Food and cooking are two of the most popular topics on the Internet. If you want to join in and publish your recipes online, you have plenty of options.
Starting a new recipe blog involves a lot of work and patience, and it is a very competitive field.
But if that’s your aim, it’s better to start with easier options to share your recipes and experience and learn what works with food lovers.
Recipes and cooking are no different from publishing on other subjects. You need quality content to attract readers.
Writing tips before you publish your recipes
Writing effective recipes always means being clear, concise, specific, consistent, and organized.
You’ve read many, so think about how a good recipe is structured.
You need to list the ingredients with precise quantities in the order of when they are used in the recipe.
Metric measurements are preferable. But if you prefer to use imperial measurements, note both with your ingredients: 200 g / 7 oz.
For the method, give clear and concise instructions, breaking them down into smaller steps if necessary.
Instructions almost always use simple language in the imperative form, such as sift the flour, beat the eggs, or bake for 30 minutes.
As well as the essential information, you need a catchy title, and you might want to include some tips and tricks.
Perhaps also add a short personal story about your recipe or even an anecdote.
But don’t add 1,000’s of words. People want to follow a recipe, not read a book.
Lastly, make sure you proofread your recipe meticulously for errors or typos.
Recipes always need great photos
Photos are the main assets for attracting attention to a recipe, so they must be clear, sharp, colorful, and eye-catching.
A digital SLR camera is probably the best; however, modern phones can take terrific photos.
Whatever your use, plenty of natural light is the best for food photography, but avoid direct sunlight as it will produce harsh shadows.
Experiment with different angles and take five or six photos to see what works the best.
Not every dish you cook is bright and colorful, so pay attention to the plate or dish you use to add some color or contrast.
Once you select your best photo, use a photo editing program to improve it even further. You can adjust the brightness, contrast, and saturation to make your photos look their best.
You can also use a photo editing program to remove backgrounds or unwanted objects from your photos.
Here’s a comparison of an original photo with no editing.
It’s okay, but it could be more colorful, and the background is not very appealing. Here’s the result after a minute or two of editing to improve it.
As you can see, I increased the saturation and brightness and removed the background.
But you can present your dishes in many other creative ways. Here’s an example.
I’m not a great photographer, but I can produce decent food photos despite my limited skills.
Choosing a platform for your recipes
When you’re ready, you’ll find you have lots of different options to publish your recipes online.
Many cooking, food, and recipe sites accept guest submissions.
But don’t try to be everywhere because these site owners will not welcome you sending the same recipe to multiple sites.
You need to be selective and carefully check different sites to see which one or two will be the best fit for you.
So, what are some of the options?
Here’s a quick list of some of the most popular sites that accept recipe submissions.
If you click these links, they will take you to the submission guidelines for each site.
You can find many more by searching the web.
What about social media?
Facebook has always been a popular platform for recipes, but Instagram seems to be THE platform to post recipes.
During an hour or so of research, I found a lot of Instagram accounts related to food and cooking.
The amazing stat for me was the number of followers some of them have.
Here’s one of the cooking influencers on Instagram, and as far as I can tell, she doesn’t have a website or blog.
A million followers is a massive following.
I’m sure it took a long time to build a following like this, but it proves the marketing power of social media, especially Instagram.
There’s no doubt that Pinterest is an all-time favorite platform for recipes.
But the one drawback is that you need to publish your recipes before pining them to Pinterest. You need a blog or use a link from where your recipe is published.
As for other platforms, I doubt Twitter (or X) would be effective, but perhaps TikTok could work.
I’m not a TikTok user, so unfortunately, I can’t offer an opinion.
One last option is to use YouTube if you are confident in producing quality videos.
Promoting your recipes
You want people to find and read your recipes, and that doesn’t happen by chance.
The only way to attract attention is to promote your new recipes.
It’s challenging work when you are just starting, but be patient, and your work will pay off in the end.
The best starting point is to share your recipes on social media platforms.
But do some research, use relevant hashtags, and follow other food bloggers and influencers.
You could also start a mailing list to inform readers when you publish a new recipe.
Your publishing choices for recipes
You can choose different ways and mediums to publish your recipes.
Your selection will depend on the time you have available and your motivation.
Here are the most popular options.
1. Post your recipes on submission sites. This is the easiest, quickest, and free way to get started.
2. Start your social media platform. It’s also free and easy to set up. Instagram is possibly the best platform to use for recipes.
3. Start your own cooking or recipe blog. You’ll need some technical skills, but using a free blogging platform rarely attracts many visitors. A self-hosted site is the most common choice, but it can be costly to set up and maintain.
4. Self-publish your recipes. Amazon KDP makes publishing a print book or ebook easy (and mostly free). You will earn royalties for every copy you sell.
Summary
People eat three times a day, so that’s a lot of people looking for something to cook.
Publishing recipes is one of the most popular forms of online publishing today.
Here’s an interesting statistic. 42.8% of blogs with 50,000+ sessions per month are food blogs. Source: RankIQ
But that makes it pretty competitive. You’re not going to launch to the top of the list in one day with one recipe.
However, if you take the time to learn the ropes and stay patient, you never know what will happen in the long run.
In the meantime, recipe publishing can be extremely rewarding if you have a passion for cooking and enjoy interacting with people.
Good luck and bon appétit!
Related Reading: Learn How You Can Easily Self-Publish A Recipe Book Or Cookbook
