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Ultimate Food Blog Guide - Blog With Ben

This document provides guidance on starting a food blog, including choosing a niche topic to focus on, identifying the target audience, and selecting a catchy title. The author recommends narrowing in on a specific niche that matches your passions to make content creation easier. Understanding your audience through analytics and feedback can help engage loyal readers. Finally, choosing a short, memorable title that indicates your blog's focus will help potential readers find your site.

Uploaded by

Diana Bibina
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
54 views52 pages

Ultimate Food Blog Guide - Blog With Ben

This document provides guidance on starting a food blog, including choosing a niche topic to focus on, identifying the target audience, and selecting a catchy title. The author recommends narrowing in on a specific niche that matches your passions to make content creation easier. Understanding your audience through analytics and feedback can help engage loyal readers. Finally, choosing a short, memorable title that indicates your blog's focus will help potential readers find your site.

Uploaded by

Diana Bibina
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 52

INTRODUCTION

If you’ve been thinking of this ebook and my


about starting a food blog, videos, it will be like I’m
now’s the time to do it! right there with you—
There are so many exciting showing you every step of
food niches to focus on the way.
right now. It doesn't matter
if you want to blog about To get the most out of this
cooking food, shopping for guide, I recommend using
it, eating it, serving it like a it as a reference while
pro, or you just want to watching my video: How to
share recipes—the Start a Food Blog | Step-
opportunities for online by-Step YouTube Tutorial
food-focused conversation
I’ve helped thousands of
are endless!
people (just like you) build,
However, the technical grow, and monetize their
parts of starting a food food blogs. And I’m excited
blog tend to scare people for you to be next! With
away from actually taking that being said, let’s dig
action. into the main course and
get your food blog up and
Thankfully, you’re in the running!
right place! With the help

www.blogwithben.com 2
INTRODUCTION

The information contained in this guide is for informational purposes only.

I am not a lawyer or an accountant. Any legal or financial advice that I give is my opinion based on my own experience. You should
always seek the advice of a professional before acting on something that I have published or recommended. Any amount of earnings
disclosed in this guide should not be considered average.

Please understand that there are some links contained in this guide that I may benefit from financially.

The material in this guide may include information, products or services by third parties. Third Party Materials comprise of the
products and opinions expressed by their owners. As such, I do not assume responsibility or liability for any Third Party material or
opinions.

The publication of such Third Party Materials does not constitute my guarantee of any information, instruction, opinion, products or
services contained within the Third Party Material. The use of recommended Third Party Material does not guarantee any success and or
earnings related to you or your business. Publication of such Third Party Material is simply a recommendation and an expression of my
own opinion of that material.

No part of this publication shall be reproduced, transmitted, or sold in whole or in part in any form, without the prior written consent of
the author. All trademarks and registered trademarks appearing in this guide are the property of their respective owners.

Users of this guide are advised to do their own due diligence when it comes to making business decisions and all information, products,
services that have been provided should be independently verified by your own qualified professionals.

By reading this guide, you agree that myself and my company is not responsible for the success or failure of your business decisions
relating to an information presented in this guide.

COPYRIGHT © BLOG WITH BEN

3
I. Getting Started 06

Decide on a Niche 07
Table of Contents

Identify Your Target Audience 09

Choose a Catchy Title 10

Bluehost and WordPress Setup 11

II. Design and Build Your Food Blog 14

Install Recommended Plugins 15

Install the Kale WordPress Theme 17

Configure Plugins and Create Child Theme 19

How to Design Your Blog 20

III. Email Marketing Setup 21

Choose an Email Marketing Provider 22

AWeber Step-by-Step Video Tutorial 24

IV. How to Monetize Your Food Blog 26

Getting Started With Affiliate Marketing 27

Join Affiliate Networks 29

www.blogwithben.com 4
V. Creating Content 30

Adding Content to Your Pages 31


Table of Contents

How to Create Your About and Contact Pages 32

How to Publish a Blog Post and Recipe 35

How to Create a Recipe Index Page 38

VI. Configure the Homepage 40

How to Configure the Homepage 41

VII. Kale and SEO Tips 42

Change the Font Size 43

Search Engine Visibility 44

How to Create an XML Sitemap 45

How to Create a Privacy Policy page 48

VIII. Secure and Launch Your Blog 49

How to Secure and Launch Your Food Blog 50

IX. Kale Help 51

LyraThemes Help Documentation 52

www.blogwithben.com 5
I. GETTING STARTED

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DECIDE ON A NICHE
IDENTIFY YOUR INTERESTS AND PASSIONS

While you have a lot to choose from as your blog’s main focus “niche”,
I always suggest narrow but deep. That means, choose a very specific
niche that will resonate with as large a group as possible. Then, within
that niche, you’ll go deep—creating lots of content and answering as
much as you can within that specific topic. Over time, with consistent
and quality content, your blog can become the authority (or expert) in
that area.

So, which niche should you choose? Start thinking about what
excites you about food. Is cooking with fresh vegetables your thing?
Do you know more than others about how to prepare different cuts of
meat?

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DECIDE ON A NICHE
The niche you choose should be in line with your passions. If
talking about Mediterranean cooking methods makes you
giddy, share your knowledge with the world! The happier
your topic makes you, the easier it will be for you to manage
your blog and keep it fresh with new content. Narrowing
your niche will also help with SEO rankings as the focus of
your blog will be more easily identifiable by search engines.

TIPS FOR
CHOOSING A NICHE

✓ Identify your passions and What am I good at


interests and enjoy doing?
✓ Research the competition
✓ Choose something you
have a solid understanding
of and enjoy Is there a lot of
✓ Niche down and try to be competition?
specific
✓ Make sure it’s profitable
✓ Check for affiliates (we’ll
cover this later in the Is this niche
guide) prof itable?

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IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET
AUDIENCE
After you choose the main
focus of your blog, you’ll want to
decide which audience you’d
like to reach. The more specific
your niche, the easier it will be
for you to understand your
audience. A loyal fan base is the
key to long term success, so you
want to target followers you feel
good about engaging with as
much as possible.

TIPS
✓ Create a sample persona (use this
free tool to create your sample
persona)
✓ Use Google Analytics Audience
Overview to gain a better
understanding of your audience
✓ Monitor your social activity and look
at the profiles of your biggest fans
✓ Use Facebook Insights to narrow
down your audience
✓ Use Twitter Analytics to determine
top followers
✓ Ask for audience feedback via email
✓ Talk to your social followers

9
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CHOOSE A
CATCHY TITLE
Select a name for your food blog that points to its focus and
resonates with your target audience. This will be the domain name
or URL that seekers type in to find your blog, so it should be
relatively short and easy to spell.

What makes a
Tips
catchy title?
This depends on your brand voice (aka
the way you write) and your target • Search online to make
audience. Will your blog’s brand be sure it’s available
playful, fun, and encouraging? Will it • Use shorter words
be focused on sophisticated, high-end
• Easy to spell
cuisine? A title that is attention-
• Attention grabbing
getting will make your blog stand out.
Conduct an online search to ensure • Use keywords if you can
that it is unique. Note that if you want • Be unique
to build a business or earn money • Make sure your title
from your blog, you must purchase resonates with your
the domain you choose. audience

Check if your catchy title and


domain are available

www.blogwithben.com
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YO U R F O U N D AT I O N

WORDPRESS
& BLUEHOST
S TA R T S H E R E

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BLUEHOST + WORDPRESS

BLUEHOST: THE BEST WEB HOSTING


FOR WORDPRESS BLOGGERS

Before visitors can see your blog on I’ve been using and recommending
the internet, you need a web hosting Bluehost for years and truly believe
company to help you put that they are one of the best web hosts
information onto the web. That's for WordPress bloggers. WordPress
what Bluehost does. Just like if you even recommends them! So, to get
were to start a business downtown, started, tell them Blog With Ben
you would rent office space. When sent you and take advantage of this
you start a blog online, you need exclusive offer for WordPress
somewhere to store all your words, bloggers. Only $2.95 per month!
photos, and information that make
up your blog. Bluehost is like a Disclosure: I’m an aff iliate for
storage shed for your information. Bluehost and I’ll earn a commission
When someone types in the web if you decide to make a purchase.
address to access your blog, Bluehost Thanks for your support! You’re
provides all the data their computer helping me keep my blog up and
will need to display your website. running and provide for my family!

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BENEFITS OF
WORDPRESS + BLUEHOST
Bluehost has been recommended by WordPress.org since
2005. By partnering with Bluehost, you receive all the power
of WordPress along with innovative plugins, themes, and
seamless 3rd party integrations. These features are what
make Bluehost the best place to build, grow, and manage a
beautiful WordPress website.

Pros of WordPress &


Bluehost
✓ Wide range of plans to fit every need
✓ Free domain name for one year with sign
up
✓ 24/7 support for help with hosting or
WordPress questions
✓ Compared to other hosting companies,
Bluehost is the least expensive
✓ Easy to use, with plenty of support, plus
my tutorial to get you started
✓ Excellent security options
✓ Easy integration of third-party apps and
plugins
✓ Customizable extras
✓ One of the fastest hosts online
✓ Ability to monetize and keep 100% of the
profits

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II. DESIGN & BUILD
YOUR FOOD BLOG

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INSTALL RECOMMENDED
PLUGINS
Now that you’ve created a solid Luckily, I’ve created a list of each
foundation with Bluehost and plugin you should install. That
WordPress, it’s time to start way you can easily use it as a
building your blog. One of the reference as you’re watching my
first things I always do when food blog video tutorial. Either
starting a blog is install plugins. way, here are the
recommended plugins.
If you’re new to the idea of
plugins, WordPress plugins are I should also add that the
bits of software that can be plugins on this list have been
uploaded to your blog. Their tested and all work seamlessly
p u r p o s e i s to ex te n d a n d with the Kale WordPress theme
expand the functionality of your and one another. Plus, they’re
Wo rd Pre s s s i te . T h e re a re all f ree and will help you
literally thousands of plugins to become a better blogger.
choose from.

WATCH THIS STEP-BY-STEP VIDEO TO


INSTALL THE RECOMMENDED PLUGINS

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instructions

RECOMMENDED PLUGINS
GOOGLE DOC
Below is a free Google doc I created that lists all of
the recommended plugins for starting a WordPress
food blog. Enjoy!

CLICK ON THE SCREENSHOT


TO ACCESS THE GOOGLE DOC

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INSTALL THE KALE
WORDPRESS THEME
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The right WordPress theme can go a long way in your blog’s success and
this portion of the guide will show you how to turn a boring layout into a
sleek, innovative, and mobile responsive design with the FREE Kale
WordPress theme. There is also a PRO version of the Kale theme that has
more features. Click on the first screenshot to watch the video tutorial.

How to Install Kale

1. In your WordPress Dashboard go 2. Next, click the Add New Theme


to Appearance>Themes. icon.

3. In the search bar, make sure 4. Preview, if you’d like, and then
keyword is selected, and type click the Install button.
Kale.

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CONFIGURE PLUGINS AND
INSTALL KALE CHILD THEME

Next, it’s time to configure your I should also mention that you
plugins and install your child have some options when it
theme. Both of these tasks have comes to how you create your
multiple steps within them, so child theme. If you don’t want to
instead of outlining each task use the plugin in this video, you
step-by-step in this guide, I can manually create it. However,
recommend that you watch the that’s a bit advanced and I
above video tutorial that walks recommend using the plugin if
you through the process. you’re just starting out.

This will be much easier to Feel free to reach out to me


follow and will probably save personally with any questions.
you some time. Either way, I’m always happy to help!
configuring your plugins and
creating a child theme will
make your food blog stand out
and run much smoother.

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It’s time to start designing your blog and piecing everything together!
I’ve outlined the most important parts of this process below. Click on
each screenshot to watch the tutorial and start designing your blog!

1. How to Create a Cool Logo


With free sites like canva.com and dafont.com, you can
easily create a professional-looking logo for your food
blog.

2. How to Create a Favicon


Your favicon, or site icon, is used in a few places on
your blog, but it’s also great for brand recognition.

3. How to Create Your Primary


Navigation Menu
Create the pages you’re going to use for the
nav and build out your blog’s navigation menu.

4. How to Create and Configure


Your Sidebar
Design and build your blog’s sidebar. This is a prime
piece of real estate that can be used for multiple reasons.

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III. EMAIL
MARKETING SETUP

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GETTING STARTED WITH
EMAIL MARKETING
An email list is the foundation tutorial. Well, that’s because
for any successful blogger, AWeber wasn’t free when I
e s p e c i a l l y w h e n yo u c a n created that video.
leverage that list through a
service like AWeber. However, you can now get
started with AWeber and start
However, building that email growing your email list for
list also takes work and, all too FREE NO CREDIT CARD
often, seems kind of random. REQUIRED AND NO TIME
The good news is that you LIMIT.
don't have to rely on luck to
gain new subscribers. I personally use AWeber for
Blog With Ben and have been
With the right steps, you can a very satisfied customer for
actually build up your email many years.
subscribers fast and start
moving towards earning a
passive income.

You’ve probably noticed that I


don’t use AWeber in the
YouTube Food Blog video

LEARN MORE HERE


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GROWING
instructions YOUR
EMAIL LIST
With the help of AWeber, you can begin growing your
email list in three steps. AWeber provides the foundation
and tools that have streamlined the setup process so that
you can focus on what matters….growing your audience!

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AWEBER STEP-BY-
STEP VIDEO TUTORIAL
Below, you’ll find a step-by-step video tutorial I created that
shows you how to implement an email marketing strategy
on your food blog using AWeber.

By the end of the video, you’ll have an opt-in form on your


blog, an email list, autoresponder campaigns, and much
more. Get started today for free!

FREE VIDEO
Learn how to set up and build
your email list with AWeber in
this step-by-step video tutorial.
Additionally, you’ll learn how to
set up a professional email
marketing journey that is
designed to not only grow your
audience but help you earn a
passive income online. FREE EBOOK
Get all the tools and
resources you need to
become an email
marketing pro in no time.
Download your free copy!

www.blogwithben.com
www.yourwebsite.com 24
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THE
AWEBER VIDEO TUTORIAL
Email marketing can be intimidating when you’re just starting out. At
least it was for me! That’s why I’m including this AWeber step-by-step
video with your food blog guide. Email marketing and blogging go
hand-in-hand. Together, they’ll help you become an online success!
Here’s a quick snapshot of what you’ll learn in my AWeber tutorial. Click
each screenshot to jump to a particular part of the video tutorial.

1. Set up and create your 4. Embed the form to your blog.


email list.

2. Create autoresponder. 5. Email journey strategy.

3. Create an opt-in form. 6. Newsletter strategy.


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IV. HOW TO MONETIZE
YOUR FOOD BLOG

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B LO G M O N E T I Z AT I O N
When it comes to monetizing your blog, you have multiple ways to go
about it. However, from my personal experience, I’ve found the most
success with affiliate marketing. Now, that’s not to say that you
shouldn’t pursue other forms of monetization. But, for this guide, I’m
going to show you how to implement affiliate marketing strategies so
that you can start to monetize your blog.

As I said, there are other revenue streams to look into like creating a
digital product and selling it, running ads, offering 1-on-1 coaching
sessions, freelancing, etc. The list goes on and on. However, affiliate
marketing has helped me earn thousands of dollars per month and I
don’t even have a physical product to sell. Affiliate marketing really has
changed my life in a positive way (see below)!

MY AFFILIATE EARNINGS IN 2020


FROM JUST ONE PARTNERSHIP
This is on top of the additional revenue I make from other affiliate partnerships.
100X

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AFFILIATE MARKETING

Affiliate marketing can be broken down into three steps: Sign


up for an affiliate program, promote affiliate products on your
blog, and get paid.

There’s obviously more that goes into the process (which I cover
in the food blog YouTube tutorial, but at its core, those are the
three main steps to start earning passive income on your blog
with affiliate marketing.

1. Sign up for affiliate 2. Promote aff iliate 3. You get paid!


programs. products on your blog.

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QUICK TIP: JOIN
AFFILIATE NETWORKS
Affiliate networks are great because they offer a platform that
allows merchants and publishers to discover one another. If
you’re new to the concept, merchants are companies that
offer affiliate programs, and publishers are affiliate marketers
(a.k.a. you) who promote these companies on their site. The
affiliate network acts as an intermediate between the two,
which lets merchants reach a larger audience and offers
affiliates the opportunity to earn a share of the sale.

Why affiliate Click on the logos to


check out each
marketing? affiliate network
➡ You don’t need to create a
product
➡ 100% digital
➡ No inventory to worry about
➡ Recurring commissions
➡ 24/7 sales on autopilot
➡ Free to get started
➡ Affiliate networks full of
companies to partner with

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V. CREATING
CONTENT

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A D D I N G C O N T E N T T O Y O U R PA G E S
Now it’s time to add content to your pages, and the first page is
your “About” page. This is one of the most important and highly
visited pages of your blog because it’s where most of your readers
will start out when they first visit your blog. This is your chance to
make a great first impression and let them know what you and
your blog are all about.

Next, you’ll want to add a contact form on your “Contact” page,


and we’ll be using the WPForms free plugin to add the contact
form. Having a contact form is a great way to keep a line of
communication open between you and your audience, and it’s
also a great way to build your email list.

ABOUT
PAGE

CONTACT HI!
PAGE

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When it comes to creating content, the new WordPress editor gives you
so much control and flexibility with the new content block feature. Feel
free to test drive the new editing experience here before you start
building. Either way, the new editor will streamline your content creation
process and save you a ton of time! Click on the first screenshot to
watch the video tutorial.

Adding Content to the About Page

1. The new WordPress editor gives 2. Click the “plus” icon to


you a ton of control over your add a new block of content.
content.

3. Browse all the blocks available 4. Mix it up and use headings,


in the new block menu. paragraphs, images, and videos.

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ADDING CONTENT TO
THE ABOUT PAGE
Now that you’ve added all of the content to your About page, there
are a few more things I recommend doing before you publish it.

1. Add a Featured Image


On the right-hand side of the document settings,
click on Featured Image>Add Image.

2. Change the Featured Image Layout


Under the Kale - Page Options, select the Banner
layout.

3. Configure the Yoast SEO Settings


Click the Edit Snippet button to configure the meta title, meta
description, etc. This will help optimize your page for SEO.

4. Preview the Page


Click the Preview>Preview in new tab to open a new
tab and see what your content will look like before you
publish it.

5. Publish the Page


Click the Update button to push your changes live
and make them permanent.

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ADDING A FORM TO THE
CONTACT PAGE
Next, it’s time to add a contact form to your “Contact” page. This is a great way to
open a line of communication up with your audience. Click on the first
screenshot to watch the video tutorial.

1. Access the WPForms Plugin 4. Add the Form Shortcode to the Page

In your WordPress dashboard, select Paste the shortcode from WPForms to


WPForms>Add New. your Contact page.

5. Set Page Attributes to Full Width & Add


2. Create a New Form Featured Image
Name your form and select the Set the page’s featured image and change page
Simple Contact Form option. layout. Page Attributes>Template>Full Width.

6. Preview and Publish You Changes


3. Configure the Form Settings

Configure your form’s settings and Click the Preview button to preview your changes
and click the Update button to make them live.
fields within the backend of the plugin.

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Now that you’ve configured and customized your blog, you can
start adding actual blog post content. And for this particular food
blog, your blog posts and recipes are one and the same, meaning
your blog posts are your recipes.

You’ll have a two columned layout with a beautiful featured image


above the content. Then you can add some text outlining and
explaining your recipe. Then below the content, we have a
beautifully laid out, step-by-step, recipe that we’ll create using the
WP Recipe plugin.

Please note that you don’t have


to necessarily include a recipe
within every blog post, but with
how this food blog is structured,
your recipes will live within a blog
post. So, to save time, I’m going
to show you how to create a blog
post that contains a recipe. That
way you’ll have a strong
understanding of how to create
blog content and recipe content
by following this one lesson.

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How to Create a Blog Post
that Contains a Recipe
Alright, now it’s time to start publishing your own original content. This is when
you officially become a blogger! Very exciting! So, let’s add your very first blog
post recipe. Click on the first screenshot to watch the video tutorial.

1. Add a new post by selecting 2. The post editor is just like the page
+New>Post. editor.

3. Add your post title where it 4. Start typing your intro content.
says Add Title.

5. After the content, add the WPRM Recipe block.

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How to Create a Blog Post
that Contains a Recipe

6. Fill out the Media, General, 7. Add your featured image -


Times, Category, etc. and click Featured Image>Set Featured
Save & Close. Image.

9. Configure the Yoast SEO


settings - Edit Snippet.
8. Set/Add your category -
Category>Add New
Category.

10. Preview and Publish your blog post!

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In this portion of the guide, I’m going to show you how to create a recipe
index page so that you can have a place to store and display all of your
recipes. Your recipe index page will help your readers browse and find
specific recipes that you’ve posted on your blog because we’ll be storing
them all in one centralized location.

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How to Create a
Recipe Index Page
Click on the first screenshot to watch the video tutorial.

1. Add a new Index


In your WordPress dashboard, select
Indexes>Add New.

2. Create Your Index


Quick tips: Add a title and leave the slug as is.
Set primary index style as Calder/Thumbnail
380x200, and number of posts to 3. Set
secondary index style as Filmore/Thumbnail
150x150.

3. Index Your Categories


Select the categories you want to display
on your index. I always remove the
Uncategorized category.

4. Generate Your Thumbnails


Click the Generate Thumbnails button
and check the box to Re-generate Existing
Thumbnails. Then Publish your changes.

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VI. CONFIGURE
THE HOMEPAGE

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In this section of the guide, I’m going to break down how to configure your
homepage into four sections. There are obviously more steps within each of
these sections, but these are the main points of focus for configuring your
homepage.

Click on each screenshot to jump to that specific part of the YouTube food
blog tutorial. This will allow you to go step-by-step and quickly configure your
homepage.

1. Configure your primary 2. Configure the Featured Posts


navigation menu. and Recent Posts sections.

3. Configure your footer and add 4. Optional blog feed edits and
multiple columns. customization.

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VII. KALE THEME
AND SEO TIPS

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Tip 1. Change the
Font Size
As amazing as our finished blog looks, a frequently asked question I
get is how do I change the font size throughout the blog. Some
people think it’s too small, and I can understand that. So, if you want
to enlarge the font size throughout the blog. Follow these steps.

1. Copy Code From the CSS Cheat


Sheet

Depending on what you want to


change, find the specific font code on
the cheat sheet, highlight it, and copy it.

2. Paste Code in the Additional CSS


Module

Head back to your blog and paste the code


from the cheat sheet in the Additional CSS
Module - Customize>Additional CSS.

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Tip 2. Allow Search
Engines to Crawl
Yo u r B l o g
Alright, we’re almost there! Your 1. Visit Your Settings
blog is a few minutes away from In your WordPress dashboard, go to
launching. Before we finish up, Settings>Reading.
there are a few tips that I want to
share with you. The first has to do
with SEO. By default, WordPress
hides your blog from the search
engines. That’s because your blog
isn’t optimized for the search
engines when you’re just starting
2. Configure Search Engine
to build it. Visibility
Uncheck the box next to Discourage search
However, now that you have a
engines from indexing this site.
search engine friendly blog that is
structured correctly and has
content, you’re ready for the search
engine bots to crawl your site. So,
one way to let the search engines
know that your blog is ready can
be configured in your WordPress
dashboard. See steps one and two.

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If you’re unfamiliar with what a sitemap is, it’s basically an easy way for you to
inform search engines about pages on your site that are available for
crawling. A sitemap is a file where you can list the web pages of your site to
tell Google and other search engines about the organization of your site
content. Search engine web crawlers like Googlebot read this file to crawl
your blog. Click on the first screenshot to watch the video tutorial.

I. Access the Yoast SEO Plugin


In your WordPress dashboard, select Yoast
SEO>General.

2. Click on the Features Tab


In the Yoast Settings, open the Features tab to
configure the XML sitemap.

3. Review XML Sitemap Switch


Make sure that the switch under XML sitemaps is
turned on. This ensures that your sitemap is functioning.

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T i p 3 . S u b m i t Yo u r
Sitemap to Google
Next, it’s time to submit the sitemap to the search engines. This process is
different for each search engine, but the most common search engine by far
is Google, and the way to notify Google is through the Google Search
Console.

Please note that there are multiple steps within each of the steps below.
That’s why I created an additional step-by-step tutorial that walks you
through the process of verifying your site with Google. Once you’ve verified
your site, you can submit your sitemap.

1. Sign up for a free Google Search 3. Back at your blog, access your sitemap in
Console account. the Yoast SEO Features tab - Click on the
Question Mark Icon to access the URL of
your sitemap. Then, click on See the XML
sitemap link.

2. Verify your site with Google by 4. Copy the sitemap URL in your browser.
watching this tutorial. That is the URL of your sitemap you’ll use
in Google Search Console.

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T i p 3 . S u b m i t Yo u r
Sitemap to Google
You’re almost done. Just a few more steps!

2. Sign into your Google Search


1. Validate your XML sitemap by
Console account and access the
visiting www.xml-sitemaps.com.
Sitemap tab - Index>Sitemaps.

3. Enter your sitemap’s URL in the Add


a New Sitemap field and click Submit.

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Tip 4. Create a
Privacy Policy Page
This is an aspect of having a blog that can sometimes get overlooked, but with the recent changes to
the European privacy laws, it’s extremely important that you have a privacy policy page on your blog.

I want to clarify that the following information should not be perceived as legal advice. I’m not a
lawyer and by no means should this tutorial be used as any type of legal consultation. I recommend
that you reach out to a legal professional if you have any questions or concerns when it comes to
how to move forward with your blog’s privacy policy page.

Additionally, if you have the budget for it, I highly recommend using a service like TermsFeed and
their Privacy Policy Generator. This way you can be sure that you’re adhering to the current online
privacy laws.

With that being said, the new WordPress update makes it super simple to get started with your
privacy policy page. All websites on the internet should have a privacy policy page. It protects your
business from legal issues and also helps build consumer trust.

I. Add Content to Your Privacy


Policy
WordPress has created a default Privacy Policy page
for you. Access it and make the necessary edits to
suit your blog’s needs. Pages>Privacy Policy.

2. Set Your Privacy Policy Page


Tell WordPress which page you want to designate as
your Privacy Policy page. Settings>Privacy>Select
Privacy Policy Page>Use This Page.

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VIII. Secure and
Launch Your Blog

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Here we are, it's finally time to launch your blog! This is it. The
moment you’ve been waiting for. It’s time to show the world
what you’ve been working on and it’s time for you to shine!

2. Check to make
sure your FREE SSL
certificate is in place
and that it’s turned
on. Go to your
Bluehost Portal>My
Sites>Manage
Site>Security>Secu
1. In your WordPress rity Certificate.
Dashboard, click Coming
Soon Active>Launch Your
Site. This removes the
Coming Soon page and
makes your blog viewable for
everyone!

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IX. KALE HELP

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LY R A T H E M E S H E L P
DOCUMENTATION FOR KALE

The creators of the Kale WordPress theme, LyraThemes,


have put together some great help documentation that
can solve multiple issues that may come up when you’re
building your food blog. If you ever get stuck, visit their
HELP page and browse the popular articles.

Most Popular Help


Articles

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