How to Start A Food Blog on Instagram and Get Paid: 15 Step by Step Guide.

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If you desire to become an influencer as a food blogger on Instagram, then this article is for you. At the end of this article, you would have known how to become a food blogger on Instagram and make money. You will know what steps to take to get followers on food Instagram.

Not to worry, this article is written as a step-by-step guide to give you the ease of reading through it. Following the step, you will not have a problem incorporating all of the tips that comes as guidelines into your Instagram food blog and as soon as you start, you will find yourself earning cool money doing what you enjoy.

Step 1 – Choose a Name for your Food Blog

The first step in a blog creation is to select a niche but we would no longer have to do that here. Why? Because you are here reading this because you already have a niche selected. The type of blog you like to run is referred to as the niche and here we are dealing with the food niche. So this automatically brings the food blog naming to the first step.

Your food blog should be easily identified with the uniqueness in its name. A perfect food blog name should be descriptive enough such that a new guest on your blog or potential readers can easily know what your blog will be/is about.

Being a food blog, a lot of names will most likely come to your mind but you need to make sure that it is unique. A food blog is not restricted to only being expressed with “cooking”, e.g. Tonia’s cooking. No! The name looks boring. There are many other ways to talk about cooking without having to mention the “cooking” word. Words like, “meals”, “food”, “recipes”, and “kitchen” will readily replace the “cooking” word and make it appear and sound better to the ears. You could have your blog name be “Tonia’s Kitchen” “All Recipes by Tonia” or “My Kitchen Meals” etc.

Get creative with Beast mode: the fastest domain name generator!

It is possible that while you have a name picked out, you found out that it has been taken. Not to worry, you don’t need to stress yourself too much over it. All you need to do is to put your understanding of English into use by simply adding worthy pronouns or/and adjectives to that desired name of yours. You can decide to just distinguish your food blog name from the existing one by adding a dash (-) to it.

Check the examples below to help you further digest the point being made.

Example of Food Blog names on Instagram:

  • All-Nigerian Recipes
  • My Kitchen Meals
  • Your Food Blogger
  • All Recipes by Tonia
  • Exquisite Kitchen
  • Delicious Meals etc.

Pro-tip: It is possible you do not have a blog site created for your food blog yet and you are kick-starting with Instagram. Once you’ve successfully chosen a food blog name on Instagram, starting a blog site for monetization’s sake will come much easier because you already have a name chosen.

How Do I Brainstorm Instagram Food Blog Names?   

If you really want to achieve the uniqueness and perfect food blog name on Instagram for your brand, then you will need to do a little brainstorming. The above outline would not be enough to get all of the uniqueness in the name you want. I guess it’s true that nothing comes easy, a little work might just be needed. In about 10 steps below, find out how to carry out the brainstorming for a perfect and unique food blog name.

  1. Search for the names of other Instagram food blog influencers (AllRecipesbyTonia.com, Yumyumdonut.com). This is more like you are searching to see what names your competitors are using so you can make an informed decision.
  2. Get some inspiration or maybe information from Cookbooks. One very good cookbook example is “Joy of cooking”.
  3. Play with words. Playing with words includes matching and mixing up individual words to help you get at the ones you love. It also includes the introduction of pronouns and adjectives, you want it to appear catchy. Adjectives are added to particularly utilize food puns and humor. Examples are, Tantalizing.com, FoodandWine.com, etc.
  4. Incorporate your name into your food blog (if you so desire). Examples are Tonia’s Kitchen, Natasha’s Recipes, etc.

Try Domain Name Generator With The Link Below.

Get creative with Beast mode: the fastest domain name generator!

Step 2 – Create/Register your Food Blog on Instagram

How to Start A Food Blogg on Instagram and Get Paid. food blog.

As soon as you are done picking an Instagram food blog name, you should commence the registration of your food blog on Instagram. It is an easy process, you can decide to create an account using your mobile app if you can’t access a computer system at the instance.

To create a food blog on Instagram means you want to sign up on the Instagram platform using your food blog name.  Check out and follow the easy steps below for creation on a mobile phone.

  • Download and Install the Instagram app from the google play store if you are using an Android. If you are using an iPhone, go ahead to download the Instagram app from the iPhone App store.
  • Upon installation, open it by tapping the Instagram icon on your mobile phone.
  • Upon opening, you will have the “sign up” and “sign in” options displayed. Tap the “sign up” option to begin the signup process.

On Android – Sign up with either your Email or your phone number. You will be required to create a username and password, and fill in your profile details. At the end of this, tap “done” to complete the process

On iPhone – Sign up by tapping the “Create new account” option. This will direct you to the page where you will be asked to register with either your Email or Phone number. Make a choice and create a username and password for your account. After, fill in your profile details and tap “done” to complete the process.

If you created an Instagram account with Facebook, you will be asked to log on to your Facebook page if you are at the time logged out of it.

If you will be creating an Instagram account for your food blog and making use of a computer system, then check out the steps to follow below.

  • On your computer browser, type in “instagram.com” on the search tab space
  • You will be directed to a page that requires you to make a choice of registering with an Email address or Signing up with your Facebook.
  • If you are registering with an email, you will be prompted to sign up with your Email address and create a username and a password. If you are registering with your Facebook, you will be prompted to log into your Facebook account if you are currently logged out of it

When creating an account for your food blog on Instagram i.e. when signing up, Instagram will request that you type in your full name. Your food blog name in step 1 above should be typed since you are creating a business account and not a personal account. Go ahead and type in your full food blog name as this will make it easier for your prospective audience to search you out.

Pro tip: Make sure to type in your Email correctly and make use of the phone number that is available because whenever you have a problem signing into your account, maybe because you forgot your password. Your Email/phone number will need to be accessed for you to get back on your Instagram page.

I wrote, How Do You Start A Personal Blog To Make Money As A Passive Income, you should read and study it too.

Step 3 – Customize your Food Blog Page on Instagram

food blog. How to Start A Food Blogg on Instagram and Get Paid

Since you have an account created already, sign into your account to customize and make it appear catchy to your prospective followers.  After logging in to your account homepage, check for the ‘’edit profile’’ button to start your account customization.

  • Add a profile photo. You have several options as regards your choice of photo for your profile. You can import a picture from your Facebook or Twitter, from your gallery provided they are pictures that are able to represent your Instagram account well. You can also take a new picture or you could put up your business logo (if you already have one)
  • Add a profile name and a username if you are yet to do that.
  • Add your website URLs (if you have any). This is a form of free advertising because users can visit your website to check out your work without you even saying it.
  • Tap the “bio” button to type in your food blog bio. The bio allows you to write your account intention. It should answer the question “what would my food blog be offering my audience?” If you so wish, you can add related and relevant hashtags to your bio.

Step 4 – Start Posting on Your Food Blog Instagram Account

As soon as you are done perfecting the customization, you need to resume blogging immediately.  This is so much work as much as it is fun. Carefully go through the steps below.

  • Select a good quality and stunning Photo or Video. There is an emphasis on “good and quality stunning” because that is one of the ways to achieve success on Instagram.

How to take Quality and Stunning Photos or Videos

  • Shoot in Natural light, avoid flash
  • Shoot in the best angle. Shooting from above is good especially if you have the foods arranged on a bowl or plate.  Go ahead to explore, and try different perspectives to get the best shot.
  • Edit images using photo editing apps like Camera+, VSCO, and the like.
  • Take pictures using a very good quality camera or phone camera lens. E.g; Pixel and Xenvo Pro Lens for Android and iPhone respectively
  • Apply Instagram food filters. Some of the popular ones are Skyline, Normal, Aden, Willow, Inkwell, Brooklyn, etc.
  • Apply Textured Backgrounds. White marble, wooden, slate, or any light background will be perfect for a shot.
  • Tell a story with a picture or video. For example, instead of taking a picture of pancakes piled up on a plate, why not have some honey poured on it and allow it to drip down?
  •   Type in a creative and engaging caption that commemorates the picture or video.
  • Optimize your post by making use of relevant hashtags. Some of such hashtags are #delicious #africanfoods #foodie #foodstagram #foodblogger #instafood #foodlover etc.
  • Tag your friends or followers in your post.
  • Add your location to your post. This allows you to appear more visible to your prospective followers.
  • Use Emojis with your captions. Make sure to not appear desperate or annoying by just adding emojis that are related to your caption.
  • Share posts on other social media platforms for more visibility sake.

Five (5) Marketing Tips to Grow your Instagram Following

The success of a business page on Instagram is measured by the number of followers it has. The higher the number of followers, the better it is since it guarantees you more visibility and also more sales.

This article will provide you with five easy-to-practice marketing tips.

Tip 1 Post quality content following the guideline given above and post at the right time, on a consistent basis.

Whilst you are it, make sure to not over post. Make use of the free Instagram marketing tools to view statistics like impressions and the breakdown of your follower’s demographic and also find out the time of the day or week your audience is usually online. Target this period for updating your posts. If you are tempted to post more pictures and instead of posting one after the other, put them all in a collage and post at once.

Tip 2 – Track your Instagram Metrics.

For you to be able to optimize your account and improve your page, you need to track your Instagram metrics. The metrics will help you answer the question of how well your posts and page are performing. What are the metrics to check out for?

  • Followers growth rate – How many followers do you earn on a weekly/monthly basis?
  • Engagement rate – How many likes or comments do you get on a post you make? What is the average engagement percentage of your total followers?
  • If you added a URL to your link, check the URL click-through rate.

Tip 3 – Partner with Influencers in Food Blog for a Wider Reach.

There are a lot of food influencers that have built themselves a larger audience. i.e. they have large followers. Reaching out to them will be a fast way of working yourself through the niche. A lot of people will take the advice or recommendations of very influential people on Instagram. So identifying a few influencers that can help you grow followers for your account is relevant.

Tip 4 – Make Use of Instagram Stories.

Instagram stories are good at helping to generate leads. Just like Facebook stories, Instagram stories differ from Instagram posts. They come in form of a slideshow and only stay for the duration of 24 hours. It is similar to snap chat stories too. Instagram stories allow you to feature photos, live videos, short videos, rewind videos, or boomerangs. If you are partnering with influencers, you can also tag them in the story.

Tip 5 – Create an Interactive Branded Hashtag.

An example of an interactive branded hashtag is that of the Cocacola Company – #ShareACoke. For everyone that makes use of this hashtag in their post, they automatically give some visibility to the Coca-Cola Company. It is much of a free way of advertising your brand while updating posts on your food blog Instagram account. You can decide to make use of a slogan or phrase that is popular to your brand, make it popular by using it, and for everyone that knowingly or unknowingly uses the hashtag in their post, it creates visibility for you in the hashtag search on Instagram.

How to be an Instagram Food Influencer and Make Money

Making money on Instagram and becoming a food influencer on the platform will not be a problem if you already know how to create good and catchy content as explained in detail above. For the sake of this article and for your easy understanding, there are three major ways of making money on Instagram.

Get involved in Affiliate Marketing

As an affiliate marketer for a product or service on Instagram, all that will be required of you is to post about a particular product or service on your Instagram posts, and for everyone that buys from the company through your affiliate link, you get paid for it. You get paid by either earning a fee or a percentage for every sale through your link.  If you are wondering how to get started as an affiliate marketer, read on.

  • Join an affiliate network or you could join a brand directly. Who says you can’t do both? Well, you can join an affiliate network and also have yourself join a direct brand. Amazon Associates is a very good affiliate network to join. Once you join, you will be provided an affiliate link. This link can be copied and pasted to your Instagram bio or your Instagram story for easy access. Some other very reputable affiliate networks that you should consider are CJ Affiliates, Clickbank, and Rakuten.
  • Post about the products on your Instagram post and story regularly. You would only be able to do this if the product you are marketing is in relation to your business page. For example, with a food blog. If you post about “kitchen hacks” and showed to your audience the easy ways to make bread crumbs. If you made use of a blender or a toasting machine, then you should put the affiliate link to tell them where you got the equipment from or where they could get it from.

Sell your Own Services or Products (if you have any)

Much more than for marketing purposes, you can go into real e-commerce. Why would you want to use your brand and visibility to sell another person’s product/services when you can sell yours? There is no reason you should do that. You will make money selling your own product/service, so you should give more of your time and energy to it.

Are you wondering what service/product you can sell as a food influencer on Instagram? A lot, yes a lot. You can sell a compiled recipe book. You can decide to be a consultant to a five-star hotel on kitchen-related matters, especially on what useful and efficient kitchen tools they should invest in. If have a food business that you run. For example, a restaurant or catering company or even food product. All of these and many more can be sold with your food blog on Instagram.

Pro Tips: To make selling your product easier on Instagram;

  • Create a product catalog
  • Build an e-commerce website and a landing page for your customers. This will be able to provide your customers with all of the information they need to conclude their decision and make a purchase of the products/services.
  • Post your products on Instagram and give them all of the hyping it needs so that they can be seen by your potential customers.

Become an Instagram Food Influencer/How to get Followers on Food Instagram

Becoming an Instagram food influencer means making your food Instagram blog popular. Check out the process to follow below.

  • Post pictures of junk foods more. Statistic has it that majority of people prefer junk foods over the non-junks one.
  • Make use of natural and bright light when you are taking pictures or videos of food
  • Be consistence in your posting. It is advised to post every day and make sure to keep up with food trends.
  • Do not just be keen on the followers. Follow back when they follow your account
  • Engage with other food influencers/foodies/brands.
  • Reply to comments on your post or stories.
  • Write with engaging and catchy captions

If you found this article on how to start a food blogging on Instagram helpful, leave a comment below.