So, you are a food blogger!
You already have your own blog, you've decided on the name of your blog, you've created your logo, and perhaps you've even selected a theme and a design that best suits your brand.
What's next?
What is the main reason why you created your blog at the first place? Was is for fun? Or do you want to make some money too?
If monetizing your blog is your goal, keep reading because down bellow you'll find a list with some ways you can achieve that.
Display ads
Although many food bloggers think that hosting display ads on their blog is generally a bad monetization strategy, as it's difficult have control over the kind of ads people see, they disrupt reader attention, and they may ruin the user experience of your visitors, still display ads are a very popular method for making money.
The reason is that they’re easy to set up, they work passively and fast (stats show that display ads pay earnings around 30-60 days after they appear on your blog on a monthly basis) and the money you can get may not be that much, but most of the times it's enough to motivate you to continue with your blog. Especially if you are a beginner.
All you need to do is choose a reliable ad network such as Google AdSense, Infolinks, Media.net, AdThrive and the rest is easy.
Affiliate links
With affiliate links you actually promote the products of other food business (mixers, cooking tools, pots, knives etc) and get a commission for every sale you make.
Here is how it works: You connect with a company that makes food-related products. The company gives you a tracking link that you’ll use in your content. When the reader clicks that link, it’s tracked by the store and If the purchase is made, you receive a commission.
This is another good and almost effortless way to make some passive income from your blog and at the same time develop trust with your audience, as you suggest tools they need and you know they are of good quality. Of course, in most cases, you won’t start earning income right away. It takes time and you need to be patient to start earning income, but in any case it's a good strategy to follow.
Online courses
You don't need to be an expert or a head chief to create an online course. All you need to do is find a topic, for which you know more than your audience does. It could be a recipe for specific types of food, how to use specific kitchen tools, or how to decorate a birthday cake. You can even move one step forward and not talk about how to cook at all. Instead you can teach about food photography and social media management related to food. Really, there is no limit on the topics you can find.
If you consider using online corses, that now it's the right time to do it, as the e-learning industry is at its peak. Stats show that e-learning is expected to grow to about $325 billion by 2025.
Recipe Books
If you’ve already built up an audience, people that trust you and follow you for your work, one of the most profitable ways to monetize it, is to sell your own recipe book to these people.
It can have the traditional form of a physical recipe book, or even better have the form of an e-book. Or even both...
It's something you can do by yourself without the help of publishers and distributers. In that way you can have the total control of the promotion of your book, you won't need to worry about housing and shipping, and you'll keep all sales for yourself. And when a sale is made, a print-on-demand company will print and ship a copy to your customer.
In case this process seems too complicated and difficult to you, you can skip self-publishing and work with a publisher who will guide you through the whole process.
Sponsored Content
If you already have a dedicated and fairly large audience, other companies may be willing to pay you to promote their products.
This is the so called sponsored content, which has become one of the most profitable ways of monetizing your blog.
How this works in simple words, is that you get in touch with food companies and brands who want you to promote their products through your blog, or want to ask you to write up a review of their product on your blog in exchange of some cash.
Piece of advice: promote only products you really believe in and you know they are of good quality, so as to strengthen your relationship of trust with your audience.
Consistency
These are just a few ways you can make your passion as a food blogger a living. But for all these ways to be effective, you need to be consistent because success is not going to happen overnight. You need to promote your blog the right way, drive more traffic and engage with your audience.
And most importantly, you need to protect your blog. It is more than obvious that blogging is not an easy task. It takes time and so much effort to create your blog. Seeing someone using your content, monetising it, and stealing your audience must be more than frustrating. You need to find a way to protect your work. This can be done with Toroblocks.
Toroblocks -with its "myBlogs" automation- is a platform that uses the blockchain technology to protect the copyright of your blog content, providing you with a Certificate of Ownership (CoO).
Also, via its monitoring service, scans the worldwide web for people stealing your content and notifies you when suspicious activity is detected. Then you can take down stolen content down with a single click.
See how Toroblocks works here