How to Earn Money Online in India as a Food Blogger
Food blogger! The profession has become so common in the world of digital media that every third blogger that you meet, turns out to be a food blogger. This makes us even more reluctant of entering the market which is full of foodie clones aspiring to be the next Deeba Rajpal or Sanjay Thumma!
Nevertheless, if you think you really are passionate about your love for food and cooking and have exceptional talent to turn it into a good account, then you shouldn’t have second thoughts about starting a food blog.
At the same time, you need to be clear about the fact that food blogging is not a piece of cake that would make you rags to riches! There are a lot of things to be kept in mind. We are here to give you ins and outs on earning pretty dollars through a food blog!
First of all, you need to understand the ‘type’ of your blog!
Unlike blogs in the other fields, you get a large number of audience.
Having said that, it is always better to comprehend your area of expertise and create a niche, drawing a set of audience.
Be it reviewing different restaurants or uploading recipes and tips and tricks!
Once you understand your audience you can cut down on what you don’t want and head with a proper vision!
Following are few of the points guiding you to get revenue through a food blog.
Popularity of the blog
Do not be under impression that once you start your blog, it would easily get fame and become the wellspring of money right away! You have to work harder and be digitally better than you were ever before. The domain name of your blog should be simple enough to get stuck in mind and catchy enough to attract readers.
Also, the design and layout shouldn’t be loud and flashy but simple and user-friendly which would navigate the content smoothly. Photos which you upload also play an important role as many people judge dishes just by the looks.
The heart and soul of your website is nothing but the CONTENT! Make sure that the content that you upload is genuine and precisely worded.
Along with the content next important thing is User Engagement. Keep interacting with your users through comments, events and different social media platforms in order to increase popularity.
Here are few blogs you might want to have a look at.
http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/ – My favorite 🙂
https://minimalistbaker.com/
https://naturallyella.com/
AdSense
People draw a hasty conclusion that AdSense is a good source of income for a blogger. Which is untrue. Despite, AdSense is widely famous for being a prominent source of income for beginners. After all, something is always better than nothing!
Usually, the advertising pays per impression. This is called CPM (cost per impression). Some ad networks are based on CTR (Click through rate). It is measured on the basis of the number of clicks the ad gets.
It is always advisable to learn how AdSense works and then use it to monetize your traffic.
You can read and Apply for Adsense on the official Google Adsense Site.
Affiliate programs
You can organize different recipe and food engagement programs in associations with different restaurants, companies or even the online shopping websites! Amazon is known to be famous for having tie-ups with bloggers! Many a time, health centric websites also demand such tie-ups with bloggers which would help them to promote their cause through healthy recipes and diet tips!
Many food startups are also looking for such bloggers where they can reach out to your audience and promote their products. Hence it becomes very crucial for a food blogger to choose correct affiliate partner and programs. Be careful while choosing such programs as it is directly going to impact your readers.
Don’t confine yourself in a window of words. Your approach speaks your vision!
YouTube
Owning a YouTube channel, you’re introduced to a new set of an audience! Your blog may cater into writing content, but you should always have a broad mindset, exploring different social media platforms! Ads on your channel keep generating revenue with increasing number of subscribers! Also, YouTube may approach you to upload more videos offering attractive prices.
Examples of few famous Food Youtube channels.
https://www.youtube.com/user/LauraVitalesKitchen/featured
https://www.youtube.com/user/robjnixon/featured
Use below links that will teach you important things about money making from Youtube.
https://creatoracademy.youtube.com/page/lesson/revenue-basics
http://www.wikihow.com/Earn-Money-on-YouTube
Product sales
Food blogging is not limited to just cooking or eating. It goes beyond that. Food is not a need but it’s an emotional thing for many. You can create products like t-shirts, magnets, notepads, stickers, mugs those talks about food or has funny quotes about food. You can sell these products on your blog itself and earn good revenue from it.
Although its sales majorly depend on the popularity of your blog is and how loyal your followers are! Social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest can be used along with your blog to reach out to international audience.
Freelancing
Being sure of the quality of content, freelancing can always be a safe and sound option of earning money. Running a business and simultaneously doing a job is pretty difficult to manage! But Freelancing is something that gives you the best of both worlds! Just know your value and charge accordingly!
Many hotel and café owners are looking for Content writers to write about food and related topics, freelancing for them will help them and you will get recognition along with a good amount of money.
Food Photography
Palatable looking photos is enough reason to make love at first sight moment for foodies! Good photography skills for a food blogger is like having an ace up your sleeve! This indeed adds a good number to your followers’ list. Moreover, you can sell your photos to different magazines and websites.
If you are a food critic, the restaurants or brands that you’re reviewing ask for attractive images of their food.
Here are few Food Bloggers to follow on social media – Top 10 Indian Food Influencers
Learn Photography – https://digital-photography-school.com/food-photography-an-introduction/
Sell E-book & Recipe Books
Gone are the days when recipe books were bought to explore new things and learn tips and tricks! The e-book is the new trend that can help to rake in an attractive amount! Email marketing is the best way to promote your work periodically in your fans.
Convert your best recipes into PDF files and sell them via mailers to your readers. You can collaborate with E-commerce stores like Amazon to sell your e-books.
Here you can get many e-books that can be used for reference while writing food related e-book.
http://myfoodbook.com.au/cookbooks/ebooks
Local circle
Digital presence is one thing but you cannot overlook the importance of offline engagement! Joining your circles of different coffee shops and restaurants events also helps to add popularity and a good amount of money.
Become a part of various groups and attend events like Food Tasting, Bloggers Meet-ups, Food walks, etc. This not just increases your network but you get to know trends in Food industry.
Do not work for free
“Brands reach out all the time for collaborations. I turn down a lot of them because they expect food bloggers to work for free or for a few samples of their product.” a famous food blogger had wisely quoted in an interview. Learn how to tackle with such situations and know your worth. Do not work for free.
Food blogging is never a bad choice. Nonetheless, you have to have the spark to enter the market. There have been a lot of people indulging in this business! Talk to them! Take their advice but take it with a pinch of salt! Make your own space in the digital market! So buy it with thought, cook it with care and word it with passion and this can be your secret ingredient for successful blogging! Have faith in your blog and you’ll bring home the beckons for sure!
