If you’ve ever wanted a list of 99 random, but very useful, food blogging tips, here ya go!

1. Use your ingredients to tell the story: Succulent peppers for hot summers, cucumber slices on crushed ice to refresh, etc…
2. When photographing food, ask yourself: “What story do I want this to tell?” Make sure every prop supports the story.
3. Be sure to use warm light when photographing food. Cold light will make your dish look lifeless and unappealing.
4. Use close ups to make food feel actual size, emphasizing mouthwatering details such as the sparkle of sugar or a buttery flake.
5. Combine details of your life with your dish or ingredients, when photographing food to go with a personal story.
6. Adjectives should be used sparingly or they’ll seem overused. Limit the use of delicious, amazing, etc.
7. Tell stories with the cooking process. A floury rolling pin on a dark counter with floury child fingerprints can say everything.
8. Remember that ingredient lists are not under copyright: Processes containing personal details are, so you still can’t copy recipes.
9. Use vintage props or old family photographs to help create a nostalgic mood and share a great food story.
10. Reminder! If you provide links or blogrolls to outside sites on your food blog, do check occasionally to make sure these links are still valid.
11. Use hashtags to encourage people to spread your story. For example: #WildBerryPicking; #ChristmasTreats.
12. What will better help your story along? Photographs of the ingredients, the finished dish or the process?
13. Decide your focus: The food, the plate or the props. Which one best tells your food story?
14. Give your recipes descriptive, tempting names that add to the story. Then use them as a hashtag. (#BourbonBBQSauce, anyone?)
15. To improve Google SEO in your food blog, so don’t forget to use relevant keywords
16. Use local flowers or herbs in vases to add ambience to dishes containing those ingredients or representing an area.
17. You don’t always have to put a flower in a vase or a cold drink in a glass. Just saying’…
18. For whimsy, add garnishes such as lemon slices, dill sprigs or rock salt to fresh, uncooked ingredients such as just-caught fish.
19. Create ambience with light, texture and props, when it comes to photographing foods. But always make sure these support your story.
20. Check your assumptions, once in a while. Show your food photo to ten different people and ask: “What does that say to you?”
21. If you want to photograph other people in photos, ask permission—and have them sign a model release.
22. You can discreetly photograph other diners in a restaurant—if no part of them is personally identifiable e.g. you blur them or use a back view.
23. Don’t stage. Present the people as well as the food. Let them be themselves – they’ll add authenticity to your food story.
24. Always give credit generously. Showcase your food blog guests. Help them drive traffic to their site. They’ll return the favor.
25. Food is about community: Never forget that, whether you’re taking about family food adventures or making blog marketing decisions.
26. Tell food stories with texture: Rough grains and unpeeled veggies for rustic, farmhouse-kitchen recipes, delicate china for English teas, etc.
27. If you are running an ethnic food blog, use location photos from that culture to add to the ambience.
28. No matter how personal your food reminiscence, remember that readers should be able to instantly identify with it.
29. Never give a slanted review to please a sponsor or someone who has given you a free sample or item.
30. If you’re presenting snacks in photos, show them “on location”—i.e. with people actually eating them in situ.
31. Try giving your blog a title and domain name that makes your blog’s focus crystal clear (e.g.: veggieschoolsnacks.com)
32. Photograph people eating through a window for added ambience and an original perspective—from outside or in.
33. Even if your focus is food, pay more than fleeting attention to your lighting. You can totally change the story with a sunbeam.
34. Pay attention to the color of your food blog theme. Does it support your blog premise and focus—or does it do the opposite?
35. For the most impact, make sure your blog tells a story. Who are you and what drives you to blog?
36. Sum up your food blog posts in one word. Is there any sentence in the post out of harmony with that summary? If so, kill it!
37. Steal the interior or graphic designer’s biggest secret: Use repetition of elements to make a food story or photo feel perfect.
38. In everyday, real life, food gets burnt. Keep it real now and then and don’t sanitize all your food posts or photos!
39. What’s your signature element in your blogging? A question of the day; a flower by a plate or…?
40. Use comfort food posts, recipes and photos to make people feel like children again. Stir up those memories, and you’ve got fans.
41. Show the packaging on foods, if it does a strong job of creating ambience. But ask, if you’re showing a trademark or logo.
42. Instead of providing lengthy answers to email questions, post more informative content on your site. Everyone wins!
43. Learn how to professionally answer reader emails. Keep it short and light and don’t ask questions, unless you want a penpal.
44. Learn to think about overlooked elements: Add to your food photo stories with ice cubes, froth, garnish and so on.
45. Food—and recipes—are made for sharing. Give common dishes your own signature twist to prompt shares for your blog.
46. Get out to food events and show your actual community its own members…but ensure you get model releases.
47. What do you remember about your mother cooking? Her apron? Her fingers or the sparkle of her ring? These are stories.
48. Foodies are all artists. Never forget that, whether you are telling stories or dishing up practical ingredient lists.
49. As a chef once famously said: “The single olive made the dish”. What is your “olive” for your food blog post?
50. Either avoid jargon or use it only to add ambience. Either way, make sure your reader instinctively knows what you mean.
51. Before photographing, pay attention to what you put your food in. Does it support or add to your story or ambience?
52. Always make it easy for your food blog reader to find your recipes, use your recipes—and remember where to return.
53. Use weather as a prop in food blog photos. E.g. storm clouds behind a glass of blood-red Merlot alone on a wet balcony rail.
54. If you’re photographing a dish in a restaurant, keep it discreet. Don’t use a flash—it will kill both the food colors—and the ambience.
55. Invest in different cutting boards, plates, cutlery, etc., so you can instantly support any story’s ambience with your food photos.
56. Ensure your photo tips the scale towards inspiring your reader to actually try or share your recipe. What will it take?

     

57. Remember that people share photos more than they share posts. Make sure each post on your food blog has one.
58. Create and brand a YouTube channel for your food blog. Demonstrate cooking techniques, as well as recipes.
59. Food blogs naturally lend themselves to blogrolls. Create goodwill to fellow bloggers and a great resource for your readers.
60. Have a spam filter installed on your food blog (Akismet works). You don’t want your ratings or your readers insulted by spam.
61. When you take your food photos for your blog, pay attention to the background. Is it contradicting your food statement or story?
62. Add a “Takeaway Tip” to your blog posts. It’s an easy way to add the branding of repetition and you can be helpful and creative.
63. What is one unique difference your food blog is known for? If you can’t answer that, no one else will be able to.
64. Don’t always photograph fruits and veggies whole: Break open for a rustic look. Slice wafer-thin for elegance.
65. No matter what type of food blog you run, people enjoy a trip down memory lane-particularly if they can relate. (S’mores, anybody?)
66. Plan your blog posts and recipes in advance. Winging it makes for stressful blogging.
67. Run fun, informal “contests on your food blog, such as caption contests for quirky photos.
68. Are your headlines effective? Do they create curiosity or tell readers clearly it’s what they are looking for or evoke memories?
69. Increase interaction by Tweeting your blog photo and link—and asking readers to describe in one word what it make them think of.
70. Do you make full use of color in your food photos? Use cool colors when presenting summer dishes and hot colors to “warm up” winter.
71. Always make sure your food blog stories are actually about your reader—even though the details are about you and your world.
72. Remember that Instagram is a great place to share your food blog photos—and increase traffic to your stories and recipes
73. Post a story about the most disastrous meal you ever prepared—and watch your shares go up. People love a good disaster story!
74. Leave tweets unfinished to make people click to read more. “This collection of vegetables sure made me…”
75. Answer reader questions in your blog comments section or tweets. This is the best way to turn visitors into subscribers.
76. A food blog should be like the best sort of party: Introduce your readers to guests (chefs, other bloggers, etc.) they’ll want to meet!
77. If you always post photos in color, consider switching it up to sepia or B&W, especially for nostalgic or historical posts.
78. Test your recipes. It only takes one “fail” to lose a reader—and your food blog won’t be recommended or shared.
79. Attend food events. Food expos, dinner parties, food competitions, local county fairs—get out in the world and liven up your blog.
80. Don’t just keep an eye on other food blogs—keep up with top photography blogs to see what the pros are doing.
81. Have a monetization plan for your content if you want to earn from your blog. What’s your plan?
82. Dish turn out badly, but no time to remake it for a photo? Try photographing your place setting or ingredients instead.
83. Food storytelling is especially important because food is what has connected people and created communities for thousands of years.
84. If a reader enjoys your food story, she has shared a meal experience with you. She now feels like she knows you.
85. Make sure your food photos will also look good on a mobile screen.
86. What to do with people who email and demand entire cooking lessons: Create a course and invite all your readers to join.
87. Put a FAQ or Glossary page on your food blog site to help people quickly learn your type of cuisine’s “language”.
88. Explore WordPress.org to find plugins just for food blogs – there are tons of them there.
89. Analyze your personal and creative strengths and weaknesses. Create a food blog that utilizes your strengths.
90. Finding your voice is often easier than you think. Write how you speak and it will come.
91. Track your results. Which posts do you get the most hits on and on which do readers stay the longest? Figure out why!
92. Leave helpful, specific comments on other food blogs. Don’t be vague or trite. Give one good reason why you liked a specific post.
93. Brand and protect your content. “Watermark” the corner of your photos with your URL in light text.
94. Vary your content delivery. Have a video section as well as photographs, recipes, tip section and posts.
95. If you have won cooking awards or attend food events, create a Media section on your food blog.
96. It’s a simple detail, but do make sure your recipes and posts are searchable on your food blog.
97. Don’t assume everyone knows about cooking processes you take for granted. If you put “make a roux,” provide a link to how to do so.
98. When creating a food blog, think of all the ways you can make people want to link back to yours. Blogrolls, curated recipes, etc.
99. Remember to enjoy your food blogging adventure. The moment it becomes a chore or marketing ploy, it will fail.