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 to generate income with a 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. It has very minimal requirements and it is easy to get started with. However, it has a much lower pay scale compared to other platforms.
Raptive, formerly known as 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’m currently with Raptive.
(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.
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 personally use Amazon, and many of the ingredients and kitchen items I feature on my blog come from there, so it makes sense to link to them directly. This not only benefits me through the commission I earn but also helps my readers by providing a convenient way to purchase the products I personally use and love.
(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.
I worked with a few brands, and some have been better to work with than others. It involves a lot of back-and-forth communications.
Brand deals can be highly lucrative if you’re in a position to negotiate. However, keep in mind that instead of building your own brand, you’re being hired to build theirs.
Unless the rates are at least in the thousands, more established blogs may find it more profitable to focus on growing their own brand instead.
(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 YouTube use the creator fund to pay creators for their video content.
The payout from these funds is little and sporadic 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. And even then, the algorithms will sometime choose not to show your followers your content, which can be frustrating.
These are the reasons why social media is at the very bottom of my preferred income streams and 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.
