool to reach a wider audience and direct them to the blog where most of the monetization happens.

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