These are the top three most popular blog posts, and as you can see, my audience loved carbs! The first recipe I ever posted (guacamole) was the most successful of all, and is my 3rd most visited page on my site (next to the home page and my email sign-up page). The quality of the photographs really helped me gain a lot of attention, combined with the fact that people were curious as to how I made my own tortilla chips.
I advertised my Tuscan recipe as one that is “teenager-approved” and there were several moms that reached out to me on social media that agreed that their picky eaters enjoyed this. It looks like it took a ton of time, but it only took 15 minutes and was incredible.
As for the Fettuccine, my hometown is incredibly small and I knew that fact would come in handy on this recipe. My mother is very well-known in our hometown for her cooking, so I advertised this one as one of her recipes and it gained a lot of attention quick (thanks, mom!).
I tried to keep my posts relatively the same, geared toward the same audience. What worked well for me was consistency and good photography. Having good photos entice your readers to click on the recipe to see how you made it and how long it took you.
My success was driven by the fact that I never had to work too hard to make a meal that would fit my targeted approach to my blog. The recipes that I posted were ones that are in my dinner rotations and I never had to specially make one and hope that it fit my “short ingredient list, less that 30 minutes to make, etc.” list. I stayed consistent to this brand persona and it payed off.
– Erika Howard, Belmont University, Fall 2018
