This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Let's talk today about starting a food blog from Naples, Italy. Going to the source of some delicious cuisine, nestled in the heart of Naples. In fact, here we have a story of passion, tradition, and culinary excellence. And also a question from a caller, a tale of a local chef whose hands have mastered the art of Neapolitan cuisine, turning simple ingredients into dishes that tell the stories of Southern Italy. This chef/cook, I just noticed that they use the word cook, so either one works for me.
They are poised to embark on a new journey. They want to transcend their local region and invite the world into a kitchen. Well, at least virtually digitally, sharing recipes and such. So how might they grow this food blog? We got lots of food bloggers out there.
I hear from them from time to time. And of course, food blogging is very profitable, or at least some food blogs have been very profitable, let's say that. I saw a newsletter recently on Substack, someone that is doing a million dollars a year, not getting a million dollars a year in subscription fees based on sharing recipes. So yeah, I'm not gonna promise that we're gonna get this person to a million dollars, but I'll do my best to be helpful, and perhaps help our listeners as well, somebody else out there who's trying to start a blog or some other type of content marketing and make money from it. Starting a food blog from Naples, Italy is our focus for today, that question, my answer, coming up in just 30 seconds.
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Hello, I am a cook for Naples, Italy, and I have big passion for the traditional dishes of my region. I want to start a blog to share my recipe and cooking tips with the world. But I feel overwhelmed by the idea of starting and monetizing a blog, especially because English is my third language, and I am not confident in my writing skills. Could you please provide with me a step-by-step guide on how to launch a suitable food blog? I want to attract and keep an audience interested in learning about the rich culinary traditions of Southern Italy.
What strategies should I use to ethically monetize my content and make me some income from my blog? I have so much knowledge to share about Nepalesian cuisine, but I need help understanding the technical aspect of blogging and how to reach a global audience. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. [Music]
Well, just as classic Neapolitan dishes are a foundation of so much Italian food and so much of the best food anywhere in the world, food blogs are kind of a foundation of blogging content, of subscriptions, what people like to access and get more of. And so there's a whole model of doing this as a membership, like I mentioned, that sub-stack that is earning a million dollars a year.
And there's also a whole model of doing it as an advertising-based business where you're just publishing all these recipes on websites, trying to get lots of traffic, and then people click ads, you get paid, lots of recipe blogs doing it that way. And probably some other things as well. People are selling products, lots of ways to monetize something like this. Ultimately, what it's gonna come down to is your patience, your commitment, your consistency, like how long you're willing to work on something, which monetization model you choose, how you are able to build and cultivate community over time. And yes, I know this person is saying that English is not their first language, that's okay.
I think especially for a food blog, for having a global audience, I think that's totally fine. In some ways, bringing more of your culture to it is gonna actually be attractive. And that's just, that's part of it. So I would say, go for it, that's your roadmap. Your roadmap is starting with the foundation, choosing a platform like WordPress or sub-stack or Squarespace or there's many others, writing your first dozen posts, let's say, your first 10 to 12, maybe 15 posts, making an outline to do another 10 to 12 or 15, just brainstorming a bit.
And like, if I had 100 articles on this blog, what would they be? Don't necessarily try to write all 100 right away, but just have an idea for like where you can take it. Like think about your first three months of the blog. And then maybe every few days, add a little something, like add your email list, add your about page, add another page, just doing this over time, that is going to be how you build it effectively and without burning out. So I think it's gonna be fun.
I would love to see it. Let us know when it's out, we can share it with others. Listeners, if you have a question, if you have a food blog or something else, some other project you're working on, you'd like to share sidehustleschool.com/questions. Much more is coming up. New episode every day, seven days a week, always free.
My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
from the Onward Project.
