Thanks to the social amplification, strong blogs get noticed much easier and much faster than before, which helped reviving the blogosphere. Bloggers attract readers with good content, personal opinion, criticism and full transparency. That is why brands consider bloggers more reliable than journalists. Brands become more interested in the engaged audiences of strong blogs which offer them numerous business opportunities.

1. Friday Session #53
Kim Recour
The big business behind
Follow @Cleverwood foodblogging
Use #FridaySession
27/02/2013

2. The big business behind foodblogging
 Why should you start a foodblog?
• Because food & lifestyle is your passion and you want to write
about it, if you’re not passioned you will not maintain to sacrifice
hours and hours per week.
• It opens doors for you (fancy invitations to press events, you come
at places you usually wouldn’t come, you meet a lot of interesting
people, you can earn money with your blog and other related
freelance jobs). It goes from hobby to an extra job before you
know it!

3. The big business behind foodblogging
 What does it take to run a succesful blog
• I write an average of 3 articles per week which takes me 6 hours per
week only in writing and editing pictures.
• Most time goes to looking for content: make recipes, attend events,
…
• Be an entrepeneur
• Buy a good camera
• No more romantic dinners without a camera and notebook
• You can’t just decide to take a month of from blogging (you can but
it’s no good)
• You have to pay for it (domain name, hosting)

4. The big business behind foodblogging
 How to start a successful foodblog?
• Research (other blogs, other foodwebsites, …)
• Gather information: read magazines about food
• Define your style (but stay large) and make a plan
• Ask feedback: Write 5 articles and let them read by different
people to know their opinion
• Define your platform (wordpress, blogger, …) and pick a domain
name, host, …
• Define your brand: chose/create a layout and logo: the visual part
of your blog and identity is very important, there’s nothing worse
than an blog loaded with spammed plugins and a theme that
looks like it’s been made by a 5 year old
• Make a contentplan and start blogging

5. The big business behind foodblogging
 How to attract readers
• Write good content, use relevant tags and keyword
• Think SEO: Dessert recipes, kitchens and restaurant reviews
• Promote multichannel: Set up social media accounts for your blog
(Facebook page, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, Bloglovin), share your
articles and build followers
• Comment on other blog articles
• Make contact with other bloggers, put them in your blogroll and
ask them to do the same
• Write articles as a guestblogger for other foodblogs

6. The big business behind foodblogging
 How to get brands and agencies to know you
• Make a short presentation on your blog (+/- 5 slides)
• Start a mailing list of pr/ press agencies with food/lifestyle clients
and marketing/communications departements of brands you
would like to talk about on your blog
• Send the presentation with an introduction mail to your mailing list
and tell them why your blog could be interesting for them, sell
yourself!
• Keep your eyes and ears open to detect opportunities 24/7
• Send a mailing to brands and agencies about your plans, new
concepts, …
• Be professional in your communication

7. The big business behind foodblogging
 How to create good content
• Identify yourself and your blog: About section => keep it original, no
one wants to hear you have 2 cats and 4 dogs
• Show what you write about: Make different categories so people see
immediately what you write about
• Create original content: Don’t write about something you already read
about on 100 other blogs
• Newsflash: Try to be the first to bring the news
• Listen to your readers: Try out different things and see what works
(comments, stats, shares on social media)
• Style: Have your own writing style, don’t use the same expressions
everybody uses or don’t just copy paste a press release. People will
read your article because they like your style of writing
• Use good titles and pictures

8. The big business behind foodblogging
 Brands in Food who use bloggers to communicate
• Supersec
• Braun
• Lotus
• Delhaize
• VLAM
• Bistronomie
• BEKA Cookwear
• Neff
• …
=> Bloggers are considered as press, and sometimes more
influential!

9. The big business behind foodblogging
 Foodbloggers in publicity
« Site van het jaar / culinair » Top 10 Culinair (all bloggers!)
1. filet pur
2. Coolinary.be
3. de groene prinses
4. Jonge Sla
5. MOSHPOT
6. Photo-copy
7. Joli Gâteau
8. Illyvanilly
9. Princess Misia
10. De Yummyblogsisters

10. The big business behind foodblogging
 Foodbloggers in publicity
« Knack blog awards »
Top 3 Food
1. Alle Dagen Honger
2. Princess Misia
3. Coolinary

11. The big business behind foodblogging
 Foodbloggers in publicity
« Flemish Foodies » about foodbloggers vs restaurant guides
as Gault Millau
Zelf zal ik nooit een restaurant kiezen op basis van zijn score in een gids’, vertelt Desramaults.
‘Ik ga af op commentaren die ik lees op het internet, bij mensen van wie ik weet dat ze
hetzelfde zoeken als ik. Chuck Eats is bijvoorbeeld een blog die ik allang volg, van een Californiër
die de wereld rondreist op zoek naar boeiende eetplekken. De buitenlandse klanten die we in In
De Wulf over de vloer krijgen, hebben ons praktisch allemaal leren kennen via dergelijke blogs.’
Gidsen zijn veel anoniemer en dat is vandaag hun probleem. ‘Ze gaan correct te werk, daar niet
van. Maar er is zoveel dat je niet te zien krijgt: wie heeft het restaurant getest, hoe was de
sfeer, hoe zagen de borden eruit, wie kwam er aan tafel? Allemaal dingen die vandaag net heel
belangrijk zijn en die je op een blog wel te zien krijgt. Zo’n blog is veel transparanter.’

12. The big business behind foodblogging
 What did Cookanista do for brands
• Make a recipe post to promote a product (VLAM, Lacroix, Bosto,
Heinz, Delhaize,…)
• Sponsored resto reviews (Ming, Le bistrôt d’à côté, …)
• Attend press conferences/events and write about it (Le Creuset, Gault
Millau, Foodpairing events, Vlaanderen toerisme, Culinaria, …)
• Organise a give away (Lacroix, VTM cooking books, …)
• Competition (Supersec, Lotus, …)
• Organise blogger meetings/conferences for brand or agencies
All these cases have 1 thing in common: selling* your blog to promote
brands
*selling: receive something in return for it (free products, free dinner, fee, …)

13. The big business behind foodblogging
 Why is a collaboration with Cookanista interesting for a
brand
• Targeted advertising: The readers of the blog are people who are into
food and lifestyle so you’re reaching the people you want Readers
consider the blogger as reliable, the reader trusts the blogger
• Cheap, yet quality: It’s very cheap for a brand to advertise on a blog
compared to other cooking websites or magazines and you’re sure
that the people who will see the advertisement are part of your
target.
• Cheap, yet high reach
• Monthly unique visitors: Around 5000
• Monthly visits: Around 10 000

14. The big business behind foodblogging
 Why does Cookanista work?
• Clean layout
• Very fast at bringing news
• Content people are looking for
• Positive content
• Distinct from other foodblogs – not just another recipe or
restaurantblog
• No spam
• Pictures
• Transparent & honest

15. The big business behind foodblogging
 Clean layout

16. The big business behind foodblogging
 Very fast at bringing news
Live tweets
from Gault
Millau press
conference

17. The big business behind foodblogging
 Pictures

18. The big business about foodblogging
 Always keep in mind when you want to make your blog
successful
• Keep your eyes and ears open 24/7 for opportunities
• Promote and sell your blog
• Be unique
• Keep the content coming (don’t leave pauses for more than 1 week)
• Be reliable
• Be selective towards agencies and/or brands (don’t write about
everything you receive)
• Reward your fans with give aways, fans love it and it’s a huge boost
for your stats

19. The big business about foodblogging
Want to know more? Contact me!
Kim Recour
kim@cookanista.be
www.cookanista.be
0485/867081
Facebook.com/cookanista
@cookanista