This page contains a list of blogging resources I use for No Plate Like Home food blog. I have found these blogging resources to be helpful and trust worthy. If I haven’t listed a resource I currently use, I may not be happy with them or am still trying to understand their product and its benefits.
Disclaimer: There may be affiliate links within this page and throughout my site. That means I will collect a commission if you make a purchase through the links. I do NOT recommend products that I don’t trust.
Before I begin, if you have not yet started a blog and are seriously thinking about it, read my 10 Good Reasons You Should NOT Start a Blog first! You’ll get my honest perspective on blogging and what bigger bloggers don’t want you to know.
Siteground Web hosting
I use Siteground for my web hosting and have been very pleased with their level of customer support. I am very happy they have live chat sessions in which I can ask questions and get immediate answers.
WordPress
I’ve used WordPress since day one of starting this blog and have been very pleased with their customer support and quality software. I started with a free WordPress hosted blog using he premium package (which cost $99) and then moved to self hosting WordPress.org blog within my first 60 days of starting the blog. I used two free WordPress themes (Dyad and Olsen Light) at the beginning before purchasing a third-party theme. There are many great free WordPress themes but, make sure to research them first. I found this article about 65 Best Free WordPress Themes informative.
Vault Press
I use Vault Press for daily back ups and security on the No Plate Like Home website. I chose Vault Press when I moved to self hosting as not to be required to do back ups myself.
Food Photography Tools
Cannon EOS Rebel T6 Digital DSLR Camera
Before purchasing the Cannon EOS Rebel T6 Digital DSLR Camera , I was using a Nikon point and shoot with a zoom lens for several months. It was sufficient for the beginning of my blogging journey but, now that I’m using a DSLR camera, my photos have improved notably. Being able to use the camera in manual mode and select the settings, is very helpful. I find this camera easy-to-use and a good beginner camera.
Cannon 50mm F1.8 Prime Lens
I purchased Cannon 50mm f1.8 lens (it has auto and manual focus settings) to use with my Cannon Rebel T6 and purchased it from BH Video in New York. It helps to make sharper image photos.
The Food Photography E-Book by Nagi Maehashi (Recipe Tin Eats)
I purchased The Food Photography Book for only $29 to learn as much as I can about food photography in order to significantly improve my food photos. This e-book is 180 pages of organized, well-written, step-by-step, illustrated tips that show you how to use your camera settings. It includes lighting, food styling, angles and just about everything you need to know to improve your pictures. I saw an immediate improvement in my pictures from implementing Nagi’s instructions and tips along with my new Cannon Rebel T6 and Cannon 50 mm F1.8 Prime Lens DSLR camera. I feel this Food Photography e-book is well-organized and detailed but, you must practice, practice, practice!
Are you thinking of starting your own blog?
If you are thinking about starting a blog, you will need to know the 10 Good Reasons Why You Should NOT Start a Blog where I discuss the truth about blogging and what it entails. It wish I knew this before I started my blog. It is a must read for anyone thinking of starting their own blog BEFORE they start one.
Read my Interview with Sarah Titus, Pro Blogger. where Sarah talks about how blogging has changed, what women do to obstruct their own success and what are her blogging lessons learned. She shared my How to Cope with Losing Friends to Jealousy post on Twitter, invited me to collaborate on one of her huge group boards on Pinterest and agreed to let me interview her. I am so honored! Get Sarah Titus’ Honest Blogging Bundle or new Blogging Binder here!
How I increased my Website Traffic
When I first started this blog on Sep 14, 2016, the first three months was difficult getting traffic to my blog. I had 30-40 page views per day. I then found out in a free blogging seminar that Pinterest and SEO should be the focus of a new blogger. Being that I knew nothing about SEO (I’ve since put more focus on SEO), I turned to Pinterest. I started pinning 100 or so pins per day to my boards. Within about 6 weeks, I had more than doubled my traffic! Then it tripled and quadrupled as I started pinning to group boards. I’m expecting my monthly page views to reach 20K-30K over the holidays.
Boardbooster
I was also reading about how automated pinning tools helps increase your page views. Yes, this is true. Once I built up my Pinterest Boards manually, I started using Boardbooster to pin to group boards. I pay $15 per month for this service and it enables me to spend less time on Pinterest so I can focus on my content. It is worth the cost as it also helps you build your brand over time and extend your reach.
SEO
I bought the Genesis Framework to help with SEO and installed the Yoast plugin. I wish I did both of these right from the start. Oh, how much I’d change if I’d had known from the start. The first six months, my blog received little organic traffic (page views generated from search engine search results. This is normal as Google ranks new websites low until it sees you as a trusted site. Now, I’m getting more organic traffic which, is exactly what you want. You don’t want to depend on social media alone.
Enjoy your day,
-Joanne