8 Ways To Have an Unsuccessful Food Blog
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Not everyone can - or wants to - own a blog dealing any of a plethora of topics that draws in a quarter of a million visitors a day. I'm still striving for that goal myself; and at the pace I'm going, it may be another 37 years before I can reach it. Seriously though, I've made some bad decisions in my short stint as a blogger and have seen many others fall prey to the same bumps and pitfalls.
Below are just a few items off the top of my head that I've encountered firsthand at creating a food blog FAIL...
1. Have no personality
Sounding like just another vanilla, cookie-cutter blogger or reviewer won't set you apart from the pack, and will only hold you back in the throngs of mediocrity. Let people get to know your "voice", your likes and dislikes and being a touch controversial every now and then won't hurt, either. Refer to past reviews and blogs posts by linking to them, giving readers a further opportunity to get your spin and slant on similar topics.
Most important, be passionate about your subject matter. Whether you write about tacos or blog about BBQ smokers and grills, a sincere love and devotion will shine through.
2. Use only stock photography
This point has some ties with the one above. People will know when you grab a generic product bottle shot or stock picture of a cooked dish. Believe me, it shows. What does it display, exactly? Well, quite frankly that you half-assed it with the article. If you have the product in hand or if you honestly prepared the meal, photograph it! No one expects every blogger to have perfect lighting or prodigious Photoshop skills, but as long as the reader can tell what the object is in the shot them it should be more than adequate. This personal touch will make you seem much more genuine and likable.
3. Give nothing but positive reviews
One fast track to being regarded as boring and unreliable is to give good reviews on everything you cover. While I've personally enjoyed friendships from many in the food industry, I've discovered that these people will respect me more if I'm blunt and honest, even if it's their own products being put on the chopping block.
Also, there are numerous "review" sites and "blogs" which are actually fronts for hot sauce stores. While their online retailers may be very reputable, very few fiery foods fans take these glowingly approving reviews seriously since the retailers are wanting to push their product out. If you do nothing but offer "thumbs up" reviews, you risk the chance of unfairly being lumped together with those faux blogs.
4. Don't go into details in product reviews
Don't merely give a sauce or seasoning a quick taste, bang out a few sentences and call it a day.
Personally as a big-time foodie and as a reader, I would like to know more! Describe for me the sights, the textures and the flavors. Try it with some food - what does it pair well with? What meals would it clash with? Are there any unforeseen surprises?
Even if the said product is not up to snuff, the reviewer owes it to the manufacturer to give a thorough of an evaluation as possible.
5. Don't post any updates for weeks or months at a time
One of my phrases I use throughout the course of my existence is "life happens". We all know that family, work, school and activities can and will take up the bulk of your time, not to mention unanticipated accidents, unexpected catastrophes and medical problems can all rear their ugly heads like monkey wrenches in the machinery of comfortable, everyday routine. It happens to all of us.
But if you expect to have a successful blog, there must be a concerted effort to produce regular updates. It needn't be daily, but at least produce something weekly or bi-weekly. If the amount of blog posting gets any sparser than that, then folks who would normally be interested in being devout readers of your site will tend to drift away.
Most people can make more time in their lives if they really wanted to. Trust me, that episode of Dancing with the Stars ain't all that important.
And while we're on the subject...
6. Constantly apologize for not making updates.
Yep, this can be as annoying as a full utensil drawer full of forks scraping across a chalkboard. Any smattering of readers you would have left can see for themselves if a site has a lack of updates, so don't point out the obvious for them.
Continuously screaming that you're sorry won't make up for the good content your site lacks.
In fact I figure that in the amount of time wasted creating post after post explaining the lack of new articles, a person like this could generate a posting or two of worthwhile content.
7. Don't interact with others in your niche or circle.
I shouldn't have to tell you all the advantages of visiting your target audience where they reside elsewhere on the web. Or should I?
Well, if you don't know, it's not enough to carve out your own little corner of the web, with the hope that an audience eventually comes along. You have to market it!
Visit other sites, forums and blogs where your soon-to-be readers currently congregate. Let them know that you exist, But more importantly you should interact with them, be helpful and don't always think of yourself. Not only will they see that you're a person with a blog worthy of their time, but you just might develop a few life-long friendships on the way.
8. Don't be accessible to a wide, diverse audience.
This piece of advice is certainly not meant to discourage you from writing about your highly-specialized niche. In fact, it's the coverage of these often-neglected niches that will build you a small army of solid devotees.
What I'm saying is don't be too "inside baseball"; don't spout off references or mentions of personal relationships only a scant few people will ever understand. What I'm saying is still be highly specialized but help newbies understand your world a little more. Guide them, explain to them the vernacular and school them in what you're all about. Otherwise, you may be catering to literally only eight or ten people on the web in your little social circle.
What about you? What mistakes have you seen failing foodie bloggers make? What advice would you give them?
Comments
2010-09-21 07:04:44
2010-09-21 07:14:36
My best advice is to write about things that you have a passion for. It is the same as in the business world you have to specialize in something to truly be succesful
2010-09-21 09:41:38
2010-09-21 19:02:21
2010-09-21 21:28:02
2010-09-21 21:52:57
2010-09-22 11:26:27
Is this supposed to be a shot at other blogs or what? I thought of the Hot Sauce Blog, then TTF, then Peppers and More, then ILIS and most recently, the HZO.
I'm curious what kind of training youve undergone to be able to give out advise like this. Are you a Psychologist? Do you have a degree in journalism? What exactly is your academic background?
I like your blog and your contributions to the wonderful world of spicy but this article was inappropriate.
2010-09-22 12:24:17
For one, it's not directed specifically towards any hot sauce blog. Two, I'm referring to most ANY foodie blog, hence the title of this post. Three, I think EVERY site you mentioned above may have committed one of these offenses, but that doesn't mean I'm slamming them. I personally have made these mistakes many times and I want everyone out there to learn from them.
Psychology and traditional journalism have very little to do with this. Professionally I've been into website development and internet marketing for well over a decade. I've done everything from work with web usability groups for corporations like MasterCard to database design to server side programming to graphic design. I've become at expert at search engine optimization and have a solid grasp of social media techniques. I've run most types of websites out there: membership sites, message boards, mailing lists, bittorrent sites, blogs, shopping carts, etc. In short, I know how sites work and how people interact online.
I used to write more technology and marketing-type articles than I currently do. I figured that marrying this and something like the subject of food blogs would be beneficial to some of the newer sites out there, especially if they have a passion for what they write about but haven't a clue on how to share it with people.
2010-09-22 12:45:42
Even though I hope to have my own style of writing I tend to read others blogs and learn some techniques along the way that I hope will make me a better more intersesting writer.
After starting my blog over a year ago I stopped after maybe a half dozen posts and then started it again after reading The Barbecue Master by Cyndi Allison I found her style interesting and she was able to do something that I was not doing and that is target a specific audience. It was then that I wanted to go in the direction of BBQ/Foodie writing.
Also becoming a friend to Cyndi on twitter I also was able to get advice from her on writing and I am thankful for that, Now back to your situation I consider that You are offering advice using your own mistakes along the way as examples, thus I see no problems of your not being "qualified" to give this free advie to others. I repect Parker394's opinion, but in this case I side with your way of thinking.
2010-09-22 13:05:10
#1 Just exactly what does "unsuccessful" mean in terms of a food blog...or "successful" for that matter? Does that mean you have a certain number of visitors to the site? Sell a certain amount of products or advertising space? Sit at the top of Google when your blog is searched for online? By definition, a blog (a.k.a. weblog" is an online diary of your thoughts, feelings, and experiences about any given topic. By that token, NO blog is unsuccessful if the writers derive enjoyment or satisfaction from doing it. To hint otherwise is just like when your high school English teacher asked you to write a paper to express your opinion on a topic, then gave you a "C" for it because it was "wrong." "How again could my opinion be wrong?" The verbage of "unsuccessful' is both ambiguous and esoteric. Put it in a frame of reference that makes sense or I can't buy into it.
#2 Why write a post that is framed so much with a negative slant to it? It could just as easily been written "8 ways to have a successful food blog" and had the topics avoid a negative tone to them. By doing it this way, it can come off sounding either elitist or patronizing. It also avoids the notion that you are denigrating other blogs who are not doing what you purport to do. There's the old axiom that certain things should be "seen and not heard." I guess it translates to blogging by doing it better yourself, but don't fire shots across the bow of those who do it their way.
Just my $0.03. I added a penny for inflation.
2010-09-22 16:33:32
Just As the word "Imperfections" has many different meanings so does "unsuccesfull"....,Its all in the way you look at it.Not really sure why everyone looks as one man's thought's as a personal attack on his or her person. Take the article the way it was writen....Only to help others...Scotts been around along time and if I was going to look to anyone for help..It would be Scott...
@Parker... Love you man..but how is this Post inappropriate?
If anyone thinks that this is a inappropriate post then you are taking things way to personal......If you read as many different food and hot sauce blogs that i do in a week,you will see what Scott is talking about..And please just remember its NOT always about you......
PNM
2010-09-22 17:03:30
No one who has commented on this post, myself included, has indicated that they believe this post was an attack specifically on their blog. If so, I dare you to point that outbecause its simply not there. Actually, I appreciate Parker asking for clarification about some of the way that Scott presented this. It gave Scott a chance to further elaborate, which allows an opportunity to eliminate misunderstandings.
For the record, I did not IN ANY WAY state that I disagreed with what Scott wrote in this post. He makes some valid points. My issue is with how it was presented, and how easy it is for someone to infer that Scott has an axe to grind or some other ulterior motive.
Perhaps I should not find it at all surprising that you would be the first one to open up your pie-hole after I responded to this. It seems to be your M.O. that you choose to professionally disagree with me on every issue. No one is turning this into an about me issue except you, so dont hurt yourself patting yourself on the back so quickly on this.
2010-09-22 18:04:36
PNM
2010-09-22 18:09:59
Joe, great #2 point, but your response to Doug has only supported the direction Scott took on his article.
Scott, I loved your post. I guess to satisfy everyone (which I have found is imnpossible to do), maybe next time do a "8 ways to screw it up" and "8 ways to make it great"
LOL....POLITICS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH MY PASSION FOR SPICY FOOD :)~
2010-09-22 19:08:40
To response to Joe's points:
1) True, the original concept of a blog comes from a weblog, or a personal journal. Just like a thousand other things, the blog idea has morphed and been bastardized into becoming anything involving a content management system where an author can make regular postings and have that appear as the main content of a website.
While it's great that the blogger write what he or she cares about, it's safe to assume that the majority of the time the said blogger will want to connect to someone who's interested in the topic or has shared a similar experience. Maybe I was a tad ambiguous with the term "successful", but the definition I'm using in this instance will loosely mean "getting and retaining readers". It was hinted at with my mention on getting a hypothetical quarter million visitors. Perhaps I should have been a bit more clear with this.
But ultimately these tips can help a number of people even if their definition of success isn't in lock-step with mine. If all Fred over here wants to do is post occasionally about boiling fettuccine and not worry about building up a readership, more power to him. Or if Suzie over there wants to get ridiculous amounts of traffic pouring so that she can sell more ads or get more click-throughs, that's perfectly fine as well. I think a few if not all of these can still apply to them.
2) I've already written posts with a positive spin many times on how to market, promote and share your website with the world. I think infrequently touching on things one SHOULDN'T do can be as equally valuable.
2010-09-22 19:25:05
I adore the work you do both professionally and personally. Big fan! I especially like that you've elaborated on the counterpoints here, particularly the ones that offered a critique of the post.
I do think that there are some very good points in this post. However, I think you could have said the exact same thing in a much different way. For example, for #1 you could have said: "Have a personality" You could have left all of the text the same after that, but instead of it being a post about 8 ways to be unsuccessful, it could have been 8 ways to be successful. I mean, seriously, no one wants to be unsuccessful. But, many want to be successful and the exact same info would have drawn way more attention...and positive attention at that. So, to reiterate, I agree with what you've written here, but believe it should have been stated in the positive way of how to improve your blog and not how to destroy your blog. You know?
Best Regards,
Linda
2010-09-22 20:07:57
If so, it has been a prodcutive thread. If you take it as less....well then, that shall be on you.
I suggest that we move on.
This is not a competition.Bring your best to what you love,
2010-09-25 11:38:05
If the intent of the blog was to be witty, you succeeded. But If the intent was to insult anyone who might be remotely thinking "how can I improve my blog", then you succeeded fiercely.
I'm about the last person to keep up to date on my blog posts, some of us are too busy running hot sauce companies to post anywhere near as regularly as we would like.
As for taking it personally, perhaps had it been written in a this is what I do to write a successful blog POV, fewer bloggers out here, whether they be hot sauce bloggers, BBQ bloggers or just plain foodies would be in a position to read these words and think... "is he talking about me?".
Knowing what I know of the industry... until it stops BEING a competition, it is. That's just the way it is.
Can't say as I like anything out there that is a diatribe about what others are doing wrong.
In order for anything to be successful, IMHO, it must focus on what is being done right.
Love you Scott, keep up the good work.
2010-09-25 21:02:56
Thank you for what you ladies do, and I'm fans of the blogging work/sauce making (respectively) you do. Keep up the great work and keep fighting the good fight. I appreciate your thoughts on the post and I welcome others to chime in even if they disagree.
I defense of what I wrote, there's probably not much more I can expound upon that I haven't already said. I stand by it, and even if things may start out in a negative tone I feel there there are a lot of positive things everyone can learn from.
I would also love for others that have any hints or tips that they've learned to share them here in the comments.
2010-09-26 13:42:07
2010-09-27 13:37:29
There's probably a ton of great advice here, but as I said, bringing it from the downside, drags the whole piece down and makes it more difficult to present the usefulness of the "advice" contained therein.
That is MY opinion as both a writer and as a human being.
The ultimate point of the matter is that you get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. Vinegar just leaves a bitter taste in people's mouths.
Am I over-reacting or much too defensive because I'm making this point or are you over-reacting and much too defensive to accept the criticism aimed at the negative timber of the blog?
#JustSaying
2013-03-29 15:44:31
There are some very good points here. And, while I only consider myself a novice blogger I'll say that the only point of contention I have with this article, Scott, is when you mention that a blogger shouldn't be afraid to be controversial.
I agree that you shouldn't be afraid to do it as long as you do it carefully and understand that you just might get bitten. I personally believe in transparency. I won't sugar coat anything even at the risk of offending someone (sometimes). I have a very sarcastic personality which doesn't always convey well in text articles. My personality IS my writing style and I accept that some people see the sarcasm and others think that I'm pompous jerk. As a result I recently got the internet smack down for saying that ketchup is "unsophisticated". (I love ketchup at times but it's not the caviar of condiments)
Even though I believe transparency creates a more "real" article for me I have to do it carefully. Each blogger should know their audience when it comes to controversy. Controversial, political or religious topics can be especially good for certain blogs like http://www.gunsandtacos.com but that approach wouldn't work well for everyone.
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