{"id":2897,"date":"2012-12-21T18:34:42","date_gmt":"2012-12-22T00:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/test.minimalistbaker.com\/?page_id=2897"},"modified":"2025-11-18T10:40:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T16:40:48","slug":"resources","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/minimalistbaker.com\/resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogger Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blogger Resources is a free<\/em>\u00a0list of tools\u00a0to\u00a0help you\u00a0build\u00a0an efficient, well-designed, successful food blog.<\/p>\n

We’ve been fortunate enough to run a food blog business for 10+ years fully employing 5 people and several more contractors. Even if self-employment isn’t your dream, we’ve learned a lot through our journey and think we can offer some killer advice to help you along the way, too.<\/p>\n

Quick Guide:<\/strong> The order of these resources is intuitive to how you would build a blog from start to finish, starting with website hosts, and onto themes, plugins, and tools. Work your way through this list as you see fit – either from start to finish, or choose where to jump in according to your present needs.<\/p>\n

Disclosure:<\/strong> This page contains affiliate links\u00a0meaning\u00a0we earn a commission if you use those links.\u00a0We only recommend brands we use and trust.<\/p>\n

Hosting<\/h1>\n

To setup your site, you’ll need a place for it to “live” on the internet. While there are many options, a self-hosted WordPress site is easily my top recommendation. It is the new blogging standard, allows you access to an amazing amount of free add-ons (called plugins), and will be able to grow with you as your blog grows. These are the the hosts I recommend for a self-hosted WordPress site.<\/p>\n

Bluehost<\/a><\/strong>: This was our first host and is a great budget host. I include a setup video in my 5 Minutes to an Awesome WordPress Site tutorial<\/a>\u00a0and my How to Create a $5,000 Website for $500<\/a> tutorial. (note: I’ve negotiated a lower rate for new customers that join using our signup link<\/a> – as low as $2.95\/month!<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

If a friend asked which host I’d recommend, I’d suggest\u00a0Bluehost<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WPEngine<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(this link has a 20% discount automatically applied!<\/em>): We switched to WPEngine when this site\u00a0started receiving\u00a0around 100K\/visits a month. Although we’re on a custom server now, using WPEngine<\/a> during our transition from a budget host to\u00a0higher\u00a0traffic needs\u00a0was key in helping us grow without slow load times or\u00a0website\u00a0downtime.<\/p>\n

WordPress Themes<\/h1>\n

Next, you need to make your site look good. Thankfully, adding a theme makes this a snap.\u00a0A framework + child theme setup is ideal (for reasons of security, seo, efficiency, etc.) and how we have our site currently setup.<\/p>\n

Genesis<\/a><\/strong>:\u00a0In my opinion, this is the standard for a WordPress framework. It’s solid, runs efficiently, and always keep security as a top priority. We run Genesis<\/a> on this site with a custom child theme<\/p>\n

Foodie Pro<\/a><\/strong>: This is an amazing food blog theme that sits on top of Genesis<\/a> with its uniquely\u00a0powerful recipe grid index. I was so impressed with it, I created a detailed review<\/a> and 17 video tutorials on setting it up and customizing it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Daily Dish<\/a><\/strong>:\u00a0I think this is another very solid child theme for\u00a0Genesis<\/a>. The sidebar width and large content space make it a very good\u00a0option.<\/p>\n

Elegant Themes<\/a><\/strong>: If you don’t want to use a framework or need to try out a few options first, a package from Elegant Themes<\/a> is a solid option. This is what we first used to design our site.<\/p>\n

WordPress Plugins<\/h1>\n

The availability of third-party plugins is one of the biggest benefits of using a WordPress site. Here are my top recommendations:<\/p>\n

WP Recipe Maker<\/a><\/strong>: Allows you to format your recipes for your site and search engines. This shouldn’t be overlooked, as it helps\u00a0your recipes become more searchable to sites like Google (one of our biggest traffic drivers).<\/p>\n

Akismet Anti-Spam<\/strong><\/a>: The front-line defense for stopping spammers leaving crummy comments on your site. Licenses are free or you can donate to support the plugin.<\/p>\n

EWWW Image Optimizer<\/strong><\/a>: This is a tool that will reduce your image sizes upon upload to minimize server resources when serving images to your visitors.<\/p>\n

Genesis Title Toggle<\/strong><\/a>: If you’re using Genesis<\/a>, this simple tool makes it easy to allow\/disallow titles on Posts and Pages.<\/p>\n

jQuery Pin It Button for Images<\/strong><\/a>: Simple tool to add a “Pin It” button on your images.<\/p>\n

Search WP<\/a><\/strong>: The default WordPress search is terrible for recipes for some unknown reason. Free search alternatives\u00a0took up way too much database space, so we switched to Search WP and have had\u00a0great success.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to Comments Reloaded<\/a><\/strong>:\u00a0Allows commenters to subscribe and manage how\/if they receive comment replies.<\/p>\n

WP Rocket<\/a><\/strong>: This is a tool that allows you to speed up your site load times and enhance overall performance by doing a bunch of fancy, behind-the-scenes computer work – one function being “caching”. I use\u00a0MaxCDN<\/a> and Cloudflare (resources I mention below), and\u00a0WP Rocket makes it a breeze to install\u00a0these, and other functions, to\u00a0your site.<\/p>\n

WordPress SEO<\/a><\/strong>: This plugin does two powerful things: 1. It creates a sitemap (a list of everything on your site) that google likes; and 2. It gives you the power to improve\u00a0SEO data. SEO doesn’t matter at all if your content isn’t good (sorry, but you’re not smart enough to trick google), but\u00a0it can be helpful if you can more accurately describe your content for readers that might find your site via search.<\/p>\n

Website Tools<\/h1>\n

We use\u00a0a variety of tools aimed to make our website run fast, keep it online, and keep things running smoothly. Out of all of these options, hosting your mailing list offsite (not directly in your WordPress blog) would be my top recommendation.<\/p>\n

Kit<\/strong><\/a>: One of the newest services but easily the best for getting started with minimal hassle. Much easier to use and faster to setup than Mailchimp.<\/p>\n

ManageWP<\/a><\/strong> – This tool is significantly<\/em> cheaper than other similar services and boasts\u00a0relatively big offerings\u00a0– primarily uptime monitoring, security, and backup. Although it’s mostly built for firms that manage lots of websites, I’ve found it’s still helpful for managing our site.<\/p>\n

Codeable<\/strong><\/a>: This service offers single project jobs based on your needs (theme customizations, fixing something broken, etc.). All the freelancers are vetted and do solid work (something that can be really hit and miss on other freelance sites). It’s been very helpful to get some small jobs done quickly (i.e. – add a new rss feed, fix a plugin conflict, etc.) that are otherwise outside of my comfort zone.<\/p>\n

Google Apps<\/a><\/strong>: We use google apps for hosting our email accounts (think: gmail accounts using your own domain name, like me@mysite.com), and find it’s very easy to set up with\u00a0Bluehost<\/a> hosting.<\/p>\n

Cloudflare<\/a><\/strong>: This is\u00a0another tool that was helpful as our site started to grow. It helps save server bandwidth by using a unique technology (which ultimately helps maximize our site uptime), but more importantly blocks malicious traffic and has tools in place if your site were to go under attack so you can fight back (hi-ya!). The free plan is likely sufficient for most sites, but we currently use the pro plan.<\/p>\n

Google Analytics<\/strong><\/a>: The free and pretty much industry standard tool for\u00a0tracking website traffic and stats.<\/p>\n

Google Webmaster<\/strong><\/a>: Another free resource from Google to help you watch out for broken links and give you insight into how people are ending up on your site via search results. This also allows you to manually submit a sitemap, which is a helpful tool for getting indexed fast.<\/p>\n

Design and Photography Tools<\/h1>\n

Adobe CC<\/strong><\/a>: We primarily use photoshop, but others really like to use lightroom for photos. We also use InDesign (working on ebooks and PDFs) and Illustrator (for logos, etc.). The monthly subscription is an amazing deal and ensures you’re always up-to-date with the latest software.<\/p>\n

Camera Equipment<\/h1>\n

We try to\u00a0keep our camera equipment simple and have only\u00a0upgraded when\u00a0we’ve been able to afford to do so.<\/p>\n

For food photography, we’d suggest getting a Canon DSLR<\/a><\/strong> & 50mm lens<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(lots of options to adjust to your budget). The extension tube<\/a><\/strong> is a minimal investment that adds great flexibility to this setup (namely\u00a0that tight-in zoom shot<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Our Current Setup:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Canon 5D Mark III<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Canon EF 50mm f\/1.2 L<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Canon EF 12 II Extension Tube<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Manfrotto Pro Tripod Legs<\/a><\/strong> &\u00a0Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Head<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lexar Professional 32GB Compact Flash Card<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Promaster VL380 LED 2-Light Studio Kit<\/a><\/strong>* (but I’d probably recommend an\u00a0LED kit like this<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Check out\u00a0What\u2019s in our Camera Bag<\/a>\u00a0for previous setups and our top recommendations for every budget, as well as\u00a0our Artificial Lighting Recommendations<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Business Tools<\/h1>\n

Wave<\/strong><\/a>: This free online software is a decent option for accounting and expense tracking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blogger Resources is a free\u00a0list of tools\u00a0to\u00a0help you\u00a0build\u00a0an efficient, well-designed, successful food blog. We’ve been fortunate enough to run a food blog business for 10+ years fully employing 5 people and several more contractors. Even if self-employment isn’t your dream, we’ve learned a lot through our journey and think we can offer some killer advice…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/resources.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-page","5":"entry","6":"has-post-thumbnail"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nResources for Building a Successful Food Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The best tutorials and inspiration on starting and growing a food blog that is meaningful and impactful.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/minimalistbaker.com\/resources\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blogger Resources\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Blogger Resources is a free\u00a0list of tools\u00a0to\u00a0help you\u00a0build\u00a0an efficient, well-designed, successful food blog. 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