Food blogs are always under construction, lifestyles are ever evolving and mine are all coming together right here on these lovely pages of storytelling.
What Is A Food Blog?
With a gazillion food blogs from around the world right here at our fingertips, I thought it might be good to put things into perspective and explain what a food blog is.
A food blog is actually a virtual food magazine. Since I was a teen, I looked forward to the monthly arrival of my favorite cooking and dining magazines.
Each food magazine I subscribed to offered a different twist on cooking and dining. I loved ever single one of them.
Cooking magazines became my quiet-time friends during my afternoon tea time. Raising four children as a single mom gave me the permission to take 30-minutes each day to sit, sip and indulge in the beautiful pages of my cooking magazines. My escape.
A Virtual Lifestyle
We’ve come a long way from the one dimensional pages of a magazine to the vibrant, life-like photography and video action on a blog. It seems we can almost taste what we see on the screen, reach in there and touch it.
The excitement of this new way of inspiring others led me to wanting to learn how to film and edit all my own videos, dabble more deeply in making the pages of my virtual life, really come alive for those who would visit me here.
The cost of taking my little world from simply writing about it on paper to actually making it live for others to experience, quickly became likened to the price of buying a new car! What have I gotten myself into!?
Food Blogs Are A Full Time Storytelling Job
When I first started my food blog, it was two things for me; an excuse to indulge in something I love and a place to store my recipes.
Never did I imagine how much work would go into my food blog, mostly because I didn’t realize that it would attract so many new friends to want to share in my little world.
Suddenly I realized that what started out as a place to save my recipes, became inspiration for others. I was fast becoming that dreamy place I used to escape to for new ideas, delicious inspiration, just like my cooking magazines once were for me.
Can you believe I no longer have subscriptions to any food or cooking magazines? I am the magazine now! Everywhere I go, some of my equipment goes with me so that I can capture my lifestyle and inspiration.
The daily work that goes into my food blog entails many aspects. Everything I cook, how I cook it, where it comes from.
Knowing that I want to present it to my friends, sparks my desire to give every attention to detail. It inspires me to think of you, as though you are coming right here to my home.
Do Food Bloggers Make Money?
Things have evolved in my food blog passion since 2015 and to date, I have never made a dime from my blog, even though I have spent a gazillion dollars on all the costs to have a food blog.
Aside from the cost of food to prepare for my blog, there’s purchasing all the props and fun table and kitchen wares that I will use.
There’s always the cost of camera, lighting, sound equipment, props and a crazy amount of stage setting.
Asking my hubby, who I only just realized had the ability to draw and paint, to paint a backdrop for me to use, was new for him. Canvas, frames, paint and time. He did and I love it!
Lifestyle and Storytelling – Not Ads
So, one day, before I stopped the subscription on my last cooking magazine I asked myself why I didn’t enjoy the magazines any longer. The answer? The ads.
Can you believe I still have cooking magazines from 1984? It used to be a time when the ads didn’t dominant the magazine. The food, the stories and all the beautiful photography I loved to escape into, dominated the magazines not the ads.
I didn’t want my blog to become pages and pages of ads that detracted from the beauty of my blog. Obviously it was never my intention to have to write stories to attract Google’s attention but rather yours.
Eventually, my kids explained to me, “Mom, how did you ever know about the magazines you once subscribed to? How do you think those magazines were able to pay for all the work that went into creating them?”
What Does SEO Have To Do With My Lifestyle?
Search Engine Optimization. It’s how we find things and information today. Ask good ole Google anything and we get our answer.
How else will you find my recipes and stories for my outstanding Baba Ganoush or the Tahini Pie I created for television. Or the stories about my having been on television four times? Billboards, ads, banners, standing on the street corner waving a sign; that’s how! Ads.
Ultimately, I accepted the fact that I will need to conform to some of today’s way of enjoying the things I enjoyed when I was younger and looking for inspiration and new ideas.
If I am to share half a century of my experience in food, lifestyle and storytelling, I will find tasteful ways of inviting you into my world. And yes, it would be nice if a little $$$ was thrown my way to offset the costs I incur, but… we shall see about that.
Food Blog and Lifestyle Under Construction
We food bloggers are always constructing new ways for you and your friends to find our unique recipes. It’s a daily intention for me to tweak the photos on older recipes and new information on recipes I wrote years ago.
Maybe my little world, right here isn’t so little anymore, and why would I want it to be? There is a satisfying passion to accompanies sharing my talent for food, dining, gardening and experiences with all who want to join me!
Construction isn’t such a bad thing is it? Look how fabulous that new kitchen or deck is going to be after a long and tedious construction job.
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.
