This section is intended for new food bloggers. It discusses the various methods I have found helpful in building traffic, including where I submit recipes and how I schedule pins on Pinterest.
My number one traffic-building advice: Focus on Pinterest. This is where I receive most of my traffic.
Step 1: Join Tailwind. I cannot recommend Tailwind enough. I started using Tailwind when I started my blog. However, I didn’t fully utilize it until January 2019. The month I began fully utilizing it, my traffic increased 2.5x that month. Since then, it has continued to increase.
For Tailwind, I recommend a few things:
- Join as many relevant tribes as possible. Submit quality material and re-share. It WILL benefit you.
- Use the Tailwind insights. They give you more useable, accurate information such as which boards are performing best.
- Listen to the Simple Pin Media podcast and read the blog. Kate will give you excellent information on how to better utilize both Pinterest and Tailwind.
Step 2: Join quality Pinterest group boards. If you don’t know if a board is benefiting you, the Tailwind insights will show you if your pins are being re-pinned. There is no point in pinning to boards where your content is not being re-pinned.
Recipe Submission Sites
I submit my photos and recipes to the following websites (links are for my photo albums on each site):
Of the websites I submit to, I receive the most traffic from FoodGawker. When I first began, I had many recipes rejected, but taking the rejection reasons to heart helped with future submissions and my food photography in general.
I receive almost as much traffic from FoodYub as I do from FoodGawker. Their process for submission is simple, which I love!
This site has a simple submission process and provides a smaller, but steady amount of traffic.
I do not receive a lot of traffic from KitchenThyme directly, but they are great for promoting recipes and blogs on FaceBook, Pinterest, and Instagram. For a new blogger, it’s a great resource!
KitchenThyme also does blogger interviews that they promote on social media and their website. Check out my interview here.
In my experience, this site does not update often. However, for the few submissions of mine they’ve taken, that means they’ve stayed on the first page for an extended period of time, generating a fair amount of traffic.
I receive a small amount of consistent traffic from Yummy. It is quick and easy for submissions, so I highly recommend it.
Social Media and SEO
At this point in time, I primarily focus on the traffic building steps above. However, I will tell you what I use for other outlets and SEO.
E-mails: I use a Mailchimp popup for e-mail sign ups. E-mails are sent when new posts are published. I currently use the free Mailchimp account.
Instagram: I use Buffer to publish to Instagram. It’s an easy, free app and website.
Facebook: When I publish a blog post, it automatically posts to Facebook. Otherwise, I log in about once every few months to make sure it’s still there….
SEO: I use the free Yoast plugin for WordPress. It’s guides me well.
Want more?
Contact me or leave a comment with any questions
Return to the Blogging Page
Read about Food Photography
Read about Recipe Creation and Sharing
