Food Blogging for Dummies, ends 9/8

While I have only done a mere smattering of recipe posts on the blog so far, I’ve really been interested in improving my skills in that realm. So, I jumped on the chance to review Food Blogging for Dummies by Kelly Senyei (author of the blog Just a Taste.)

I have to start off by saying that this particular title is in full color! What better way to convey a great way to enter the genre of food blogging than to show everything in vivid color.

Some of the material covered in this title may be familiar to anyone already blogging and at times is applicable regardless of your blog’s niche. The author covers a lot about setting up your blog, assessing what your niche will be and considering your blog’s design. There’s also coverage of marketing and monetization of your blog.

Even though those nuts and bolts are covered and cover many different niches, Food Blogging for Dummies does delve into issues that are more specific to a food themed blog.

Eating with Your Eyes is a wonderful section of the book that covers photography. If there is one thing that can turn off a reader, it is a bunch of recipe focused posts without one single photo showing the finished product or any of the steps needed for production. Surprisingly, I’ve stumbled across a few blogs that have that image deprived layout. And, I usually do not spend any time looking far beyond the post that I found through a search. On the other hand, a food themed post that is laid out well and has captivating images is likely to have me looking at other posts on the same blog for other ideas.

As icing on the cake, Ms. Senyei ends the book with a chapter covering the ten hardest foods to photography. That doesn’t mean that you can’t photography the foods listed there. Rather, she offers up suggestions to make them interesting to a reader.

While my blog is not exclusively food focused, I do enjoy sharing posts from time to time. And, I’m planning to implement many of the suggestions from the photography section in all future food posts. I’ve already tried my hand a bit on a few posts, including one showing Del Monte snack cups with Diary of a Wimpy Kid books as seen below.