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Start a Blog

Are you interested in learning how to start a Food Blog? I started Olga in the Kitchen in 2017 and I’m so happy I did it. It is growing daily into fun hobby and maybe career. I’ve gotten so much helpful advice from very known food bloggers over the years and I’m so happy to be able to do the same for you.

I created this page to share advice based on what I’ve done and what worked for me, along with many mistakes I made. Mistakes make us better and we learn to be successful.

Click Here to see all of the tools and equipment we use.

Learn how to start a food blog.

Your blog can be LIVE in as little as 30 minutes; no technical skills required! Let’s dive right in to: How to Start a Food Blog?

How To Start a Food Blog:

Food Blogger Pro: Video training and blogger community helping you to start your food blog.

First of all, I wanted to share a really great resource with you that I think would be super helpful for many of you. I spent good amount of days listening and watching these videos before and after my blog went live.

If you are considering starting a blog or already have one (doesn’t necessarily have to be a food blog), you definitely need to look into Food Blogger Pro. It’s a membership website for food bloggers showing you how to set up and grow your food blog, step-by-step. It has over 350 easy-to-understand videos made for beginner to intermediate food bloggers.

  1. Getting started: Starting a blog (step-by-step video instructions)
  2. Building traffic and growing your blog
  3. Improving food photography and editing photos
  4. Creating content and republishing old content
  5. Social media setup and growth
  6. Utilizing all the “essential tools and plugins” for your blog (including Google analytics, managing giveaways)
  7. How to generate an income through your blog
  8. Writing and creating an e-Book

Food Blogger Pro is a membership-based website so you have the option of a monthly membership or anually membership. It will take your blog to the next level!

The Bluehost Solution:

I self-hosted my website through Bluehost in the beginning. Bluehost offers great prices and it’s easy to get up and running with your blog on WordPress. You can even register your domain name for FREE. At the time, I paid $5.95 per month to host my site.

The whole hosting-domain stuff can be quite confusing at first, but with Bluehost’s help, they will be happy to walk you through. If you’re on a budget or starting slowly, I think this would be a great solution for you. The process of signing up is very easy and literally takes seconds.

STEP 1: Naming Your Blog

If you are serious about blogging, take some time to brainstorm a domain name. I ended up changing mine 4 times until it hit me one day. Every time my family came over, they would say ‘what Olga has in kitchen today’ or ‘oh it’s Olga in the Kitchen again, what’s baking today’ and just like that OlgaintheKitchen.com came to life! Head on over to GoDaddy and plug in your domain ideas. This is probably the most exciting part of starting a blog!

Once you’ve purchased your domain name, you also want to purchase domain privacy (so your domain isn’t floating on the web) and then open accounts on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else that you can secure your business name (i.e @olgainthekitchen).

STEP 2: Webhost

The biggest factors to consider when choosing a hosting company are reputation and customer service. I recommend BigScoots Hosting and signing up is really easy. I love their quick responses and affordable prices. The moment I contacted them, they pointed me to the right product, set everything up, moved me from old host and all I had to do is make an account and pay. I especially love how easy it is to use their dashboard and having everything in one place.

STEP 3: Installing WordPress

After you’ve signed up with BigScoots or Bluehost, you will need to install WordPress (a blogging software). I have used WordPress from the birth of Olga in the Kitchen and love it because of how simple it is and user friendly. If you are planning to run ads on your website, I highly recommend using WordPress and not one of the copy-paste options.

And you’re here! The important steps of starting a food blog are completed! Congrats on becoming a blogger! 

Choosing a Theme or Design for your Blog:

Foodie Pro Theme for food blogging.

I started out with Foodie Pro theme purchased through StudioPress and used it for about 3 years (with old domains and OlgaintheKitchen.com). It’s very popular and easy to set up and use.


Wordpress themes to save money.

Free Themes for WordPress – WordPress has lots of free themes available if you are not ready to purchase a “premium” theme right away. Please do some research and check the ratings before you download it and install it onto your blog. Avoid low-rated themes, and concentrate on a four or five star rating.


Cre9d design for custom web design.

Cre8d – If you are serious about your blog and want to take it to the next level, invest in a web design. Cre8d redesigned my blog from scratch in 2019 and it was life-changing! It became user-friendly, categorized and traffic increased big time. I continue to work with them and always recommend them. If you get a quote from them, let them know I sent you by using my referral code: OITK.


Creating an Income With Your Blog

When you’re first starting out, if you decide to place ads on your site, they will help you cover costs. We started with GoogleAdsense (which was pennies some days), then moved to Mediavine for couple years and our final stop with Adthrive, which is our primary ad network at the moment. As your blog grows with time, dedication and hard work, it is possible to create a full time income from blogging.

Another option would be Amazon affiliates program, where you use referral links for recommended products. I also created a SHOP page with my favorite products that I use in my kitchen, to have it all in one place. There are many affiliate programs out there, but I like to keep it to a minimum since I don’t like to be all over. Keeping track of everything can be frustrating.


Click Here for More: Blogging Resources

Don’t be intimidated by millions of other bloggers out there as you start the blogging journey. What started as a way to share my recipes with family and friends has grown into something that I enjoy so much. I still remember the first time I reached 100 site views and then 500, 1000.

It still makes me smile to read emails, pictures or comments from readers saying they enjoyed one of my recipes. It takes a lot of courage to start a blog, put yourself out there into a giant food blogging community, but there is a room for everyone, especially YOU and what YOU have to offer! Welcome to the world of blogging!