This is a truly momentous occasion, marking not just another year, but a significant milestone in my entrepreneurial journey. Today, we celebrate five incredible years since the launch of this very blog in 2014. It feels surreal to reflect on how profoundly my life has transformed over half a decade, evolving from a traditional career path to embracing the dynamic world of online business.
For those new to our community, or perhaps unfamiliar with the origins of this venture, I invite you to delve deeper into our story. My husband and I chronicled our shared path to becoming 100% self-employed, each building our own thriving businesses, in our detailed post: Life as Entrepreneurs: Our Story. It offers an intimate look into the leaps of faith, hard work, and unwavering dedication that paved our way.
Over the years, I’ve cherished the tradition of sharing reflections on each blog anniversary. If you’d like to revisit those moments of growth and learning, you can find them here:
- 20 Things I Learned in My First Year of Food Blogging
- Build Your Bite Turns 2
- 3 Years
For this special five-year celebration, I wanted to pull back the curtain and offer an honest, comprehensive look at what a “food blogger’s job description” truly entails. Blogging, particularly in the niche of food, is a relatively nascent and often misunderstood profession. Operating a career in a field less than two decades old comes with its unique set of challenges, particularly the common misconception that it’s merely a hobby rather than a legitimate, profitable business.
I recall the skeptical glances when I shared my profession. The word “blogger” often triggers an immediate shift in perception, reducing a full-time, demanding role to a casual pastime. The reality is far different: this blog is my career, a registered corporation with tangible profits, significant costs, and, yes, substantial tax obligations every single month.
My decision to leave college and forgo a promising career as an accountant was met with considerable doubt. It was seen as abandoning a “sure thing” for an uncertain venture. While accounting is a well-established and respected profession, it simply wasn’t where my passion lay. The primary concern from others, I believe, was that I was walking away from financial stability to “play around” with a blog. Five years on, that audacious decision has paid dividends, and I can now proudly state that my income not only meets but often surpasses the average accountant’s salary in the United States. This journey was by no means easy; it demanded relentless effort, moments of profound self-doubt, and an unwavering commitment to keep trying, even after countless setbacks.
This amazing career, which I’ve poured my heart and soul into building, now has the capacity to fully support my family, a reality we embrace for roughly half the year. Indeed, if my husband didn’t genuinely love his own successful business, he would wholeheartedly embrace the role of a stay-at-home dad. But as fortune would have it, he, too, has built a thriving enterprise that he’s passionate about. Consequently, he contributes to our family finances for 6 to 8 months annually, and for the remainder of the year, he steps into the “rockstar stay-at-home dad” role, allowing me to focus even more intently on expanding this business.
So, if you’ve ever pondered the question, “What does a food blogger actually do?” you’re in the right place. Every time you stumble upon a captivating, delicious recipe via Pinterest or a Google search, chances are you’ve landed on a food blogger’s carefully curated website. Below, I’ll detail the multifaceted responsibilities and daily operations that define this unique profession.
The Multifaceted Role of a Food Blogger: Beyond the Recipes
Food blogging is far more than just cooking and sharing photos. It’s a complex blend of creative artistry, technical expertise, and shrewd business acumen. Here’s a glimpse into the diverse tasks that occupy my time daily, weekly, and monthly:
1. Website Maintenance and Development: The Digital Foundation
The journey begins with selecting a domain name and setting up a blog on platforms like WordPress. This seemingly simple statement belies the tremendous time and effort involved. I vividly recall countless hours spent researching how to implement a single, tiny feature, only to move on to the next challenge once it was mastered. The work doesn’t end once the site is built; it requires constant vigilance. Websites demand continuous maintenance, from security updates and plugin management to ensuring optimal user experience and, most recently for me, fine-tuning page speed. Page speed is a critical ranking factor for search engines like Google, directly impacting visibility and user satisfaction. Furthermore, a reliable hosting provider is essential to keep the website accessible 24/7. In five years, I’ve transitioned through three different hosts, always seeking the best performance and support for a monthly fee.
2. Strategic Keyword Research: The Recipe for Visibility
Gone are the days when I simply cooked whatever inspired me. Today, before I even consider a recipe, extensive research is paramount. I utilize specialized software to analyze keyword monthly search volume, assess keyword difficulty, and deep-dive into Google Analytics. This data reveals which existing posts are performing well, guiding me on how to expand upon successful topics or develop similar recipes. This strategic approach ensures that my content meets an existing demand. I maintain a detailed spreadsheet where I log potential recipes based on optimal search volume, keyword difficulty, seasonality, and timeless appeal. Understanding seasonal trends is crucial for timely content, while evergreen recipes provide consistent traffic throughout the year.
3. Marketing & Promotion: Amplifying Our Culinary Creations
This is arguably where the bulk of my time is invested. The adage “blogging is 20% content creation and 80% promotion” rings incredibly true. You can craft the most extraordinary recipe, but without effective promotion, it remains undiscovered. My weekly routine involves actively promoting both new and evergreen recipes across various platforms:
- Facebook: Sharing direct recipe links and engaging recipe videos to capture audience attention.
- Instagram: Showcasing visually appealing recipes and utilizing Instagram Stories for behind-the-scenes glimpses and interactive content.
- Pinterest: While I’ve outsourced daily pinning to an expert, I retain full control over new pin creation. Some weeks, I design and launch 2-3 new pin graphics daily, constantly experimenting to identify trending visuals and optimize for virality.
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization): A critical component of promotion, focusing on adhering to Google’s guidelines to improve search engine rankings. This ensures my recipes appear prominently in search results for relevant queries, driving organic traffic.
- Email List: An area I continually strive to improve, recognizing its immense potential for direct engagement and fostering a loyal community. Many bloggers achieve remarkable success by nurturing their email subscribers, a testament to its value in direct marketing.
4. Rigorous Recipe Testing & Development: The Art of Perfection
Often perceived as the sole activity of a food blogger, recipe testing is indeed central, but it’s just one piece of a larger puzzle. While some recipes miraculously achieve perfection on the first attempt, many others demand multiple rounds of testing, adjustments, and refinement before they are deemed flawless and ready for their photoshoot. Every single one of the approximately 300 recipes on this blog has been personally developed and tested by me, a process that requires both culinary skill and meticulous attention to detail.
5. Photography and Editing: Crafting Visual Allure
My passion for photography predates my professional journey, even before I owned a DSLR camera. Currently, I shoot with a Nikon D750, a significant upgrade from the entry-level models I started with years ago. Like any skill, mastery comes through consistent practice. After five years and hundreds of photoshoots weekly, my food photography skills have evolved dramatically. This involves not only understanding composition and styling but also mastering artificial lighting setups, learning techniques to make even “ugly” food look appetizing, and operating my camera entirely in manual mode. For an average recipe, I capture between 50 to 70 photographs, which are then meticulously narrowed down to 6-10 for the final post. Each selected image undergoes editing and resizing in Lightroom, my preferred software, before being optimized for web upload.
6. Engaging Content Writing: The Narrative Behind the Recipe
Ironically, despite being a blogger, the actual writing of posts is my least favorite aspect of the job. While recipe development and photography bring me immense joy, the writing process—optimizing for SEO, ensuring adequate post length, and creatively describing recipes without excessive repetition of words like “delicious”—can be a significant mental challenge. Every post is a complex mosaic of components: compelling H2 headers, detailed recipe cards, strategic keyword integration, internal links, and a clear, user-friendly structure designed to engage readers and satisfy search engine algorithms.
7. SEO – Search Engine Optimization: Navigating the Digital Landscape
SEO encompasses a multitude of practices that bloggers implement both at the individual post level and across their entire website to optimize for Google search. The overarching goal is simple yet critical: to drive more organic traffic to recipes. When someone searches for “best stir fry sauce,” my ambition is for them to discover my stir fry sauce recipe. SEO involves a blend of technical and content-focused elements, including optimizing page speed, crafting descriptive alt tags for images, structuring content with proper headers, ensuring adequate post length, and fine-tuning recipe card optimization for rich snippets in search results. It’s a continuous process of staying abreast of algorithm changes and best practices.
8. Accounting and Business Management: The Backbone of the Enterprise
Yes, the irony is not lost on me: I left an accounting career only to find myself deeply immersed in the financial management of my own business! Owning a business inherently means grappling with financial responsibilities. I manage the financial aspects of both my business and my husband’s venture (he’s not a numbers person, but I actually enjoy this practical side of accounting). Last year, hiring a dedicated accountant for both businesses proved to be a life-changing decision, significantly reducing stress by delegating expense categorization, tax filings, and all the intricate legalities associated with operating a corporation.
My ongoing financial responsibilities include:
- Maintaining detailed spreadsheets to track annual growth, which I diligently evaluate monthly.
- Calculating profit margins to determine monthly compensation for both of us.
- Overseeing four distinct bank accounts (each business has its own bank account and business credit card).
- Managing monthly credit card payments and other expenses not covered by automatic drafts.
- Submitting payroll information to our accountant monthly for myself and twice a month for Robbie.
Our accountant expertly handles:
- Processing payroll, akin to a “regular” job, with all necessary tax deductions.
- Filing all mandatory state and federal reports to ensure compliance.
- Reviewing bank accounts monthly to generate accurate financial statements.
- Systematically categorizing all business expenses for clarity and tax purposes.
- Preparing and filing our comprehensive taxes at the end of each fiscal year.
9. Updating and Editing Old Posts: The Ever-Evolving Content
The work doesn’t stop once a post is published; in fact, it’s just the beginning of a continuous cycle. Maintaining a blog involves a constant process of updating existing content to refine it for SEO, incorporate new information, and enhance its overall helpfulness. Some of my older posts have undergone more than 20 revisions over the years, a testament to the dynamic nature of online content. Furthermore, before each holiday season, I meticulously review and optimize relevant seasonal posts to ensure they are primed for the inevitable surge in traffic.
10. Creating Video Content: The Visual Storytelling
Have you ever found yourself captivated by a mesmerizing 60-second recipe clip on Facebook? Those seemingly effortless videos can take hours to film, edit, and perfect. For a period, I produced my own videos, but ultimately realized two crucial things: first, I lacked the consistent time required to produce them regularly, and second, despite my best efforts, I simply didn’t enjoy the process and wasn’t achieving the desired quality. Today, I happily outsource video creation to a talented professional who produces high-quality recipe videos for me each month, allowing me to focus on other core business activities.
And there you have it – a comprehensive, though undoubtedly not exhaustive, overview of the daily life and responsibilities of a food blogger. Some days, this job truly feels like being pulled in a million different directions, demanding constant adaptability and multitasking. Yet, it’s incredibly rewarding.
If I were asked to pinpoint the single most significant factor behind my success as an entrepreneur, I would unhesitatingly say my sons. Five years ago, my deepest aspiration was to create a life where I could spend abundant time with my children, free from the constraints of a traditional 9-to-5 job. My wonderful little family is the driving force behind every effort I make, and their presence inspires me to persevere through the inevitable challenges and rollercoaster moments of entrepreneurship. Crosby, and his little brother, due in February 2020, are and always will be the most important aspects of my life.
I would also be profoundly remiss not to acknowledge the indispensable role my husband, Robbie, has played in this journey. He was the one who first encouraged me to launch this blog, provided unwavering encouragement during the months when I was still operating at a loss, and made it possible for me to work from home by being the truly remarkable, supportive dad that he is. We attribute each other’s business successes to our mutual support; neither of us would have achieved what we have without the rock-solid foundation of our partnership.
Food blogging isn’t for everyone, but for me, it’s a perfect fit. I am endlessly grateful to have cultivated this career that I genuinely love. And to all of you, my incredible readers, who visit my posts, share my recipes, and show me your delightful culinary creations – THANK YOU. Your engagement, support, and enthusiasm are what make it possible for me to continue pursuing my passion, day in and day out.